The Badgers’ staff remains committed to building an offense that can sustain success in the long haul.
With Phil Longo calling plays and Luke Fickell overseeing, the Wisconsin Badgers offense hasn’t delivered the results that many fans anticipated when this tandem promised a fresh, more modern approach.
Longo’s Air Raid system delivered the team’s lowest scoring average in nearly two decades last season at just 23.5 points per game. While the Badgers have improved slightly to 25.1 points per game this year, it’s still far from where a successful offense needs to be.
The underlying numbers help tell the story of a Wisconsin offense still struggling to find its footing and falling short in several key areas. Right now, the Badgers rank 101st out of 134 teams in both adjusted EPA per play at -0.08 and overall EPA per play at -0.04, according to Game on Paper. Averaging 5.85 yards per play, Wisconsin currently sits at 81st in the country—a far cry from the explosive offense many expected with Longo on the sideline.
As Wisconsin battles through another up-and-down season, Longo opened up about the realities of overhauling a program’s offensive identity in a competitive Big Ten landscape. In response to whether he’s ever encountered a challenge quite like this two years into implementing his system, Longo acknowledged the unique grind of rebuilding within a conference that offers little breathing room.
“Not in a while,” Longo admitted. “It’s a great conference, that’s why I came—great coaches we battle against every week, some really good talent, and it’s a heavy conference from top to bottom. There’s really no bottom feeders in this deal, you’re battling every single week.”
Longo also emphasized the long-term vision that coach Fickell set out to achieve, recognizing that sometimes immediate results don’t mesh with the realities of building a foundation for sustained success.
“You’re hired for a reason—typically things aren’t pristine when you arrive,” Longo explained to reporters. “Right now, these last two years, Fick has a plan and a vision — and he’s laid it out… we all want that to happen tomorrow, but it’s a process, and it takes time.”
For Longo, supporting coach Fickell’s vision means taking the more rigid path toward sustainable improvement rather than aiming for quick fixes from the transfer portal.
The offense’s struggles in both the run and passing game reflect the uphill battle that they’re facing. Breaking down the advanced metrics accentuates these issues further: Wisconsin’s ground game, a traditional cornerstone of the Badgers football program, ranks just 75th in EPA per rush at 0.01.
The passing game hasn’t been any better, with Wisconsin sitting at 110th in EPA per dropback at -0.09, underscoring the overall ineffectiveness, at least with Braedyn Locke as its starting quarterback.
“When you are building something to sustain success, it’s more difficult to do that,” Longo said. “You can go a certain route with regards to upgrading or changing your roster and get an immediate answer for that particular year, or you can build something to sustain some success over the long haul, which is the goal here, and it’s what Fick wants.”
Despite the current struggles, Longo is confident the program is on the right path, though he knows it will require patience.
But here’s where that optimism falls flat: even last season’s underwhelming offensive output — which finished No. 69 nationally in total offense — holds a slight edge in multiple key metrics over this year’s lackluster rendition.
In 2023, the Badgers ranked 76th in adjusted EPA per play (-0.05), 52nd in EPA per rush (0.05), and 101st in EPA per dropback. By comparison, this year’s offense sits at 101st, 75th, and 110th in those respective categories, revealing a regression where fans had hoped to see some form of meaningful progress.
“We’re grinding through that… and I think we’re progressing just like we wanted to,” Longo noted. With the Badgers returning from a bye week, Longo sees an opportunity to refocus and take another step forward. “The energy and the morale and the grind and the work ethic is where we want it… I think we had a good off week… I think we’ll be ready to play.”
As the Badgers head into their final slate of games, Longo and Fickell are decidedly staying the course, intent on establishing an offensive system built for lasting success—even if the short-term results haven’t shown it.
Whether Longo remains at Wisconsin in 2025 may depend on whether he can demonstrate real, meaningful progress in these last three matchups against quality opponents—a tough ask, given what we’ve seen so far.
Wisconsin football (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) returns to the field Saturday night to take on the top-ranked Oregon Ducks at Camp Randall.