Maryland football entered the fourth quarter down 20-3, as its offense severely struggled through the first three quarters.
If the Terps had any hope of a comeback, they needed to find something on offense fast.
Signal caller Taulia Tagovailoa entered the fourth 5-12 with just 30 yards through the air, and tried to make something out of nothing on the second play of the quarter.
Tagovailoa ran outside of the pocket trying to escape pressure, but his pass went directly into the hands of Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler.
It was that type of day for the Maryland offense, as the Terps had easily their worst showing so far this season.
Five sacks allowed, an interception, and just 10 completions later, Maryland fell in disappointing fashion to Wisconsin, 23-10.
“I thought we had a really good week-and-a-half of preparation for this game and it didn’t show up,” coach Mike Locksley said. “They managed the external elements a lot better than we did.”
Sloppy weather conditions — specifically heavy winds and a mix of rain — played a factor early for both sides.
On Wisconsin’s first drive, Andy Vujnovich punted just 29 yards from his own endzone, as the ball took a Maryland bounce and was downed at the Wisconsin 37-yard line.
Locksley elected to keep his offense on the field on fourth-and-eight on the Wisconsin 35, not having confidence in his kicking unit given the weather. Tagovailoa was sacked for a loss of six, resulting in a turnover on downs as the Terps could not take advantage of the favorable field position.
After the first five drives of the game netted just 17 yards of total offense, the Badgers used their ground game to put together a 12-play, 77-yard scoring drive — all but two plays on the drive were rushes.
A Skyler Bell jet sweep gain of 36 moved Wisconsin deep into Maryland territory, and the rest of the drive was controlled by Braelon Allen as he ran for the final 28 yards on the drive.
Allen capped off the drive with a nine-yard score to his left, putting the Badgers on the board first, 7-0.
At the end of the first quarter, Maryland netted just 18 total yards — all on the ground. Tagovailoa did not complete a pass on two attempts, and the Terps averaged just 1.6 yards per carry on 11 carries.
Isaac Guerendo put Maryland in a massive hole five minutes into the second quarter.
On first down on the Maryland 11-yard line, Guerendo burst through an open hole and took an angle towards the Wisconsin sideline. With one blocker ahead, Guerendo followed him as he avoided both stepping out of bounds and getting tackled by Jakorian Bennett, tip-toeing down the sideline on his way for an 89-yard touchdown.
The play was reviewed but the touchdown stood. Wisconsin scored two touchdowns before Maryland registered two first downs.
The Badgers added a 38-yard field goal at the end of the half to go up 17-0 at halftime.
Maryland’s offense looked as bad as ever in the half. The Terps notched just 56 yards, Tagovailoa completed just three passes for 22 yards, and just two first downs were achieved.
“When the ball is more wet you can’t really grip it that hard,” Tagovailoa said. “At the end of the day it goes back to making plays, throwing the ball, running the ball, whatever we have to do to score touchdowns.”
Maryland’s defense didn’t fare much better, as the Terps struggled mightily stopping the Wisconsin ground game. The Badgers rushed for 211 yards in the half — nearly 100 yards more than Maryland’s 120.3 average rush yards per game allowed.
The Terps finally found the scoreboard on their first drive of the second half.
Maryland pushed the ball as far as the Wisconsin 21, but a nine-yard sack on second down on a bobbled snap pushed the Terps back to the 30 as freshman Coltin Deery suffered through some struggles in just his second career start at center.
Tagovailoa got those nine yards back on a scramble on third down, and Chad Ryland connected on a 39-yard field goal to trim the Terps’ deficit back down to two touchdowns.
Late in the third quarter, Wisconsin drove the ball 48 yards in seven plays — helped out by two Maryland 15-yard penalties — but its drive stalled out at the Maryland 17. Nate Van Zelst nailed a 35-yard field goal to put the Badgers back up by three scores, 20-3.
15 seconds into the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa was intercepted by Wohler. However, the turnover resulted in zero points as Wisconsin could not convert on a fourth-and-six.
Van Zelst doinked a 33-yard field goal off the right upright with 10:36 left, but redeemed himself on a 28-yarder with 6:33 left to put Wisconsin up 23-3.
Maryland finally scored a touchdown with 57 seconds left as Tagovailoa found Tai Felton open in the back of the endzone for a five-yard score, but it was too little too late.
Wisconsin recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the 23-10 victory.
“We’re our biggest opponent,” Greg China-Rose said. “If we fix our mistakes then we’ll be able to succeed.”
The Terps will look to bounce back next week when they travel to University Park to take on No. 16 Penn State.
