Wisconsin star running backs Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi are a strong duo on and off the field

MADISON – Good luck finding even a hint of jealousy or insecurity lurking somewhere inside Wisconsin teammates Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi.

Neither quality appears to be present in either running back.

“Going into Year 3, being somewhat of a duo, off the field I would say we consider each other best friends,” Allen said after the duo combined to rush for 298 yards and four touchdowns to spark UW to a 38-17 victory over Buffalo on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. “Everything we do off the field is pretty much done together…It’s always the two of us.

“I would say we are (inseparable). Our relationship goes far beyond the field.”

Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi became friends shortly after they arrived at UW in 2021

Mellusi and Allen came to UW in 2021. Mellusi transferred from Clemson. Allen graduated a year early from Fond du Lac High School.

“We got here at the same time,” Mellusi said, “and he has been like a brother to me. When he does well, it means a lot to me because it makes me want to do well. We feed off each other.”

Mellusi, who missed a total of eight games because of injuries in his two seasons at UW, has never been healthier since arriving from Clemson.

“I feel great,” he said. “My body is in a good spot.”

Replay: How Wisconsin's 38-17 win over Buffalo unfolded

On Saturday, Mellusi finished with 157 yards and two touchdowns on just 13 carries, an average of 12.1 yards per carry.

Allen finished with 141 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, an average of 8.3 yards per carry.

Mellusi got the Camp Randall Stadium crowd rocking with a stunning 89-yard touchdown run to help UW build its lead to 21-10 with 8 minutes 28 seconds left in the third quarter.

“There’s nothing more exciting than a one-play drive,” center Tanor Bortolini joked.

Mellusi took the handoff from quarterback Tanner Mordecai at the UW 6, immediately made one defender miss and started to the right. Seeing a lane opening on the backside, Mellusi cut back to his left behind the down-block of left tackle Jack Nelson at the 15.

Mellusi ran away from three defenders, eluded the attempted tackle of a fourth defender near midfield, cut back and avoided three defenders near the Buffalo 30 and was home free.

One play. Eighty-nine yards. Six points. Fifteen seconds.

“I hit it and saw a lane,” Mellusi said. “I just read the perimeter blocking and my receivers were working hard for me, so I just kind of set some of the blocks up.”

Luke Fickell loved Chez Mellusi's long run. He also loved Braelon's reaction on the sideline.

Allen, watching from the sideline, greeted his fellow running back as soon as he could.

Head coach Luke Fickell noticed that.

“I didn't just see the energy that Chez brought on his big, long run,” Fickell said. “I saw the energy that Braelon had for Chez after the long run. And I saw the excitement that Chez had for Braelon when he had his long drive and got things rolling and changed the tempo of the game.

"And, to me, that means a lot to the locker room, because there's all kinds of human elements that are throughout the entire locker room, especially when game time hits, whether a guy has the ball enough or made enough tackles or missed enough tackles.

“But they're a great example of what momentum and energy can do and what healthy competition looks like."

Allen was in the lineup on UW’s next possession and rushed five times for 56 yards and a touchdown to help push the lead to 28-10. He broke tackles on a 37-yard run to the Buffalo 6 and then powered his way into the end zone on the next play.

“When one of us is doing well,” Allen said, “it just pushes the other to do well, too. I saw Chez break 89, so in my mind I said: ‘OK, I’ve got to try to one-up him.’

“He wants that for me, too. I think that is a big part of our success. I also think being close off the field helps you hold each other accountable when one guy isn’t playing up to his standard or he isn’t doing the right things. You can kind of getting into him a little. It makes us who we are…

“It is easy. Being as close as we are, we both want to see each other succeed. We both have the same goals.”

To win games.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Inside friendship between Wisconsin's Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi