After dropping a rough 38-14 contest in Tuscaloosa, the Wisconsin Badgers return to Camp Randall to face a 3-0 Maryland Terrapins team on Saturday. While most fans and pundits have this one pegged as Wisconsin’s easiest conference game, it’s still no gimme, as evidenced by the relatively modest 10.5-point betting line in Bucky’s favor.
Let’s get right to the Best, Worst, and Most Likely outcomes for this game, with the caveat that, as of when this is being published, I don’t know who will start at quarterback for Wisconsin, which is a potentially big deal.
Best Case
All of the issues that have plagued the Badgers so far this season—substandard OL play, okay but not great work in the secondary, and finding an offensive groove—melt away against the Terps. In this scenario, the attack finally clicks (either with Edwards or O’Neil at the helm), the defense contains the Maryland attack and forces turnovers, and the game plan from Fickell and Company looks smart and sleek.
While I don’t see a traditional Badger blowout here, the win feels more comfortable than any so far in 2025, the team/coaches are satisfied, and fans leave Camp Randall feeling more bullish about the rest of Bucky’s 2025 campaign.
Prediction: Wisconsin 30-13.
Worst Case
This hurts to write, but it isn’t as difficult to imagine as usual. Here, a Wisconsin squad with a ton of pressure on it runs into a Terps team that smells blood in the water in a sleepy stadium with a quarter-full student section at 11 AM–and lays an egg. The offensive line continues to be a shell of its traditional self, points are hard to come by, and gifted quarterback Malik Washington makes life difficult for Tressel’s unit all game with both his feet and arm.
A sluggish first half (what’s new here?) finds Wisconsin down at halftime, and the squad can never find the right combinations or consistency to overtake Maryland. More Terp players are jumping around than Badger fans, and it ends with the worst loss in Luke Fickell’s bumpy tenure. #FireFick is officially trending in Madison.
Prediction: Maryland 27-17.
Most Likely Case
I think this one is going to be pretty tight, y’all. I wish I didn’t, but it’s where I am. Here, the two teams trade blows and leads all afternoon, and the game is still up in the air until late in the 4th quarter, when the Wisconsin defense forces a game-changing turnover that ices things for them.
The Badgers’ ground game looks pretty solid, and the front seven makes things uncomfortable for Malik Washington most of the day. It’s a true gut check kind of moment, and the Badgers rise to the occasion, sending them to 3-1 (and 1-0 in the Big Ten).
Prediction: Wisconsin 23-20.
