Maryland's offense has struggled in the past two games without its top two quarterbacks

MADISON – Is Maryland in the midst of another October slide?

Second-year coach D.J. Durkin and his staff have improved the overall level of talent on the roster, but the Terrapins face a daunting road in the Big Ten East Division and season-ending injuries to the top two quarterbacks have left the offense fragile.

Maryland (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten), which visits No. 5 Wisconsin (6-0, 3-0) at 11 a.m. Saturday, stunned then-No. 23 Texas, 51-41, to open the season.

The victory was tainted, however, by the loss of sophomore quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome, who tore the ACL in his right knee. Pigrome completed 9 of 12 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 64 yards and a touchdown before going down.

Freshman Kasim Hill replaced Pigrome and completed 13 of 16 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns and rushed five times for 41 yards in a 63-17 victory over Towson in Week 2. 

His season ended the next week in a 38-10 home loss to Central Florida when he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. 

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“Our guys as a team did not handle adversity well,” Durkin said. “It certainly showed when you’re playing a good team like that.”

Sophomore Max Bortenschlager got the start in the Big Ten opener at Minnesota and passed for 154 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another touchdown in a 31-24 victory.

The excitement was short-lived as the Terrapins dropped their next two games – 62-14 at Ohio State and 37-21 to visiting Northwestern.

Losing to the once-beaten Buckeyes was understandable. But Northwestern came to Maryland reeling from losses to UW and Penn State. 

“Everybody was down,” senior linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. said after the loss to Northwestern. “We wanted to win the game.”

The Wildcats, led by tailback Justin Jackson’s 171-yard performance, rushed for 238 yards and three scores and finished with 531 total yards. 

Northwestern's defense gave up three touchdown passes but held tailback Ty Johnson to a season-low 20 yards on 10 carries. 

“They were taking the running backs out of the game with what they were doing defensively,” said Durkin, who was the defensive coordinator at Michigan before taking over at Maryland. “If you can do that in a game, you have to be able to throw the ball and execute. 

“At times we did but we didn’t do it consistently. There were chances for some big plays with third downs that we didn’t convert.”

In Durkin's first season Maryland won its first four games. That included a 50-7 victory over Purdue.

Then came losses to Penn State and Minnesota and the Terrapins won just two of their final six regular-season games to finish 3-6 in the league. The season ended with a 36-30 loss to Boston College in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.

Now down to their No. 3 quarterback, the Terrapins still have UW, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State on the schedule.

“We left a lot of plays on the field,” junior center Brendan Moore said after the loss to Northwestern. “At the end of the day, we’re not going to lie down. We’re just going to keep on fighting. 

“The next game is the most important game. We’re going to keep fighting.”