One week after the Terrapins football team earned its most impressive win of the season, it traveled to Wisconsin on Saturday and suffered its most embarrassing loss.

The Badgers dominated the Terps in the trenches during their 52-7 win, and coach Randy Edsall’s squad made its share of crippling mistakes that played a part in the blowout.

None of the positives from a 38-31 win over Iowa a week earlier followed the Terps to Saturday’s bout at Camp Randall Stadium, and all of the their momentum moving into the final part of the season was sapped on a sunny afternoon in Wisconsin.

Let’s explore it all in the four takeaways.

NOWHERE TO RUN

The Terps offense has been sparked by its running game all season long, but the team failed to find success on the ground at Wisconsin. They finished the afternoon with 46 yards on 28 carries, good for 1.6 yards per rush.

The issues were summed up on the Terps first second-half possession when quarterback C.J. Brown hit Deon Long for a 9-yard gain to bring up 2nd-and-1. On that down, Brown rushed for no gain. Then on third-and-short, running back Brandon Ross was taken down for a loss of four yards, and the Terps were forced to punt after a promising start to the drive.

Such was the story of the Terps’ afternoon. Ross finished with six yards on seven carries, Brown went for 14 on the ground and wide receiver Stefon Diggs ran two times for four yards.

With the running game thwarted, the Terps had little success moving the ball, and went more than two full quarters without picking up a first down at one point. They finished with 175 total yards, easily a season low.

If the Terps keep running the ball like that, they won’t be able to compete in the Big Ten. In fact, I can’t think of a league they would have success in if they replicated that rushing performance.

DEFENSIVE DUD

Entering Saturday’s game, common thought suggested that if the Terps contained running back Melvin Gordon, the nation’s second-leading rusher, they would be in good shape.

But the Terps did a fine job on Gordon by holding him to 122 yards, nearly 50 yards less than his season average, and they still couldn’t slow the Badgers. Wisconsin found success on the play action pass throughout the game, and several other rushers stepped up to help take the load off Gordon.

So Brian Stewart’s defense couldn’t shut down the run or the pass, and perhaps the most discouraging part of its performance was how poorly the unit fared when it needed to clamp down the most. Twice Wisconsin converted on fourth downs — once it did so on a fake punt —and the Terps, who typically play potent red-zone defense, allowed the Badgers to stroll into the end zone every time they got near the goal line.

The defense, much like the offense, wasn’t close to good enough Saturday.

SHAKY C.J.

Brown’s had an up-and-down season, particularly with his passing, but his play was especially shoddy Saturday.

The sixth-year signal caller was 13 of 29 (44.8 percent) through the air, and he missed multiple open receivers downfield, which isn’t anything new. What was more unusual was to see Brown struggle so much in the running game, as he finished with those 14 yards on 13 carries.

Brown, who has four regular-season games left in his career, is not going to improve much before the end of the year. He simply has to perform better on game days.

If he doesn’t, the Terps might have trouble winning another contest.

UNPREPARED, UNMOTIVATED

As good as Wisconsin was Saturday in all facets of the game, the Terps beat themselves with miscue after miscue.

The Terps committed seven penalties and had a costly fumble. They made poor coaching decisions, starting with Edsall’s choice to go for it on 4th-and-12 when their first drive stalled at the Wisconsin 35-yard line. And the the Terps crumpled down the stretch, failing to perform simple tasks after they fell down by 31 points in the second half.

Those discouraging struggles circle back to Edsall. He made a few poor decisions, sure, but he also didn’t have his team ready to play.

The Badgers snuffed out everything the Terps offense tried to do, and when Wisconsin had the ball, Edsall’s team had no idea how to contain a surprisingly balanced attack.

The Terps got outgained, 527-175, Saturday, and Edsall deserves to shoulder much of the blame for an unsightly outing.