# 2016 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

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 Illini hosted all three non–conference games which were 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* | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | BTN | W 52–3 | 48,644 |
| September 10 | 6:30 pm | North Carolina* | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | BTN | L 23–48 | 60,670 |
| September 17 | 3:00 pm | Western Michigan* | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | ESPNews | L 10–34 | 40,954 |
| October 1 | 2:30 pm | at No. 15 Nebraska | Memorial StadiumLincoln, NE | ESPN2 | L 16–31 | 90,374 |
| October 8 | 2:30 pm | Purdue | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL (rivalry) | BTN | L 31–34 $^{OT}$ | 42,912 |
| October 15 | 11:00 am | at Rutgers | High Point Solutions StadiumPiscataway, NJ | ESPNews | W 24–7 | 42,640 |
| October 22 | 2:30 pm | at No. 3 Michigan | Michigan StadiumAnn Arbor, MI (rivalry) | BTN | L 8–41 | 111,103 |
| October 29 | 11:00 am | Minnesota | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | BTN | L 17–40 | 40,090 |
| November 5 | 11:00 am | Michigan State | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | ESPNews | W 31–27 | 47,144 |
| November 12 | 2:30 pm | at No. 7 Wisconsin | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | ESPN2 | L 3–48 | 79,340 |
| November 19 | 11:00 am | Iowa | Memorial StadiumChampaign, IL | BTN | L 0–28 | 39,031 |
| November 26 | 11:00 am | at Northwestern | Ryan FieldEvanston, IL (rivalry) | BTN | L 21–42 | 30,022 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to gameAll times are in Central time |||||||
    Schedule Source:

## 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 |

## Awards and honors

Weekly Awards :
| Player | Award | Date Awarded | Ref. |
| Patrick Nelson | Big Ten Freshman of the Week | October 17, 2016 | |
| Tré Watson | Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week | November 7, 2016 | |
All-Big Ten :
| Player | Selection |
| Dawuane Smoot | Third Team (Coaches & Media) |
| Hardy Nickerson Jr. | Honorable Mention (Coaches & Media) |
| Carroll Phillips | First Team (Media) Honorable Mention (Coaches) |
| Joe Spencer | Honorable Mention (Media) |
| Tré Watson | Honorable Mention (Media) |