1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football
1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Big Ten champion; Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 17–7 vs. Washington
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 3
Record	8–1–1 (5–1–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Pete Elliott (4th season);
MVP	Dick Butkus
Captain	Mike Taliaferro, Dick Deller
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
	Seasons ← 1962 1964 →

1963 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 3 Illinois $	5	–	1	–	1	8	–	1	–	1
No. 9 Michigan State	4	–	1	–	1	6	–	2	–	1
Ohio State	4	–	1	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
Purdue	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Northwestern	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Michigan	2	–	3	–	2	3	–	4	–	2
Iowa	2	–	3	–	1	3	–	3	–	2
Minnesota	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1963 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1963 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fourth year under head coach Pete Elliott, the Illini compiled an 8–1–1 record, finished in first place in the Big Ten Conference, were ranked #3 in the final AP Poll, and defeated Washington in the 1964 Rose Bowl. The sole loss was a 14-8 defeat against Michigan.^[1]

Illinois center/linebacker Dick Butkus was selected as the team's most valuable player, won the 1963 Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Big Ten's most valuable player, and was honored as a unanimous first-team player on the 1963 College Football All-America Team.^[2]^[3] Tackle Archie Sutton was selected by the Newspaper Enterprise Association as a second-team All-American.^[4]

Quarterback Mike Taliaferro led the team with 450 passing yards while Jim Grabowski led the team with 616 rushing yards. Gregg Schumacher led the team with 133 receiving yards.^[5]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 28	California*		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 10–0	42,357
October 5	No. 4 Northwestern		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	W 10–9	51,286
October 12	at No. 8 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	T 20–20	84,712
October 19	Minnesota	No. 7	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 16–6	61,229
October 25	at UCLA*	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 18–12	24,616
November 2	Purdue	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	W 41–21	61,796
November 9	Michigan	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 8–14	55,810	^[6]^[7]
November 16	at Wisconsin	No. 8	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	W 17–7	65,418
November 28	at No. 4 Michigan State	No. 8	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	W 13–0	74,342
January 1	vs. Washington*	No. 3	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	W 17–7	96,957
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Player	Position
Bill Pasko	End
Neal Anderson
Jim Plankenhorn	Offensive Tackle, Placekicker
Al Wheatland	Halfback
Mike Taliaferro (co-captain)	Quarterback
Dick Deller (co-captain)	Guard
Ron Fearn	Fullback
Mike Dundy	Defensive back
Dave Anderson
Jim Warren	Halfback
Sammy Price	Halfback
Gary Eickman	Tackle
Jim Wainwright
Lynn Stewart	Offensive Tackle
Bob Easter	Offensive Tackle
Dee Rutherford
Dick Butkus	Center/Linebacker
Todd Gabbett	Guard
Rich Callaghan	End (offense & defense)
Fred Custardo	Quarterback, Placekicker
Larry Justiz
Tony Parola
Barry Deist
Les Feuquay
Dick Dorr
Hal Wineland
Ken Schreiner	Guard
Mario Camanaro
Paul Upton
Bill Minor	Guard
Hugh Woodson
Gregg Schumacher	End
Dennis Senkowski
Bruce Capel
Art McCaskill
Wayne Paulson	Halfback
Dave Mueller
George Donnelly	Defensive Back
Dick Kee
Dick Hochleutner
Charles Galbreath
Wylie Fox	Guard
Terry Fairbanks
Jim Grabowski	Halfback
Kai Anderson
Dick Fitzgerald
Ron Acks	Fullback, Linebacker
Mike Summers
Ken Nietupski	Tackle
Wayne Strauch
Joe Wolfe
Ed Walsh
Jack Maggiore	Offensive Lineman
Dave DeWolf
Bill Farrell
Jim Unrath
Steve Kimbell
Royce Neisz
John Willis
Archie Sutton	Offensive Tackle
Bob Petkus
Don Hansen	Linebacker
Eddie Russell
Dave Russell
Dave Powless	Guard
Dale Greco
John Walker
Bernie McCabe
Ed Terrill
Bill Harper
Brian Duniec	Guard
Ed Washington	Offensive Tackle

^ ^a ^b "1963 Illinois Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
^ "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ "Staubach Leads Youthful NEA All-Americans". Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, FL. December 2, 1963. p. 14A.
^ "1963 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ Lyall Smith (November 10, 1963). "Michigan KOs Illinois, 14 to 8". Detroit Free Press. p. 1D, 3D – via Newspapers.com.
^ Mike Block (November 10, 1963). "'M' Humbles Fumbling Illinois, 14-8". The Michigan Daily. pp. 1, 7 – via Bentley Historical Library.