2005 Illinois
2–9 (0–8 Big Ten), coached by Ron Zook. Share
Schedule and results
- Biggest winBeat San José State 40–19Sep 10
By 21 points, its widest win.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3 | vs Rutgers | W 33–30 | 55% |
| Sep 10 | vs San José State | W 40–19 | 62% |
| Sep 17 | at 15California | L 20–35 | 17% |
| Sep 24 | vs 17Michigan State | L 14–61 | 36% |
| Oct 1 | at Iowa | L 7–35 | 18% |
| Oct 8 | at Indiana | L 13–36 | 34% |
| Oct 22 | vs 12Penn State | L 10–63 | 25% |
| Oct 29 | vs 15Wisconsin | L 24–41 | 19% |
| Nov 5 | at 12Ohio State | L 2–40 | 8% |
| Nov 12 | at Purdue | L 3–37 | 21% |
| Nov 19 | vs Northwestern | L 21–38 | 28% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
How it ended: Lost to Northwestern 38–21; unranked in the final AP poll; 11th in the Big Ten.
In program history: The 131st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).
- Record
- 2–9
- Conference
- 0–8 11th in Big Ten
- AP final
- Unranked
- Points
- 187–435
- Coach
- Ron Zook
- Elo
- 1304 −93 this season
- SP+ rating
- -8.8 No. 89 of 118; offense No. 71, defense No. 96
- SRS
- −9.9 No. 94 of 119 in Division I-A
- Recruiting class
- No. 48
- Offensive coordinator
- Mike Locksley
- Defensive coordinator
- Mike Mallory
- Captains
- James Cooper, E.B. Halsey, Ryan Matha and Pierre Thomas
- Offense
- Spread option
- Defense
- 4–3
How good, play by play
| EPA per play | Success | Explosiveness | FBS rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | 0.10 | 42% | 0.99 | 33rd of 119 |
| Defense | 0.14 | 48% | 0.94 | 106th of 119 |
How these are measured
Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season.
Drives and havoc
| Points per trip inside the 40 | Average start | Havoc | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offense | 0.0 | own 25 | 3% allowed |
| Defense | -0.1 | own 33 | 2% caused |
A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. From CollegeFootballData.com.
Top recruits in the 2005 class
| Rashard Mendenhall RB | ★★★★ | No. 53 |
| William Bergen OG | ★★★ | No. 829 |
| Sirod Williams WDE | ★★★ | No. 829 |
| Immanuel Chu DT | ★★★ | No. 829 |
| Michael Nabolotny TE | ★★ | No. 966 |
247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.
The 2005 class by position
| Signed | Stars | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Running backs | 1 | 4.0 | 0.978 |
| Receivers | 3 | 2.0 | 0.774 |
| Offensive line | 3 | 2.3 | 0.759 |
| Defensive line | 4 | 2.5 | 0.783 |
| Athletes and specialists | 1 | 2.0 | 0.722 |
| Whole class | 12 | 2.4 | 0.786 |
High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.
All-Big Ten
1 second teamSecond team
Steve WeatherfordPCoaches-2; Media-2
From Wikipedia’s 2005 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).
2005 Big Ten standings
Conference page| Team | Conf. | Overall | AP final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 7–1 | 11–1 | 3 |
| Ohio State | 7–1 | 10–2 | 4 |
| Wisconsin | 5–3 | 10–3 | 15 |
| Iowa | 5–3 | 7–5 | |
| Northwestern | 5–3 | 7–5 | |
 Michigan | 5–3 | 7–5 | |
 Minnesota | 4–4 | 7–5 | |
| Purdue | 3–5 | 5–6 | |
| Michigan State | 2–6 | 5–6 | |
| Indiana | 1–7 | 4–7 | |
 Illinois | 0–8 | 2–9 |
Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.