1986 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

American college football season

1986 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	4–7 (3–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Mike White (7th season)
MVP	Keith Jones
Captain	Scott Davis, Sam Ellsworth, Mark Dennis, Shane Lamb
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1985 1987 →

1986 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 8 Michigan +	7	–	1	–	0	11	–	2	–	0
No. 7 Ohio State +	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Iowa	5	–	3	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
Minnesota	5	–	3	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
Michigan State	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Indiana	3	–	5	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
Illinois	3	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	6	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Purdue	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Wisconsin	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	9	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their seventh year under head coach Mike White, the Illini compiled a 4–7 record and finished in a tie for sixth place in the Big Ten Conference.^[1]

The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Shane Lamb with 1,414 passing yards, running back Keith Jones with 534 rushing yards, and Stephen Pierce with 602 receiving yards.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 6	Louisville*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 23–0	72,822
September 13	at USC*	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 16–31	51,496
September 20	No. 6 Nebraska*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 14–59	75,869
October 4	at Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	L 0–14	90,030
October 11	Purdue	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	W 34–27	73,720
October 18	Michigan State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 21–29	75,083
October 25	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 9–15	76,983
November 1	at No. 3 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	L 13–69	104,122
November 8	No. 16 Iowa	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 20–16	75,190
November 15	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	W 21–16	34,572
November 22	Northwestern	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 18–23	70,568
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Games summaries

No. 6 Nebraska

Nebraska at Illinois [box score]

	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 6 Cornhuskers	28	10	14	7	59
Fighting Illini	0	7	0	7	14

Date: September 20, 1986
Location: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Illinois
Game attendance: 75,865
TV announcers (Turner Sports): Skip Caray (play-by-play), Paul Hornung (analyst)

At Ohio State

Illinois at Ohio State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	0	0	0	0	0
• Buckeyes	0	14	0	0	14

Date: October 4
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Game attendance: 90,030

At No. 3 Michigan

Illinois at Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Illini	10	3	0	0	13
• No. 3 Wolverines	7	20	21	21	69

Date: November 1
Location: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Game attendance: 104,122

Scoring summary

1	12:03	ILL	Chris Siambekos 47-yard field goal	ILL 3–0
	5:24	MICH	Jim Harbaugh 13-yard run (Mike Gillette kick)	MICH 7–3
	0:11	ILL	Brian Menkhausen 3-yard run (Siambekos kick)	ILL 10–7

2	9:38	MICH	Gillette 20-yard field goal	TIE 10–10
	4:13	MICH	Bob Perryman 1-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 17–10
	2:15	MICH	Paul Jokisch 41-yard pass from Harbaugh (Gillette kick)	MICH 24–10
	0:26	MICH	Gillette 52-yard field goal	MICH 27–10
	0:00	ILL	Siambekos 44-yard field goal	MICH 27–13

3	10:55	MICH	Harbaugh 1-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 34–13
	8:12	MICH	Perryman 25-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 41–13
	4:27	MICH	Thomas Wilcher 8-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 48–13

4	13:03	MICH	Chris Zurbrugg 1-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 55–13
	10:10	MICH	Zurbrugg 1-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 62–13
	2:26	MICH	Taylor 6-yard run (Gillette kick)	MICH 69–13

^[3]

No. 16 Iowa

Iowa at Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Hawkeyes	3	7	0	6	16
• Fighting Illini	0	0	7	13	20

Date: November 8
Location: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Illinois
Game attendance: 75,190

Scoring summary

1	IOWA	Houghtlin 36-yard field goal	IOWA 3–0

2	IOWA	Hudson 2-yard run (Houghtlin kick)	IOWA 10–0

3	Illinois	Pierce 54-yard pass from Menkhausen (Siambekos kick)	IOWA 10–7

4	Illinois	Menkhausen 1-yard run (Siambekos kick)	Illinois 14–10
	Illinois	Siambekos 29-yard field goal	Illinois 17–10
	Illinois	Siambekos 42-yard field goal	Illinois 20–10
	IOWA	Harmon 3-yard run (pass failed)	Illinois 20–16

^[4]

References

^ "1986 Illinois Fighting Illini Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ "1986 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ Tommy George (November 2, 1986). "MSU rocks and U-M rolls: Michigan nails Illini – 69-13". The Detroit Free Press. pp. 1D, 12D. Retrieved July 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Illinois Remembers To Pay Back Iowa". Chicago Tribune. November 10, 1986. Retrieved July 23, 2022.

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini football
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Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Michigan Missouri Northwestern Ohio State: Illibuck Trophy Purdue
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