After Ryan Hopkins enjoyed a breakout debut as a starter, Wisconsin will stick with the freshman quarterback on Saturday when the Badgers face Maryland in College Park, Md.
Hopkins gets the call for Wisconsin (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) on the heels of his strong performance in a 31-10 win over Rutgers last week. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
Hopkins got the nod in part because previous starter Colton Joseph was “banged up,” coach Luke Fickell said. But also factoring into the decision was Joseph’s poor performance in a 30-0 loss at Iowa, when Joseph completed 5 of 14 passes for 90 yards.
Fickell said about staying with Hopkins, “That’s the direction we’re planning to go this week. We’re not trying to hide that. Ryan played well enough for us to win, and it’s another opportunity for him to continue to grow.”
Wisconsin could get a challenge from re-energized Maryland (3-6, 1-5). Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, who took over as interim coach with the firing of Mike Locksley on Oct. 21, has given the Terrapins a lift.
Last week, the players carried Abdul-Rahim off the field after Maryland snapped its 13-game Big Ten losing streak with a 34-29 victory at Purdue.
“You can definitely see a freeness, you can see a spirit that they’ve played with in the past few weeks,” Fickell said.
Against Purdue, Malik Washington had the best passer rating (215.8) in a game in his career as he completed 13 of 18 attempts for 253 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Washington also ran for two scores.
Maryland got a 75-yard touchdown run from DeJuan Williams, who also has carries of 94 and 56 yards this season despite missing three games with an injury.
One disadvantage for Wisconsin without Joseph on the field is that the Badgers lose his threat to run. Joseph leads the team in rushing yards (371) and rushing touchdowns (four).
Hopkins will have to deal with a Maryland defense that registered seven sacks against Purdue, including 2.5 by Zion Elee.
More impressive to Abdul-Rahim, however, was a play in which Elee, a 220-pound pass rusher, ran 50 yards downfield to make a tackle.
“That was one of the clips I showed the team. I didn’t really show his sacks,” Abdul-Rahim said. “I showed that effort. We need more effort like that — those brotherhood type of situations.”