Game vs OSU in fall of ‘68. One of OSU’s legendary undefeated national champions with 11 (!) All Americans and 6 first round draft choices. Illinois still in aftermath of slush fund scandal and 0-5 at that point.
OSU up 24-0 late in first half when Illini get absolutely robbed by official’s call before halftime. Coach goes ballistic with ref for what seemed like 10 minutes of halftime.
Illini come out in second half and score 3 touchdowns with 2 point conversions to tie game 24-24 with 4 minutes left.
OSU QB Rex Kern sacked on next play from scrimmage and carted off the field. The crowd is going completely berserk seeing the most unlikely upset in college football history.
Of course OSU’s backup quarterback hits a bomb and they drive in winning TD with about a minute left. Still one of the most memorable games I’ve ever witnessed.
I was there, my junior year.
The only college games I saw before going off to college were Army-Navy games on a circa 1952 Admiral console TV with a 12 inch screen. We were a Navy family.
So when I arrived on campus in 1966, college football was all new to me. I didn’t even know what “Big 10” was. But the atmosphere—everyone it seemed was at the game. There were only 30,000 students then, so everyone COULD have been there. The Marching Illini. Chief Illiniwek! And the team was competitive.
I became Illini for Life. Two years later I got my girlfriend hooked.
Now that we’ve retired we are able to attend games. It’s a day and a half drive each way but we have season tickets. And will as long as we can.