Maryland football had never beaten Wisconsin.

That is, until the Terps rolled into Madison last fall in Week 4 in the Big Ten opener and slammed the Badgers, 27-10, in a game that was far less competitive than the final score indicates. It was a brutal loss and perhaps the ugliest Wisconsin played all season, a category in which there's plenty of competition.

What made that loss even more egregious in hindsight is just how bad that Terps team wound up being. After the win over Wisconsin made them 4-0, they dropped their final eight games and finished 1-8 in conference play, with the lone win over the Badgers.

In fact, Maryland is 3-21 in its last 24 Big Ten games over the past three seasons. There's real pressure on head coach Luke Fickell and company to not fall victim to an abysmal Terps team yet again.

Here's three burning questions surrounding Wisconsin as it prepares for its Week 11 showdown:

Can Ryan Hopkins run it back?

Wisconsin's true freshman quarterback Ryan Hopkins had one of the best starting debuts by a freshman gunslinger in Badgers history. The catch? It came against lowly Rutgers, which entered the game with the 90th-ranked passing defense in the country and the 123rd-ranked total defense overall.

Maryland doesn't offer much stiffer competition, as the Terps check in with the 90th-ranked passing defense nationally, allowing 227.1 yards per game. Still, it'll be vital to see the same poise and command we saw from Hopkins for the second week in a row, especially on the road.

“Ryan played well enough for us to win a football game. Ryan’s going to continue to get better. Colton has played really well for us to win big football games. We’ve got something we haven’t had; we’ve gotta find a way to make sure we continue to use that," Fickell said this week.

Though Fickell did commit to Hopkins as the starter against the Terps, he remained adamant that Wisconsin can and potentially will use Joseph in some situations. That didn't happen last week, so color me skeptical.

Maryland has made quarterbacks that have proven to be average or worse gunslingers in the Big Ten (Purdue's Ryan Browne, Rutgers' Dylan Lonergan, Nebraska's Anthony Colandrea) look like extremely capable signal-callers.

The Terps have some corners who have played well; their top cover corner Jamare Glasker has allowed a reception percentage of 44.9 percent on 49 targets. Still, this is another defense that Hopkins and the Badgers should have no problem dissecting.

Can Wisconsin's defense avenge its performance from last season?

The Badgers let Terps quarterback Malik Washington, who at the time was a true freshman starting both his first road game and his first Big Ten game, shred them last fall to the tune of 265 passing yards and three total touchdowns.

Wisconsin had no answer for the gunslinger, especially in the red zone, where he threw a nine-yard touchdown pass and scampered in for a one-yard rushing touchdown. Washington also threw a 62-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to add insult to injury, stretching Maryland's lead to 27-3.

Washington is having a very similar season to his strong true freshman debut, which on one hand means he's playing well again this fall, but on the other means he hasn't shown too much growth and development. Of course, when you're on a 3-6 football team with an interim head coach, that's not exactly the best situation for any young player.

The blueprint for the Badgers needs to be to harass Washington and get him in third-and-longs. The first part could be challenging; Maryland has only allowed 10 sacks. Washington has been pressured on 24% of his drop-backs, though, and the Terps allow an average of nine pressures each game. Wisconsin's pass-rush needs to throw him off his process and progressions.

As for getting Maryland in third-and-longs, the Terps' rushing offense ranks No. 106 nationally, rushing for 129.6 yards per game. The Badgers' 19th-ranked rushing defense should, at least on paper, make short work of that ground game.

Will the Badgers make a concerted effort to get their RBs more touches?

Though Wisconsin's offense is improved this fall, its ground game has left a lot to be desired. One of the biggest reasons why? The Badgers simply haven't gotten their tailbacks that many touches; they've been extremely reliant on Colton Joseph's legs to carry the rushing attack. Now that he's been benched, will Wisconsin lean on its backs more?

"The backs have to have the ball in their hand a little more, we have to find ways. Sometimes it's harder when you’re playing multiple guys back there, you don’t give a guy a chance to get a little bit hot. That’s always been an issue for me," Fickell said this week.

"I’ve kinda challenged them, I said look, I’m not saying you go to a one-back system, where only one guy is in there, I’m not even saying go to a two-back system. But I think it’s much more difficult to think you’re gonna go with more than two guys," he continued.

The Terps allow 150.4 rushing yards per game, 80th in the country and 15th in the Big Ten. This is a unit against which Wisconsin should be able to find some push. But will the Badgers ride the hot hand at running back and feed either Sama or Dupree?