All-Out Blitz Week 3: Wisconsin vs. Georgia Southern

BadgerBlitz.com brings back its All-Out Blitz weekly series, where you can find everything you need to know about Wisconsin's next opponent. We look at UW's third and final non-conference foe in Georgia Southern, who the Badgers will face Saturday morning at Camp Randall. (11:00 a.m. CT, BTN).

QUICK PROGRAM FACTS

Head Coach: Clay Helton (8-7 at Georgia Southern)

Georgia Southern All Time Record: 409-241-10 (.627)

2022 Record: 2-0

Rankings: N/A

Series vs. Wisconsin: N/A

Clay Helton joined Georgia Southern prior to last season after being fired from USC. The former Pac-12 coach took his pass-centric offense and implemented it in a historically run-centric Georgia Southern program. He’s looked to the transfer portal for help, notably at quarterback with Davis Brin.

The fifth-year senior joined Georgia Southern after spending four years at Tulsa, where he never really managed to play a complete season of quality football. The only time Brin started the full season was 2021, when he completed just 59.2% of his passes for 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He missed the end of the 2022 season with an injury, then transferred to Georgia Southern prior to the start of the season. The transition to Helton’s offense seems to be working in Brin’s favor. Through two games, he’s on pace for easily his best year, completing 78.3% of his throws for 562 yards and four touchdowns.

Brin has also thrown an interception in each of his first two games, which is great news for a Wisconsin defense that has yet to force a turnover this season. The Eagles are averaging 41.5 pass attempts per game with a turnover-prone quarterback. There won’t be a better chance for a while.

At safety, Hunter Wohler has grown into perhaps the best player on Wisconsin’s defense. He leads the Big Ten with 24 tackles, and his 20 solo tackles rank second nationally. Opposite Wohler is Kamo'i Latu, whose name still sits atop the depth chart, but is being slowly phased out by backups Travion Blaylock and Preston Zachman. Saturday could be a make-or-break performance for Latu. The rest of the secondary should feel some comfort knowing that Brin can’t burn them like Cameron Ward did, but they’ll still be tested by another pass-centric offense.

Like the first two opponents, Georgia Southern doesn’t have any overly-dominant receivers or weapons, as three players have at least 12 receptions through the first two games. They did return leading receiver Kaleb Hood, who caught 87 passes for 925 yards last year. Derwin Burgess Jr. led the team in touchdowns with seven, and is the primary deep threat.

Given Helton’s pass-centric offense, running backs play supporting roles but still must be accounted for. They return Jalen White, who led the team with 162 rushes for 914 yards and 10 touchdowns on 5.4 yards per carry. He will run alongside OJ Arnold, who only has 12 rushes, but averages 8.3 yards per carry. Both backs have a pair of touchdowns so far this season.

The pair will match up with a Wisconsin front that has yet to be tested by a real rushing attack, and this week seems to be more of the same. They can instead gear their energy toward putting pressure on Brin. The team-leader in pressures is inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta with eight, according to Pro Football Focus. Edge rusher Darryl Peterson recorded four in the season opener and sits just behind Njongmeta with six. They’re set to get some additional help from Darian Varner, the edge rusher transfer from Temple who’s been sidelined with an injury. He’ll join a defensive line rotation that’s slowly improving after losing some key players in the offseason. It’s led by starting end James Thompson Jr., whose two sacks leads the team.

Luckily for the Wisconsin defense, the ultimate goal is simple — force turnovers and give more opportunities to the offense, the unit with the clearer advantage.

Wisconsin will come out and want to run. Against Buffalo, it ran for 100 yards in the first half and won comfortably. But against Washington State, the Badgers could only muster 27 yards on 17 rushes, finishing the game with just 91 yards.

Most surprisingly, Braelon Allen had perhaps the least productive game of his career, only rushing the ball seven times. He did catch six balls, which led the team, but only for 11 yards. Phil Longo incorporating Allen into the passing game has been an impressive transformation, but he’s still the best player on the offense, and it’s because of what he does with the ball in his hands. I expect a bounce back week from Allen, as well as Chez Mellusi, who had his best game as a Badger just two weeks ago.

They’ll match up with the defense’s strongest unit — the linebackers. Headlining the unit is Marques Watson-Trent, whose 21 tackles leads the team. Alongside Trent is Khadry Jackson, another solid inside linebacker whose 14 tackles ranks second. In the Eagles’ opener, they beat The Citadel 34-0, but still gave up 198 rushing yards. Last week, UAB could only muster 92 yards on 29 carries, but eventually resorted to passing to try and come back. This run defense is somewhat of a mystery. Still, it’s hard to imagine they’ll contain a Badgers’ duo desperate to bounce back.

After Wisconsin’s disastrous first half on offense against Washington State, Tanner Mordecai stepped up and nearly brought them back. At one point in the third quarter, he completed 11 consecutive passes, then led back-to-back touchdown drives. Mordecai became the first Badgers quarterback to complete over 24 passes in back-to-back games since Joel Stave in 2015.

Despite the improvement, he’s still made some frustrating mistakes, especially when it comes to turnovers. Mordecai threw two interceptions in the season opener then fumbled twice last week. He’s still yet to find a true favorite receiver, but slot receiver Will Pauling has become the closest thing. Pauling, a transfer from Cincinnati, leads the team with 10 receptions for 133 yards. Returning Badger Chimere Dike is second in yards with 104 and scored a touchdown against Buffalo.

They’ll compete against a secondary coming off of a week where they allowed UAB’s Jacob Zeno, who entered with nine career passing touchdowns in four years, to complete 33 of 43 passes for 385 yards and two touchdowns. The unit is going to need time to recover from the loss of their two best corners in the transfer portal — Derrick Canteen went to Virginia Tech while veteran Anthony Wilson left for TCU.

Mordecai will also have to hope his offensive line holds up after a weekend with a few disasters. Tackle Jack Nelson allowed Ron Stone Jr. to beat him twice, resulting in two strip-sack fumbles and a touchdown. Georgia Southern has a dangerous defensive end in Isaac Walker, who isn’t as athletic as Stone, but will surely add pressure to a questionable offensive line.

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