Badgers offensive coordinator 'happy' despite sluggish start to season

Longo is confident that the Badgers offense can turn things around.

Wisconsin Badgers offensive Coordinator Phil Longo answers questions during Wisconsin Badgers football media day at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. / Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wisconsin has started this season 2-0, but they're facing some concerning offensive struggles. With only 27.5 points per game against South Dakota and Western Michigan, they have the 87th-ranked scoring offense in the country.

Miami (FL) transfer quarterback Tyler Van Dyke has averaged 203.0 passing yards per game, which ranks 89th in college football. The Badgers have struggled to find the explosive plays that fans had hoped to see.

"I always want to be more explosive, I always want more points, but I think we're progressing," offensive coordinator Phil Longo said. "We see the improvements, we know what we're doing better, we know what we have confidence in. Some of it specifically is probably not what we want to talk about here."

Overall, Wisconsin had very similar offensive performances in their first two games. They had 388 yards of total offense against Western Michigan and 385 yards against South Dakota. Their 386.5 yards per game ranks 75th in the nation.

For a team with a dominant defense like the Badgers, they'll be able to compete in the Big Ten with those numbers, but they played a team from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) at home to open the season. There is some concern about how they'll look against better opponents.

"We are happy about where things are going. Even the areas that we think we need improvement on, they're getting better," Longo said. "What we need is, after three weeks, we got to be three weeks better. After six weeks we have to be six weeks better, we have to keep progressing."

Last season, Wisconsin averaged 23.5 points per game, which ranked 93rd in college football. They added Van Dyke from the transfer portal, but with talented veterans returning up and down the roster, many expected a more drastic improvement to start 2024.

"Even last year, we got off to a really slow start, I was not happy where we were early on. I really liked where we finished," Longo said. "We beat Nebraska in overtime at home, we go to Minnesota and beat them at their place, we played much better in the bowl game against LSU than we had during the year, from an explosive standpoint, and a skill standpoint and a receiver standpoint."

With Alabama coming to town in Week 3, Longo and the Badgers can't afford a slow progression. The Crimson Tide are averaging 52.5 points per game, so Wisconsin will need to score if they want any chance of pulling off an upset.