Wisconsin Football Defeats Georgia Southern: Here’s What Stood Out

In a less-than-convincing fashion, Wisconsin football, led by Luke Fickell, clinched a win over Georgia Southern with a final score of 35-14 at Camp Randall Stadium in their last game before Big Ten play. 

Here are a few things that stood out to me from the Wisconsin Badgers week three victory over Georgia Southern. 

Wisconsin Football Still Sorting Out the Chez Mellusi & Braelon Allen Timeshare 

Wisconsin football star running back Braelon Allen expressed frustration with his lack of touches against Washington State. But Luke Fickell and company opted to feature No. 2 tailback Chez Mellusi in the first half against Georgia State instead of the Badgers preseason All-American.

On the day, Mellusi finished with 15 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown on the ground. The sixth-year senior also caught two passes for 13 yards.

Chez goes airborne ✈️🐰 pic.twitter.com/9H5OMeCV0H

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) September 16, 2023

Allen didn’t receive his first carry of the game until halfway through the second quarter. Nevertheless, UW got him involved in the second half, and Allen finished the day with 12 carries for 94 yards & two touchdowns. He also chipped in two catches for five yards.

Wisconsin football is 9-0 since 2021 when both tailbacks run for 50+ yards — which isn’t a huge surprise. Undoubtedly, the Badgers will need both running backs to reach their offensive ceiling, but finding a way to get both players carries without prolonged time on the sidelines will be paramount.

Despite Turnovers, Wisconsin Football Pass Defense Could Be Problematic

To say the Wisconsin football team played a bend, don’t-break brand of defense against Georgia Southern would be an understatement. 

While the Badgers managed to secure their first six turnovers of the season via interceptions by Hunter Wohler (2), Ricardo Hallman, Jason Maitre, and C.J. Goetz, plus a fumble recovery by Maema Njongmeta, the secondary struggled against Georgia Southern’s passing game, guided by a relatively unknown quarterback, Davis Brin.

Hunter is HIM. 🤯

pic.twitter.com/xkmnC7G3hW

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) September 16, 2023

In the first half alone, Georgia Southern had over 251 yards passing and finished with 383 yards total through the air, which is a problem. Clay Helton’s team also had more total yards (455) than Wisconsin (451). 

Overall, it was great to see Wisconsin football defense forcing turnovers left and right — but the chunk plays routinely given up were concerning. Even though the Badgers were credited with five sacks, it felt like the quarterback wasn’t under consistent pressure. 

Some great things happened today, and that’s worth acknowledging, but overall, I don’t feel much better about the defense and their ability to limit big plays than I did a week ago. 

Luke Fickell Must Find a Way to Overcome Slow Starts

With a pattern that’s persisted for three straight weeks, Wisconsin football has grappled with sluggish starts, forcing them to mount second-half comebacks.

Thus far, the Badgers have been outscored in the first half by their opponents 41-30 despite not playing a murderer’s row of opponents. 

There’s no way to quantify it, but it feels like the Wisconsin Badgers play with zero juice, inadvertently giving their opponents enough confidence to hang around longer than they should. 

Conversely, Wisconsin football is outscoring opponents 65-21 in the second half, which proves the Badgers staff has done an excellent job of making halftime adjustments. Regardless, the team needs to start faster, or they’ll find themselves in holes during Big Ten play they can’t dig themselves out of. 

Contact/Follow us @Badger_Notes on Twitter, Subscribe to the BadgerNotes Newsletter here, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, opinion, and analysis. You can also follow Dillon Graff on Twitter @DillonGraff.

Follow this link and use promo code: BADGERNOTES for 25% off your next True Classic order.

Join the Badger Notes watch party and stream Wisconsin Badgers games by following this link.

*Subscribe to BadgerNotes After Dark on Youtube and wherever you find podcasts, the official Wisconsin Badgers podcast of the Big Banter Sports Network.