Western Michigan vs. Wisconsin

Western Michigan and Wisconsin have 6 meetings on file, the first in 1963; Wisconsin leads the series 5–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 6 meetings it’s Wisconsin 5–⁠1, and Wisconsin has won the last 3.

Western Michigan wins
1
Wisconsin wins
5
Ties
0
Earliest on file
1963
Longest streak
3 Wisconsin
Current streak
3 Wisconsin
Last 10 meetings
Wisconsin 5–⁠1
Most recent
2024

The series at a glance

Every meeting by decade, colored by the winner
’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1960s0–⁠1
1980s1–⁠1
2000s0–⁠1
2010s0–⁠1
2020s0–⁠1
Both ranked
1 meeting: Western Michigan 0, Wisconsin 1
Average margin
16 points; 1 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Wisconsin
4–⁠1 Wisconsin’s record at home
Neutral sites
0–⁠1 Western Michigan first
Shutouts
1

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Western Michigan’s biggest win1988: Western Michigan 24, Wisconsin 14by 10 points
  2. Wisconsin’s biggest win1963: Wisconsin 41, Western Michigan 0by 41 points
  3. Ranked showdown2016: Wisconsin 24, Western Michigan 16No. 12 Western Michigan at No. 8 Wisconsin

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Western Michigan and Wisconsin, 1963 on130015001700197019801990200020102020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

Stars of the series

Named most valuable

Troy Fumagalli Wisconsin2016
T.J. Edwards Wisconsin2016

Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1963 game

    1963 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Sep 27, 1963

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

Photos

From the rivalry’s and its games’ categories on Wikimedia Commons (free licenses only, each credited).

Every game

Aug 30, 2024Wisconsin 28, Western Michigan 14at Wisconsin
Jan 2, 20178Wisconsin 24, 12Western Michigan 16AT&T StadiumCotton Bowl
Aug 31, 20004Wisconsin 19, Western Michigan 7at Wisconsin
Sep 3, 1988Western Michigan 24, Wisconsin 14at Wisconsin
Sep 26, 1981Wisconsin 21, Western Michigan 10at Wisconsin
Sep 21, 19637Wisconsin 41, Western Michigan 0at Wisconsin

Every game is listed as played on the field.