Maryland at Illinois

Maryland -7 -110

Illinois (1-2) pulled the big upset vs Nebraska in the opening weekend and then followed that result with 2 losses (UTSA & at Virginia).  Illinois’ defense gave 31 first downs and 556 yards vs Virginia. Against UTSA, Illinois gave up 26 first downs and 496 total yards.  In total they have been outgained by 370 yards. Maryland has played two games and I’ll focus on their first game against West Virginia. In that game, Maryland put up 496 yards with 336 passing yards and outgained WVU by 171 yards. Tua’s brother Taulia was 26-36, 3 touchdowns (one for 66 yards), with an average of 9.2 yards per attempt. Last year Taulia and Maryland ranked 26th in College Football in yards per attempt at 8.3. On the other end of those passes are wide receivers Dontay Demus (2 touchdowns and 21.8 yards per catch) and Rakim Jarrett (2 touchdowns and 15.8 yards per catch. West Virginia was projected to be one of the best passing defenses in the Big 12 and projected to give up 25 points per game. Illinois is projected to be one of the worst scoring defenses in the Big 10. We are seeing that play out.  Bottom Line: Illinois will struggle to keep up with the high powered turtles of Maryland.