1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 15
Record	5–4–1 (3–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ray Eliot (3rd season)
MVP	Buddy Young
Captain	Game captains
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1943 1945 →

1944 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 2 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0	9	–	0	–	0
No. 8 Michigan	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Purdue	4	–	2	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	2	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
Indiana	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Illinois	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	5	–	1	1	–	7	–	1
Iowa	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	7	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. In their third year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Illini compiled a 5–3–1 record, were ranked #15 in the final AP Poll, and finished in sixth place in the Big Ten Conference. The team lost three games to teams ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll: #9-ranked Notre Dame (7–13); #8-ranked Michigan (0–14); and #2-ranked Ohio State (12–26).^[1] Halfback Buddy Young was selected as the team's most valuable player.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 16	Illinois State Normal*		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 79–0	5,386	^[3]
September 23	Indiana		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 26–18	7,986
September 30	at Great Lakes Navy*		Ross Field Great Lakes, IL	T 26–26	25,000	^[4]
October 7	Purdue		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 19–35	15,210
October 14	Iowa	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 40–6	11,498
October 21	at Pittsburgh*		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA	W 39–5	15,000
October 28	No. 1 Notre Dame*	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 7–13	65,114
November 11	at No. 8 Michigan	No. 10	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	L 0–14	43,922
November 18	vs. No. 4 Ohio State		Cleveland Stadium Cleveland, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	L 12–26	83,627
November 25	at Northwestern		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	W 25–6	38,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
AP	14	—	14	9	10	—	—	—	15

^ "1944 Illinois Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
^ Bartlett, Charles (September 17, 1944). "Illinois Unveils Flock of Fleet Backs; Crushes Normal, 79 to 0". Chicago Tribune. p. 2:1. Retrieved July 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Illinois Holds Bluejackets to 26 to 26 Tie". Chicago Tribune. October 1, 1944. p. II-1, II-3 – via Newspapers.com.

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini football
Venues	Illinois Field (1890–1922) Memorial Stadium (1923–present) Soldier Field (1994–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Michigan Missouri Northwestern Ohio State: Illibuck Trophy Purdue
Culture & lore	Illinois Loyalty "Oskee Wow-Wow" Marching Illini Gene Honda Fighting Illini Sports Network Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal 2019 Wisconsin game 2021 Penn State game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

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This page was last edited on 29 December 2023, at 15:37