Wisconsin's loss to Maryland last fall was one of the key turning points in a disastrous 2025 campaign.

After the Badgers got manhandled down in Tuscaloosa in Week 3, as widely expected, they were home favorites against Maryland in a game that was expected to be their easiest Big Ten contest.

After a 27-10 loss that was far less competitive than you might assume from the final score, the narrative changed completely. All of the sudden, it was fair to wonder if Wisconsin was going to win a Big Ten game.

The loss was so bad that then-athletic director Chris McIntosh held an emergency press conference with reporters, re-assuring them of his confidence in Fickell while acknowledging that the program was in dire straits.

From a distance, it could be easy for the Badgers to take the 3-6 (1-5 in the Big Ten) Terps lightly. They'd lost six straight games before finally toppling Purdue last week to pick up their first conference win. They fired their coach in the middle of October after they lost to potentially the only team in the conference worse than them (Rutgers). They don't have anything to hang their hat on statistically.

Still, they've received a jolt of energy under interim head coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, and they're playing like it. In Maryland's first game under new leadership, it narrowly lost 20-17 to a solid Illinois team that needed a last second field goal to avoid the upset. The next week, it picked up its first conference win against the Boilermakers.

“You can definitely see a freeness, a spirit they’ve played with the past two weeks. I don’t want to say it’s dangerous, but it is," head coach Luke Fickell said at his weekly presser. "Every week we go to bed on Saturday night like, wow, this is as unpredictable as unpredictable can be. I think a lot of that has to do with the volatility of college football.”

Wisconsin must be dialed in Saturday in College Park

There's nothing about Maryland's team or roster, other than quarterback Malik Washington, that makes me particularly nervous about this game. But the circumstances during which this game will unfold have all the makings of a letdown the Badgers desperately need to avoid.

For starters, this is going to be an extremely sleepy crowd. Maryland's attendance has been brutal this season; the announced crowd of 27,207 last week was a comically high estimate despite the program offering students who stayed until the fourth quarter a shot at free tuition. That tells you everything you need to know about the state of this fanbase.

Quiet road venues often work against the away team. The Badgers are going to need to bring their own juice, especially for a 12:00 P.M. local kickoff. Wisconsin has a bad habit of coming out flat from time to time under Fickell.

What's more, Maryland is playing better football since interim coach Abdul-Rahim took over. The Terps, as Fickell said, are playing with a "freeness" — they have nothing to lose.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, can't afford to drop this game. As nice as it is for the Badgers to not have to face a murderers' row of the best teams in the conference, the flip side of that is they can't slip up against teams at the bottom of the table. Especially considering Maryland is 3-21 over the past three seasons against Big Ten opponents, with one of those wins coming against the Badgers last fall, Fickell absolutely cannot lose to the Terps.