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1995 Illinois

5–⁠5–⁠1 (3–⁠4–⁠1 Big Ten), coached by Lou Tepper.

Schedule and results

Illinois in 1995, game by game: lost vs. No. 13 Michigan 14–38; lost at No. 24 Oregon 31–34; won vs. No. 17 Arizona 9–7; won vs. East Carolina 7–0; won at Indiana 17–10; lost vs. Michigan State 21–27; lost vs. No. 8 Northwestern 14–17; won at Iowa 26–7; lost at No. 2 Ohio State 3–41; won vs. Minnesota 48–14; tied at Wisconsin 3–3+34−38Lost 14–38 vs. No. 13 Michigan-24No. 13 MichiganLost 31–34 at No. 24 Oregon-3No. 24 OregonWon 9–7 vs. No. 17 Arizona+2No. 17 ArizonaWon 7–0 vs. East Carolina+7East CarolinaWon 17–10 at Indiana+7IndianaLost 21–27 vs. Michigan State-6Michigan StateLost 14–17 vs. No. 8 Northwestern-3No. 8 NorthwesternWon 26–7 at Iowa+19IowaLost 3–41 at No. 2 Ohio State-38No. 2 Ohio StateWon 48–14 vs. Minnesota+34MinnesotaTied 3–3 at Wisconsin0Wisconsin
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 2vs13MichiganL 14–⁠3849%
Sep 9at24OregonL 31–⁠3432%
Sep 16vs17ArizonaW 9–⁠746%
Sep 23vsEast CarolinaW 7–⁠058%
Oct 7atIndianaW 17–⁠1054%
Oct 14vsMichigan StateL 21–⁠2764%
Oct 28vs8NorthwesternL 14–⁠1752%
Nov 4atIowaW 26–⁠739%
Nov 11at2Ohio StateL 3–⁠4118%
Nov 18vsMinnesotaW 48–⁠1477%
Nov 25atWisconsinT 3–⁠348%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Tied Wisconsin 3–⁠3; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 7th in the Big Ten.

In program history: The 43rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 2: 25

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 1995.

Butkus AwardKevin Hardy, LB

Consensus All-AmericanKevin Hardy, LB

Record
5–⁠5–⁠1
Conference
3–⁠4–⁠1 tied for 7th in Big Ten
AP final
Unranked peak No. 25
Points
193–⁠198
Coach
Lou Tepper
Elo
1575 +8 this season
SP+ rating
9.8 No. 34 of 107; offense No. 81, defense No. 4
SRS
8.6 No. 27 of 108 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Paul Schudel
Defensive coordinator
Denny Marcin
Captains
Jason Dulick, Kevin Hardy and Brett Larsen
Most valuable player
Kevin Hardy

Drafted in 1996

The 1996 draft
Rd 1Kevin Hardy LBJacksonville Jaguars
Rd 1Simeon Rice DEArizona Cardinals
Rd 3Ken Blackman OGCincinnati Bengals

All-Big Ten

2 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Antoine PattonDBCoaches-2; Media-2
  • Brett LarsenPCoaches-2; Media-2

From Wikipedia’s 1995 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1995 Big Ten standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Northwestern8–⁠010–⁠28
Ohio State7–⁠111–⁠26
Penn State5–⁠39–⁠313
Michigan5–⁠39–⁠417
Michigan State4–⁠3–⁠16–⁠5–⁠1
Iowa4–⁠48–⁠425
Illinois3–⁠4–⁠15–⁠5–⁠1
Wisconsin3–⁠4–⁠14–⁠5–⁠2
Purdue2–⁠5–⁠14–⁠6–⁠1
Minnesota1–⁠73–⁠8
Indiana0–⁠82–⁠9

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