Indiana Football vs Wisconsin: Key players, notes and opening spread

Indiana football hosts the Wisconsin Badgers at Memorial Stadium this Saturday.

Wisconsin comes into this game with a record of 5-3 with wins against Buffalo, Georgia Southern, Purdue, Rutgers and Illinois. The team’s losses came against Washington State, Iowa and Ohio State.

Kickoff is set for Noon ET on Saturday and the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Here is a look at some of the key players, notes and the opening spread.

Key players

QB Tanner Mordecai: The redshirt senior quarterback is in his sixth year of college after starting his career at Oklahoma. He spent three years there before transferring to SMU where he threw 72 total touchdown passes in 2 seasons before transferring again to the Badgers after the 2022 season. Mordecai committed to Wisconsin as a four-star transfer after originally committing as a four-star dual threat QB in 2017. The 6-foot-2 211-pounder has not been as successful in the Big Ten as he was with SMU, in six games for the Badgers he has 1127 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, 3 interceptions and has added 174 scrimmage yards and 4 rushing touchdowns.

RB Braelon Allen: The junior running back has been a workhorse for the Badgers since he stepped on campus, in his first two years recording 2653 total yards and 23 touchdowns while earning All-Big Ten second team (consensus) honors in 2022. He originally committed to the Badgers as a linebacker/safety but converted to running back without any issue. The 6-foot-2 240-pound running back has great size for the position and uses it well to bounce off tacklers and keep churning forward for extra yards. Allen is off to a great start in 2023, in eight games he has 850 total yards and 8 touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards-per-rush.

RB Chez Mellusi: The fifth year senior running back began his career with Clemson where he spent two seasons, scoring seven total touchdowns with 465 total yards. The 5-foot-11 running back was a four-star recruit coming out high school but transferred to Wisconsin as a three-star transfer (247sports). In his first two seasons with the Badgers, he played in 18 games recording 1379 total yards and 8 touchdowns while averaging 4.5 yards-per-rush. Mellusi is having a good season and is third on the team in total yards with 319 while adding 4 touchdowns on 6.0 yards-per-rush.

WR Will Pauling: The redshirt sophomore wide receiver spent his first two years at Cincinnati with now Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell before transferring to Wisconsin. Pauling had only 120 total yards with Cincy but has been much more productive with Wisconsin. The 5-foot-10 165-pounder committed to Fickell out of high school as a three-star recruit. In eight games he has lead the team in receiving yards and catches with 449 receiving yards on 41 catches while adding two touchdowns. Pauling has had at least 4 catches and 50 yards and all but 4 games and has reached those numbers in the team’s last four games.

S Hunter Wohler: The junior safety and Wisconsin native committed to the Badgers in 2019 as a four-star recruit and he is having his most productive season yet. In his first two years, Wohler played 19 games and had 38 total tackles, 5 tackles-for-loss, one interception and one sack. He has been a swiss army knife on the Badgers defense doing a little bit of everything for Luke Fickell. The 6-foot-2 safety currently leads the Badgers in total tackles with 78 and has added 3.5 tackles-for-loss, a sack, two interceptions and four pass breakups on the season.

OLB Darryl Peterson: The redshirt sophomore outside linebacker committed to the Badgers as a four-star edge rusher from Akron, Ohio in 2020. He only appeared in two games in his first season but in 2022, he played in all 13 games recording 27 total tackles, two tackles-for-loss and two sacks. The 6-foot-1 247-pound edge rusher currently leads the Badgers in sacks with 4.5 and tackles-for-loss with 8 while adding 27 total tackles and a pass breakup. In his last two games against Ohio State and Illinois, Peterson has 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles-for-loss.

OLB CJ Goetz : The grad student outside linebacker and Wisconsin native committed to the Badgers in 2017 as a three-star recruit. Goetz did not play much prior to 2020 but from 2020-2022 he played in 30 games, recording 88 total tackles, 13.5 tackles-for-loss and 5 sacks. The 6-foot-3 243-pound edge rusher was a All-Big Ten honorable mention (media) in 2o22. In eight games in 2023, Goetz has 31 total tackles, 7.5 tackles-for-loss, 4 sacks, an interception, a forced fumbles and two pass breakups.

CB Ricardo Hallman: The redshirt sophomore cornerback committed to the Badgers in 2020 as a three-star recruit. In his first two years with the program, Hallman recorded 10 total tackles, 0.5 tackles-for-loss, one interception and four pass breakups. The 5-foot-10 173-pound corner has been a ballhawk this year for the Badgers. He is second in the NCAA with 5 interceptions and has taken one interception back for a touchdown. Hallman has also added 5 pass breakups, 22 total tackles and one tackle-for-loss.

Other Notable Players: 

Alexander Smith CB, Grad. 

Jack Nelson OT, Rs-Fr.

Trey Wedig OT, Rs-Jr. 

Jake Chaney LB, Jr.

Maema Njongmeta LB, Rs-Sr.

James Thompson Jr. DE, Rs-Jr.

Key Notes

• Indiana football is 19-41-2 against Wisconsin all time with the first matchup taking place in 1907
• Indiana football won its last matchup against the Badgers in 2o20, winning 14-6 on the road
• Prior to that victory, Wisconsin had won 1o straight matchups against Indiana
• The average margin of victory for Wisconsin over that stretch was 36.9 points
• This marks just the third meeting between the two programs since the Big Ten East/West Divisions were formed in 2014
• Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is 3-0 against the Hoosiers, beating them with Ohio State and Cincinnati
• Wisconsin is allowing opposing offenses to score 19 ppg which is good enough for 25th in the country
• The Badgers are 17-2 (4-0 this season) when Braelon Allen rushes for 100 yards

Spread

• Indiana football opened as 9.5-point underdogs and an the O/U opened at 45.

SEE ALSO: Quick Hitters: Early breakdown and initial thoughts on Penn State

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