Wisconsin gets another shot at Maryland, and the memory of last year’s trip to Madison is still ugly enough to sting. The Badgers were beaten 27-10 in the Big Ten opener, a game that was even less competitive than the final score suggests. It was one of Wisconsin’s roughest outings of the season, and the frustration only grows when you look back and see how Maryland’s year collapsed afterward.
The Terps opened 4-0 after that win over Wisconsin, then dropped their final eight games and finished 1-8 in conference play. Their only Big Ten victory came against the Badgers. Over the last three seasons, Maryland is 3-21 in Big Ten games, which puts plenty of pressure on Luke Fickell and his team to avoid another damaging result against a struggling opponent.
One of the biggest reasons Wisconsin has reason for optimism is Ryan Hopkins. The true freshman turned in one of the best starting debuts by a freshman quarterback in Badgers history last week against Rutgers, though that came against a defense that was far from imposing. Rutgers entered with the 90th-ranked passing defense and the 123rd-ranked total defense in the country.
Maryland’s pass defense is not much more intimidating. The Terps are also 90th nationally against the pass, giving up 227.1 yards per game. Even so, Wisconsin needs Hopkins to show the same control and confidence for a second straight week, especially with the game on the road.
“Ryan played well enough for us to win a football game. Ryan’s going to continue to get better.
Colton has played really well for us to win big football games. We’ve got something we haven’t had; we’ve gotta find a way to make sure we continue to use that,” Fickell said this week.
Fickell has already said Hopkins will start against Maryland, but he also made it clear that Joseph could still be used in certain spots. That didn’t happen last week, and it’s fair to be skeptical about how much of that plan actually shows up.
Maryland has a habit of making quarterbacks look better than they are. Purdue’s Ryan Browne, Rutgers’ Dylan Lonergan, and Nebraska’s Anthony Colandrea all had strong outings against the Terps.
Wisconsin’s offense should be able to move the ball too, especially with Jamare Glasker and the rest of Maryland’s corners not exactly locking things down. Glasker has allowed a reception percentage of 44.9 percent on 49 targets.
The more dangerous part of Maryland’s offense is Malik Washington, who carved up Wisconsin last season as a true freshman making his first road start and first Big Ten start. He threw for 265 yards and accounted for three total touchdowns in that game, including a nine-yard scoring pass and a one-yard rushing touchdown in the red zone. He later added a 62-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to push Maryland ahead 27-3.
Washington’s season this year looks a lot like that debut in one important way: he’s playing well again. But the lack of major growth also stands out, and that’s not exactly surprising for a quarterback on a 3-6 team with an interim head coach.
For Wisconsin, the defensive plan has to start with making Washington uncomfortable and forcing longer third downs. That may not be easy, because Maryland has allowed only 10 sacks.
Still, Washington has been pressured on 24% of his drop-backs, and the Terps give up an average of nine pressures per game. Wisconsin’s pass rush has to disrupt his timing and make him work through his reads.
The other key is getting Maryland behind the sticks on the ground. The Terps rank 106th nationally in rushing at 129.6 yards per game, and Wisconsin’s 19th-ranked run defense should be able to handle that part of the matchup on paper.
That brings the focus back to Wisconsin’s own rushing attack, which has been inconsistent despite the offense being better overall this fall. A big reason is that the Badgers have not given their tailbacks enough chances, leaning heavily on Colton Joseph’s legs to fuel the ground game. With Joseph now benched, the question is whether Wisconsin finally turns more often to its backs.
“The backs have to have the ball in their hand a little more, we have to find ways. Sometimes it’s harder when you’re playing multiple guys back there, you don’t give a guy a chance to get a little bit hot. That’s always been an issue for me,” Fickell said this week.
“I’ve kinda challenged them, I said look, I’m not saying you go to a one-back system, where only one guy is in there, I’m not even saying go to a two-back system. But I think it’s much more difficult to think you’re gonna go with more than two guys,” he continued.
Maryland gives up 150.4 rushing yards per game, which ranks 80th nationally and 15th in the Big Ten. That should be a spot where Wisconsin can create some movement. The real question is whether the Badgers commit to it and let Sama or Dupree carry the load if one of them gets rolling.
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