Your first Illini FB game you attended in person

illinipioneer · Mar 10, 2016

September 29, 2007 against Penn State. The first ranked opponent to fall on our run to the Rose Bowl.

All I remember is Arrelious Benn taking it to the house on the opening kickoff and Memorial Stadium going absolutely bonkers! Hoping ole' Lovie can bring back some of those moments!

redwingillini11 · Mar 10, 2016

October 20, 2007 vs. Michigan. I actually showed up decked out in my Michigan gear.... But I got my due scorn when I walked through the six pack and was called a "Nazi" and walked by the stairway to the NEZ and the student section pointed to me and chanted "A$$hole". I thought it was pretty funny. My dad said, "I am never going to let you forget this when you end up going here." Sure enough I went to Illinois, and I have been a very loyal Illinois fan since. :shield:

My Illinois Football in attendance record is currently 15-12, which includes a 1-2 record of games at Michigan Stadium and 0-1 record at Soldier Field (Washington game). So that means a 14-9 record at Memorial Stadium (14-8 as a student)! Thank you non-conference schedule.

geneseo · Mar 10, 2016

1965? Purdue at Illinois. Birthday present. My big brother was a student and got me a t-shirt signed by the players, including Grabowski. Purdue's band was there. Don't remember the Golden Girl, but I do remember they had a giant bass drum. Saw the Chief for the first time and I think Illinois won, can't remember the score.

Lake Camelot · Mar 10, 2016

illinipioneer said:
All I remember is Arrelious Benn taking it to the house on the opening kickoff and Memorial Stadium going absolutely bonkers! Hoping ole' Lovie can bring back some of those moments!

That was a great time. but if we only get back to that level I will be a little disappointed. We were a good (Not Great) team. It wasn't sustained success.

KenR · Mar 10, 2016

My first game was the same as someone else's back a few pages. U-C is 2 hours South of home. We went with another couple.

We tailgated for 3 hours prior to the game fueling up on ice cold Budweiser and trying to convince each other our Beloved Illini had a half a chance against Woody's Buckeye's.

We didn't. We lost 35-0 and left early. It was all over before halftime. I seem to remember John Sullivan having a pretty good game defensively. Can't remember if the QB was Steger or McCray that day.

It was November 5th, 1977. I remember it was a very nice day for early November and we partied pretty hard at CR that evening after the game was over.

First bowl game was the 1982 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN against Bear Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide. I still remember the hit Jeremiah Castille put on Tim Brewster and the beating Alabama put on Tony Eason.

ILLSauce · Mar 10, 2016

I don't remember who they were playing but it was the Tupper era. I remember they pulled the QB and Johnny Johnson in and some people cheered, some booed. Me, I was probably 5, but he ended up doing awesome and Illinois won.

illinipioneer · Mar 10, 2016

Lake Camelot said:
That was a great time. but if we only get back to that level I will be a little disappointed. We were a good (Not Great) team. It wasn't sustained success.

Wasn't really hoping for Zook to manifest himself again haha more of just the electricity in the Stadium during the first play of my first D-1 football game. I hadn't been in a stadium larger than the ones we have here in rural Southwest VA so it was pretty awe-inspiring.

MadMan · Mar 10, 2016

20-3 loss to Pitt in 1982. 11 years old and visiting my brother who was a freshman at the time.

The anticipated Marino/Eason showdown never materialized. Biggest play was a 95 yard interception for a TD by a Pitt defensive lineman.

riffraff · Mar 10, 2016

Illinois over Iowa at Memorial Stadium in 1983, a 28-0 win en route to the Rose bowl and the only time any team ever finished with a 9-0 Big Ten conference record.

Umgawa1 · Mar 10, 2016

aiwpfan said:
September 30, Washington, a loss. In fact, they lost all the games that year.

9/24/1960 IL 17 IND 6 (freshman in MI)

After years with Coach Ray Eliot, this was the first game for Pete Elliott. 5-4 that year, followed by 0-9 the year after. 1963 made up for that (Rose Bowl!), but then the slush fund hit and everything fell apart. Sigh.

Adnarel · Mar 10, 2016

My first game? I'd have to ask my folks. I'm sure I was too young to remember it.

sacraig · Mar 10, 2016

I am not 100% sure that it is the first I ever attended but the first Illinois football game that I remember attending in person was September 10, 1994 when Illinois obliterated Mizzou 42-0 in Champaign. That was great fun.

Illinimobile · Mar 10, 2016

1979 vs Navy - a loss (Moeller years). I was a Sr in HS and went down with my dad on dad's weekend to visit my sister, who was a freshman.
I enrolled the following year and was a season ticket holder my entire career there. I only missed 1 home game and made up for it by going on a few rd trips to PU, IA, IU, and NU. Went to the Rose Bowl too.

Pretty good era for Illini football.

My best friend from HS went to Notre Dame - Faust era -pretty bad era for ND football[emoji3]

dbeaverfg · Mar 10, 2016

1974 Illini vs. Washington State, Coach Bob Blackman

mhuml32 · Mar 10, 2016

2010 game against Michigan (at Ann Arbor). Lost in triple overtime 67-65.

Greensboro · Mar 10, 2016

MadSeason said:
September 17, 1983 vs Stanford

Start of a magical season. Sat in the Aluminum Bleachers in North End zone

I was a senior for 1983, had season tickets in 3rd row of upper deck at 40 yard line. We were rocking the upper deck that year & filling the stadium. It was definitely a great year, barring a couple disappointing hours in the Rose Bowl.

My first game was in stark contrast to that year in the Bob Blackmon era when I was in grade school, but I went on a high school trip. Don't remember who we played, my biggest memory was how empty the stadium was for the game. We ended up walking down and sitting like first row in west end on the south goal line & the whole section was empty.

Greensboro · Mar 10, 2016

blackdog said:
11/11/2006 against Purdue. Was visiting over Columbus weekend as a high school senior from Washington DC. Took the guided tour of campus then went to the game after with my grandpa. Totally separate topic but maybe interesting to some here, my grandpa was a season ticket holder (basketball and football both) since he was student in the 1940s (taking a break to serve in WW2) until his death last month at 95. He served on the athletic board of directors for a time during the late 70s through late 80s. He almost never missed a game, until this past season when at 95 he was no longer physically able (only thing stopping him), through the good times or the bad he was Illini through and through. Truly great man. https://business.illinois.edu/news/college/2016/02/in-memoriam-gerald-brighton-accountancy-professor-and-public-servant/

Anyway the game itself was freezing cold, miserable, and we lost. I ended up coming to Illinois anyway and going to as many games as I possibly could with my grandpa and will bleed orange and blue until the day I die.

Nice Story!

KRSAS · Mar 10, 2016

September 25, 1999, Michigan State vs Illinois at Memorial Stadium. Yea a 27-10 lost, Ron Turner against Nick Saban! I thought it was a pretty good game early on, but the Illini couldn't keep up with Bill Burke, Plaxico Burress, TJ Duckett and company. The Illini were 3-0 heading into that game and finished the season 8-4 winning the Micronpc.com against Virginia 63-21!

Butkuser · Mar 10, 2016

Saw every home game from my freshman year of 1980, to my graduation in 1984 (last home game in '83 obviously). Favorite game? Beating Michigan in '83. Schembechler was so livid you could see it from the stands. Sold out stadium too. Them were the days. My miraculous ability to hear nothing after the word "but" allows me to disregard the Rose Bowl game.

IlliniTSM · Mar 10, 2016

My first game was September 12, 2009 against Illinois State. The 45-17 blowout was fun - the rest of the season...not so much. Started a four-year run as a student season ticket holder.

The best game I attended would probably have to be the 17-14 win over a ranked Arizona State team on September 17, 2011. The defense was so incredible that night and the offense did just enough to get the job done.

illinifan4249 · Mar 10, 2016

September 11, 2010. First home game my freshman year under the lights. We won that game and I fell in love with Illini football and college football in general... Haven't missed a game since.

Renegade19 · Mar 10, 2016

I have no idea of the date but Tony Franklin was kicking barefoot for Texas A&M. Long time ago..........

Love My Alma Mater · Mar 10, 2016

Love My Alma Mater said:
That was my first game., the nu game in Evanston. My first experience with the Illini. The chants of I L L with the resounding I N I still to this day was one of the loudest I have ever heard in person.

63-7 I want to say?

First of all, I was way off on the score. According to the record books, it was 56-24. Still, the win that clinched the Rose Bowl, or at least the only Big Ten team to beat every other big ten team in one season.

After thinking it over, I realized in a strange coincidence, my son and daughter's first Illini game was also in Evanston. 1998, a week shy of their first birthday. It was the illini's second win under Turner, first Big Ten win. I remember a certain wide receiver, whose name escapes me but will come to me later, placing his Illini helmet on the the Wildcat statue. I distinctly recalling joking I was surprised he didn't drop the helmet, since he dropped passes all year

. He was a receiver who later added a hyphenated name ???

Anyway, great but funny coincidence to share similar first Illini games with my kids, both having significant Illini meaning.

Edit: the mind is an incredible thing. After typing this note, I just had to look up the name of the receiver. Right before I found the roster, and I mean RIGHT BEFORE, I got it: George McDonald-Ashford!

My apologies to George if you are reading this &#55357;&#56860;

the national · Mar 11, 2016

It was 1992 against Northern IL. My brother went there so my dad took the whole family to the game (the rest of us were IL fans and he and mom were Il grads). I was about 7 and loved every minute of it. Illinois won but I can't remember the score. I got my first illini hat at that game. Still have it &#55357;&#56841;

Bob Christiansen · Mar 11, 2016

bbison said:
11/4/78 vs. Michigan State. My roommates family had an extra ticket, invited me along. The 59-19 final score makes it seem closer than it really was.

The Moeller years were rough ones...

I remember that game vividly. My brother and future SIL came over from Bradley to watch some Illini football. There ya have it...Illini football...:tsk:

Your first Illini FB game you attended in person

White and Sixth