The WIAC still plays the best football the UW System puts on a field in October
The Desk · Aug 18, 2026
Whitewater opens Sept. 5 against Carleton at Perkins. La Crosse goes to St. John’s. The conference slate starts Oct. 3. Madison is not the only campus with a Saturday.
There are thirteen UW campuses with athletic departments. One of them plays in the Big Ten. One of them is Division II in Kenosha. Eight of them play football in the WIAC, which has spent the last two decades treating the rest of Division III like a regional.
UW-Whitewater’s 2026 ledger is public: Carleton at Perkins on Sept. 5, Saint Xavier the next week, then a trip to Keystone, then the conference. River Falls comes to Whitewater on Oct. 3. The game everyone will actually circle is Oct. 10 — Whitewater at La Crosse, 1 p.m., Veterans Memorial Field.
La Crosse opens at St. John’s. Oshkosh hosts Linfield. Eau Claire hosts Alma. Platteville hosts Aurora. Stevens Point hosts Augsburg at night. Stout goes to Dubuque. River Falls gets Southern Virginia on a Thursday. That is a System-wide Saturday, and it does not need a Big Ten overlay to be real.
UW-Superior does not play football. It plays hockey. UW-Parkside does not play football. It plays in the GLVC. Cover them anyway. The UW System is not a mascot. It is thirteen athletic departments.
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The WIAC still plays the best football the UW System puts on a field in October
Whitewater opens Sept. 5 against Carleton at Perkins. La Crosse goes to St. John’s. The conference slate starts Oct. 3. Madison is not the only campus with a Saturday.
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