1970 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

1970 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1970 record	3–7 (1–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jim Valek (4th season)
MVP	Doug Dieken
Captain	Kirk McMillin, Doug Dieken
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons

1970 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#5/2 Ohio State †	7	–	0	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
#9/7 Michigan	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
Northwestern	6	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Iowa	3	–	3	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	1
Michigan State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Minnesota	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Purdue	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Illinois	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Indiana	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
† – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll / Coaches' Poll

The 1970 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1970 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fourth and final year under head coach Jim Valek, the Illini compiled a 3–7 record and finished in a tie for last place in the Big Ten Conference.

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Mike Wells with 906 passing yards, running back Darrell Robinson with 749 rushing yards, and wide receiver Doug Dieken with 537 receiving yards. Dieken was selected for the second consecutive year as the team's most valuable player.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 19	Oregon*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 20–16
September 26	Tulane*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 9–23
October 3	Syracuse*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 27–0
October 10	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)	L 0–48
October 17	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 24–30
October 24	No. 1 Ohio State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Illibuck Trophy)	L 29–48
October 31	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Purdue Cannon)	W 23–21
November 7	at No. 5 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	L 0–42
November 14	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 17–29
November 21	at Iowa	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 16–22
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1970 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class G 82 Dieken, DougDoug Dieken 7.0 !Sr T 54 McCarren, LarryLarry McCarren 3.0 !So QB 12 Wells, MikeMike Wells 3.0 !So	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 52 Allen, LarryLarry Allen 3.0 !So S 29 Allen, SteveSteve Allen 7.0 !Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Jim Valek Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Season summary

Oregon

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total Oregon 0 7 0 9 16 • Illinois 0 10 7 3 20 Date: September 19 Location: Memorial Stadium

Scoring summary Q2 4:36 ILL Wells 1 yard run (Wells kick) ILL 7–0 Q2 1:37 ORE Newland 95 yard pass from Blanchard (Woody kick) Tie 7–7 Q2 0:01 ILL Wells 37 yard field goal ILL 10–7 Q3 12:51 ILL Dieken 26 yard pass from Wells (Wells kick) ILL 17–7 Q4 9:49 ILL Wells 22 yard field goal ILL 20–7 Q4 4:30 ORE Marshall 24 yard run (Woody kick) ILL 20–14 Q4 1:45 ORE Safety, Wells tackled by Reeves in end zone ILL 20–16