I tend to be naive. When I stop at a motel, I assume everything is fine. I’ve learned that I am often very very wrong as there are a whopping 404 Wisconsin bed bug reports right now.

If you’re planning a vacation or stay-cation in Wisconsin anytime soon, you might want to look at the website Bed Bug Reports. You can do a search for virtually every Wisconsin town to see if motels in that city or town has any recent visitor reports of bed bugs. I was shocked to see this total number current as of this writing in Wisconsin.

I decided to look at motels in Madison just for giggles. Since I can’t 100% verify that these reports are accurate, I won’t keep the hotel info hidden, but here are a couple of incidents reported:

Anonymous – “I stayed at this hotel on ******* for one night. The hotel is very average in terms of cleanliness, room size, staff friendliness, etc. On Monday, I noticed some bites in clusters around my feet and ankles. I was immediately concerned about the possibility of bed bugs.”

Anonymous – “We stayed at the ******** ******** ****** prior to UW Madison winter graduation…After checking in our teenage daughters found bedbugs in their bed”

Then there’s this one from a motel in Milwaukee:

Anonymous – “Woke up today with about 15 bed bug bites across my ankles and lower legs.”

On second thought, maybe don’t read the Milwaukee motel reviews if you like to sleep at night.

I found these unfiltered visitor incidents very helpful in determining potential trouble spots at Wisconsin motels. If it’s any consolation, it appears Wisconsin places to stay have less problems with bed bugs overall compared to other states.

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by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
May 15, 2024

The off-season is in full swing for Wisconsin football, but the team will gather back in early August for the beginning of fall camp and the 2024 season. The schedule is much different with the additions of Washington, USC, UCLA, and Oregon to the Big Ten. The 2024 schedule will be harder as well. Here are my initial thoughts on the 2024 Wisconsin football schedule.

Wisconsin Football Road Schedule Seems Manageable

For how tough the Wisconsin football schedule will be, I think their road schedule is doable. The Badgers will travel to USC, Rutgers, Northwestern (game at Lambeau Field), Iowa, and Nebraska.

I think Iowa and Nebraska are the hardest road games. Despite that, Wisconsin can absolutely go into Iowa City and Lincoln and win those games. The road environments are hard, but Wisconsin might be more talented than both those rosters.

It’s hard traveling across the country, but USC always has a poor home crowd. Rutgers won’t blow you away either. The Northwestern game will essentially be a home game.

Wisconsin Football Could Struggle at Home

The home schedule is a gauntlet. Wisconsin football opens up with three home games. The first two will be non-conference games against Western Michigan and South Dakota. A highly anticipated match-up with Alabama follows these tuneups. I can’t see Wisconsin football beating Alabama.

Other home games include Purdue, Penn State, Oregon, and Minnesota. The games against Penn State and Oregon will be very difficult. However, between Alabama, Penn State, and Oregon, the Badgers will win at least one of those games. If I had to guess, they will beat Penn State.

Purdue is still rebuilding and I don’t see Wisconsin football having issues with the Boilermakers. Minnesota has had recent success at Camp Randall, but the Badgers roster is just better overall.

The Badgers Will Win More Than Six Games

The over-under on wins recently came out for the Big Ten. Currently, Wisconsin football has an over-under of 6.5 wins. I can see where that number comes from as there are no guaranteed wins in the Big Ten.

The more I think about it, I’m pretty confident right now the Badgers wins more than six games. Besides Oregon and Alabama, the Badgers won’t be big underdogs in any of their games.

I look at games against Nebraska, Iowa, and Penn State as a 50/50 split. They could win all three. They could easily lose all three games. If I had to guess right now, I think Wisconsin football wins seven games, but would not be surprised if they won six or eight games.