Badgers to host Friday night game to open 2017 season

The Wisconsin Badgers will be one of the guinea pigs with the Big Ten's Friday night football scheduling.

On Tuesday, the conference announced the six games in the 2017 season which will be played on Friday night. The Big Ten announced this initiative last week.

Wisconsin will host Utah State on Friday, Sept. 1, one of two Big Ten games to be played that night, joining Washington at Rutgers.

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez stated last week that the Badgers would be willing to play on Fridays, but only before Labor Day.

The other four games are:

Sept. 8 -- Ohio at Purdue

Sept. 29 -- Nebraska at Illinois

Oct. 13 -- Northwestern at Maryland

Oct. 27 -- Michigan State at Northwestern

In a statement releasing the schedule, the Big Ten noted that these Friday game will "be announced at least 10 months in advance to provide all parties adequate time to prepare."

We're presuming this also means fans, who will see their weekend plans (and tailgating) altered.