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1965 Illinois

6–⁠4 (4–⁠3 Big Ten), coached by Pete Elliott.

Schedule and results

Illinois in 1965, game by game: lost vs. Oregon State 10–12; won vs. SMU 42–0; lost at No. 9 Michigan State 12–22; lost at Ohio State 14–28; won vs. Indiana 34–13; won vs. Duke 28–14; won vs. No. 6 Purdue 21–0; lost vs. Michigan 3–23; won at Wisconsin 51–0; won at Northwestern 20–6+51−20Lost 10–12 vs. Oregon State-2Oregon StateWon 42–0 vs. SMU+42SMULost 12–22 at No. 9 Michigan State-10No. 9 Michigan StateLost 14–28 at Ohio State-14Ohio StateWon 34–13 vs. Indiana+21IndianaWon 28–14 vs. Duke+14DukeWon 21–0 vs. No. 6 Purdue+21No. 6 PurdueLost 3–23 vs. Michigan-20MichiganWon 51–0 at Wisconsin+51WisconsinWon 20–6 at Northwestern+14Northwestern
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 18vsOregon StateL 10–⁠1261%
Sep 25vsSMUW 42–⁠078%
Oct 2at9Michigan StateL 12–⁠2238%
Oct 9atOhio StateL 14–⁠2843%
Oct 16vsIndianaW 34–⁠1374%
Oct 23vsDukeW 28–⁠1457%
Oct 30vs6PurdueW 21–⁠055%
Nov 6vsMichiganL 3–⁠2359%
Nov 13atWisconsinW 51–⁠062%
Nov 20atNorthwesternW 20–⁠656%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Northwestern 20–⁠6; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 20th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1965.

Heisman voteJim Grabowski, third

Consensus All-AmericanJim Grabowski, FB

Record
6–⁠4
Conference
4–⁠3 5th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked
Points
235–⁠118
Coach
Pete Elliott
Elo
1620 +43 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
18.9 No. 10 of 120 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Jim Grabowski and Don Hansen
Most valuable player
Jim Grabowski

Drafted in 1966

The 1966 draft
Rd 1Jim Grabowski RBGreen Bay Packers
Rd 3Don Hansen LBMinnesota Vikings
Rd 4Ron Acks DBMinnesota Vikings

All-Big Ten

3 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Bo BatchelderDEAP-2; UPI-2
  • Gary EickmanDTAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1965 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1965 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan State7–⁠010–⁠12
Ohio State6–⁠17–⁠2
Purdue5–⁠27–⁠2–⁠1
Minnesota5–⁠25–⁠4–⁠1
Illinois4–⁠36–⁠4
Northwestern3–⁠44–⁠6
Michigan2–⁠54–⁠6
Wisconsin2–⁠52–⁠7–⁠1
Indiana1–⁠62–⁠8
Iowa0–⁠71–⁠9

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.