Madison — When Wisconsin football announced that Phil Longo would bring his high-flying "air raid" scheme to the Badgers' offense, expectations were understandably through the roof.

As they so often do, however, expectations haven't met the reality so far in the offensive coordinator's first season in Madison. The Badgers' scoring offense, at 26.9 points-per-game, ranks a tepid 76th nationally and 6th in the Big Ten. There's a litany of other statistics that make the same point: Wisconsin's offense, once prophesied to be dynamic and unstoppable, is mediocre at best.

“Very honestly, I would say, whether there’s a lot of hype or no hype or anything in between, it really doesn't change anything that we do," Longo said. "It really doesn’t change my mindset. My mindset is, we’re gonna put it in with the people that we have. We’re gonna play to their strengths. You learn that your first year as you go through the season, and you build your offense accordingly."

Aside from having to craft his offense from a combination of transfers and holdovers from the prior regime, Longo has had to deal with two crippling injuries to two of his best players.

"We hit our first obstacle, the loss of Chez Mellusi, who was arguably our most explosive player," he said. "So you gotta regroup."

Two games later, starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai broke his hand and is now out indefinitely. Mellusi and Mordecai were two of the most experienced and talented players on the offense.

"You regroup after that, and then you get hit again. The loss of Tanner Mordecai is obviously a huge loss," Longo continued. "The road has changed twice already."

Losing those two players is obviously devastating for a coordinator in his first year on the job. Nonetheless, the Badgers' offense has had its share of issues even with Mellusi and Mordecai healthy.

Perhaps most noticeably, they've struggled to start fast and come out of the gates firing on all cylinders. Longo didn't seem all that concerned with that aspect of his unit's performance.

"I will say our staff has done a good job making adjustments as we go through the game," he said. "The other part of it is guys settling in, getting more comfortable with what the defense is doing.”

The offensive line has also been under a microscope, for several reasons. One, Longo and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell have elected to play three guards — Michael Furtney, Joe Huber and Trey Wedig — for much of the season.

“We haven’t shuffled for continuity, we’re shuffling because we like the three guards that we have, and we roll through those guys," Longo explained. "Part of it is, you wanna keep guys fresh. We roll through three wideouts, we roll through two slots. When he had Chez here, we were rolling through two backs more. We utilize three tight ends, and the philosophy is no different on the offensive line. "

Still, Longo acknowledged the need for continuity up front, something Wisconsin has missed for multiple years now.

"That’s not to say your front five needing continuity is not important; it certainly is.”

Another reason the offensive line is a hot topic is the Badgers' situation at center. Highly-touted transfer Jake Renfro is still working his way back from an injury, but Luke Fickell said several weeks ago that he'd be ready if they absolutely needed him to be. In his stead is the versatile Tanor Bortolini, who has at times struggled with snapping the ball.

“You’ll see him after every practice working on it," Longo said of Bortolini. "It is a concern, but it’s being addressed by me, it’s being addressed by our staff, it’s being addressed by our centers. It has gotten better. I don’t know that it’s been a major problem in the last couple weeks...I feel like he’s improving, and that’s all we can ask from him.”

Wisconsin's offense has struggled to find big plays in the passing game, and that directly correlates to another issue: lack of separation from wide receivers on the perimeter. Longo conceded that his receivers' separation isn't where it needs to be.

“I think it’s a work in progress, but I think we’re getting better, I think we’re trending in the right direction," he said. "You gotta plug the next guy in and keep playing. And we make some adjustments, because the next guy sometimes is different from a talent perspective.”

Quite simply, the Badgers don't have many wide outs who have elite separation skills. That falls more into slot receivers' Will Pauling and Skyler Bell's wheelhouse.

"You let the talent take you where you’re going. You target the better people. This isn’t rocket science," Longo said plainly. "As you’ll see here at some point, you’ll (eventually) have an explosive wide receiver that you can focus on."

Ultimately, the offense has plenty to work on. Amid injuries, shuffling personnel and flat-out poor play, it's been a disappointing start to the Longo era in Madison. The coordinator, though, remains focused on the bigger picture.

"When you’re building something like this, you’re building for consistent success over the long haul, and that takes some time," he said. "You don’t win a national championship day one...I like where we’re headed; we’d like to have some better execution. I challenge myself to do a better job every day."

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