March 21, 2011

The Varsity "I" Association is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the five-year bowl streak for the University of Illinois football program from 1988-92. All past players, managers, coaches, and support staff are invited back for a reunion held in conjunction with the annual Football BBQ Bash and Orange and Blue Spring Game on April 22-23. In anticipation of the reunion, there will be a five-part series on the era.

Part One
1988: "There's a New Sheriff in Town"

By John Lock, Illinois Sports Information

Entering the 1988 season, the future of the Fighting Illini football program was largely unknown. Illinois was coming off a 4-7 season and had a new head coach and quarterback. The program hadn't been to a bowl game since the 1985 Peach Bowl and the experts picked the Illini to finish 7th in the Big Ten.

But the Illini players didn't have the same doubt. They knew first-year head coach John Mackovic had coached in the NFL and knew the game better than anyone. They knew Jeff George had an NFL-quality arm. They knew they were going to get back to a bowl game. And they were right.

In fact, Coach Mackovic was about to start one of the most prosperous stretches in Illinois football history. Mackovic brought in a more disciplined, business-like approach to the game. Dress codes were enforced and players were in charge of their own discipline (seniors handed down punishments if a player was in trouble). Rather than rebel against the new style, players embraced it.

"We were sick of losing," offensive lineman Mark McGowan said.

The losing didn't stop right away, however. The first game of the year was against Washington State, who beat Illinois, 44-7. After a 21-16 loss at Arizona State the following week, the Illini's record moved to 0-2, but the players still weren't discouraged.

"Well, we had Jeff," McGowan said.

After transferring to Illinois, Jeff George sat out the 1987 season as a redshirt before taking the quarterback spot for the 1988 season. While he may have been a question mark in some eyes, the players knew they had a special talent. "He had an arm that I had never seen," defensive back Mark Kelly said. "I had seen two years of Jack Trudeau, who was very cerebral in how he played the position, but I had never seen an arm like Jeff's.

"He had to redshirt a year, so he was the prep-team quarterback. When the defensive back would drop back in coverage, the quarterback would look one way and we would always go that way, because prep-team quarterbacks never looked us off. By the end of the first day, he was looking us off and going the other way. We got off the field and Roosevelt Wardell looked at us and said, `Boys, there's a new sheriff in town.' That's why they called him The Sheriff."

George's laid-back personality fit in well with the close-knit team, and his leadership was unquestioned. George ended the season with three of the top four passing games in the Big Ten, passing for more than 300 yards against Minnesota, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

"He was always on display," defensive back Glenn Cobb said. "He threw the ball with no effort, and he was on the money all the time. Every practice, if I let a guy get a few steps in front of me, he hit the guy on the numbers. It was incredible. His accuracy was incredible. The way he stood in the pocket with poise was incredible. He was on the NFL level when he was there, in my opinion."

After the 0-2 start, George's offense and the Illini defense started clicking, beginning with a 35-24 win over Utah.

"We really exploded against Utah," McGowan said. "That was a big game for us. I think Howard Griffith rushed for over 200 yards. That game really catapulted us and gave us a lot of confidence for the rest of the year. We thought we could beat anybody."

The Utah win was the first of four consecutive victories for the Illini. After the win, Illinois headed to Columbus, Ohio, and beat the Buckeyes 31-12. The win marked the first of five straight wins against the Buckeyes, including three at Columbus. In 1992, Illinois became just the second team since 1920 to win three straight games in Columbus.

"I think it was absolutely our biggest game," Kelly said. "I still talk to people about how loud Ohio State's fans were when we started beating them. Their fans turned on them pretty quickly once we got them down. It was actually a joy to hear 92,000 people on top of you being as loud as they can be because their team is getting its butt whipped."

Wins against Purdue and Wisconsin followed the Buckeye blowout, and Illinois was 3-0 in conference play, outscoring its first three opponents, 85-18. In the 20-0 shutout of Purdue, the Illini defense gave up just six first downs, the fewest first downs given up in a Big Ten game that year. After a close loss to Michigan State, Jeff George led two fourth-quarter comebacks that saved the season.

Trailing Minnesota 27-24 with 51 seconds left, George drove the Illini into field goal range. The Illini played to their only tie of the year, 27-27. The following week at home against Indiana, George led an even more improbable comeback.

After Indiana scored on a wacky interception return, George led the Illini to two touchdowns in the final 3:33, aided by an Indiana fumble in between. The Illini scored the game-winner with just 26 seconds left, securing a 21-20 victory.

"The Indiana game was insane," McGowan said. "Boy, I'll tell you what, we didn't give up in that game. That was one of the craziest settings. If you watch the game, you still can't believe we came back. That team never gave up."

McGowan jumped into a pile in the end zone after the game, and someone started pulling at his facemask. McGowan's brother had jumped out of the stands and into the same pile. When he saw his brother, he started yanking on his facemask.

"To this day, he still talks about it," McGowan said.

Illinois then played at Michigan Stadium against the Wolverines in a game to decide the Big Ten champion, but the Illini lost, 38-7.

"If we would have had just a little more time under Coach Mackovic, I really think we could have won that game," Cobb said. "We could have been playing in the Rose Bowl."

After a 14-9 win over Northwestern, the Illini were headed to Birmingham, Ala., for the All-American Bowl against the Florida Gators and running back Emmitt Smith. After Smith scored early in the first quarter, Kelly and McGowan remember thinking it was going to be a long day, but Illinois battled back. Florida made a defensive stand on fourth and inches to save them from another Jeff George comeback.

The Illini finished third in the Big Ten and Coach Mackovic earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in his inaugural season. Mackovic would go on to win the same award the following year, becoming the second coach to win the award in his first year and first coach to win Coach of the Year honors in each of his first two seasons.

The defense ended the year third in the conference in total defense, while running back Keith Jones became just the fourth player in Illinois history to gain 1,000 yards in a season, ending the season with 1,108. George was later picked first overall in the NFL draft.

The 1988 season was the beginning of a golden era in Illinois football. The All-American bowl was the first of five consecutive years Illinois would play in a bowl game, a school record. The Illini went 7-1 in the Big Ten the following year, and in 1990, the Illini clinched a share of the Big Ten crown.

"We were a really tight-knit team," McGowan said. "There was no animosity. Everyone liked each other and everyone worked hard together. The younger guys got along with the older guys. There weren't any clicks. I think that's what makes a good team."