1997 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

American college football season

1997 Illinois Fighting Illini football

Conference| Big Ten Conference
Record| 0–11 (0–8 Big Ten)
Head coach|

* Ron Turner (1st season)

Offensive coordinator| Buddy Teevens (1st season)
Defensive coordinator| Tim Kish (1st season)
MVP| Robert Holcombe
Captains|

* Ivan Benson
* Danny Clark
* Robert Holcombe

Home stadium| Memorial Stadium

Seasons

← 1996

1998 →

1997 Big Ten Conference football standings

* v
* t
* e

| Conf. |  |  | Overall

|
|
|
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Team |   | W |   | L |   |  |  |   | W |   | L |
No. 1 Michigan $  |   | 8  | – | 0  |   |  |  |   | 12  | – | 0  |
No. 12 Ohio State |   | 6  | – | 2  |   |  |  |   | 10  | – | 3  |
No. 16 Penn State |   | 6  | – | 2  |   |  |  |   | 9  | – | 3  |
No. 15 Purdue |   | 6  | – | 2  |   |  |  |   | 9  | – | 3  |
Wisconsin |   | 5  | – | 3  |   |  |  |   | 8  | – | 5  |
Iowa |   | 4  | – | 4  |   |  |  |   | 7  | – | 5  |
Michigan State |   | 4  | – | 4  |   |  |  |   | 7  | – | 5  |
Northwestern |   | 3  | – | 5  |   |  |  |   | 5  | – | 7  |
Minnesota |   | 1  | – | 7  |   |  |  |   | 3  | – | 9  |
Indiana |   | 1  | – | 7  |   |  |  |   | 2  | – | 9  |
Illinois |   | 0  | – | 8  |   |  |  |   | 0  | – | 11  |

* $ – Conference champion

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1997 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by first-year head coach Ron Turner, the Fighting Illini compiled an overall record of 0–11 with a mark of 0–8 in conference play, placing last out of 11 teams in the Big Ten. The team played home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

As of 2024, the 1997 Illinois team is the last Big Ten football team that failed to register a single win.

## Schedule

[edit]

Date| Time| Opponent| Site| TV| Result| Attendance

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September 6| 6:00 pm| Southern Miss*|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| ESPN2| L 7–24| 44,519
September 13| 2:30 pm| at Louisville*|

* Cardinal Stadium
* Louisville, KY

| CBS| L 13–26| 36,824
September 20| 11:30 am| No. 19 Washington State*|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| ESPN2| L 22–35| 47,131
September 27| 11:30 am| at No. 11 Iowa|

* Kinnick Stadium
* Iowa City, IA

| ESPN2| L 10–38| 70,397
October 4| 11:30 am| No. 2 Penn State|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| ESPN2| L 6–41| 51,523
October 11| 11:00 am| at Wisconsin|

* Camp Randall Stadium
* Madison, WI

| ESPN Plis| L 7–31| 79,327
October 25| 1:00 pm| No. 22 Purdue|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL (rivalry)

| | L 3–48| 45,122
November 1| 1:00 pm| at Indiana|

* Memorial Stadium
* Bloomington, IN (rivalry)

| | L 6–23| 32,705
November 8| 11:00 am| Northwestern|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL (rivalry)

| ESPN Plus| L 21–34| 41,195
November 15| 11:00 am| at No. 4 Ohio State|

* Ohio Stadium
* Columbus, OH (Illibuck)

| ESPN Plus| L 6–41| 92,008
November 22| 1:00 pm| Michigan State|

* Memorial Stadium
* Champaign, IL

| | L 17–27| 30,087

* *Non-conference game
* Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
* All times are in Central time

[1]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "fightingillini.com". Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2012.

* v
* t
* e

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
* 1891
* 1892
* 1893
* 1894
* 1895
* 1896
* 1897
* 1898
* 1899
* 1900
* 1901
* 1902
* 1903
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* 1905
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* 1910
* 1911
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* 1913
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* 1918
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* 1954
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* 1957
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* 1997
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* 2024
* 2025

National championship seasons in bold

This college football 1997 season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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* v
* t
* e

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