Wisconsin's season opener with Miami (Ohio) gets moved up to a Thursday night kickoff
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin will begin its 2025 football season on a Thursday night.
The Badgers announced Wednesday that their season opener with Miami (Ohio) has been moved up from Aug. 30 to Aug. 28. Although Wisconsin announced this will be a night game at Camp Randall Stadium, the exact kickoff time and TV information will be revealed later.
This will mark the second straight season that Wisconsin has opened its season on a weeknight. The Badgers began their 2024 season with a Friday night 28-14 victory over Western Michigan on Aug. 30.
Wisconsin is trying to bounce back after going 5-7 last year, ending a string of 22 consecutive winning seasons. Miami (Ohio) went 9-5 with a 43-17 Arizona Bowl victory over Colorado State last season.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Noles up early
Seven trips have been booked for Omaha. The Blue Devils or Racers will claim the eighth. Follow all our coverage of the Super Regionals Imagn Images B3 - Florida State 1, Oregon State 0 The Seminoles have four hits and have had a lot of activity on the bases, but they lead by only one run as one runner was thrown out at the plate. Oregon State doesn't have a hit through two innings. Imagn Images B7 - Louisville 8, Miami 1 The Hurricanes leave two more runners on base, and that has been the theme of this game. The Cardinals have made the most of their chances. The Hurricanes have not. Our third straight game today featuring an ACC team. It's Florida State at Oregon State. The game is set for a 6 p.m. ET start and will be broadcast by ESPN2. Imagn Images B6 - Louisville 8, Miami 1 Patrick Forbes with a solid outing to get Louisville off to a strong start this weekend. Forbes went 5-2/3 and allowed one run with a runner on first base who is his responsibility. Forbes struck out nine to more than offset his four walks. Brennyn Cutts takes the mound for the Cardinals, who appear to be in complete control, and he gets out of the inning with a quick ground ball. Nice work from the Louisville pitching staff today. T5 - Louisville 8, Miami 1 This game has slowed to a halt, but the Cardinals just keep scoring runs. Jake Munroe is up to five RBIs with a sac fly to right field, and the Cardinals' lead is back up to seven runs. Miami has gotten runners on, but it has struggled to get them home. That has been the difference in this game. Imagn Images B4 - Louisville 8, Miami 1 The Hurricanes had a chance to cut into the Cardinals' lead with runners on second and third with two outs. But Patrick Forbes gets out of another jam with a strikeout to end the inning. Forbes has allowed three hits and walked four, but he has seven strikeouts. It hasn't been pretty or easy, but it's working. Things are spiraling out of control for Miami. The Canes were on the verge of getting out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the third, but pitcher AJ Ciscar's throw home sailed wide to the right. Instead of a double play, two runs scored for Louisville. The next batter, Jake Munroe, drilled a three-run home run to put Louisville on top 7-1. Those are the types of mistakes teams cannot make — especially on the road — to win a Super Regional. Imagn Images B3 - Louisville 7, Miami 1 A double, an intentional walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, and then Miami helped Louisville's cause with an error on a throw to the plate that would have gotten the second out. Two runs scored on the bad throw, and then Jake Munroe blasted a three-run shot over the left-center field wall. The Cardinals have five runs in the inning, and they're not done yet. B3 - Louisville 2, Miami 1 The Hurricanes get their first run of the weekend on a sacrifice fly, and Louisville starting pitcher Patrick Forbes is working hard early in this one. Forbes has six strikeouts through three innings, but he has allowed two hits and walked three. It hasn't been pretty, but it mostly has been effective. B2 - Louisville 2, Miami 0 After the Cardinals kept Miami off the board in the top of the inning, right fielder Garrett Pike leads off the bottom of the second with an opposite-field home run to put Louisville on top... ...and Jake Munroe follows that up with a home run of his own to straightaway center field! Louisville strikes first in back-to-back fashion off Miami's AJ Ciscar, and the Cardinals have all the early momentum in this one. Louisville Baseball / X Mid 2 - Miami 0, Louisville 0 After Louisville's Patrick Forbes issues back-to-back walks and a hit batter to load the bases with one out, he responds with back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the inning! A big missed opportunity for the Hurricanes as Forbes roars along with the Cardinals home crowd while skipping off the mound. We're still scoreless through 1.5 innings in Louisville. Imagn Images We're underway for the second game of super regionals in the 2025 NCAA Baseball Tournament between ACC foes Miami and Louisville. Patrick Forbes on the mound for the Cardinals for Game 1 of this best-of-3 series. Today's matchup in Louisville, unsurprisingly, is a battle of aces. Miami's starter, AJ Ciscar, leads the Hurricanes with a 3.77 ERA. Louisville's starter, Patrick Forbes, leads the Cardinals with 98 strikeouts. Louisville Baseball / X First pitch of Miami-Louisville was initially scheduled for 3 p.m. ET but has been moved back to 3:36 p.m. due to some rain. Still, a solid turnout from Louisville fans after the Cardinals took advantage of a stunning collapse from No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt to win the Nashville regional. Here are the lineups for this all-ACC Super Regional clash between Miami and Louisville about to get underway: Miami SS Jake Ogden LF Max Galvin 3B Daniel Cubet 2B Jr. Dorian Gonzalez DH Derek Williams 1B Renzo Gonzalez C Tanner Smith RF Fabio Peralta CF Michael Torres Louisville CF Lucas Moore C Matt Klein LF Zion Rose DH Eddie King Jr. RF Garrett Pike 3B Jake Munroe 1B Tague Davis 2B Kamau Neighbors SS Alex Alicea ACC competitors Miami and Louisville are on deck from Louisville, Ky. The game will be broadcast by ESPN2. Imagn Images North Carolina has the first win of the Super Regionals with an 18-2 domination of Arizona. The Tar Heels are one win away from a second straight trip to the College World Series. The two teams will continue their series at Noon on Saturday. The game will be broadcast by ESPN2. Imagn Images Dating back to 2019, four teams have given up at least 18 runs in the first game of a Super Regional. Two went on to advance to the College World Series (Vanderbilt over Duke in 2019 and NC State over Arkansas in 2021), and two did not (UConn vs. Florida State in 2024 and Georgia vs. NC State in 2024). ANOTHER home run for the Tar Heels, this time from Kane Kepley, and it's 18-2. SIX North Carolina players have home runs in this blpwout.
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Packers are taking calculated risk in releasing cornerback Jaire Alexander
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers will free up more than $17.1 million in cap space in 2025 by releasing cornerback Jaire Alexander, according to Over The Cap, and have more than $46 million available in cap space. That's the third-biggest number in the NFL. What they do with the influx of money in the near future, if anything, remains to be seen. An even more glaring uncertainty is whether the cornerbacks left on the roster are good enough. Not good enough to start in the NFL, but good enough to help the Packers win a Super Bowl. After all, that's what general manager Brian Gutekunst thinks it's time his team competes for in 2025. Doing so will be harder without Alexander, though it became no guarantee in recent years that he would be on the field. That's a big reason why Gutekunst is releasing the first player he drafted after becoming Packers GM back in 2018. Alexander, 28, made the All-Pro second team both before and after a significant shoulder injury that sidelined him 13 games in 2021. His first honor came in 2020, followed by another in 2022 after the Packers made him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history at the time, with an extension worth $21 million annually, in March of that year. Advertisement However, over the last two seasons, 2023 and 2024, Alexander missed 20 games with four different injuries. The Packers looked to trade him and hopefully recoup something for their investment, but that didn't pan out. They also offered Alexander a restructured contract, but the sides couldn't agree on that, either. So while Alexander is the Packers' best cornerback if healthy, that became too big an 'if' for the team to keep him at a price Alexander's side desired. Could they have retained one of their best players of the last decade, even at full price? Technically, yes. Alexander's release frees up a boatload of cap space, but the Packers weren't exactly strapped for cap this year. They ranked 12th in the NFL with about $29 million in cap space available, according to OTC, before the move. Alexander had a $16.15 million base salary, $650,000 per-game roster bonuses and a $700,000 workout bonus. Financially, the move matters more for 2026. It frees up $19.5 million in cap for next year, per OTC, and the Packers were about $10 million over the cap in 2026. No matter the financial impact on both this year and next, the Packers will proceed into a season that carries heightened urgency featuring Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine as their top three outside cornerbacks. That seems like a comparable risk to keeping Alexander on even a slightly reduced contract. 'I love 2-3 to death. That's my boy,' Nixon said last week of Alexander. 'If he comes back and he's here, we'd love to have him. I love to play with Jaire. That's just what it is since I've been here. Jaire pushed me to be really who I am because it's always friendly competition between me and him. Whatever happens, happens. We don't have control over that. If he's here, we're gonna rock out. If he's not, we're still gonna rock out. That's just how it goes.' Advertisement The Packers will rock out without him in a division with two reigning first-team All-Pro receivers, Minnesota's Justin Jefferson and Detroit's Amon-Ra St. Brown. And they'll also rock out without a premium cornerback in the pipeline, as the Packers didn't draft one until the seventh round in Tulane's Micah Robinson. Nixon dubbed himself 'CB1' shortly after the season ended, but can he really lock down opposing No. 1 wide receivers consistently? Gutekunst seemed to think he's capable after Nixon's first season playing primarily on the outside in 2024. 'I think he played really, really well,' the GM said in February. 'I think he really fit what (defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley) was trying to do. First of all, he's an outstanding competitor. I didn't blink when we asked him to do that, but I just think his athleticism and his ability … with his eyes and his ability to tackle served us well out there. For me, he may not have the length that some of those guys on the outside have, but his awareness and ball skills make up for that.' Hobbs was more of a nickel with the Raiders, but the Packers inked him to a four-year deal worth $12 million annually in free agency to play both inside and outside. In Green Bay's base defense during voluntary OTA practices open to reporters, it has been Hobbs opposite Nixon on the outside to start. 'He's had a lot of success inside and I thought his tape outside was equally as good,' Hafley said this offseason of Hobbs. 'He is competitive, he's tough, he is physical. He plays the game fast. You can tell he loves it. It just jumps off the tape.' Valentine is technically the most traditional outside corner of the three and he's flashed over his first two seasons in the NFL, but his playing time has come inconsistently. Trotting out that top three at cornerback figures to put more pressure on Green Bay's pass rush, which was inconsistent last season and didn't add any clear-cut Day 1 contributors in the offseason. Gutekunst opted rather to trust that the likes of Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark and Lukas Van Ness will be better, which is another calculated gamble for a defense tasked with following up Hafley's impressive debut season with a worthwhile encore. The Packers have grown accustomed to playing without Alexander over the last two years, whether it be from the perspective of their secondary or their pass rush, so doing so again won't necessarily be new. But even if he wasn't always at his best when on the field in 2023 and 2024, a healthy Alexander would have given the Packers the best chance in the long run against the slew of receivers they'll face in 2025. Advertisement In Week 1, St. Brown and the Lions. In Week 2, Terry McLaurin and the Commanders. In Week 4, CeeDee Lamb and the Cowboys. In Week 6, Ja'Marr Chase and the Bengals. In Week 7, Marvin Harrison Jr. and the Cardinals. In Week 8, DK Metcalf and the Steelers. In Week 10, A.J. Brown and the Eagles. In Week 11, Malik Nabers and the Giants. Then St. Brown once more and Jefferson twice down the stretch. For two traditional nickels, even if Nixon impressed on the outside last season and the Packers think Hobbs can do the same, that's a tall task. Hobbs was asked during his introductory press conference about a potential pairing with Nixon, his former Raiders teammate, on the outside. 'Think it'd be legendary,' he said. The Packers better hope it is or those Super Bowl dreams will remain just that.
Miami Herald
5 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Amid injuries and uncertainty, Inter Miami's Club World Cup debut fast approaches
By the time the first official FIFA Club World Cup practice began Monday morning, it was already 90 degrees on Inter Miami's practice pitch. Even without key players Lionel Messi, Fafa Picault, and Telasco Segovia — who are all out of the country on international fixtures for FIFA World Cup qualifying matches — the men in pink got down to business quickly, running shooting and passing drills. Fans are waiting anxiously for Inter Miami's first stint in the Club World Cup, which takes place Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium. The team will open the tournament against Egyptian club Al Ahly, but it's a difficult bet to make on how Miami will fare in the tournament. The team had a particularly treacherous May, losing MLS matches to Minnesota and Orlando and drawing San Jose and Philadelphia. By the end of the month, the team had been mocked mercilessly on social media, and fans were calling for new head coach Javier Mascherano's firing. Before their games versus Montreal and Columbus, Miami had dropped to sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings — a far cry from their high ride at the same time in 2024. But with the Club World Cup fast approaching, the team seemed to turn a corner, blowing out both Montreal and Columbus, 4-2 and 5-1, respectively, to end the month. Once the rest of the star-studded roster returns, things could be looking up for Miami entering the tournament. Except many key players still appear to be down for the count. Star left back Jordi Alba and center back Gonzalo Luján were not present at the first official Club World Cup practice. Both sustained unspecified muscle injuries during the team's win over Montreal and have yet to return. Similarly, midfielder Yannick Bright, who suffered a hamstring injury during the team's match versus Philadelphia was off training and rehabbing to the side with fellow midfielder David Ruiz. Ruiz sustained an injury early in the season and has been out since March. Both midfielders spent the hot, Monday morning practice working on cardio and agility, but notably did not work with the ball or the rest of the team on any shooting or passing drills. In happier news for Inter Miami fans, both goalkeeper Oscar Ustari, who just signed a contract extension with the team through 2026, and 20-year-old center back Tomas Aviles were back training with the team Monday morning following injuries which took them off the roster in mid-May. They looked to be in top form – Aviles worked through all of practice with the majority of the team on the pitch, while Ustari kept ball after ball out of the net during drills with fellow goalkeepers Rocco Ríos Novo and Will Yarbrough. But with a crucial week for the team ahead, it's ultimately uncertain who will take the field versus Al Ahly on Saturday. Will Ustari's and Aviles' return to practice keep them in good shape for the match? How will Messi, Picault, and Segovia, alongside rising young stars Benjamin Cremaschi and Santiago Morales, fare during their time abroad? Only time will tell.
