The Wisconsin Badgers battled against the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday in a home bout, with the action-packed game going in favor of the Badgers as they defeated the Eagles 35-14.
Heading into the game, the Wisconsin Badgers looked to bounce back after a tough loss to the Washington St. Cougars, while the Eagles, coming off two strong victories, looked to back up this week with another strong offensive showing.
First Half
The Wisconsin Badgers once again started quite slow on offense.
Week to week, the issue on offense has stayed the same: a lack of momentum.
Every time the Badgers would string together a good series of plays, a penalty or mental miscue would send them back and cut drives short. Multiple times during the first half, we could see this issue, as the Badgers racked up four three-and-outs and only scored a measly seven points.
On defense, the Badgers were getting picked apart, but still held their ground where it mattered.
Quarterback Davis Brin played a decent first half, using the Badgers’ soft coverage to exploit quick and shorter passes, and testing slot cornerback Jason Maitre with deep routes in between the hashes and numbers.
A good upside from the defense was getting some very crucial quarterback pressures.
The stunts and blitz implemented in the gameplan this week allowed the defensive line and second line to create pressures that clearly played a factor in forcing interceptions, as the Badgers defense tallied three first-half interceptions.
Still, the offensive struggles led to a 7-7 score at halftime.
Second Half
After a slow start in the first half, the Wisconsin Badgers rallied back with a strong showing in the second to defeat the Georgia Southern Eagles 35-14.
The Badgers’ electrifying running game stole the show in the second half.
Braelon Allen had nearly 100 yards from scrimmage with two touchdowns and his partner in action, Chez Mellusi, tacked on another 74 yards from scrimmage with a touchdown as well.
Tanner Mordecai also added to the rushing touchdown totals with an 18-yard rushing touchdown to take over the lead from the Eagles 21-14.
In the second half, we got to really see the great play-calling from Phil Longo as the Badgers were able to string together four straight touchdown drives after going down 14-7.
The second-half drives contained a good mix of strong running, RPOs, and screens allowing the Badgers to drive the ball downfield and control the tempo of the game.
After allowing a touchdown on the first drive of the second half, the Badgers defense bounced back fast with the help of a strong performance from junior safety Hunter Wohler, allowing only seven points in the second half and zero points on the last four drives.
Takeaways
Overall, the Badgers played a solid game this Saturday resulting in their win, but there is still concern looking forward to Wisconsin’s upcoming schedule.
The Badgers must continue to find ways to pressure the quarterback and force turnovers like they did today.
The Badgers also must find a way to get off the field on third down, as they allowed nine conversions out of 17 opportunities on third down, which allowed the Eagles’ offense to remain on the field and extend drives.
Without control of the time of possession or the tempo of the game, the Badgers lost a lot of momentum and ability to play the game by their standards.
Additionally, the Badgers were basically standstill on offense early as they could not get much going in either the run or the pass until later during the game.
The Badgers' ability to control the clock and the game will play a major factor in how they can run their offense and keep the good fortunes going as they head to West Lafayette next weekend for a conference bout against the Purdue Boilermakers.
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