With the college football season just two weeks from starting up, the hot takes for Notre Dame have kept on rolling in.
Most the of them have been regarding the College Football Playoff, but another has entered the chat. Jesse Nelson of ESPN radio in Madison believes the Wisconsin can knock off the Irish in the season opening game in Lambeau Field. There were more than a few reasons why he believes that could be the case, starting with how the media is treating Notre Dame.
Nelson thinks that because the Irish have been mainly asked about their marquee matchup with Miami, that the Badgers can fly under the radar and pull off the upset. With Notre Dame’s focus not necessarily being on the opener, he thinks this opens the door for Wisconsin.
His other points really don’t make sense, as he cites a Badgers upset of LSU in 2016 in Lambeau as part of his rationale. It was a decade ago, no current team is looks like what they did back then. Nelson also thinks that the Irish breaking in some new players will play a role, as he closed with “if Wisconsin has these tricks up its sleeve, and looks as good as Riley and others are saying in practice, the best possible time to catch Notre Dame would be in Week 1…. Wisconsin can beat Notre Dame.”
At the end of the day, these two programs are pretty far away from each other, with the Irish contending for a spot in the CFP, and the Badgers hoping another lost season won’t be the end of the Luke Fickell-era. While Nelson has plenty of optimism for his home-town team, it’s hard to image Wisconsin pulling off an upset of this magnitude over Notre Dame.
“Wisconsin CAN beat Notre Dame.”@_JesseNelson believes the #Badgers are catching Notre Dame at the right time for an upset. Do you agree? 👀🦡 pic.twitter.com/9teEECCmyb
— ESPN Madison (@ESPNMadison) August 14, 2026
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen
This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Local Wisconsin radio sees a big upset coming for Notre Dame