With many changes coming to college football with an expanding playoff and conferences realigning across the sport, now feels like a good time to talk about college football as we know it for one of the final times.
With a program that first competed in 1889 and has been competing in the Big Ten since 1896, the Wisconsin Badgers Football team is one of the oldest programs in the country. With as long of a history as the Badgers have, they would likely have played most, if not all, FBS teams.
The truth is that there are 39 FBS teams that Wisconsin has never faced off against. Many schools have yet to play the Badgers due to proximity or not being a major college program for very long. Still, these are the teams that Wisconsin Football has never played.
Wisconsin Football vs. AAC
Kicking off with some teams that are the least surprising Wisconsin Football hasn’t faced, there are eight teams from the American Athletic Conference that the Badgers have never seen.
Tulane Green Wave: Tulane isn’t the first program that comes to mind when reflecting on historic college football teams. However, the Green Wave have been around since 1893, which makes it surprising that they and Wisconsin have never crossed paths.
East Carolina Pirates: East Carolina has been playing since 1932 and has had a few successful seasons, but they still need to line up across from the Badgers.
Memphis Tigers: Memphis historically hasn’t been a very exciting opponent to play until their success recently.
Tulsa Golden Hurricanes: Tulsa surprisingly has 35 conference championships in their history, but they won most of them in the Missouri Valley Conference that hasn’t been around since 1985.
UTSA Roadrunners: Texas-San Antonio didn’t begin play until 2011, so there hasn’t been much time for a matchup between the two teams.
North Texas Mean Green: The Mean Green have been in and out of the FBS throughout their history, making it complicated for a meeting to have been possible.
UAB Blazers: Alabama Birmingham’s football program has been around since 1991 and has since shut down and reinstated its program.
Charlotte 49ers: The program took a long break between 1948 and 2013, coming to FBS in 2015.