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.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – SPASH baseball remained undefeated with a 7-3 win over Wisconsin Rapids Tuesday night. In the afternoon, athletes competed at Wausau West for the Wisconsin Valley Conference outdoor meet.

SPASH jumped out to a 4-0 lead over Rapids behind a two runs on a fielders choice and a wild pitch, respectively, and a two-RBI single from Chase Geyer. The Red Raiders got a run back in the top of the second but couldn’t overcome the deficit in the 7-3 loss. The Panthers are now 22-0 on the season.

Track and field is reaching the postseason as the Wisconsin Valley Conference teams converged on Wausau West for the outdoor meet. In shotput, Wausau East’s Lily Clifford looks to make even more noise at this year’s state meet after taking 12th last season. She threw the shot 39-feet, 2.75 inches for a new personal best and the win. In boys discus, D.C. Everest’s Jorden Ukpong threw the discus 159-feet, 3 inches for a personal best and the victory.

In the long jump, Abby Berens of Wausau West takes home the gold. In the high jump, the Ridgeway sisters duked it out for the victory. Gracie Ridgeway set a new personal best at five-feet-two, but sister Emma takes the win with a jump of five-feet-four. Wausau West won the girls team competition and SPASH won the boys competition. You can find the full results here.

Copyright 2024 WSAW. All rights reserved.

WASHINGTON — The federal government has sent billions of dollars to Wisconsin to improve its infrastructure and develop clean energy sources. The Biden administration said the state has received $6.9 billion in infrastructure funding since President Joe Biden took office. 

“Projects like these will build up the state and will create a relatively high [number] jobs for a relatively lower population in the state,” said Waleed Abu Khader, an adjunct professor at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

The spending is supporting several major projects, including one billion dollars to replace the Blatnik Bridge between Superior, Wis., and Duluth, Minn., as well as $80 million to improve the Wisconsin River Bridge, a project Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin broke ground on this week. 

Money is coming from several bills that Biden signed into law, including American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

“We’re seeing many, many more projects than we would have seen without the IRA,” said Kathy Kuntz, the director of the Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change.  

Dane County, which includes Madison, is using clean energy tax credits authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act so buildings can be equipped with solar panels and geothermal energy. 

“For stretched local governments, the idea that you can do the right thing in a facility and then get this credit back is just really powerful,” Kuntz said. 

The administration has also awarded Wisconsin with $1.6 billion for high-speed internet, $4 billion for roads, bridges and electric vehicle charging, as well as another $811 million to improve water infrastructure, including replacing toxic lead pipes. That’s an issue both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill can get behind. 

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, told Spectrum News in a recent interview, “Water is not a partisan issue.” 

“It has an impact on everybody,” said Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee.  

The Biden Administration is also touting another $2.4 billion in private sector dollars, contributed as a result of these laws, to pay for infrastructure and clean energy projects.

Follow Charlotte Scott on Facebook and X.