1967 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 1967 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1967 Big Ten Conference football season. In their first year under head coach Jim Valek, the Illini compiled a 4–6 record and finished in a tie for fifth place in the Big Ten Conference.^[1]

1967 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	4–6 (3–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jim Valek (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Ellis Rainsberger (1st season)
MVP	John Wright
Captain	Ron Bess, Ken Kmiec
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1966 1968 →

1967 Big Ten Conference football standings

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

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Dean Volkman with 1,005 passing yards, running back Rich Johnson with 768 rushing yards, and wide receiver John Wright with 698 receiving yards.^[2] Wright was selected as the team's most valuable player.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 23	at Florida*	Florida Field Gainesville, FL	L 0–14	57,391	^[4]
September 30	Pittsburgh*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 34–6	51,251
October 7	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 7–20	53,550
October 14	Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 7–10	56,103
October 21	Notre Dame*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 7–47	71,227
October 28	at Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	W 17–13	83,928
November 4	No. 6 Purdue	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 9–42	61,262
November 11	Michigan	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 14–21	44,236	^[5]
November 18	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	W 27–21	36,679
November 25	at Iowa	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 21–19	35,714
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

This was the first season since 1952 in which Illinois faced Iowa, following the chaos of their last matchup.^[6]

References

1. "1967 Illinois Fighting Illini Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
2. "1967 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
3. "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
4. "Florida tumbles Illinois, 14–0". The Pantagraph. September 24, 1967. Retrieved October 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Curt Sylvester (November 12, 1967). "U-M Comes to Life for 21-14 Win". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1C, 20C – via Newspapers.com.
6. Dochterman, Scott (June 11, 2011). "Special report: How pass interference, a jawbreaker and tossed apples nearly canned the Iowa-Illinois football rivalry". The Gazette. Retrieved October 13, 2017.