149-pound Senior Ben Dorsay wrestles his opponent to the ground during Maryland’s 36-9 victory over Davidson University on November 2, 2014.

In the Terrapins wrestling team’s final year in the ACC, its only matchup with a Big Ten school came against Michigan on Jan. 5. The Wolverines jumped out to an early lead — they won the first three matches — and cruised to a 28-10 victory.

The dual with the Wolverines provided the Terps a glimpse of the level of competition in their new conference.

And just as coach Kerry McCoy’s squad struggled against Big Ten competition last year, his team performed poorly this weekend in its first two conference duals of the season. In losses to No. 19 Wisconsin and No. 7 Nebraska, the Terps won four matches, one of which by forfeit, and were outscored 70-15.

“This is an eye opener to a lot of kids on the team as to where they’re at and where they want to be and where they need to be in the future,” 133-pound Geoffrey Alexander said. “Tomorrow’s Monday, so it’s back to the drawing board, and it’s time to get better.”

The Terps (4-3, 0-2 Big Ten) did not face a nationally ranked wrestler in their loss to George Mason on Nov. 9, but they competed against plenty of top-20 grapplers this weekend. The Badgers and Cornhuskers combined to send eight wrestlers to the mat who are ranked in the top 20 according to InterMat.

The Terps struggled to compete with superior talent, as opposing ranked wrestlers went 8-0 with four pins in the two matches.

“It’s no secret about the level of competition of this conference,” McCoy said. “We know what we need to do, and we’re ready for the challenge. We just have to go out there and win the close ones.”

Alexander, the 11th ranked wrestler 133 pounds, provided the Terps with consistency at his weight class. After winning by forfeit against Wisconsin, Alexander pulled out a 4-2 decision against Eric Montoya, improving his individual record this season to 4-0.

The only other Terps to secure victories were 141-pound Shyheim Brown and 174-pound Josh Snook. Both wrestlers squeezed out one-point wins in the Terps’ 28-12 loss to the Badgers (1-0, 1-0) on Friday night.

The Terps suffered a 16-point defeat, but a few close matches that went in favor of the Badgers changed the complexion of the dual. Both 149-pound Shane Arechiga and 157-pound Lou Mascola suffered two-point losses while No. 12 Timmy McCall handed Terps 197-pound Rob Fitzgerald a four-point defeat.

Fitzgerald nearly upset McCall. With Fitzgerald trailing by one point in the third period, he earned a take down to secure the 3-2 advantage. The Badgers challenged the call, however, and upon further review, the referees determined Fitzgerald committed a technical violation for grabbing McCall’s headgear.

The referees voided Fitzgerald’s take down and awarded McCall a point for the technical violation. The call allowed McCall to regain the lead in his eventual 5-1 win.

“We lost some close matches that could have went either way,” Brown said. “I think that made most of the difference.”

Against Nebraska, the Terps suffered their worst defeat since 2005, when they fell, 47-0, to Missouri. Four Cornhuskers wrestlers won by pin and three more earned major decisions in a 42-3 victory yesterday afternoon.

“We didn’t perform the way we were capable of,” McCoy said. “They kind of took the match to us, and we didn’t really respond well.”

The match with Michigan last January provided the Terps with a glimpse of what they could expect during Big Ten competition.

But this weekend, they saw the unforgiving nature of the conference schedule first hand.

“Better to happen now than to happen in March so we’ve got time to make those adjustments,” McCoy said. “And we will. We’ll get to where we need to be.”