The 1970 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 1970 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fourth and final year under head coach

Jim Valek James Joseph Valek (January 25, 1928 – September 4, 2005) was an American football player, coach, and executive. He served as the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1967 to 1970, compiling a record of 8 ...

, the Illini compiled a 3–7 record and finished in a tie for last 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 ...

. The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Mike Wells with 906 passing yards, running back Darrell Robinson with 749 rushing yards, and wide receiver

Doug Dieken Douglas Heye Dieken (born February 12, 1949) is a retired left tackle and radio color analyst for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). From 1971-2022, he had 51 years of association with the Browns in various capacities - ...

with 537 receiving yards. Dieken was selected for the second consecutive year as the team's most valuable player.

Schedule

Roster

Season summary

Oregon

Eugene Register-Guard. 1970 Sep 20. Retrieved 2018-Nov-04.

References

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

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 ...

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