1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1963 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fourth year under head coach Pete Elliott, the Illini compiled an 8–1–1 record, finished in first place in the Big Ten Conference, were ranked #3 in the final AP Poll, and defeated Washington in the 1964 Rose Bowl. The sole loss was a 14-8 defeat against Michigan.[1]

1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Big Ten champion
Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 17–7 vs. Washington
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 4
APNo. 3
Record8–1–1 (5–1–1 Big Ten)
Head coach
MVPDick Butkus
CaptainMike Taliaferro, Dick Deller
Home stadiumMemorial Stadium
1963 Big Ten Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 3 Illinois $ 5 –1 –18 –1 –1
No. 9 Michigan State 4 –1 –16 –2 –1
Ohio State 4 –1 –15 –3 –1
Purdue 4 –3 –05 –4 –0
Northwestern 3 –4 –05 –4 –0
Wisconsin 3 –4 –05 –4 –0
Michigan 2 –3 –23 –4 –2
Iowa 2 –3 –13 –3 –2
Minnesota 2 –5 –03 –6 –0
Indiana 1 –5 –03 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Illinois center/linebacker Dick Butkus was selected as the team's most valuable player, won the 1963 Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Big Ten's most valuable player, and was honored as a unanimous first-team player on the 1963 College Football All-America Team.[2][3] Tackle Archie Sutton was selected by the Newspaper Enterprise Association as a second-team All-American.[4]

Quarterback Mike Taliaferro led the team with 450 passing yards while Jim Grabowski led the team with 616 rushing yards. Gregg Schumacher led the team with 133 receiving yards.[5]

Schedule
DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 28California*
W 10–042,357
October 5No. 4 Northwestern
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL (rivalry)
W 10–951,286
October 12at No. 8 Ohio State
T 20–2084,712
October 19MinnesotaNo. 7
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL
W 16–661,229
October 25at UCLA*No. 4
W 18–1224,616
November 2PurdueNo. 2
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL (rivalry)
W 41–2161,796
November 9MichiganNo. 2
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL
L 8–1455,810[6][7]
November 16at WisconsinNo. 8
W 17–765,418
November 28at No. 4 Michigan StateNo. 8
W 13–074,342
January 1vs. Washington*No. 3
W 17–796,957
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[1]

Players

Awards and honors

Roster
Player Position
Bill Pasko End
Neal Anderson
Jim Plankenhorn Offensive Tackle, Placekicker
Al Wheatland Halfback
Mike Taliaferro (co-captain) Quarterback
Dick Deller (co-captain) Guard
Ron Fearn Fullback
Mike Dundy Defensive back
Dave Anderson
Jim Warren Halfback
Sammy Price Halfback
Gary Eickman Tackle
Jim Wainwright
Lynn Stewart Offensive Tackle
Bob Easter Offensive Tackle
Dee Rutherford
Dick Butkus Center/Linebacker
Todd Gabbett Guard
Rich Callaghan
Fred Custardo Quarterback, Placekicker
Larry Justiz
Tony Parola
Barry Deist
Les Feuquay
Dick Dorr
Hal Wineland
Ken Schreiner Guard
Mario Camanaro
Paul Upton
Bill Minor Guard
Hugh Woodson
Gregg Schumacher End
Dennis Senkowski
Bruce Capel
Art McCaskill
Wayne Paulson Halfback
Dave Mueller
George Donnelly Defensive Back
Dick Kee
Dick Hochleutner
Charles Galbreath
Wylie Fox Guard
Terry Fairbanks
Jim Grabowski Halfback
Kai Anderson
Dick Fitzgerald
Ron Acks Fullback, Linebacker
Mike Summers
Ken Nietupski Tackle
Wayne Strauch
Joe Wolfe
Ed Walsh
Jack Maggiore Offensive Lineman
Dave DeWolf
Bill Farrell
Jim Unrath
Steve Kimbell
Royce Neisz
John Willis
Archie Sutton Offensive Tackle
Bob Petkus
Don Hansen Linebacker
Eddie Russell
Dave Russell
Dave Powless Guard
Dale Greco
John Walker
Bernie McCabe
Ed Terrill
Bill Harper
Brian Duniec Guard
Ed Washington Offensive Tackle

References
  1. "1963 Illinois Schedule and Results". 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. "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  4. "Staubach Leads Youthful NEA All-Americans". Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, FL. December 2, 1963. p. 14A.
  5. "1963 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  6. Lyall Smith (November 10, 1963). "Michigan KOs Illinois, 14 to 8". Detroit Free Press. p. 1D, 3D – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Mike Block (November 10, 1963). "'M' Humbles Fumbling Illinois, 14-8". The Michigan Daily. pp. 1, 7 – via Bentley Historical Library.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.