Badgers think offense is close to its full potential: 'We can smell it'

Madison — Wisconsin’s new regime promised change in Madison. Supposed changes on the offensive side of the football, specifically, helped fuel the offseason hype train surrounding the Badgers.

After a brutal road loss to Washington State, that train is nearly off the rails. Sitting at 1-1, Wisconsin’s expectations have shifted and reality is starting to set in. The honeymoon is officially over.

Underscoring the Badgers’ disappointing start to the season is the inconsistency of the offense that brought so much promise to Madison. There’s been flashes, but the erratic performance of the running and passing games have led to incomplete performances through the first two weeks of the season.

In the opener, Wisconsin ran for an eye-popping 314 yards. Buffalo was simply overmatched on the ground. Against Washington State, Tanner Mordecai had a solid day moving the ball through the air and made plenty of big plays downfield. What’s missing, though, has been the other element of the offense in each game.

“Right now it’s (about) playing complimentary football,” Braelon Allen said. “Offense-defense as well, but more so being able to run the ball and throw the ball well in every game, I think that’s kinda what we’re missing right now. Being able to play off each other.”

For Phil Longo’s offense to operate at full capacity, Wisconsin must be able to deploy both a potent passing game and a dangerous rushing attack. They’ll have one more chance to possibly tinker with schematics and personnel against a clearly weaker opponent in Georgia Southern.

“Sunday, we watched the film and learned from our mistakes. After that, it’s all about Georgia Southern,” Mordecai said. “So that’s what we’ve been focusing on, our opponent this week, and not trying to dwell on what happened last week.”

Playing complementary offensive football will certainly help the Badgers have more sustained success. There’s another troubling trend setting in for Longo’s offense, however: starting slow.

In the opener, Wisconsin punted on four of its first six drives and failed to generate any sort of momentum. Against Washington State, Wisconsin’s drives in the first half consisted of three field goals, a punt and two fumbles in what was a highly disjointed effort.

When the Badgers play a team like Buffalo, whom they should beat handily any day of the week, they can overcome a slow start. And they did. On the road against a fired up team like the Cougars, the discombobulated first half dug the Badgers in a hole that ultimately proved too deep. Mordecai understands the gravity of coming out hot.

“Starting faster, starting with high execution,” he said. “I think that what we need to do better is start games faster, which I don’t think we’ve done a great job of in the last weeks.”

It was naive to expect Wisconsin to start the season with their offense in high gear as if Longo had been the play-caller in Madison for a decade. Still, it’s also reasonable to expect growth throughout the season. Despite a shaky first two weeks, Mordecai believes the Badgers are on the cusp of unlocking their full potential.

“I think we’re right there. We can feel it, we can smell it. It goes back to our preparation, what we do during the week, trust in our plan. It’s gonna happen at some point. I think we had a great week of practice, it could definitely happen this week.”