The 1935 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that represented the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

during the 1935 college football season. In their 23rd season under head coach Robert Zuppke, the Illini compiled a 3–5 record and finished in a tie for last place in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Guard Ed Gryboski was selected as the team's most valuable player. On November 9, 1935, Illinois defeated

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, 3 to 0, before a homecoming crowd of 28,136 at a rainy Memorial Stadium in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metrop ...

. In a low-scoring match, Lowell Spurgeon kicked a 22-yard field goal for Illinois in the second quarter. Michigan's offense was stifled by the Illinois defense. The Wolverines gained only 10 yards of total offense and secured only one first down, that one coming on an Illinois penalty for running into the punter in the third quarter. Michigan threw only two forward passes, with either one or both of them resulting in an interception.(The game's statistical summary reflects two interceptions; the game narrative references only one interception.)

Schedule

References

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

Illinois Fighting Illini football seasons Illinois Fighting Illini football {{collegefootball-1935-season-stub