Wisconsin Tops Maryland 31-24 For 5th Straight Victory
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) -- Joel Stave threw for 188 yards and a touchdown, and Wisconsin rebounded from a lackluster first half to beat Maryland 31-24 Saturday for its fifth straight victory.
Natrell Jamerson returned a kickoff 98 yards during a first half in which the Badgers totaled 94 yards in offense and found themselves in a tie game.
After that, though, Wisconsin (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) dominated.
The Badgers took the lead for good in the third quarter when Alex Ingold scored on a 1-yard run to make it 24-17, and a 7-yard touchdown pass from Stave to Dare Ogunbowale with 14:01 remaining all but clinched it.
The Terrapins (2-7, 0-5) closed to 31-24 with 2:39 left, but they never got the ball back.
It was the sixth consecutive loss for Maryland, the last three under the guidance of interim coach Mike Locksley.
The Badgers came in with the top scoring defense in the nation, allowing just 11 points per game, but Maryland had 17 at halftime after scoring touchdowns on drives of 32 and 33 yards.
In the second half, however, Wisconsin surrendered only 138 yards and did not allow Maryland to cross midfield until the final four minutes.
After running for 398 yards over the previous three games, Terps quarterback Perry Hills finished with minus-14 yards, a sum that included four sacks. He was pulled in the fourth quarter after going 6 for 16 for 107 yards.
His replacement, Caleb Rowe, threw Maryland's second interception of the game and 25th of the season.
Rowe connected with Levern Jacobs for a 27-yard touchdown to cap a 76-yard drive, but the Badgers recovered the subsequent onside kick.
Early on, the Terrapins hung tight with a team that beat them 52-7 last year.
Maryland used a partially blocked punt and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Hills to D.J. Moore to make it 17-all at halftime.
Besides the kickoff return, Wisconsin's biggest play in the first half was a fake punt that went for 57 yards to set up a 21-yard touchdown run by Ogunbowale.
A 24-yard punt, a pass interference call and a 7-yard touchdown run by Wes Brown put Maryland up 7-0. The lead lasted for 13 seconds -- the amount of time it took Jamerson to collect the kickoff and make his way down the right sideline into the end zone.
Maryland kicker Brad Craddock appeared to sustain an injury trying to make a tackle on the play. Backup Adam Greene handled the kicking duties the rest of the way.
It was 14-10 before Hills threw an ill-advised pass off his back foot and against his body that was intercepted by Tanner McEvoy, setting up a Wisconsin field goal.
The Badgers were without running back Corey Clement, who had lingering soreness from sports hernia surgery. Clement missed seven games before returning last week to score three touchdowns against Rutgers.
Ogunbowale carried 19 times for 47 yards and a touchdown.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
