In college women’s volleyball, Milwaukee is the place to be Sunday and Monday..

Three of the top five teams in the country will be here for the State Farm Showcase. Fiserv Forum hosts four top programs: No. 1 Texas, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 5 Stanford and No, 18 Minnesota.

Wisconsin, Texas and Stanford have combined for six national titles since 2016. The Badgers face the two-time defending champion Longhorns Sunday morning and Stanford Monday afternoon.

More: Watch Wisconsin volleyball live on Fubo (free trial)

All four matches will be nationally televised. Here’s how to watch Wisconsin volleyball:

What channel is Wisconsin vs. Texas today?

Wisconsin vs Texas will broadcast nationally on Fox.

Wisconsin vs. Texas time today

• Date: Sunday, Sept . 1
• Start time: 11:30 a.m. CT

The Wisconsin vs Texas match starts at 11:30 a.m. from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

What channel is Wisconsin vs. Stanford Monday?

Wisconsin vs Stanford will broadcast nationally on Fox.

Wisconsin vs. Stanford start time

• Date: Monday, Sept 2
• Start time: 4:30 p.m. CT

The Wisconsin vs Stanford match starts at 4:30 p.m. Monday from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

How can I listen to Wisconsin vs. Texas and Stanford matches on the radio?

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY NETWORK newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

A Chicago-area college student, who was a gymnast at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, was shot and killed in an apartment late Friday night, Whitewater police said.

Kara Welsh, 21, of Plainfield, Illinois, was found with multiple gunshot wounds when police responded to an apartment at around 11:54 p.m. in the 100 block of Whitewater Street, police said.

Police said late Saturday a 23-year-old man had been taken into custody on charges of first-degree intentional homicide, endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct while armed. An altercation occurred between Welsh and the unidentified suspect prior to the shooting, police revealed.

UW-Whitewater Chancellor Corey King announced Welsh’s death in a message to the campus community, writing she was majoring in management at the College of Business and Economics and a standout member of the Warhawk gymnastics team.

“We know the news of Kara’s death is heartbreaking for our close-knit university community,” he said, in part. “It is a time when we are all called upon to support one another, to process, and to grieve.”

UW-Whitewater Warhawk Athletics posted about Welsh’s death on Facebook, saying, “Our hearts are broken with the tragic loss of one of our own, UW-Whitewater Warhawk Gymnastics senior Kara Welsh.”

MADISON, Wis. — In an ideal world for Wisconsin football, the Badgers would have built a multi-score lead early during their season opener and never relented, cruising to the type of victory that said one thing to ease an uncertain fan base searching for more: Hey, this is progress.

That’s not exactly what transpired during Wisconsin’s 28-14 victory against Western Michigan on Friday night. Yes, the Badgers did end up winning by multiple touchdowns. They also trailed by a point as late as four minutes into the fourth quarter and needed a fortuitous bounce on a muffed punt just to end up in scoring position for the go-ahead touchdown.

It was a performance that, while able to avert calamity, left plenty of questions on the table about whether this team — and especially this offense — will take the necessary steps forward in Luke Fickell’s second season after a 7-6 debut.

“I’ve been in these games before, and sometimes they’re not the most fun,” Fickell said. “But what it comes down to is you’ve got to find a way and you got to make some adjustments that maybe you didn’t envision you’d have to make, you didn’t want to make in game one. But you have to make some of those adjustments. And we did.”

Relive last night’s win 🦡 pic.twitter.com/10af1WvGuQ

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 31, 2024

Fickell acknowledged earlier in the week that “we know as little as we ever have known” about an opponent entering the first game of the season, and the chess match that ensued has to be factored into the equation. Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor hired a new offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator during the offseason. As a result, Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said he spent the week watching clips of Louisiana Tech, where Broncos defensive coordinator Scott Power previously worked.

“They didn’t show any of what they did there,” Van Dyke said. “They were trying to keep everything in front of them, playing a lot of Cover 3 and not letting us take any of the deep shots, really.”

Even if the opener provided unexpected challenges, this was still a game against a MAC team coming off a 4-8 season that Wisconsin had hoped to dominate. The Badgers were, after all, 24-point betting favorites. As Wisconsin readies for Week 2 foe South Dakota — ranked fifth in the FCS Top 25 — with Alabama looming the following week, we’re left to wonder exactly what the result means.

A year ago, Wisconsin opened the Fickell era with a 38-17 victory against MAC opponent Buffalo that foreshadowed the team’s uneven offensive performances because the Badgers led by just four points in the third quarter. Wisconsin then averaged just 23.5 points per game, its fewest in 19 years. Is this group in for more of the same?

There were at least some encouraging signs. Wisconsin’s 1-2 running back combination of Chez Mellusi and Tawee Walker ran with tenacity and power. Both players scored on touchdown runs that featured them knocking back defenders on the way to the end zone. Fickell said the primary objective was to run the ball and establish a physical identity, even if it meant sacrificing on some deep passes.

Wisconsin’s top two slot receivers, Will Pauling and Trech Kekahuna, are dynamic and should be among Van Dyke’s favorite targets all season. The offensive line allowed just one sack when Van Dyke remained in the pocket too long and didn’t throw the ball away. Van Dyke himself produced some decent moments, looking at ease on quick throws over the middle and showing a willingness as a ball carrier on read options. Wisconsin’s first four drives went for 16 plays, 16 plays, 14 plays and 14 plays — the type of possession control reminiscent of previous Badgers regimes.

GO DEEPER

‘We’re gonna change this crap’: Bill Callahan and Wisconsin, origin stories intertwined

But within all those positives were enough concerns to keep the coaching staff busy. For one, those four 14-plus-play drives yielded just one touchdown despite the Badgers reaching the red zone each time. Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo can spread defenses out with his version of the Air Raid, but that becomes trickier in a more condensed part of the field. The Badgers ranked 63rd nationally in red zone offense last season and scored a touchdown just 63 percent of the time.

Fickell said the lack of red zone efficiency was glaring in the opener. Van Dyke’s decision-making was a part of that process. He threw a couple of passes that could have been intercepted, including one in the end zone before Wisconsin settled for a field goal to take a 13-7 third-quarter lead. Van Dyke also lost a fumble when he scrambled out of the pocket and kept the ball too loose in one hand as he was being pursued.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect for the offense was the lack of explosive plays. Mellusi averaged 3.9 yards per carry and Walker 4.4 yards. Wisconsin produced 11 pass plays of at least 10 yards but none of at least 20 yards, with Van Dyke often finding his pass catchers on shorter throws. Van Dyke’s longest pass play came on a third-and-6 early in the third quarter when he tossed a quick completion to Pauling, who turned upfield and did the rest of the work on a 17-yard gain. Rarely did the Badgers even attempt anything down the field. Of Van Dyke’s 36 attempts, only three were thrown with 15-plus air yards, per TruMedia. None were completed.

Mellusi attributed the overall performance to “some first-game jitters.”

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Mellusi said. “But watching film all week, their goal was to stop the run. Not to say we weren’t expecting to break a big one. Of course you want to break a big one all the time. But you’ve got to be OK with the 4- or 5-yarders, and eventually you’re going to bust one.”

Former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez used to cite a theory he gleaned from Lou Holtz that a great team needed five great players and no glaring weaknesses. Fickell was asked whether he believed a lack of playmakers on this team was an issue.

“It’s hard to say whether there’s not enough playmakers on the field,” Fickell said. “If you’ve been here long enough, you know that there’s going to be days — I don’t want to make excuses — days like this. But games like this, that all of a sudden become that slow, methodical. I would think around here, you’ve seen a few of those. It’s not what maybe you envision every single day. It’s not maybe what we envision going into this thing, but I give our guys a lot of credit for their ability to adjust and adapt.”

GO DEEPER

Badgers survive scare against Western Michigan: Wisconsin football opener instant takeaways

Wisconsin does indeed deserve at least some credit for how it finished because the outcome could have been much worse. Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead on Jalen Buckley’s 1-yard touchdown run with 14:15 remaining in the fourth quarter — a potentially backbreaking moment for the Badgers after the Broncos converted a fake field goal into a 26-yard run and a first down to the 4-yard line.

Wisconsin took advantage of a Western Michigan’s muffed punt by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in just three plays, on Walker’s 6-yard run. The defense then stopped Western Michigan on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, which led to the Badgers scoring on Van Dyke’s 6-yard keeper to account for the final margin.

“We all rallied together,” Badgers inside linebacker Jake Chaney said. “Nobody really flinched. There’s a lot of work to be done, but that was a good team win and I don’t think that should be overlooked.”

Returning players and coaches said all offseason that the second year under Fickell and Longo felt different and that things were operating more smoothly. There were signs of momentum during spring and preseason practices, though it always comes with a caveat until it translates to the games.

Based on Wisconsin’s season-opening performance, there is substantial room for growth. And while progress means different things for different teams, the Badgers will need much more of it to have any chance of moving the needle this season.

(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)