1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

American college football season

1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football

Conference| Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP| No. 15
Record| 5–4–1 (3–3 Big Ten)
Head coach|

* Ray Eliot (3rd season)

MVP| Buddy Young
Captain| Game captains
Home stadium| Memorial Stadium

Seasons

← 1943

1945 →

1944 Big Ten Conference football standings

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| Conf. |  |  | Overall

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Team | W |   | L |   | T |  |  | W |   | L |   | T
No. 2 Ohio State $  | 6  | – | 0  | – | 0 |  |  | 9  | – | 0  | – | 0
No. 8 Michigan | 5  | – | 2  | – | 0 |  |  | 8  | – | 2  | – | 0
Purdue | 4  | – | 2  | – | 0 |  |  | 5  | – | 5  | – | 0
Minnesota | 3  | – | 2  | – | 1 |  |  | 5  | – | 3  | – | 1
Indiana | 4  | – | 3  | – | 0 |  |  | 7  | – | 3  | – | 0
No. 15 Illinois | 3  | – | 3  | – | 0 |  |  | 5  | – | 4  | – | 1
Wisconsin | 2  | – | 4  | – | 0 |  |  | 3  | – | 6  | – | 0
Northwestern | 0  | – | 5  | – | 1 |  |  | 1  | – | 7  | – | 1
Iowa | 0  | – | 6  | – | 0 |  |  | 1  | – | 7  | – | 0

* \+ – Conference co-champions

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. In their third year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Illini compiled a 5–3–1 record, were ranked No. 15 in the final AP poll, and finished in sixth place in the Big Ten Conference. Illinois lost three games to teams ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll: No. 9 Notre Dame (13–7); No. 8 Michigan (14–0); and No. 2 Ohio State (26–12).

## Schedule

[edit]

Date| Opponent| Rank| Site| Result| Attendance| Source

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September 16| Illinois State Normal*| |

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| W 79–0| 5,386| [1]
September 23| Indiana| |

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL (rivalry)

| W 26–18| 7,986|
September 30| at Great Lakes Navy*| |

* Ross Field
* Great Lakes, IL

| T 26–26| 25,000| [2]
October 7| Purdue| |

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL (rivalry)

| L 19–35| 15,210|
October 14| Iowa| No. 14|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| W 40–6| 11,498|
October 21| at Pittsburgh*| |

* Pitt Stadium
* Pittsburgh, PA

| W 39–5| 15,000|
October 28| No. 1 Notre Dame*| No. 14|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| L 7–13| 65,114|
November 11| at No. 8 Michigan| No. 10|

* Michigan Stadium
* Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)

| L 0–14| 43,922|
November 18| vs. No. 4 Ohio State| |

* Cleveland Stadium
* Cleveland, OH (Illibuck)

| L 12–26| 83,627|
November 25| at Northwestern| |

* Dyche Stadium
* Evanston, IL (rivalry)

| W 25–6| 38,000|

* *Non-conference game
* Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[3] Halfback Buddy Young was selected as the team's most valuable player.[4]

## Rankings

[edit]

See also: 1944 college football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked| Week

|

Poll| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| Final
AP| 14| —| 14| 9| 10| —| —| —| 15

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Bartlett, Charles (September 17, 1944). "Illinois Unveils Flock of Fleet Backs; Crushes Normal, 79 to 0". Chicago Tribune. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
2. ^ "Illinois Holds Bluejackets to 26 to 26 Tie". Chicago Tribune. October 1, 1944. p. II-1, II-3 – via Newspapers.com.
3. ^ "1944 Illinois Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
4. ^ "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 28, 2016.

* v
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Illinois Fighting Illini football

Venues|

* Illinois Field (1890–1922)
* Memorial Stadium (1923–present)
* Soldier Field (1994–present)

Bowls & rivalries|

* Bowl games
* Indiana
* Michigan
* Missouri
* Northwestern
* Ohio State: Illibuck
* Purdue

Culture & lore|

* Illinois Loyalty
* "Oskee Wow-Wow"
* Marching Illini
* Gene Honda
* Fighting Illini Sports Network
* Chief Illiniwek
* 1960s slush fund scandal
* 2021 Penn State game

People|

* Head coaches
* NFL draftees
* Statistical leaders

Seasons|

* 1890
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National championship seasons in bold

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*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf.]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[T]: Ties
*[No.]: Number