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Maryland vs. Illinois Prediction, Odds and Spread for College Football Week 3

By Thomas Snodgrass

Taulia Tagovailoa and the Maryland Terrapins face the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Big Ten matchup on Friday.
Taulia Tagovailoa and the Maryland Terrapins face the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Big Ten matchup on Friday. / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
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Illinois started their season in Week 0 with a nice Big Ten conference win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but have since then gone 0-2. They lost to UT-San Antonio, 30-37, then got walloped in Charlottesville, 42-14 to the Virginia Cavaliers.

Can head coach Bret Bielema get this train back on the tracks? Illinois has failed to record 400 yards of total offense in any game, and gave up as much as 557 total yards to Virginia last week. That’s not a recipe for success. 

Meanwhile, the Maryland Terrapins have started their season 2-0, picking up two home victories, beating West Virginia, 30-24, and obliterating Howard, 62-0.

Maryland quarterback, Taulia Tagovailoa (brother of Tua), has performed extremely well in his first two appearances of 2021, completing 76 percent of his passes, averaging 303 passing yards per game, and recording a 6/0 touchdown to interception ratio. Running back Tayon-Fleet Davis is a threat out of the backfield for the Terps as well, averaging 7.3 yards per carry in his first two contests.

Here are the odds for this Big Ten matchup, courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook.

Maryland vs. Illinois Spread, Odds, and Over/Under

Spread:

Maryland -7 (-110)

Illinois +7 (-110)

Moneyline:

Maryland -290

Illinois +230

Total:

61.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

Maryland vs. Illinois Betting Trends

  • The under is 6-1 in the Terrapins last seven conference games.
  • Maryland is 2-0 against the spread to start the season.
  • Illinois is 1-5 against the spread in their last six games.
  • The over is 2-2-1 in the Illini’s last five games.
  • In the last head-to-head matchup, Maryland beat Illinois 66-33, reaching a total of 99.

Maryland vs. Illinois Prediction and Pick

Illinois got handled pretty easily by Virginia last week, and I think they will get slapped around again this week by Maryland.

The Terrapins only allowed 24 points to West Virginia and they have a much better offense than the Illini do. Maryland scored 30 points on WVU also, and again, a better defense than Illinois.

The Illini defense currently ranks 227th in passing defense, 158th in rushing defense, and 182nd in points allowed. That’s awful.

Tagovailoa and the Terps will be able to do whatever they want on offense tonight, so they should be quite entertaining. They should decimate Illinois, so I won’t hesitate to take Maryland on the spread at -7.

Will Maryland cover the spread against Illinois? Make your pick at WynnBET.

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