Notre Dame and Wisconsin Renew Century-Old Rivalry at Lambeau Field

One of college football’s oldest interregional matchups returns to prime time this weekend, as Notre Dame and Wisconsin close out Week 1 on Sunday night at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM ET, with national coverage on NBC and Peacock.

The programs have met 17 times dating to 1900, with Notre Dame holding a 9-6-2 advantage all-time. The early history, however, belonged entirely to the Badgers. Wisconsin won the first three meetings by a combined margin of 133-0 — including 54-0 in Madison in 1900 and 58-0 in Milwaukee in 1904 — before a scoreless tie in 1917 left the Irish without a point through the series’ first four games.

The balance shifted dramatically in the 1920s and 1930s. Notre Dame opened a four-game winning streak with a 38-3 rout in 1924 and then strung together shutout wins from 1929 through 1936, holding Wisconsin scoreless across that entire stretch. The 1940s split evenly, with Wisconsin posting a 50-0 win in 1943 and Notre Dame answering 28-13 a year later.

After meetings in the early 1960s — including a Notre Dame victory in 1964 that marked Ara Parseghian’s debut as Irish head coach — the rivalry went dormant for 57 years. It resumed in 2021 at Chicago’s Soldier Field, where Notre Dame scored 31 unanswered points in a 41-13 win.

Sunday’s matchup carries broadcast significance for Comcast-owned NBC, which carries the game as the finale of the sport’s opening weekend and as part of Notre Dame’s Shamrock Series presentation. Only two college football games have previously been played at Lambeau Field, the longtime home of the Green Bay Packers, adding a rare venue draw to the matchup. For a network competing in the crowded college sports rights landscape, marquee neutral-site windows like this one remain a key showcase for NBC and its Peacock streaming platform.

What to watch

• Ratings and streaming figures for the Sunday night window on NBC and Peacock, given the limited history of college football at Lambeau Field.
• Whether the schools extend the recently revived series beyond this meeting.
• NBC’s broader college football schedule announcements as the season progresses.

Source: original release