So often in recent years, Maryland has been on the wrong end of game-ending situations. On a blustery, fall Saturday against Wisconsin, the Terrapins finally flipped the script.
Starting for the injured Malik Washington, Maryland backup quarterback Cardell Williams rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead the Terrapins to a fourth-quarter comeback win, 24-21, over Wisconsin on Saturday.
“I didn’t know that I was coming in today,” Williams said. “I just prepared every day to start [this week], but I was back up the whole week. Pre-game, [they] made a decision that I was going to go out there and play, just ready enough to go.”
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A fourth-quarter flourish that started with Williams’ school record-setting 19th straight completion on a seam route 39-yard touchdown to tight end Preston Howard tied the game with 2:11 left.
“I’m happy for him that he had an opportunity to play in a Power Four football game,” said Maryland interim coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim. “It’s a testament to how we prepare as a full staff … Cardell’s played a lot of football at Tulsa and Sacramento State. So I’m really, really happy that he was able to excel.”
Linebacker Trey Reddick then forced a strip-sack fumble of Badgers quarterback Ryan Hopkins on the ensuing drive, giving Maryland the ball deep in Wisconsin territory. Sean O’Haire’s 30-yard field goal sealed Maryland’s second-straight Big Ten win, the first time it had done so in three seasons.
“Belief. They believe that as long as [there’s] seconds on the clock, someone can make a play,” Abdul-Rahim said. “We’re a good team. I keep saying they’re some talented individuals, and they took turns showing [it].”
The win give Maryland back-to-back Big Ten wins for the first time since the 2023 season and multiple wins in the month of November for only the second time since 2019.
Williams, who started 10 of 12 games at Sacramento State last season before the program moved up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, also set a single-game Maryland record for completion percentage by connecting on 21-of-23 passes for 183 yards.
“I think it comes from protection, comes from wide receivers making great plays, and then obviously, we spend a lot of time really trying to figure out what what this young man does well, and what he does well is he’s very accurate,” Abdul-Rahim said.
Washington was listed as questionable all week with a left knee injury and was a game-time decision on the final availability report just before kickoff. During warmups, he wore a large brace on the affected leg and struggled to drive the football forward as he threw. Abdul-Rahim said Washington got banged up in last week’s win at Purdue.
“He was able to throw the ball, move around, so it’s not a long-term injury,” Abdul-Rahim said. “But one thing that I’m never going to waver from is taking care of my kids. If he’s not all the way healthy, it could put him in harm’s way as a quarterback.”
His on-the-field absence didn’t mean he didn’t have an impact.
“He was real involved every play,” Williams said. “Every play, I heard Malik, I seen Malik. Every drive I came to the sideline, I heard Malik, I seen Malik. He was motivating me when plays went bad, hyping you up when plays went good.”
Badgers freshman quarterback Ryan Hopkins was 11-of-22 in his second career start, finishing with only 77 yards passing. Badgers running back Darrion Dupree rushed for 57 yards and two touchdowns.
Maryland (4-6, 2-5 Big Ten) was beset with undisciplined penalties throughout, with 11 flags for 111 yards — including four of the 15-yard variety. But the Terrapins overcame the miscues when it mattered most: late in the game, something it had not done in the late stages of Mike Locksley’s coaching tenure.
On their first drive, the Badgers needed barely two minutes to go 57 yards, capped by a Dupree 4-yard rushing score for a 7-0 lead. A fourth-down fumbled handoff on Wisconsin’s next drive by tight end Ryan Schwendeman gave the Terrapins the ball at the Badgers’ 36. Maryland was unable to do anything with the field position gift and punted.
An O’Haire 51-yard field goal attempt the next time the Terrapins had the ball was short and no good on an afternoon with strong, sustained crosswinds.
Williams worked his way into being more comfortable midway through the second quarter, and it paid off with Maryland’s first points. He hit Chris Durr, Preston Howard and Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding with passes of 10, 30 and 18 yards on the 75-yard drive, capping it himself with a 1-yard run to cut Wisconsin’s lead to 10-7.
A turning point came midway through the third quarter. Dupree fumbled trying to drive the pile near his own 30. Maryland linebacker Daniel Wingate recovered the ball, before having it stripped and finally jumped on by Terrapins defensive back Ricardo Cooper Jr. at the Wisconsin 12.
Four plays later, behind 13 personnel and the pulling, drag block of tight end Dorian Fleming, Williams rushed 3 yards for his second touchdown of the day to give Maryland its first lead, 14-10.
Maryland gave back a lot of momentum with penalties. Freshman Zion Elee was flagged in both halves for excessive hits on Wisconsin punter Sean West. The Terrapins escaped damage from the first-half infraction, but not the second after assistant coach Ryan Davis was also penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct following Elee. Wisconsin took the field position gift to tack on 3 points to trail 14-13.
“Unacceptable … immaturity at its best,” Abdul-Rahim said. “So unacceptable. And to be quite honest, I think teachable moments are always better when you have a win behind them.”
The Badgers (6-4, 4-3) took the lead back entering the fourth. Hopkins used his legs to pick up 38 on the drive and take Wisconsin to the doorstep before Dupree scored his second touchdown of the day and a 21-14 lead after a two-point conversion before Maryland mounted its comeback.
The Terrapins head to No. 18 Southern California next Saturday.
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