The 1963 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 with ...

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 University ...

during the 1963 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fourth year under head coach

Pete Elliott Peter R. Elliott (September 29, 1926 – January 4, 2013) was an American football player and coach. Elliott served as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1956), the University of California, Berkeley (1957–1959), ...

, the Illini compiled an 8–1–1 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 ...

, were ranked #3 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 broadca ...

, and defeated

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in the 1964 Rose Bowl. The sole loss was a 14-8 defeat against

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Illinois

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Dick Butkus Richard Marvin Butkus (born December 9, 1942) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, and actor. He played football as a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1965 to ...

was selected as the team's most valuable player, won the 1963

Chicago Tribune Silver Football The Chicago Tribune Silver Football is awarded by the ''Chicago Tribune'' to the college football player determined to be the best player from the Big Ten Conference. The award has been presented annually since 1924, when Red Grange of Illinois wa ...

trophy as the Big Ten's most valuable player, and was honored as a

unanimous Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. Groups may consider unanimous decisions as a sign of social, political or procedural agreement, solidarity, and unity. Unanimity may be assumed explicitly after a unanimous vote or impl ...

first-team player on the

1963 College Football All-America Team The 1963 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 1963. The seven selectors recognized by the ...

. Tackle

Archie Sutton Archie Michael Sutton (November 2, 1941 – August 29, 2015) was an American professional football player who played offensive tackle for three seasons for the Minnesota Vikings. Sutton found early fame as a tackle playing for the Illini along ...

was selected by the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

as a second-team All-American. Quarterback

Mike Taliaferro Myron Eugene Taliaferro (pronounced "tollifur", born July 26, 1941) is a former collegiate and professional American football quarterback. He is best known for leading third-ranked Illinois to a 1964 Rose Bowl victory over Washington by the sc ...

led the team with 450 passing yards while

Jim Grabowski James Grabowski (born September 9, 1944) is a former American football player and broadcaster. He played college football at the University of Illinois and professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Green Bay Packers and the Ch ...

led the team with 616 rushing yards. Gregg Schumacher led the team with 133 receiving yards.

Schedule

Players

- center/linebacker *

- running back *

Sammy Price Samuel Blythe Price (October 6, 1908 – April 14, 1992) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. Price's playing is dark, mellow, and relaxed rather than percussive, and he was a specialist at creating the ...

- running back * Gregg Schumacher - end *

- tackle *

- quarterback

Awards and honors

* Dick Butkus (

Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

) **

** Consensus First-Team All-American (''linebacker'') ** All-American (''center'') *

( Tackle) ** All-American (''tackle'')

Roster

*Head coach:

(3rd year at Illinois)

References

{{Big Ten Conference football champions

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

Illinois Fighting Illini football seasons Rose Bowl champion seasons Big Ten Conference football champion 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 ...