American college football season
The 2016 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season . They were led by first-year head coach Lovie Smith and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign , Illinois . They were members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference . They finished the season 3–9, 2–7 in Big Ten play to finish in sixth place in the West Division.
Schedule [ ] The team will host all three non–conference games which are against the Murray State Racers from the Ohio Valley Conference , North Carolina Tar Heels from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and the Western Michigan Broncos from the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
Date Time Opponent Site TV Result Attendance September 3 2:30 pm Murray State * BTN W 52–348,644 September 10 6:30 pm North Carolina * Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL BTN L 23–4860,670 September 17 3:00 pm Western Michigan * Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL ESPNews L 10–3440,954 October 1 2:30 pm at No. 15 Nebraska Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE ESPN2 L 16–3190,374 October 8 2:30 pm Purdue Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry ) BTN L 31–34 OT 42,912 October 15 11:00 am at Rutgers High Point Solutions Stadium Piscataway, NJ ESPNews W 24–742,640 October 22 2:30 pm at No. 3 Michigan Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI BTN L 8–41111,103 October 29 11:00 am Minnesota Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL BTN L 17–4040,090 November 5 11:00 am Michigan State Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL ESPNews W 31–2747,144 November 12 2:30 pm at No. 7 Wisconsin Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI ESPN2 L 3–4879,340 November 19 11:00 am Iowa Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL BTN L 0–2839,031 November 26 11:00 am at Northwestern BTN L 21–4230,022 *Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time
Schedule Source: [1] Game summaries [ ] Murray State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Racers
0
3
0
0
3
Fighting Illini
14
21
7
10
52
North Carolina [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Tar Heels
17
7
7
17
48
Fighting Illini
14
2
0
7
23
Western Michigan [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Broncos
14
10
3
7
34
Fighting Illini
0
7
3
0
10
at Nebraska [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Fighting Illini
0
13
3
0
16
#15 Cornhuskers
7
3
0
21
31
Purdue [ ]
1
2
3
4 OT
Total
Boilermakers
7
14
3
7 3
34
Fighting Illini
3
13
7
8 0
31
at Rutgers [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Fighting Illini
0
7
10
7
24
Scarlet Knights
0
0
0
7
7
at Michigan [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Fighting Illini
0
0
0
8
8
#3 Wolverines
21
10
3
7
41
Minnesota [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Golden Gophers
14
0
7
19
40
Fighting Illini
7
0
7
3
17
Michigan State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Spartans
3
3
11
10
27
Fighting Illini
0
7
10
14
31
at #7 Wisconsin [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Fighting Illini
3
0
0
0
3
#7 Badgers
21
10
3
14
48
Iowa [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Hawkeyes
0
7
7
14
28
Fighting Illini
0
0
0
0
0
at Northwestern [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Fighting Illini
0
14
7
0
21
Wildcats
14
7
14
7
42
Roster [ ] Awards and honors [ ]
Weekly
Weekly Awards
Player
Award
Date Awarded
Ref.
Patrick Nelson
Big Ten Freshman of the Week
October 17, 2016
[2]
Tré Watson
Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
November 7, 2016
[3]
All-Conference
All-Big Ten[4] [5]
Player
Selection
Dawuane Smoot
Third Team (Coaches & Media)
Hardy Nickerson
Honorable Mention (Coaches & Media)
Carroll Phillips
First Team (Media)
Joe Spencer
Honorable Mention (Media)
Tré Watson
Honorable Mention (Media)
References [ ]
^ "2016 Illinois Fighting Illini Football Schedule" . FB Schedules. Retrieved December 6, 2015 .^ "Big Ten Football Players of the Week" . www.bigten.org . Big Ten Conference. October 17, 2016. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .^ "Big Ten Football Players of the Week" . www.bigten.org . Big Ten Conference. November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on November 13, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .^ "2016 Big Ten Individual Award Winners" (PDF) . www.grfx.cstv.com . Big Ten Conference. November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016 .^ "2016 Big Ten Individual Award Winners" (PDF) . www.grfx.cstv.com . Big Ten Conference. Retrieved December 1, 2016 .
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