1986 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

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.

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

1986 Big Ten Conference football standings

	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 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.

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 (rivalry)	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)

See also: 1986 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

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

See also: 1986 Michigan Wolverines football team

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

See also: 1986 Iowa Hawkeyes football team