Maryland (2-0) vs. Illinois (1-2)
September 17, 2021
Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium
9:05 pm EDT
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -Â The University of Maryland football team will open up Big Ten play with its first ever trip to Champaign, Ill. to face the Illinois Fighting Illini. The game will kick at 9:00 p.m. EST on Friday, September 17 on FS1.
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GAME THREEÂ STORYLINES
DOING IT ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
- Maryland is one of only two teams in the FBS to have a top-15 total offense and total defense (Auburn).
- The Terps are only allowing 235.5 yards per game on defense through two games, the ninth-best mark in the country and are averaging 535.0 yards of offense per game, the 13th-best mark in the country.
demus streaking
- WR Dontay Demus Jr. has caught a touchdown in six straight games dating back to the Minnesota (10/30/20) game last season, tied with Memphis WR Calvin Austin for the longest current streak in the country.
- It is also the longest streak by any Maryland pass catcher since at least 1985.
- Demus Jr. now has 12 career touchdowns, tied with Gary Collins (1959-61) for the eighth-most in program history.
- The senior has also caught a pass in 24 straight games, dating back to October 27, 2018, tied for the 14th-longest streak in the country and fourth-longest in the Big Ten. Â
DEMUS + JARRETT = STARDOM
- ​​The wide receiver duo of Dontay Demus Jr. (261 yards) and Rakim Jarrett (189 yards) have combined for the most yards of any pass catching duo among all Power Five teams so far this season with 450.
- Both Demus Jr. (sixth) and Jarrett (28th) rank top-30 in the country in receiving yards per game.
- The duo's 255 receiving yards vs. West Virginia (9/4) was the most combined yardage of any pass catching duo in a Week One and the most by a Maryland receiving tandem since Torrey Smith (224) and Will Yeatman (46) combined for 270 yards against North Carolina State on November 27, 2010.Â
 TAULIA TERRIFIC
- In his time as a Terp beginning in 2020, QB Taulia Tagovailoa has averaged 269.5 passing yards per game, the fifth-highest over that time span of any Power Five quarterback playing in 2021 and the most in the Big Ten.
- Tagovailoa, who has totaled 1,617 yards in five games as a Terp, trails only Ole Miss' Matt Corral (333.2 per game), USC's Kedon Slovis (300.0 per game), UNC's Sam Howell (296.1 per game) and Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler (275.2 per game).
- Tagovailoa's 332 passing yards against West Virginia are the second most by any Big Ten player in a game this season.
101 Minutes. 3 points.
- The Terps have allowed only three points over the last 101:30 minutes of game play, dating back to the second quarter of the West Virginia game (9/4), tied with Nebraska for the least amount of points given up over the last six quarters of football in the country.
- Maryland held the Mountaineers to only three points in the second half to help lead the Terps to a 30-24 victory and then shut out Howard this past weekend. The Terps have the 18th-ranked scoring defense in the country, only allowing 12 points per game.Â
Click here for this week's game notes.
