With Maryland set to open Big Ten play at Illinois Friday night in Champaign, TSR takes a look at three keys to victory for the Terps as they look to stay undefeated.

After finishing last season among the worst teams in the country with a negative turnover margin, the Terps have completely flipped the script through two games this season, with five takeaways of their own and none by their opponents.

Illinois, meanwhile, has four takeaways of their own through three games, but they have also lost a couple of fumbles and have thrown an interception.

Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters will make his first start of the season versus Maryland after missing the first three games due to injury. He'll face a Terps secondary that is extremely talented and has some ball hawks, like corner Jakorian Bennett and safety Nick Cross, who already have three interceptions between them this season. If the Terps can get some pressure up front and confuse Peters with some blitzes, they should have plenty of opportunities to create some takeaways and have a positive turnover margin for a third straight game.

Last season, with no fans in the stands, Taulia Tagovailoa struggled in his first road start of his career at Northwestern, throwing for just 94 yards and three interceptions. Both of Tagovailoas' losses last season as a starter came on the road, at Northwestern and at Indiana.

So far this season, Tagovailoa has been brilliant, as he enters Friday night's game having thrown for over 600 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions through the first two contests of the season. And while Tagovailoa had his issues on the road last year, Illinois is ripe for the sophomore quarterback to have a big game under the lights.

The Illini enter Friday night's game ranked 122nd out of 130 teams nationally in pass defense, allowing opponents to throw for over 311 yards per game through three contests. Against Virginia, they allowed starting quarterback Brennan Armstrong to throw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns.

Maryland, meanwhile, ranks 12th nationally in passing offense, averaging 339.5 yards per game through the air. Tagovailoa has numerous weapons at his disposal, including budding star and rising NFL prospect Dontay Demus and former five-star Rakim Jarrett. As long as Tagovailoa doesn't get rattled and plays the way he has the first two weeks, he should have the opportunity to put up big numbers Friday night.

The Terps are 2-6 in conference road games since Locksley took over prior to the start of the 2019 season. That said, perhaps the biggest win of Locksley's short tenure was a road win at Penn State last season.

The Terps are saying all of the right things prior to Friday night's road opener at Illinois and it is a more than favorable matchup for Maryland. Still, it will mark the first time the Terps have played a road game in front of opposing fans since Nov. 30, 2019, when they lost at Michigan State.

One key to winning this game for Maryland will be their ability to limit penalties and 'self-inflicted wounds,' as Locksley likes to refer to them.

Can the Terps avoid unnecessary offsides penalties?

Can they keep their emotions in check?

If Maryland can once again limit the penalties and not get distracted by the opposing crowd, they should be in good shape.