The Wisconsin Badgers are up against a tough opponent to kick off the 2026 season. That may even be underselling it a little. Notre Dame is ranked No. 4 in the nation and will be out for blood after sitting on the outside looking in on the College Football Playoff last season. The Irish feel like they have a lot to prove and the Badgers are their first punching bag.
Yet, the bully on the playground is going to be surprised to see the Badgers punching back too. For Wisconsin is rebuilt, reloaded, and will have some rocks in their gloves. While most Wisconsin fans are bracing for a loss, there's optimism that it's closer than many expect. One piece of potential good news for Wisconsin fans is that linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is still dealing with an injury and is now listed as questionable.
Viliamu-Asa is one of the top defensive players on one of the top-ranked defensive teams in the nation. He's listed on eight different pre-season watch lists for 2026 and is a projected starter this season. In 2025, he was a rotational linebacker but still was fourth on the team in tackles, had 7.5 tackles for loss, and three sacks. So, he's good.
Yet, his injury may keep him out against the Badgers. It's not known exactly what is putting him on the questionable list. Many assume it's the fact that he's less than a year removed from post-ACL reconstruction. That's clearly a big deal and hard to fully come back from in just a few months. But he was seen doing full contact during the Notre Dame fall camp.
Wisconsin and Notre Dame both start the season with some potential big injuries
Related: What Luke Fickell said about the OL for Week 1 vs. Notre Dame is concerning
Luke Fickell got fried for saying they wouldn't avoid Leonard Moore's side of the field, but Fickell's larger point was that Notre Dame is full of good players and it will be hard to just avoid one. Whether he should have said it that way or not is up for debate, but the same is true of Viliamu-Asa. The next man up is not going to be a slouch. So, be ready.
The bigger problem for the Badgers is that WIsconsin is dealing with their own injuries and ones along the offensive line. Luke Fickell could be without Kevin Heywood and Emerson Mandell. Neither is certain to play against Notre Dame, and Fickell is already using the coach-speak of "we have to consider the full season and not just one game."
That would be a big blow and almost immediately put new quarterback Colten Joseph in harm's way. This will be giving Badger fans fever dreams, as the last few years have been a quarterback crumpled to the ground and then the rest of the season followed suit.
So, there's a lot of anticipation on this game and this season and the injury reports provide some juice but until the game kicks off, it will be all nerves and energy.
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