Four kickoff times confirmed for Wisconsin’s 2018 season

With all the recruiting chatter that accompanies the summer camp season and official visits for the Wisconsin Badgers recently, we cannot forget some of the other news and notes from the past week.

We now know four start times for Wisconsin’s 2018 football schedule, with ESPN announcing back on May 31st that it would televise the Badgers-Western Kentucky match-up at 8 p.m. CT on Aug. 31.

Wisconsin also confirmed start times for three other contests, including the two other non-conference battles and UW’s homecoming game.

BTN will televise the Wisconsin-New Mexico game at 11 a.m. CT on Sept. 8.

A 2:30 p.m. CT start time was confirmed for UW-BYU, with an 11 a.m. CT kickoff against Illinois on Oct. 20.

Basketball-wise, after a Jon Rothstein report on May 31, it was officially announced that Wisconsin and N.C. State will play at the Kohl Center for the 2018 Big Ten-ACC Challenge. UW currently has the date set on it schedule for Nov. 27 with tip-off time and potential television broadcast to be determined.

As Wisconsin noted last week, the Badgers are 2-0 all-time against the Wolfpack, with both wins coming since 2005.

Next season, a returning Ethan Happ and the Badgers will also face Xavier in Cincinnati as part of the Gavitt Games on Nov. 13, with a trip to the Bahamas for the 2018 Battle for Atlantis tournament later that month.

Joe Thomas, Troy Vincent named on 2019 College Football Hall of Fame ballot

The National Football Foundation (NFF) and College Hall of Fame released the 2019 ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame candidates on Monday, with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas and Troy Vincent among the 76 FBS players in consideration.

Here are the blurbs for both Thomas and Vincent, as presented in the press release:

Joe Thomas, Wisconsin-Offensive Lineman-2006 unanimous First Team All-American and Outland Trophy recipient...2005 Second Team All-American and three-time All-Big Ten performer (First Team-2005, 2006)...2006 NFF National Scholar-Athlete who led Badgers to four bowl games and three top 20 finishes.

Troy Vincent, Wisconsin-Defensive Back-1991 First Team All-American and runner-up for the 1991 Thorpe Award...Two-time All-Big Ten selection and 1991 Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year...Finished career as Wisconsin’s leader in punt return yards (773) and passes defended (31).

For more on Thomas, WOZN’s Danny Cunningham’s caught up with the future NFL Hall of Famer back on June 5.

More links

• BadgerBlitz.com’s John Veldhuis has a great “Better Know A Badger” series on-going with incoming 2018 signees. Just released earlier on Thursday is an article on cornerback Alex Smith, with inside linebacker Jack Sanborn featured two days ago.
• Back to recruiting talk, be sure to come back to B5Q later Thursday or early Friday for an article on new Wisconsin verbal commit James Williams. We had a chance to catch up with the prep cornerback earlier this week. We’ll also preview what is a big weekend in Madison with another camp and some official visitors coming to town.