Illinois Fighting Illini

The Illinois Fighting Illini are a college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The program began play in the 2014 college football season and is a continuous member of the Big Ten Conference since the 2014 college football season. The Fighting Illini play their home games at Memorial Stadium.

## History

### stiva era (2014)

The Illinois Fighting Illini started competing in the 2014 season. The lack of talent on the roster made it difficult to compete in the strong Big Ten Conference. Even though the season started well for the Illini (wins vs Army and Cincinnati), head coach stiva left the team after he could record only 2 victories in the first 7 games of the season.

### smokingcricket era (2014-2016)

The opening at the HC position was quickly filled, as smokingcricket was named the 2nd Head Coach of the program. However, this didn't stop the team from losing games, as Illinois limped to a 3-9 record in 2014.
Expectations weren't high for 2015, but Illinois produced one of the greatest Cinderella stories of CFBHC history when they went 9-4 in the next season. The team - mostly carried by the stellar play of RB Ezekiel Adams - won the Bourbon Bowl vs West Virginia, and earned a spot in the final Coaches' poll (#24).
The strength of the Illini roster was still way behind the other B1G programs in 2016, and this time games played out more realistically. Illinois only won 2 games, and at the and of the season coach smokingcricket decided to step away from coaching in the college ranks in order to be able to concentrate more on his NFL career.

### FlutieFlakes era (2017-present)

Main article: 2020 Illinois Fighting Illini football season
After the exit of smokingcricket the Athletic Department promoted former coordinator FlutieFlakes to be the next head coach of the program. However, the continued to struggle both in conference and OOC games. The Illini only won 2 games in 2017, and the only conference win came against rival Northwestern.
Illinois continued to struggle in the star-studded B1G West, but they managed to upset a ranked Iowa team at home. They also managed to grind out wins against Notre Dame and Colorado State. However, the had no shots at other victories throughout the season, as the Illini went 3-9 in 2018.

Thanks to a few good recruiting classes, the 2019 team was finally on par with the rest of the conference in terms of talent, and the results vastly improved. Illinois had their best season in program history: they won 11 games, a share of the B1G West title. The program has finished the season with a victory in the Tampa Bowl vs Arkansas and a #9 ranking in the final Coaches' poll. The Fighting Illini started the 2020 season with high expectations, and they kicked off the season well (climbed as high as #4 in the polls), but eventually failed to win the games that mattered the most. Illinois still produced a respectable 9-3 regular season and improved to 3-0 all-time in the postseason with a Holiday Bowl victory over Stanford.

## All-time record vs. B1G opponents

This is Illinois' football record against current Big Ten Conference opponents through the 2020 season.

## Bowl games

The Illini have appeared in 3 bowl games, posting a record of 3-0.

 Total

## Individual Award Winners

### Players

* **Lou Groza Award**

K Mason Williams - 2020 CFBHC Season
#### All-Americans

* 2020

K Mason Williams
#### All-B1G Players

* 2016

RB Ezekiel Adams
ILB Zion Adakwa
DT Eric Harris
* 2017

DT Malik Dawson
* 2018

FB Ali Hester
DT David Hendrickson
ATH Logan Holmes
P Reggie Nelson
* 2019

C Quinn Ledbetter
* 2020

FB Ali Hester
ILB Jamal Harley
## External links

2014 Depth Chart
2015 Depth Chart
2016 Depth Chart
2017 Depth Chart
2018 Depth Chart
2019 Depth Chart
2020 Depth Chart
2021 Depth Chart