Kickoff times announced for five Wisconsin football games

It may have only just started getting warm here in the midwest but it’s already time to start thinking about crisp fall weather and what time the popping of shoulder pads starts on Saturdays. Five different kickoff times were announced for the Wisconsin Badgers earlier Thursday and UW has a couple of choice time slots, to go along with the dreaded 11 a.m. starts.

All kickoffs are central standard time.

The Badgers open up their 2019 campaign on Friday, August 31st on the road in Tampa Bay against the University of South Florida Bulls and that kickoff will be at 6 p.m. on ESPN. The home opener is the following weekend, Saturday, September 7th against the Central Michigan Chippewas and that game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network.

Following a bye week, things get turned up a notch with the conference opener against the Michigan Wolverines at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, September 21st on FOX. Sadly, that game kicks off at 11 a.m.

With a brand new pregame show that is trying to compete with ESPN’s College GameDay, FOX has made a concerted effort to put their best games early in the day.

The October 12th home game with the Michigan State Spartans is set for an afternoon kick at either 2:30 or 3 p.m and the October 19th road clash with the Illinois Fighting Illini will, predictably, be an 11 a.m. kick and the weather will undoubtedly be cold and rainy. Neither of those two games have been assigned a tv network.

The rest of the games will have their kick off times announced throughout the season as the networks decide which games will have the biggest impact on the conference title races.