Apparently, rock bottom has a basement.
I was not alive when Don Morton was the head coach of Wisconsin Badgers football, but the Badgers’ 27-10 loss to the Maryland Terrapins at Camp Randall Stadium sure felt like it. How bad was the loss? Chris McIntosh had to address the status of Fickell and the Badgers, who got “Fire Fickell!” chants directed at them at halftime, and voice his support for the program to the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
There’s no sugarcoating this
game. The Badgers were outcoached and outclassed by a Maryland Terrapins team that came in as a 9.5-point underdog with a true freshman quarterback. It was arguably the worst effort from a Badgers team at Camp Randall Stadium since the 2022 loss to Illinois that led to Paul Chryst’s firing.
The overall statistics do not accurately portray how bad Wisconsin was. Offensively, it was a joke. The Badger offensive line allowed six sacks and failed to generate any momentum after Trech Kekahuna’s catch and run for 45 yards in the first quarter.
Defensively, the Badgers allowed 326 yards, which included the secondary being slow to react on Terrapin pass plays. The final dagger of the game came when both Gemiere Latimer and Ricardo Hallman were beaten on Maryland’s Shaleak Knott’s 62-yard touchdown catch.
Here are three things that stood out from Maryland’s big win over Wisconsin.
Maryland has put 2024 in their rear-view mirror.
At Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas, Locksley admitted during his press conference that he had lost control of his locker room, and the Terrapin football team was divided into “haves and have-nots.” So far this year, the Terrapins appear much more connected as a team, and today’s win over the Badgers proved it.
Locksley’s unit came out with attitude and physicality, and over time, Maryland’s team continued to gain confidence while Wisconsin’s poise shriveled. Maryland had a game plan to get the ball into their playmakers’ hands, while the Badgers came out with zero plan.
Malik Washington
This game was going to be a big test for the true freshman quarterback, and he aced it. Washington accounted for all three of Maryland’s touchdowns, starting with the first touchdown of the game, a one-yard keeper. On a 3rd-and-4 in Wisconsin territory, Washington connected with Shaleak Knotts to make it 14-0. As mentioned earlier, Washington’s 62-yard pass to Knotts put the final nail in the coffin for Wisconsin.
Washington finished the game with 18-of-34 for 265 yards, but those statistics could have been better had some of Maryland’s pass catchers not dropped a handful of passes throughout the game.
Jeff Grimes’ play calling
Today was not Grimes’ best day at play-calling, starting with the questionable decision to run Dilin Jones on 3rd & 7 in Maryland territory on the first drive of the game. During the game, the Wisconsin offense used gadget or trick plays that were wildly unsuccessful.
Two of those plays were Jones in the Wildcat formation, where the snap went over the running back’s head for a 23-yard loss, and a Tyrell Henry intended pass for Eugene Hilton that Maryland should have intercepted.
