Eugene Hilton Jr. could have walked away from Happy Valley feeling pretty good about where Wisconsin’s offense stands.
The 6-foot-2 sophomore receiver played a season-high 45 snaps in Week 4, was targeted eight times, and caught two passes for 29 yards in the Badgers’ 24-20 comeback win over Penn State.
His biggest contribution came late, when Hilton hauled in an 18-yard touchdown that helped turn a 20-10 fourth-quarter deficit into Wisconsin’s biggest win of the season.
It was Hilton’s first college touchdown.
But when he reflected on the game a few days later, the touchdown wasn’t what came to mind.
“Obviously, first touchdown, you have a lot of emotions and things like that going through your mind,” Hilton said. “But for me, it was just trying to get back on track. We were obviously down late, and it was just like, this is a stepping stone to winning.”
That feels like a pretty accurate description of Wisconsin’s offense through four games.
There has been progress.
According to Game on Paper, Wisconsin ranks No. 74 nationally in EPA per play, No. 66 in EPA per dropback, and No. 83 in EPA per rush this season. Those numbers are still nowhere near the standard this offense needs to win consistently in the Big Ten, but they represent a marked improvement from where the unit bottomed out last season under Jeff Grimes.
There have also been enough flashes to understand why Wisconsin believed this offense could become more explosive entering the season.
Colton Joseph threw for 362 yards and three touchdowns against Eastern Michigan. Jacob Harris turned a catch into a 72-yard touchdown at Penn State. Hilton delivered another explosive score just before that.
The problem is connecting enough of those moments together.
“I think we just got to be more consistent in making plays,” Hilton said. “Colton’s going to give us a chance. Coach Grimes is going to call the right stuff, and I think it just comes down to execution.”
That was certainly true at Penn State.
Wisconsin finished with 355 yards despite turning the ball over three times and committing nine penalties. The Badgers needed their defense to repeatedly keep them within striking distance before the offense finally broke through with two fourth-quarter touchdowns late in the game.
Hilton isn’t interested in treating that as evidence of what Wisconsin might accomplish if it simply cleans everything up.
“It’s something you shouldn’t need to think about,” Hilton said. “We just need to execute better. You should never have that problem of we have this many turnovers and we really, really have to lean on our defense. Obviously, our defense helped us, but you don’t want to put yourself in that position.”
That perspective is encouraging.
Wisconsin went on the road, beat the No. 13 team in the country, and showed it could recover from a game that brought plenty of adversity. The offense has also produced more explosive plays through four games than it routinely did a year ago. They’ve kept the sticks moving, too.
The Badgers have recorded at least 15 first downs in all four games this season after reaching that mark just three times all of last year.
But Hilton’s point is that surviving your mistakes and eliminating them are two different things. That becomes the challenge against Michigan State.
Hilton isn’t confusing one big road win with a finished product.
“I think we have a lot of new guys, but I think it just comes back down to doing the fundamentals and knowing that we’re nowhere near where we want to be,” Hilton said. “Obviously, you win that game, but it shouldn’t have been like that. You shouldn’t have to have it come down to that final drive.”
Wisconsin doesn’t need its offense to prove Penn State was the beginning of some dramatic transformation. It needs to turn those flashes into something more consistent by doing a better job of executing its assignments and taking what the defense gives it.
Hilton believes the formula is considerably less complicated than the results have sometimes made it look.
“We got to execute when the ball is in the air, we’ve got to execute when we have a backside block,” Hilton said. “It’s just being consistent in all the little details and fundamentals to help us really take off and be consistent throughout a full game.”
Four games in, Wisconsin’s offense is better. The next step is becoming dependable enough that the flashes start looking more like the standard.
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