The Terps return to the friendly confines of Maryland Stadium Week 3, where they will face a talented SMU team under the lights in primetime in what is their final non-conference game of the season.

The Terps are once again looking to improve and build upon last week's impressive 56-21 road win over Charlotte as they look to move to 3-0 heading into Big Ten play.

Below, we take a look at three things to watch for in the Terps' primetime matchup with SMU.

Can the Terps play a clean game?

This seems like it is becoming a theme, doesn't it? After struggling mightily with penalties in their opener, things didn't get much better for the Terps last weekend in Charlotte, as they committed eight penalties for 48 yards. In two games now, the Terps have committed 16 penalties for 130 yards, ranking them 84th nationally in penalty yards (65 YPG).

While the Terps were able to overcome some crucial penalties in their first two games, the talent level of their opponent gets ratcheted up several notches this week with SMU coming to town. The Mustangs have an explosive offense, led by Oklahoma transfer and returning starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai and the Terps simply can't afford to help SMU extend drives with penalties like they did last week with Charlotte.

The good news is that the Terps are back home this week and should have a crowd capable of helping SMU commit some penalties of their own. Meanwhile the Terps need to show better discipline themselves as they look to avoid costly mistakes.

Can the defense hold up against SMU's passing attack?

SMU enter's Saturday night's game with the 15th ranked passing offense nationally, averaging 335.5 yards per game through the air. And while two games is a small sample size, the Mustangs finished 14th in passing offense a season ago as Mordecai threw for 3,628 yards and 39 touchdowns.

Maryland's defense struggled to get pressure on the Charlotte quarterback a week ago. To make matters worse, Maryland was without starting cornerback Tarheeb Still, who will also miss Saturday night's game versus SMU after having surgery to repair a tendon in one of his fingers.

With their third-string quarterback getting the start, Charlotte was able to put up 292 yards and three touchdowns through the air versus the Terps. Simply put, Maryland defensive coordinator Brian Williams must find a way to apply pressure on Mordecai and the Terps will need their secondary to step up and make some big plays if they want to slow down SMU's passing attack.

The Maryland defense is still looking for its first interception--and first takeaway--of the season and Saturday night versus SMU would be the perfect time to come up with a big takeaway.

Does Dontay Demus Jr. step up?

Maryland senior wideout Dontay Demus Jr. suffered a horrible season-ending injury last year less than halfway through the season. He had been putting up monster numbers to that point and looked like a possible early round NFL draft pick.

Despite the setback Demus was able to work his way back on to the field, starting in the Terps' season-opening win over Buffalo and hauling in three catches for 23 yards.

But Demus has been relatively quiet thus far through two games this season, with just five catches for 52 yards. With a loaded wide receiver room, it is to be expected that different players might step up each week. In Week 1, it was junior Rakim Jarrett, who hauled in six catches for 110 yards. In Week 2 it was Florida transfer Jacob Copeland with four catches for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns along with Jeshaun Jones, who hauled in six catches for 71 yards and a couple of touchdowns of his own.

Demus is the emotional leader of the Terps' talented wide receiver group and Saturday might be exactly the type of game where they need a leader to step up and make some big plays. Demus is simply too talented and too much a part of the Terps' offense to not break out at some point this season, likely sooner rather than later. Don't be surprised to see the Terps take some early shots downfield with Demus as the intended target.