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1983 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

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1983 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Big Ten champion
Rose Bowl, L 9–45 vs. UCLA
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 10
APNo. 10
Record10–2 (9–0 Big Ten)
Head coach
CaptainTim Brewster, Joe Miles, Don Thorp
Home stadiumMemorial Stadium
Seasons
← 1982
1984 →
1983 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 10 Illinois $ 9 – 0 – 0 10 – 2 – 0
No. 8 Michigan 8 – 1 – 0 9 – 3 – 0
No. 14 Iowa 7 – 2 – 0 9 – 3 – 0
No. 9 Ohio State 6 – 3 – 0 9 – 3 – 0
Wisconsin 5 – 4 – 0 7 – 4 – 0
Purdue 3 – 5 – 1 3 – 7 – 1
Michigan State 2 – 6 – 1 4 – 6 – 1
Indiana 2 – 7 – 0 3 – 8 – 0
Northwestern 2 – 7 – 0 2 – 9 – 0
Minnesota 0 – 9 – 0 1 – 10 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1983 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by fourth-year head coach Mike White, the Fighting Illini compiled an overall record of 10–2 with a mark of 9–0, winning the Big Ten title. Illinois was invited to the Rose Bowl, where the Illini lost to UCLA. The team played home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Jack Trudeau with 2,446 passing yards, running back Thomas Rooks with 842 rushing yards, and wide receiver David Williams with 870 receiving yards.[1] Defensive end Don Thorp was selected as the team's most valuable player and also received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference.[2] The 1983 Illini were the first team in Big Ten history to go 9–0 in regular season conference play, and the only team to do so until the 2017 Wisconsin Badgers football team repeated the feat. Since then, the 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, the 2024 Oregon Ducks football team and both the 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team & 2023 Michigan Wolverines football team have accomplished the feat.

Schedule

[edit]
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 101:30 pmat Missouri*
L 18–2853,744[3]
September 176:00 pmStanford*
W 17–772,852[4]
September 2411:30 amat Michigan State
ABCW 20–1075,867[5]
October 11:00 pmNo. 4 Iowa
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL
W 33–073,351[6]
October 81:30 pmat WisconsinNo. 19
W 27–1578,307[7]
October 151:00 pmNo. 6 Ohio StateNo. 19
W 17–1373,414[8]
October 221:30 pmat PurdueNo. 11
W 35–2169,328[9]
October 2911:30 amNo. 8 MichiganNo. 9
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL (rivalry)
CBSW 16–676,127[10]
November 57:00 pmat MinnesotaNo. 6
W 50–2335,514[11]
November 121:00 pmIndianaNo. 5
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL (rivalry)
W 49–2173,612[12]
November 191:00 pmat NorthwesternNo. 4
W 56–2452,333[13]
January 24:00 pmvs. UCLA*No. 4
NBCL 9–45103,217[14]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

[15]

Awards and honors

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "1983 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  2. ^ "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  3. ^ "Bad start wrecks Illinois". The Rock Island Argus. September 11, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Illinois discovers running game in victory". The Pantagraph. September 18, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Spartans lose 1st; Illinois ends MSU streak". The Times Herald. September 25, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Illini pay back Hawks with shutout". The Dispatch. October 2, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Mistakes critical for Wisconsin". The La Crosse Tribune. October 9, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Late Illinois march sinks Buckeyes, 17–13". The Des Moines Register. October 16, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Illini top Purdue, eye Michigan". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 23, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Joe Lapointe (October 30, 1983). "Illinois on the road to Roses after dominating U-M, 16-6". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1F, 7F – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Illini explode after scare". Chicago Tribune. November 6, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Illinois officially wraps up Rose Bowl bid". The Belleville News-Democrat. November 13, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Illinois brushes aside NU". Chicago Tribune. November 20, 1983. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Neuheisel leads UCLA past stunned Illini 45–9". USA Today. January 3, 1984. Retrieved February 24, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ DeLassus, David. "Illinois Yearly Results: 1980–1984". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
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