Clutch showing lifts Maryland football over Wisconsin, second straight win

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Maryland football interim head coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim has made the guiding principles of his tenure clear. One of Abdul-Rahim’s tenets, discipline, didn’t translate to the field on Saturday. But aggression and execution did.

The Terps’ defense overcame costly self-inflicted mistakes and forced three key turnovers in a 24-21 win over Wisconsin in College Park, marking Maryland’s first Big Ten winning streak since Sept. 2023.

“Myself, [defensive coordinator] Zac [Spavital] and [co-defensive coordinator James Thomas Jr.], we were on the staff together the last three years, and we literally were talking through how we would do things if we … had the pen, so to speak,” Abdul-Rahim said. “This is one of the first games where I can truly say the defense was the defense that we envisioned.”

Linebacker Trey Reddick made the most decisive play of the day.

After Maryland (4-6, 2-5 Big Ten) tied the game, 21-21, with a 39-yard touchdown to Preston Howard late in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) took over with a chance at a game-winning drive. Quarterback Ryan Hopkins took a shotgun snap and was blasted by an unblocked Reddick. The blindside sack knocked the ball loose and set Maryland up at Wisconsin’s 33-yard line with less than two minutes left in the game.

The Terps capped the drive with a game-winning 30-yard field goal.

“Trey is such a great athlete. He routinely makes those type of plays in practice,” Abdul-Rahim said. “He can rush, he can cover, he can check. He’s a very valuable piece of our defense … we put ourselves in the position to win the football game with that turnover.”

Maryland’s 34-29 win over Purdue last Saturday snapped a 13-game conference losing streak. But another streak persisted — the Terps hadn’t won consecutive Big Ten games in three years.

The game-time absence of a key Terps player seemed to put an immediate damper on Maryland’s chances to start a conference winning streak. Malik Washington, who suffered a lower-body injury and sported a knee brace against Purdue, was out against the Badgers. Redshirt senior Cardell Williams filled in for Washington in his first start with the Terps.

Williams rarely pushed the ball down the field, but was extremely efficient operating the short game. The backup quarterback went 21-for-23 with 191 183 yards and three total touchdowns, setting a program record with 19 consecutive completions and a 91% completion percentage.

“The first week [of Abdul-Rahim being interim head coach], he was one of the first person I called in my office because I didn’t like his body language, I didn’t like his demeanor, and some of the decisions he was making off the field,” Abdul-Rahim said. “And I told him, ‘Hey, you’re quitting on yourself right now’ … you never know when you’re going to be needed to win us a football game.”

Under the new signal caller, though, Maryland’s offense took time to find a rhythm. The Terps’ first four drives totaled 18 plays for 36 yards, even after Hopkins fumbled. Hopkins, a freshman starting his second career game in place of Colton Joseph, lost the ball on a quarterback keeper, giving the Terps possession at the Badgers’ 37-yard line.

Maryland kicker Sean O’Haire’s 51-yard field-goal attempt fell short on the Terps’ next drive. After an anemic start, the Terps’ offense briefly clicked in the second quarter as Williams settled in.

Williams made his best throw of the day to tight end Preston Howard along the sideline for a 30-yard completion to advance into Wisconsin territory. He followed with an 18-yard completion to Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding on a crossing route and capped the drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown.

“I didn’t know [Williams] was starting until the first drive, honestly,” Reddick said. “But knowing Cardell since the summertime, I knew what type of person he is. I never doubted him.”

As expected with a backup quarterback under center, Maryland’s offense struggled with inconsistency. The defense held strong in the meantime — save for costly self-inflicted mistakes.

Maryland held Wisconsin to back-to-back punts and a fumble from the late second quarter into the early third quarter. Senior linebacker Daniel Wingate jarred the ball loose from running back Darrion Dupree and defensive back Ricardo Cooper Jr. recovered, setting up the Terps at Wisconsin’s 12-yard line.

“[Spav] is just putting us in literally every perfect position that we need to get the job done,” Reddick said. “And we’re executing it.”

The Terps offense capitalized on the short field with a touchdown, but that was virtually the only production they found in the third quarter. Maryland totaled 29 yards in the frame, but entered the fourth quarter with a 14-13 lead.

In the final quarter, Maryland rode its defense, and a timely touchdown from Williams to Howard, to a fourth win this season — and inched closer to bowl eligibility with two regular-season games remaining.

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