1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Big Ten co-champion
Hall of Fame Bowl, L 0–30 vs. Clemson
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
AP	No. 25
1990 record	8–4 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	John Mackovic (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Gene Dahlquist (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Lou Tepper (3rd season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1989 1991 →

1990 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Michigan +	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Michigan State +	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
No. 25 Illinois +	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
No. 18 Iowa +	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Ohio State	5	–	2	–	1			7	–	4	–	1
Minnesota	5	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Indiana	3	–	4	–	1			6	–	5	–	1
Northwestern	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Purdue	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Wisconsin	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach John Mackovic, the Illini compiled an 8–4 record, finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Big Ten Conference, were ranked #25 in the final AP Poll, and lost to Clemson in the 1991 Hall of Fame Bowl.^[1]

The team's offensive leader were quarterback Jason Verduzco with 2,567 passing yards, fullback Howard Griffith with 1,115 rushing yards, and Shawn Wax with 863 receiving yards.^[2]

Schedule[]

The non conference games for the Fighting Illini were against Arizona, Colorado and Southern Illinois.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8	8:00 pm	at Arizona*	No. 11	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 16–28
September 15	2:30 pm	No. 9 Colorado*	No. 21	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	W 23–22	64,351
September 22	2:30 pm	Southern Illinois*	No. 15	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL		W 56–21	64,469	[3]
October 6	2:30 pm	at No. 20 Ohio State	No. 13	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	ABC	W 31–20	89,404
October 13	12:00 pm	Purdue	No. 11	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Purdue Cannon)		W 34–0	60,604
October 20	2:30 pm	No. 24 Michigan State	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	W 15–13	70,398
October 27	1:00 pm	at Wisconsin	No. 5	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI		W 21–3	67,746
November 3	2:30 pm	No. 13 Iowa	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	L 28–54	72,714
November 10	11:00 am	at No. 19 Michigan	No. 17	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)		L 17–22	105,343
November 17	11:30 am	Indiana	No. 22	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN		W 24–10
November 24	1:00 pm	Northwestern	No. 22	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)		W 28–23
January 1	12:00 pm	vs. No. 14 Clemson*	No. 16	Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL (Hall of Fame Bowl)	NBC	L 0–30	63,154
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[4]

Game summaries[]

Colorado[]

#9 Colorado at #21 Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total Buffaloes 7 10 2 3 22 • Fighting Illini 3 7 7 6 23 Date: October 6 Location: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL Game attendance: 64,351 Television network: ABC

Scoring summary Q1 ILL Doug Higgins 29-yard field goal ILL 3–0 COL George Hemingway 2-yard run (Harper kick) COL 7–3 Q2 COL Harper 54-yard field goal COL 10–3 COL Michael Simmons 32-yard pass from Darian Hagan (Harper kick) COL 17–3 0:28 ILL Elbert Turner 8-yard pass from Jason Verduzco (Higgins kick) COL 17–10 Q3 2:28 ILL Shawn Wax 4-yard pass from Jason Verduzco (Higgins kick) Tied 17–17 COL Safety, Greg Biekert tackled Griffith in end zone COL 19–17 Q4 12:44 COL Harper 26-yard field goal COL 22–17 1:18 ILL Howard Griffith 1-yard run (conversion failed) ILL 23–22

^[5]

Iowa[]

Michigan[]

Indiana[]

Northwestern[]

Clemson (Hall of Fame Bowl)[]

Roster[]

1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 29 Howard Griffith Sr TE 82 Frank Hartley Sr T 79 Brad Hopkins So C 69 Tim Simpson Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 96 Mel Agee Sr LB 48 Darrick Brownlow Sr DT 95 Moe Gardner Sr DB 33 Chris Green Sr DB 18 Henry Jones Sr DB 37 Steve Nelson Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach John Mackovic Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Award winners[]

• Darrick Brownlow - linebacker (1st-team All-America pick by Football News; 1st-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Moe Gardner - defensive lineman (consensus 1st-team All-American; 1st-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Howard Griffith - fullback (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Doug Higgins - placekicker (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Henry Jones - defensive back (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Marlon Primous - defensive back (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Tim Simpson -offensive guard (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
• Shawn Wax - receiver (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)

References[]