1995 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 1995 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 1995 NCAA Division I-A football season. Illinois finished the season 5–5–1 (3–4–1 in Big Ten play) in Lou Tepper's fourth season as head coach.

1995 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1995 record	5–5–1 (3–4–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Tepper (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Paul Schudel (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Denny Marcin (4th as DC, 8th overall season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 70,904)

1995 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 8 Northwestern $	8	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 6 Ohio State	7	–	1	–	0			11	–	2	–	0
No. 13 Penn State	5	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 17 Michigan	5	–	3	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
Michigan State	4	–	3	–	1			6	–	5	–	1
No. 25 Iowa	4	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Illinois	3	–	4	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	1			4	–	5	–	2
Purdue	2	–	5	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
Minnesota	1	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Indiana	0	–	8	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Notably, the Illini's 3-3 game with Wisconsin on November 25, 1995, is the last tied game in NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) history.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	2:30 pm	No. 13 Michigan	No. 25	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	ABC	L 14–38	70,193
September 9	9:00 pm	at No. 24 Oregon*		Autzen Stadium Eugene, Oregon	SCC	L 31–34	44,201
September 16	11:30 am	No. 17 Arizona*		Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	ESPN	W 9–7	57,134
September 23	1:00 pm	East Carolina*		Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois		W 7–0	60,545
October 7	12:00 pm	at Indiana		Memorial Stadium Bloomington, Indiana	ESPN2	W 17–10	38,098
October 14	11:00 am	Michigan State		Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	Creative	L 21–27	65,653
October 28	11:00 am	No. 8 Northwestern		Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)	Creative	L 14–17	65,425
November 4	11:30 am	at Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, Iowa	ESPN	W 26–7	70,397
November 11	2:30 pm	at No. 2 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio (Illibuck)	ABC	L 3–41	92,639
November 18	1:00 pm	Minnesota		Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois		W 48–14	45,521
November 25	2:30 pm	at Wisconsin		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, Wisconsin	Creative	T 3–3	76,750
*Non-conference game Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Personnel

1995 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 86 Matt Cushing So RB 7 Ty Douthard Jr WR 83 Jason Dulick Jr WR Steve Harvard RB 35 Robert Holcombe So QB Johnny Johnson	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 51 Kevin Hardy Sr DE 97 Simeon Rice Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Bret Scheuplein	Head coach Lou Tepper Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Season summary

at Ohio State

Illinois Fighting Illini at Ohio State Buckeyes

	1	2	3	4	Total
Illinois	0	0	3	0	3
Ohio St	14	3	21	3	41

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Date: November 11
• Game time: 3:30 p.m.
• Game weather: Overcast, 37 °F (3 °C)
• Game attendance: 92,639
• Referee: Steve Pamon
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter OSU – Pepe Pearson 4-yard run (Josh Jackson kick), 8:27. Ohio St 7–0. Drive: 6 plays, 99 yards, 2:25. OSU – Dimitrious Stanley 14-yard pass from Bobby Hoying (Josh Jackson kick), 1:35. Ohio St 14–0. Drive: 9 plays, 61 yards, 4:51. Second quarter OSU – Josh Jackson 20-yard field goal, 10:09. Ohio St 17–0. Drive: 10 plays, 57 yards, 5:20. Third quarter ILL – Bret Scheuplein 42-yard field goal, 10:44. Ohio St 17–3. Drive: 10 plays, 58 yards, 4:10. OSU – Eddie George 64-yard run (Josh Jackson kick), 10:24. Ohio St 24–3. Drive: 1 play, 64 yards, 0:13. OSU – Eddie George 13-yard run (Josh Jackson kick), 3:07. Ohio St 31–3. Drive: 7 plays, 38 yards, 3:11. OSU – Eddie George 13-yard pass from Bobby Hoying (Josh Jackson kick), 0:58. Ohio St 38–3. Drive: 2 plays, 10 yards, 0:41. Fourth quarter OSU – Josh Jackson 26-yard field goal, 8:31. Ohio St 41–3. Drive: 12 plays, 43 yards, 6:20. Top passers ILL – Johnny Johnson – 11/18, 101 yards, INT OSU – Bobby Hoying – 8/13, 109 yards, 2 TD, INT Top rushers ILL – Robert Holcombe – 14 rushes, 28 yards OSU – Eddie George – 36 rushes, 314 yards, 2 TD Top receivers ILL – Steve Harvard – 3 receptions, 27 yards OSU – Rickey Dudley – 2 receptions, 53 yards

1996 NFL Draft

Two of the top three overall picks in the 1996 NFL Draft were from Illinois.

Player	Round	Pick	Position	Club
Kevin Hardy	1	2	Linebacker	Jacksonville Jaguars
Simeon Rice	1	3	Defensive end	Arizona Cardinals
Ken Blackman	3	69	Guard	Cincinnati Bengals

[1]

Awards and honors

• Kevin Hardy, Butkus Award[2]

References

1. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1996.htm
2. http://www.thebutkusaward.com/watchlist/pastwinners.aspx