American Football Database
Register
Advertisement
Illinois Fighting Illini football
File:Illini logo.svg
First season 1890
Athletic director Michael Thomas
Head coach Tim Beckman
Home stadium Memorial Stadium
Stadium capacity 62,872
Stadium surface FieldTurf
Location Champaign, Illinois
Conference Big Ten
Division Leaders
All-time record 563–513–51
Postseason bowl record 8–9
Claimed national titles 5
Conference titles 15
Consensus All-Americans 24
Current uniform
File:BigTen-Uniform-Illinois.png
Colors Blue and Orange            
Fight song Illinois Loyalty and Oskee Wow Wow
Marching band Marching Illini
Major Rivals Northwestern Wildcats
Ohio State Buckeyes
Purdue Boilermakers
Indiana Hoosiers

The Illinois Fighting Illini are a major college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference.

Current staff[]

Name Position
Tim Beckman Head Coach
Chris Beatty Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
Billy Gonzales Co-Offensive Coordinator/Receivers Coach
Tim Banks Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach
Tim Salem Special Teams Coordinator/Running Backs Coach
Alex Golesh Recruiting Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach
Luke Butkus Offensive Line Coach
Steve Clinkscale Cornerbacks Coach
Mike Ward Linebackers Coach
Keith Gilmore Defensive Line Coach

All-time win/loss/tie record[]

National championships[]

The University of Illinois claims five national championships in football: 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927, and 1951. The Fighting Illini now officially recognize the 1951 National Championship by the Boand selecting body,[2] but as recently as 2006 this was not mentioned officially by the school.[3]

Year Coach Selector Record Bowl Game
1914 Bob Zuppke Parke H. Davis 7-0-0
1919 Bob Zuppke Billingsley, Boand, Football Research, Parke H. Davis 6-1-0
1923 Bob Zuppke Boand, Football Research, Helms, National Championship Foundation, Parke H. Davis 8-0-0
1927 Bob Zuppke Billingsley, Dickinson, Helms, National Championship Foundation, Parke H. Davis 7-0-1
1951 Ray Eliot Boand 9-0-1 Won Rose Bowl
National Championships 5

Big Ten championships[]

Year Coach Big Ten Record Overall Record Bowl Game
1910 Arthur Hall 4-0-0 7-0-0
1914 Bob Zuppke 6-0-0 7-0-0
1915 Bob Zuppke 3-0-2 5-0-2
1918 Bob Zuppke 4-0-0 5-2-0
1919 Bob Zuppke 6-1-0 6-1-0
1923 Bob Zuppke 5-0-0 8-0-0
1927 Bob Zuppke 5-0-0 7-0-1
1928 Bob Zuppke 4-1-0 7-1-0
1946 Dalton Witts 6-1-0 8-2-0 Won Rose Bowl
1951 Dalton Witts 5-0-1 9-0-1 Won Rose Bowl
1953 Dalton Witts 5-1-0 7-1-1
1963 Pete Elliot 5-1-1 8-1-1 Won Rose Bowl
1983 Mike White 9-0-0 10-2-0 Lost Rose Bowl
1990 John Mackovic 6-2-0 8-4-0 Lost Hall of Fame Bowl
2001 Ron Turner 7-1 10-2 Lost Sugar Bowl
15-time Big Ten Champions

Bowl Game history[]

Date Bowl W/L Opponent PF PA
January 1, 1947 Rose Bowl W UCLA 45 14
January 1, 1952 Rose Bowl W Stanford 40 7
January 1, 1964 Rose Bowl W Washington 17 7
December 29, 1982 Liberty Bowl L Alabama 15 21
January 2, 1984 Rose Bowl L UCLA 9 45
December 31, 1985 Peach Bowl L Army 29 31
December 29, 1988 All-American Bowl L Florida 10 14
January 1, 1990 Florida Citrus Bowl W Virginia 31 21
January 1, 1991 Hall of Fame Bowl L Clemson 0 30
December 31, 1991 John Hancock Bowl L UCLA 3 6
December 30, 1992 Holiday Bowl L Hawai'i 17 27
December 31, 1994 Liberty Bowl W East Carolina 30 0
December 30, 1999 MicronPC.com Bowl W Virginia 63 21
January 1, 2002 Sugar Bowl L LSU 34 47
January 1, 2008 Rose Bowl L USC 17 49
December 29, 2010 Texas Bowl W Baylor 38 14
December 31, 2011 Fight Hunger Bowl W UCLA 20 14
Total 17 Bowl Games 8-9 418 368

Trophy games[]

All-time statistical leaders[]

Career leaders[]

Season leaders[]

Game leaders[]

  • Passing Yards: Dave Wilson (621 vs. Ohio State in 1980) *Big Ten Record
  • Rushing Yards: Mikel Leshoure (330 vs. Northwestern in 2010)
  • Receiving Yards: A.J. Jenkins (268 vs. Northwestern in 2011)
  • Touchdowns: Howard Griffith (8 vs. Southern Illinois in 1990) *NCAA Record
  • Touchdown Passes: Dave Wilson (6 vs. Ohio State in 1980)
  • Receptions: David Williams (16 vs. Purdue in 1985)
  • Tackles: John Sullivan (34 vs. Minnesota in 1977)
  • Interceptions: Mike Gow (4 vs. Stanford in 1974)
  • Sacks: Simeon Rice (5 vs. Washington State in 1994)

Individual honors[]

  • National Player of the Year
Dick Butkus - 1964
Jim Grabowski - 1965
  • Baugh Trophy
Jeff George - 1989
Dana Howard - 1994
Kevin Hardy - 1995
  • Hendricks Award
Whitney Mercilus - 2011
  • CFPA National Defensive Performer of the Year
Whitney Mercilus - 2011
  • CFPA Running Back Trophy
Mikel Leshoure - 2010
  • No. 1 Overall Draft Pick
Jim Grabowski - 1965... Miami
Dave Wilson - 1981... New Orleans
Jeff George - 1990... Indianapolis
Buddy Young - 1944... 5th
Bill Burrell - 1959... 4th
Dick Butkus - 1964... 3rd
Jim Grabowski - 1965... 3rd
George Halas - 1919
Buddy Young - 1946
Julius Rykovich - 1946
Bill Tate - 1951
Jim Grabowski - 1964
  • Chicago Tribune Silver Football (Big Ten Player of the Year)
Red Grange - 1924
Alex Agase - 1946
Bill Burrell - 1959
Dick Butkus - 1963
Jim Grabowski - 1965
Don Thorp - 1983
Rashard Mendenhall - 2007
Moe Gardner - 1990
Darrick Brownlow - 1990
Dana Howard - 1993 & 1994
Simeon Rice - 1992
Arrelious Benn - 2007
Moe Gardner - 1989
Simeon Rice - 1994
  • National Coach of the Year
Mike White - 1983
Ron Zook - 2007
  • Big Ten Coach of the Year
Mike White - 1983
John Mackovic - 1988 & 1989
Ron Turner - 2001
Ron Zook - 2007

College Football Hall of Famers[]

Retired football jerseys
Number Player

50 Dick Butkus
77 Red Grange
  • Alex Agase (Guard, 1941–1942; 1946)
  • Bob Blackman (Head Coach, 1971–1976)
  • Al Brosky (Safety, 1950–1952)
  • Dick Butkus (Center/Linebacker, 1962–1964)
  • Chuck Carney (End, 1918–1921)
  • J.C. Caroline (Halfback, 1953–1954)
  • Jim Grabowski (Fullback, 1963–1965)
  • Red Grange (Halfback, 1923–1925)
  • Ed Hall (Head Coach, 1892–1893)
  • Bart Macomber (Halfback, 1914–1916)
  • Bernie Shively (Guard, 1924–1926)
  • David Williams (Wide Receiver, 1983–1985)
  • George Woodruff (Head Coach, 1903)
  • Claude "Buddy" Young (Halfback, 1944, 1946)
  • Bob Zuppke (Head Coach, 1913–1941) [4]

Consensus All-Americans[]

Pro Football Hall of Famers[]

[5]

Current NFL players[]

Other notable players[]

Media[]

Illini football games are shown via the Illini Sports Network, which brings the Illini to stations across Illinois. Locally, the team's games are shown on WDWS-AM 1400 and WHMS-FM 97.5. WDWS has been the Illini's exclusive radio station in Champaign since 1935. WHMS has aired Illini games since the 1950's. The team's student newspaper is the Daily Illini, while outside coverage is handled by The News-Gazette.

References[]

External links[]


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Illinois Fighting Illini football.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with American Football Database, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Advertisement