Wisconsin football announced a schedule change for next season. The Badgers will no longer play the Pitt Panthers; instead, Wisconsin will play Eastern Michigan. The immediate reaction was that Luke Fickell and the Badgers were running away from any semblance of competition, adding a sure win to the schedule. Yet, the announcement said that it was a mutual decision. Let's dig in.
While neither program has officially announced the "why" to the cancellation, it's not hard to figure out how the game got pulled, and it actually starts in the ACC office. The ACC has said, "Most teams will begin playing nine conference games plus one P4 game in 2026; however, multiple teams will play eight conference games and two P4 non-conference opponents to accommodate for currently scheduled non-conference games as part of the transition to the new model.