Wisconsin and LSU are reportedly in discussions to schedule each other for the 2015 season in a neutral site game. The Badgers would like to host the game at Green Bay's historic Lambeau Field while LSU wants to play the game in the ripe recruiting grounds of Texas, either at a sort of home away from home of late at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, or alternatively, at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Beyond the impasse of the location of the game, both sides have to wait to see what happens regarding a potential nine-game conference schedule in the SEC. LSU athletic director Joe Alleva feels going to nine conference games would probably mean the end of talks with the Badgers.
LSU and Wisconsin have met before in 1971 and 1972. The Tigers won 38-28 in 1971 in Madison and 27-7 in Baton Rouge in 1972. This matchup would be the kind that both teams would like to be able to point to for playoff seeding in the future College Football Playoff. LSU's wish to play in Arlington seems doubtful as LSU is already playing TCU at Cowboys Stadium in the Cowboys Classic in 2013 and Wisconsin is playing Alabama in the same event in 2015. The Packers are amenable to having a couple of college teams play on their field and therefore don't present a hangup to making this game happen. The fan in me wouldn't mind seeing a home-and-home matchup or regional neutral site game in back-to-back seasons if agreeing on a single location proves to be difficult. The latter scenario is a possibility at this point, according to Alleva.
Frankly, college football needs more of these games and less of the games featuring perennial conference champion contenders playing cupcakes out of conference. SEC commissioner Mike Slive also recently brought up a situation (the $2,000 stipend debate) where a conversation about the haves splitting from the have-nots would be “appropriate.” I'm all for that break-up which, like my idea for a college football Premier League, would mean non-conference games such as Wisconsin-LSU would be a normal occurrence and not a rare treat on a weekend when the big boys are playing directional schools and FCS rent-a-wins.
