4 takeaways from Wisconsin football's 35-14 victory over Georgia Southern: Badgers start slow again, Hunter Wohler dominates and more

MADISON – Luke Fickell’s football team has followed a curious gameplan in each of the first three games this season.

Start slowly and finish strong.

Whether Wisconsin’s early season formula is sustainable remains to be seen. But the Badgers were able to overcome an ugly first half, thanks largely to six takeaways, en route to their 35-14 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.

An announced crowd of 75,610 was mostly silent in the opening half as Georgia Southern overcame three interceptions to forge a 7-7 tie.

UW turned two third-quarter interceptions into touchdowns to build a 14-point lead and wake the home crowd.

"We've got to find a way whatever that spark is," Fickell said, "whatever that third quarter momentum is or formula is, just try to find it for the first half."

BOX SCORE: Wisconsin 35, Georgia Southern 14

The Badgers (2-1) must play better football – particularly early – beginning Friday when they open Big Ten play at Purdue.

Observations from UW’s victory Saturday:

Wisconsin football team continues theme of 2023 season of starting games slow

UW held a 14-10 halftime lead over Buffalo in the opener and trailed, 24-9, in Week 2 at Washington State.

UW got off to another uneven start Saturday against Georgia Southern and didn’t score until Tanner Mordecai’s 1-yard run on a broken play 42 seconds into the second quarter.

That lead lasted just 2:03 as Georgia Southern drove 77 yards in four plays – thanks in large part to a 68-yard pass play – to forge a tie with 12:11 left in the half.

It was so quiet in Camp Randall Stadium, you would have thought the students were studying for finals.

Georgia Southern missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of the half – and a chance to take a 10-7 lead.

Through the first three games of the season, the Badgers have been outscored by a combined 41-30 in the opening half.

“I do worry,” Fickell said on his weekly radio show when asked about the slow starts. “I try to tell the guys – not that there won’t be a great crowd – but you’ve got to be able to get yourself going. I always felt that way with (early) games.”

Badgers fans: React to Wisconsin's horrendous first half vs. Georgia Southern

Where was Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen in the first half?

Chez Mellusi started at tailback and got most of the work in the opening half. He carried six times for 17 yards and had one catch for 11 yards.

Braelon Allen contributed four carries for 16 yards and had two catches for 5 yards.

The staff continues to look to get Allen involved as a receiver but he entered the game averaging just 2.8 yards per catch.

Allen helped UW forge a 14-14 tie in the third quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run. That came after he had runs of 6 and 32 yards earlier in the 58-yard drive.

Allen rushed eight times for 78 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter to spark UW. He finished with 94 yards on 12 carries.

Mellusi finished with 61 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Quarterback Tanner Mordecai rushed for two scores and finished with 36 yards on seven carries.

Fickell noted after the game Allen suffered an unspecified injury in practice in the days leading to the game.

"I'm not saying he was going to be a game-time decision," Fickell said, "but he had got dinged up a little bit in practice. I can honestly tell you I'm proud of him for the way he fought through, the way he handled even today, and it showed in the second half."

Led by Hunter Wohler, Wisconsin's defense finally starts taking the ball away and the offense, after a slow start, cashes in

The Badgers entered the game with zero takeaways and a minus-five turnover margin.

Mike Tressel’s defense forced three turnovers in the opening half – all easy interceptions by Hunter Wohler, Richard Hallman and Jason Maitre – but the offense failed to turn those mistakes into points.

The Badgers managed a combined 69 yards on 13 plays after the turnovers. They lost the ball on downs after Wohler’s interception and punted after the interceptions by Hallman and Maitre.

UW added two more interceptions in the third quarter – one by linebacker C.J. Goetz and another by Wohler.

The Badgers drove 40 yards for the go-ahead touchdown after Goetz’s interception and 80 yards for another touchdown after Wohler’s second interception.

That allowed UW to take a 28-14 lead into the final quarter.

For good measure, linebacker Maema Njongmeta added a fumble recovery with 9:32 left in the game.

UW then drove 86 yards for a touchdown – a 1-yard run by Mellusi – and a 35-14 lead.

“You play with confidence, you play loose and you play free and you’re going to get those takeaways,” Wohler said. “That is part of the reason we haven’t gotten those is that we have been a little bit uptight.

“There’s a lot of expectations and noise. We have to put that aside and just play our game. We did it all spring, all fall. Play our game and play fast.”

Badgers defense records six takeaways, but struggles to get off the field on third down

Entering Saturday, UW’s defense since the 2010 season had limited visiting teams to a third-down conversion rate of just 27.7%. That included Buffalo converting just 2 of 15 chances in the opener.

Georgia Southern entered the game 12 of 20 on third-down chances this season, converted 6 of 11 chances (54.5%) in the opening half and finished 9 of 17.

Yes, UW recorded six takeaways and rallied for the victory. But the defense must get off the field more consistently.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 4 takeaways from Wisconsin football's 35-14 win over Georgia Southern