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1974 Illinois

6–⁠4–⁠1 (4–⁠3–⁠1 Big Ten), coached by Bob Blackman.

Schedule and results

Illinois in 1974, game by game: won vs. Indiana 16–0; won at No. 19 Stanford 41–7; won vs. Washington State 21–19; lost vs. California 14–31; won at Purdue 27–23; tied vs. Michigan State 21–21; lost at Iowa 12–14; lost at No. 1 Ohio State 7–49; lost vs. No. 4 Michigan 6–14; won at Minnesota 17–14; won vs. Northwestern 28–14+34−42Won 16–0 vs. Indiana+16IndianaWon 41–7 at No. 19 Stanford+34No. 19 StanfordWon 21–19 vs. Washington State+2Washington StateLost 14–31 vs. California-17CaliforniaWon 27–23 at Purdue+4PurdueTied 21–21 vs. Michigan State0Michigan StateLost 12–14 at Iowa-2IowaLost 7–49 at No. 1 Ohio State-42No. 1 Ohio StateLost 6–14 vs. No. 4 Michigan-8No. 4 MichiganWon 17–14 at Minnesota+3MinnesotaWon 28–14 vs. Northwestern+14Northwestern
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 14vsIndianaW 16–⁠067%
Sep 21at19StanfordW 41–⁠732%
Sep 28vsWashington StateW 21–⁠1963%
Oct 5vsCaliforniaL 14–⁠3168%
Oct 12atPurdueW 27–⁠2343%
Oct 19vsMichigan StateT 21–⁠2162%
Oct 26atIowaL 12–⁠1463%
Nov 2at1Ohio StateL 7–⁠4915%
Nov 9vs4MichiganL 6–⁠1424%
Nov 16atMinnesotaW 17–⁠1449%
Nov 23vsNorthwesternW 28–⁠1476%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Northwestern 28–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 62nd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 4: 16
  2. Wk 5: 14
Record
6–⁠4–⁠1
Conference
4–⁠3–⁠1 5th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 14
Points
210–⁠206
Coach
Bob Blackman
Elo
1513 +44 this season
SP+ rating
0.4 No. 72 of 124; offense No. 73, defense No. 66
SRS
6.0 No. 44 of 129 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Ty McMillin and Revie Sorey
Most valuable player
Tom Hicks and Jeff Hollenbach

Drafted in 1975

The 1975 draft
Rd 5Revie Sorey OGChicago Bears
Rd 6Tom Hicks LBChicago Bears

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1974 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1974 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Michigan7–⁠110–⁠13
Ohio State7–⁠110–⁠24
Michigan State6–⁠1–⁠17–⁠3–⁠112
Wisconsin5–⁠37–⁠4
Illinois4–⁠3–⁠16–⁠4–⁠1
Purdue3–⁠54–⁠6–⁠1
Minnesota2–⁠64–⁠7
Northwestern2–⁠63–⁠8
Iowa2–⁠63–⁠8
Indiana1–⁠71–⁠10

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