Wisconsin football: kickoff times set for five games this season

On Thursday afternoon, Big Ten college football broadcast partners FOX and ESPN dropped a bunch of new kickoff times for the 2021 season. The Wisconsin Badgers now know five of their kickoff times and for the first time in, don’t fact check this, the history of UW football will not be opening their season on a Friday night.

Sat. 9/4: Penn State at Wisconsin | 11 a.m. | FOX
Sat. 9/11: Eastern Michigan at Wisconsin | 6 p.m. | FS1
Sat. 9/25: Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin (Soldier Field, Chicago) | 11 a.m. | FOX
Sat. 10/9: Wisconsin at Illinois | 2:30 or 3 p.m. | TV TBD
Sat. 10/30: Iowa at Wisconsin | 11 a.m. | TV TBD
Sat. 11/20: Nebraska at Wisconsin | Time TBD | ESPN Network TBD

While it isn’t ideal for fans look to get after their first tailgate in almost two years, opening the season against Penn State on FOX’s Big Noon Saturday is a big deal for the football program. The Badgers will also play Notre Dame, live from historic Soldier Field in Chicago) on Big Noon Saturday so make sure you have the red line figured out if you’re heading down to Chicago to watch the game.

There will be at least one night game at Camp Randall this year for Wisconsin’s traditional rivalry game with, uh, Eastern Michigan and the first time the Badgers will see old friend Bret Bielema will be in the afternoon (probably so he can sleep off Friday night). It’s a bummer that the Iowa game is another 11 a.m. kick, but c’est la vie.

While there hasn’t been an official announcement from UW about capacity limits for Camp Randall Stadium this fall, the tweet about the Penn State game above leads me to believe that there won’t be a limit. Fingers crossed, baby!