The Wisconsin Badgers had as rough a first half as you could imagine against the Maryland Terrapins in Week 4. They trail 20-0 at halftime, and the ‘Fire Fickell’ chants have started at Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers started off the game with some promise. Starting quarterback Billy Edwards, who made his return from a knee injury in the season opener, connected with Trech Kekahuna for a 45-yard completion to get Wisconsin in field goal range.
However, Wisconsin elected to run the ball on a 3rd &
6, and Nathanial Vakos’s 38-yard field goal was blocked.
The Badgers defense got a big stop on their first drive, but were placed in a bad position after Danny O’Neil threw an ugly interception off his back foot looking for an open Trech Kekahuna. The return gave Maryland great field position, and they capitalized with a touchdown.
Wisconsin wasn’t executing much offensively, but they were getting stops defensively. However, their defense was put into another bad position when Atticus Bertrams had a punt blocked to give Maryland field position at the 28-yard line.
That parlayed into another touchdown for the Terrapins. Wisconsin had some promise on the ensuing drive, but a botched snap on 2nd & 3 in Maryland territory led to a 23-yard loss, serving as a drive killer.
Maryland later got a field goal off their best offensive drive later in the second quarter, thanks to a couple of big completions from true freshman quarterback Malik Washington.
Wisconsin had a late chance to put points on the board with 1:24 left in the half and got into Maryland territory. But, they were stopped on downs. To make matters worse, the Terrapins immediately bounced back with a 52-yard completion from Washington to Octavian Smith Jr., who beat D’Yoni Hill and Matt Jung.
That set up another field goal for the Terrapins, giving them a 20-0 lead at halftime and bringing out the boo birds at Camp Randall.
Wisconsin looks completely lost at the moment, and they don’t get the ball to start the half. We’ll see what response, if any, they have coming out of the half.
