Taulia Tagovailoa’s head dropped down in dejection, as his fourth down pass deflected off Jacob Copeland’s hands, a summary of Maryland’s (6-3,3-3) day on offense against Wisconsin (5-4,3-3). As a team, the Terps had only 119 total yards of offense on the day, nearly 300 less than their season average.
Camp Randall Stadium was subject to poor conditions, as high wind gusts and flurries of rain were present most of the day.
Neither offense did much early, until Wisconsin broke an explosive play on a Skyler Bell 36-yard jet sweep. Star running back Braelon Allen then scored off left tackle, making it 7-0 Badgers.
The Terps offense just could not get anything going, as they did not pick up a first down in the first quarter. Taulia Tagovailoa only threw for 22 yards in the first half, as the Wisconsin pass rush was in his face all day long.
Contributing to those issues was center Coltin Deery, who struggled with snapping the ball to Tagovailoa, as many errant snaps contributed to the Terps stalled offensive drives.
The dam of the Maryland defense finally broke, as Guerendo was able to stay in bounds down the sideline, dancing into the left corner of the endzone, making it 14-0 Wisconsin.
Wisconsin was able to add more points before the half, as they got a Nate Van Zelst 38-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the half following a Maryland timeout, tacking on to make it 17-0.
Coming out of the halftime break, Maryland finally got on the board, as a Chad Ryland 30-yard field goal drew Maryland to within 14.
Brian Williams' defensive unit was much more effective in the second half, giving the Maryland offense a chance to make it a tight game heading into the final quarter with a few critical third down stops that kept the Terps in it.
However, Tagovailoa and the offense just never got into rhythm. Tagovailoa seemed jittery in the pocket, potentially still affected by the injury that forced him to miss the Northwestern game. Nick Herbig, the Big Ten’s sack leader, was able to come off the edge unblocked multiple times, contributing to Tagovailoa’s rough day, which included being sacked a total of five times.
Another Van Zelst field goal made it 20-3.
Defensive back Hunter Wohler made his return from injury for Wisconsin this week, and he made his presence known, picking off Tagovailoa to set up a potential Van Zelst field goal, but the Terps were able to get a fourth-down stop.
Yet, there was still no response from the Terps offense, as Wisconsin’s defensive front was consistently winning one on one blocks in pass rush situations.
Maryland scored a late touchdown, as Tagovailoa threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Tai Felton to make the score a more respectable 23-10. However, that was the last scoring of the day, as the Terps fell 23-10 to the Badgers.
The Terps have a gauntlet of a schedule stil remaining, as they will next travel to Happy Valley to take on Penn State (6-2, 4-2).
