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1955 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

1955 Illinois Fighting Illini football
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
Record5–3–1 (3–3–1 Big Ten)
Head coach
MVPEm Lindbeck
CaptainGame captains
Home stadiumMemorial Stadium
Seasons
← 1954
1956 →
1955 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 5 Ohio State $ 6 – 0 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
No. 2 Michigan State 5 – 1 – 0 9 – 1 – 0
No. 12 Michigan 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
Purdue 4 – 2 – 1 5 – 3 – 1
Illinois 3 – 3 – 1 5 – 3 – 1
Wisconsin 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Iowa 2 – 3 – 1 3 – 5 – 1
Minnesota 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Indiana 1 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Northwestern 0 – 6 – 1 0 – 8 – 1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1955 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1955 Big Ten season. In their 14th year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Fighting Illini compiled a 5–3–1 record (3–3–1 in conference games), finished in fifth place in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a total of 149 to 114.[1]

Quarterback Em Lindbeck was selected as the team's most valuable player.[2] Two Illinois players received honors on the 1955 All-Big Ten Conference football team: halfback Bobby Mitchell (AP-1) and halfback Harry Jefferson (AP-2, UP-3, INS-1).[3][4][5]

The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

Schedule

[edit]
DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 24at California*
W 20–1332,000
October 1Iowa State*
W 40–045,706
October 8at Ohio State
L 12–2782,407
October 15Minnesota
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL
W 21–1345,995
October 22at No. 6 Michigan State
L 7–2151,851[6]
October 29Purdue
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL (rivalry)
L 0–1361,262
November 5No. 3 Michigan
  • Memorial Stadium
  • Champaign, IL (rivalry)
W 25–658,968[7]
November 12at WisconsinNo. 16
W 17–1453,529
November 19at Northwestern
T 7–735,000
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

[edit]
Team photo of the 1955 Illinois Fighting Illini football team.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "1955 Illinois Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  2. ^ "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  3. ^ "Five Boilermaker Gridders Gain Recognition on AP's All-Big Ten". Journal and Courier. November 22, 1955 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Krupa Named All-Big Ten: Dawson, Lundey, Murley, Murakowski Cited by UP". Journal and Courier. November 23, 1955. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Two Hawks On All-Big 10". The Des Moines Tribune. November 22, 1955. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ George S. Alderton (October 23, 1955). "Indian Totems Wave From Spartan Spears: Morrall Paces Michigan State To 21-7 Victory". Lansing State Journal. pp. 67, 68 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Fred Young (November 6, 1955). "Illinois Stuns Michigan With 25-6 Upset Victory". The Pantagraph. p. 29 – via Newspapers.com.