1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

American college football season

1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Big Ten co-champion
Hall of Fame Bowl, L 0–30 vs. Clemson
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
AP	No. 25
Record	8–4 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	John Mackovic (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Gene Dahlquist (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Lou Tepper (3rd season)
MVP	Howard Griffith
Captain	Curtis Lovelace, Howard Griffith, Moe Gardner, Darrick Brownlow
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1989 1991 →

1990 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 7 Michigan +	6	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Michigan State +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	1
No. 25 Illinois +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
No. 18 Iowa +	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Ohio State	5	–	2	–	1	7	–	4	–	1
Minnesota	5	–	3	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Indiana	3	–	4	–	1	6	–	5	–	1
Northwestern	1	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Purdue	1	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Wisconsin	0	–	8	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach John Mackovic, the Illini compiled an 8–4 record, finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Big Ten Conference, were ranked No. 25 in the final AP Poll, and lost to Clemson in the 1991 Hall of Fame Bowl.^[1]

The team's offensive leader were quarterback Jason Verduzco with 2,567 passing yards, fullback Howard Griffith with 1,115 rushing yards, and Shawn Wax with 863 receiving yards.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8	8:00 pm	at Arizona*	No. 11	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ		L 16–28	53,330
September 15	2:30 pm	No. 9 Colorado*	No. 21	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	W 23–22	64,351
September 22	2:30 pm	Southern Illinois*	No. 15	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL		W 56–21	64,469	^[3]
October 6	2:30 pm	at No. 20 Ohio State	No. 13	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	ABC	W 31–20	89,404
October 13	12:00 pm	Purdue	No. 11	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)		W 34–0	60,604
October 20	2:30 pm	No. 24 Michigan State	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	W 15–13	70,398
October 27	1:00 pm	at Wisconsin	No. 5	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI		W 21–3	67,746
November 3	2:30 pm	No. 13 Iowa	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	L 28–54	72,714
November 10	11:00 am	at No. 19 Michigan	No. 17	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)		L 17–22	105,343
November 17	11:30 am	Indiana	No. 22	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN		W 24–10	44,639
November 24	1:00 pm	Northwestern	No. 22	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)		W 28–23	32,383
January 1	12:00 pm	vs. No. 14 Clemson*	No. 16	Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL (Hall of Fame Bowl)	NBC	L 0–30	63,154	^[4]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[5]

Game summaries

Colorado

#9 Colorado at #21 Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buffaloes	7	10	2	3	22
• Fighting Illini	3	7	7	6	23

Date: October 6
Location: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL
Game attendance: 64,351
Television network: ABC

Scoring summary

Q1		ILL	Doug Higgins 29-yard field goal	ILL 3–0
		COL	George Hemingway 2-yard run (Harper kick)	COL 7–3

Q2		COL	Harper 54-yard field goal	COL 10–3
		COL	Michael Simmons 32-yard pass from Darian Hagan (Harper kick)	COL 17–3
	0:28	ILL	Elbert Turner 8-yard pass from Jason Verduzco (Higgins kick)	COL 17–10

Q3	2:28	ILL	Shawn Wax 4-yard pass from Jason Verduzco (Higgins kick)	Tied 17–17
Q3		COL	Safety, Greg Biekert tackled Griffith in end zone	COL 19–17

Q4	12:44	COL	Harper 26-yard field goal	COL 22–17
Q4	1:18	ILL	Howard Griffith 1-yard run (conversion failed)	ILL 23–22

^[6]

Iowa

Michigan

Indiana

Northwestern

Clemson (Hall of Fame Bowl)

Roster

1990 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`29`	Howard Griffith	Sr
TE	`82`	Frank Hartley	Sr
OT	`79`	Brad Hopkins	So
C	`69`	Tim Simpson	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DT	`96`	Mel Agee	Sr
LB	`48`	Darrick Brownlow	Sr
DT	`95`	Moe Gardner	Sr
DB	`33`	Chris Green	Sr
DB	`18`	Henry Jones	Sr
DB	`37`	Steve Nelson	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

John Mackovic

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Award winners

Darrick Brownlow - linebacker (1st-team All-America pick by Football News; 1st-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Moe Gardner - defensive lineman (consensus 1st-team All-American; 1st-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Howard Griffith - fullback (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Doug Higgins - placekicker (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Henry Jones - defensive back (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Marlon Primous - defensive back (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Tim Simpson -offensive guard (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)
Shawn Wax - receiver (2nd-team all-Big Ten pick by AP)

References

^ "1990 Illinois Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ "1990 Illinois Fighting Illini Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ Batterson, Steve (September 23, 1990). "Griffith levels Salukis". Quad-City Times. p. 1E. Retrieved December 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Clemson 'D' gains Fame in 30–0 win". The Tampa Tribune. January 2, 1991. Retrieved February 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "1990 Illinois Fighting Illini Schedule and Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
^ "Illinois 23, Colorado 22". United Press International. September 15, 1990. Retrieved January 1, 2019.

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini football
Venues	Illinois Field (1890–1922) Memorial Stadium (1923–present) Soldier Field (1994–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Michigan Missouri Northwestern Ohio State: Illibuck Trophy Purdue
Culture & lore	Illinois Loyalty "Oskee Wow-Wow" Marching Illini Gene Honda Fighting Illini Sports Network Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal 2019 Wisconsin game 2021 Penn State game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Big Ten Conference football champions
Western Conference	Wisconsin (1896) Wisconsin (1897) Michigan (1898) Chicago (1899) Iowa & Minnesota (1900) Michigan & Wisconsin (1901) Michigan (1902) Michigan, Minnesota, & Northwestern (1903) Michigan & Minnesota (1904) Chicago (1905) Michigan, Minnesota, & Wisconsin (1906) Chicago (1907) Chicago (1908) Minnesota (1909) Illinois & Minnesota (1910) Minnesota (1911) Wisconsin (1912) Chicago (1913) Illinois (1914) Illinois & Minnesota (1915) Ohio State (1916)
Big Ten	Ohio State (1917) Illinois, Michigan, & Purdue (1918) Illinois (1919) Ohio State (1920) Iowa (1921) Chicago, Iowa, & Michigan (1922) Illinois & Michigan (1923) Chicago (1924) Michigan (1925) Michigan & Northwestern (1926) Illinois & Minnesota (1927) Illinois (1928) Purdue (1929) Michigan & Northwestern (1930) Purdue, Michigan & Northwestern (1931) Michigan & Purdue (1932) Michigan & Minnesota (1933) Minnesota (1934) Minnesota & Ohio State (1935) Northwestern (1936) Minnesota (1937) Minnesota (1938) Ohio State (1939) Minnesota (1940) Minnesota (1941) Ohio State (1942) Michigan & Purdue (1943) Ohio State (1944) Indiana (1945)
Big Nine	Illinois (1946) Michigan (1947) Michigan (1948) Michigan & Ohio State (1949)
Big Ten	Michigan (1950) Illinois (1951) Purdue & Wisconsin (1952) Illinois & Michigan State (1953) Ohio State (1954) Ohio State (1955) Iowa (1956) Ohio State (1957) Iowa (1958) Wisconsin (1959) Minnesota & Iowa (1960) Ohio State (1961) Wisconsin (1962) Illinois (1963) Michigan (1964) Michigan State (1965) Michigan State (1966) Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue (1967) Ohio State (1968) Michigan & Ohio State (1969) Ohio State (1970) Michigan (1971) Michigan & Ohio State (1972) Michigan & Ohio State (1973) Michigan & Ohio State (1974) Ohio State (1975) Michigan & Ohio State (1976) Michigan & Ohio State (1977) Michigan & Michigan State (1978) Ohio State (1979) Michigan (1980) Iowa & Ohio State (1981) Michigan (1982) Illinois (1983) Ohio State (1984) Iowa (1985) Michigan & Ohio State (1986) Michigan State (1987) Michigan (1988) Michigan (1989) Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, & Michigan State (1990) Michigan (1991) Michigan (1992) Ohio State & Wisconsin (1993) Penn State (1994) Northwestern (1995) Ohio State & Northwestern (1996) Michigan (1997) Michigan, Ohio State, & Wisconsin (1998) Wisconsin (1999) Michigan, Northwestern, & Purdue (2000) Illinois (2001) Ohio State & Iowa (2002) Michigan (2003) Iowa & Michigan (2004) Ohio State & Penn State (2005) Ohio State (2006) Ohio State (2007) Ohio State & Penn State (2008) Ohio State (2009) Michigan State & Wisconsin (2010) Wisconsin (2011) Wisconsin (2012) Michigan State (2013) Ohio State (2014) Michigan State (2015) Penn State (2016) Ohio State (2017) Ohio State (2018) Ohio State (2019) Ohio State (2020) Michigan (2021) Michigan (2022) Michigan (2023)
National championships in bold