The 1951 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that represented the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

during the

1951 Big Ten Conference football season The 1951 Big Ten Conference football season was the 56th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference (also known as the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) and was a part of the 1951 college footba ...

. In their 10th year under head coach

Ray Eliot Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at th ...

, the Illini compiled a 9–0–1 record, finished in first place in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, was ranked #4 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

, and defeated Stanford 40–7 in the

1952 Rose Bowl The 1952 Rose Bowl was the 38th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Held on Tuesday, January 1, at the end of the 1951 college football season, it was the first nationally televised col ...

. The lone setback was a scoreless tie with

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Illinois defeated Stanford 40 to 7 in the

, the first nationally televised college football game. The team was named co-national champion by

Boand Boann or Boand (modern Irish spelling: Bónn) is the Irish goddess of the River Boyne (the river-name now always in the nominalised dative/prepositional case, Bóinn), a river in Ireland's historical fifth province, Meath (from Middle Irish '' ...

, which split its selection with

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

Al Brosky Alfred E. Brosky (June 9, 1928 – November 28, 2010) was an American football player, and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Brosky played football at the University of Illinois from 1950 to 1952. He wa ...

had an NCAA career record 29 interceptions, including an NCAA record 15-game streak covering the entire 1951 season. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998. Halfback

Johnny Karras John J. Karras (January 29, 1928 – November 6, 2008) was an American football halfback who played one season with the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the second round of the 1952 NFL ...

was a consensus first-team pick on the

1951 College Football All-America Team The 1951 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1951. The eight selectors recognized by the ...

. Linebacker Chuck Boerio was selected as the team's most valuable player.

Schedule

Players

* Chuck Boerio, center (1st-team All-America pick by NEA; 1st-team All-Big Ten pick by AP) *

, halfback (1st-team All-America pick by AP and Football Writers) *

, halfback (consensus 1st-team All-American; 1st-team All-Big Ten pick by AP and UP) * Rex Smith, end (1st-team All-Big Ten pick by AP) *

Chuck Studley Charles B. Studley (born January 17, 1929) is a former American football coach. He served as head coach at University of Cincinnati from 1961 to 1966 and interim head coach of the Houston Oilers in 1983. Studley finished with a 2–8 record in h ...

, tackle (1st-team All-Big Ten pick by AP and UP) *

Chuck Ulrich Charles Ulrich, Jr. (December 14, 1929 – April 10, 2006) was a professional American football defensive tackle in the National Football League. He played five seasons for the Chicago Cardinals (1954–1958). Ulrich was a member of the Illino ...

, tackle (1st-team All-America pick by INS; 1st-team All-Big Ten pick by AP and UP) * Bill Tate Rose Bowl MVP

Roster

*Head coach:

(10th year at Illinois)

References

{{Big Ten Conference football champions

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Illinois Fighting Illini football seasons Big Ten Conference football champion seasons Rose Bowl champion seasons College football undefeated seasons

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...