Illinois Fighting Illini football
| Illinois Fighting Illini football | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| First season | 1890 | ||
| Athletic director | Josh Whitman | ||
| Head coach |
Lovie Smith 1st year, 3–9 (.250) |
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| Stadium | Memorial Stadium | ||
| Seating capacity | 60,670 | ||
| Field surface | FieldTurf | ||
| Location | Champaign, Illinois | ||
| Conference | Big Ten | ||
| Division | West | ||
| All-time record | 587–561–51 (.511) | ||
| Bowl record | 8–10 (.444) | ||
| Claimed nat'l titles | 5 (1914, 1919, 1923, 1927, 1951) | ||
| Conference titles | 15 | ||
| Consensus All-Americans | 24 | ||
| Colors | Orange and Blue |
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| Fight song | Illinois Loyalty and Oskee Wow Wow | ||
| Marching band | Marching Illini | ||
| Major Rivals |
Northwestern Wildcats Missouri Tigers Purdue Boilermakers Indiana Hoosiers Ohio State Buckeyes |
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| Outfitter | Nike | ||
| Fighting Illini in the NFL/AFL | |
|---|---|
| NFL Draft Selections | |
| Top 5 Draft Picks | 8 |
| 1st round: | 23 |
| Total Currently Playing: | 19 |
| Total NFL Players: | 238 |
| Notable Achievements | |
| Illini in the Super Bowl: | 39 |
| Pro Football Hall of Famers: | 6 |
| College Football Hall of Famers: | 15 |
The Illinois Fighting Illini are a college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference.
The University of Illinois fielded its first football team in 1890, under the direction of Scott Williams, the team's starting quarterback who also served as the team's head coach. The team finished with a record of 1–2.Robert Lackey took over the reins for the program's second season in 1891, and the team finished undefeated with a mark of 6–0. In July 1892, several days after graduating from Dartmouth, Edward K. Hall was hired by the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign to serve as head football coach and director of physical training at a salary of $1,000. He announced at the time that he would spend the summer working as a waiter at a hotel in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, before reporting to Illinois. He was the third head football coach at Illinois, held that position for the 1892 and 1893 seasons, and led the team to a record of 12–6–4 in his two years as head coach. His 1892 team compiled a 9–4–1 record, played the first games in the football rivalries with Northwestern and Chicago, and played six road games in nine days (four wins and two losses) in late October 1892.
George Huff was the fifth head coach in Illini football history, succeeding Louis Vail. Huff led the Illini into the Big Ten Conference, which formed in 1896. After back-to-back 4–2–1 seasons in 1895 and 1896, the Illini posted a 6–2 record in 1897. That proved to be the high point of Huff's tenure, as Illinois slipped to 4–5 in 1898 and 3–5–1 in 1899, ending Huff's tenure at Illinois.
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