Luke Fickell commends defense after six turnover performance

Georgia Southern quarterback Davis Brin had a statline last Saturday that might never have before been recorded in college football history, and you have the Wisconsin defense to thank for that.

Brin completed 33 of his 55 passes for 383 yards and one touchdown. But he also threw five interceptions, and the Badgers defense also forced another fumble.

It was a huge moment for Wisconsin to be able to force a turnover after failing to do so in the first two weeks of the season.

“They made the plays when they were thrown that way,” Badgers head coach head coach Luke Fickell said in his post-game press conference. “Some people laugh, well, they were thrown right to a couple of them. They were. But they’ve also been thrown just before and ball hasn’t bounced. When the plays were there, they had an opportunity to make them.”

Hunter Wohler led the charge on defense with two interceptions on the day. Wohler also had a team-high 10 tackles and a sack in the game, leading to him earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.

The six turnovers led to the Badgers having a positive turnover margin on the season, leading to a funny moment on the sideline between Fickell and strength coach Brady Collins

“Coach Brady said that with about two minutes and 13 seconds to go, ‘hey, we’re on the positive in the turnover — I said, ‘don’t you dare jinx this thing. Who knows what can happen in two minutes and 13 seconds,'” Fickell said. “But we talked about it. I wasn’t going to overemphasize. We got turnovers but I still think maybe the better what we did was we tackled better. We leveraged things. When you get some turnovers, I think you’re by nature, just see yourself being a little bit more aggressive. Some of them were, you know, pressure throws to us and then some of them were really really good plays.”

The Badgers offense was paced again by its run game, which is usually led by Braelon Allen.

But Allen was a little banged up so Chez Mellusi got a fair amount of carries to start the game. Fickell also said part of the reason Mellusi got more carries to start was due to the flow of the game.

“Change of pace a little bit,” Fickell said of the decision to play Mellusi more to start. “Braelon was dinged up a little bit. But that’s what I’m as proud [as] anything. He didn’t bat an eye at it, whether it was being dinged up a little bit or, ‘Hey, this is the route we’re gonna go based on where you are physically.’

“He thinks he feels a lot better. And like I said, I’m not saying he was going to be a game-time decision. But he got dinged up a little bit in practice. I can honestly tell you, I’m proud of the way he fought through, the way he handled even today, and it showed in the second half.”