MURRAY STATE GAME PROMOTIONS
• Free Student Tickets - Powered by Deloitte | Claim Tickets
• Tailgating at Grange Grove – 11:30 am-2:30 pm (games, food trucks and live music)
• Illini Walk – 12 pm through Grange Grove
OPENING KICK
• Here We Go: The Lovie Smith Era begins as the Fighting Illini open their 127th year of football Saturday when Murray State comes to Memorial Stadium for a 2:42 p.m. kick on Big Ten Network.
• Back to School: Saturday marks the Illinois debut of head coach Lovie Smith, who is coming off 19 years in the NFL, including the last 11 as head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Lovie is back coaching in college for the first time since 1995, when he was an assistant coach at Ohio State.
• NFL Experience: Smith's Illini staff has 56 seasons of combined NFL head and assistant coach experience – the most in college football in 2016, ahead of UCLA (44), Michigan (41), Nebraska (32) and USC (30).
• Debut Ws: Illinois head coaches are 14-9-1 all time in their Illini debuts. The last three coaches (Cubit, Beckman and Zook) all were victorious in their Orange and Blue debuts. The last coach to drop his first game at Illinois was Ron Turner in 1997 (24-7 loss to Southern Mississippi).
• Home Sweet Home: Illinois has 18 consecutive home-opening wins, the fourth-longest active streak in the nation behind only Florida (26), Oklahoma State (20) and Wisconsin (20). Illinois is 88-33-5 all-time in home-openers.
• Starting Off Right: The Illini have an all-time record of 79-42-5 in season-openers and are 56-27-4 when opening the season at home. The Illini have won their last 10 season-openers at Memorial Stadium dating back to 1997.
In fact, the Illini have won...
» 5 straight season-openers (last loss 2010 vs. Missouri in St. Louis)
» 10 straight season-openers at Memorial Stadium (last loss 1997 vs. Sourthern Miss.)
» 18 straight home-openers (last loss 1997 vs. Southern Mississippi)
• Smoot Point: DE Dawuane Smoot (eight sacks, 15.0 TFLs in 2015) seems poised for an even bigger senior campaign. Smoot was named a preseason All-American and the 20th-best college football player in the country by Pro Football Focus and has drawn plenty of attention from NFL draft experts heading into 2016.
• Lunt's Legacy: QB Wes Lunt enters his third and final season as an Illini on several UI career top-10 lists:
» 4,524 passing yards – 10th (665 behind Jeff George for 9th)
» 28 passing touchdowns – 10th (3 behind Jeff George for 9th)
» 4,291 yards of total offense – 10th (476 behind Jeff George for 9th)
» 423 completions – 10th (9 behind Johnny Johnson for 9th)
» 121.5 passing efficiency – 9th (just behind Reilly O'Toole's 122.1 for 8th)
• Throwing Strikes: Lunt has thrown 28 touchdowns against just nine interceptions in his two-year UI career. He threw just six interceptions in 481 pass attempts in 2015 (80.2 att/int) and has nine career interceptions in 722 attempts (80.2 att/int).
• Dominating FCS: The Fighting Illini are 15-0 all-time against FCS opponents (formerly I-AA).
• Boys of Summer: The Illini are 22-2 in August/September home games dating back to 2007, third-best in the Big Ten (Wisc: 28-0 and OSU: 29-2).
LOVIE'S ILLINI
• Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman named longtime NFL coach Lovie Smith as head football coach on March 7, 2016. Smith is the 25th head football coach at Illinois and is the first African-American head football coach in program history.
• Smith returns to college football for the first time since 1996 after spending 19 years in the NFL, including 11 years as a head coach.
• Smith led the Chicago Bears for nine seasons from 2004-12 and was 81-63 (.563), including three division titles, two NFC Championship Game appearances (2006 and 2010) and a berth in Super Bowl XLI.
• The AP Coach of the Year in 2005, Smith's 81 wins with Chicago are the third-most in Bears history.
• Smith spent the past two years as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where the Bucs improved from two victories in 2014 to six wins in 2015.
NFL STAFF IN CHAMBANA
The 2016 Fighting Illini football coaching staff, led by Lovie Smith, is loaded with experience from both the NFL and college levels. In fact, the Illini staff's 56 seasons of combined NFL head and assistant coach experience is the most in college football in 2016, ahead of UCLA (44), Michigan (41), Nebraska (32) and USC (30).
Illini NFL Experience by the Numbers:
» 56 Seasons NFL Coaching Experience (most in NCAA)
» 9 Additional Seasons of NFL Staff Experience (non-coaching)
» 18 Seasons NFL Playing Experience
» 3 Super Bowl Appearances
» 1 Super Bowl Title
» 1 NFL Coach of the Year
Of the 10 full-time coaches, seven have NFL experience:
» Lovie Smith – 19 seasons (11 head coach, 8 assistant/coordinator)
» Bob Ligashesky – 12 seasons (assistant coach/coordinator)
» Luke Butkus – 8 seasons (assistant coach)
» Mike Phair – 7 seasons (assistant coach)
» Andrew Hayes-Stoker – 5 seasons (assistant coach)
» Hardy Nickerson – 3 seasons (assistant coach)
» Garrick McGee – 2 season (assistant coach)
KEEP AN EYE ON THESE ILLINI
Five Fighting Illini players earned mention on preseason award watch lists. Below is a list of the honors that Illinois players have earned heading into 2016 (through Aug. 28):
» Wes Lunt – Maxwell Award (Off. POY), Davey O'Brien Award (QB), Unitas Golden Arm (QB), Manning Award (QB)
» Hardy Nickerson – Nagurski Trophy (Def. POY), Butkus Award (LB), Lombardi Award (POY)
» Dawuane Smoot – Bednarik Award (Def. POY), Hendricks Award (DE), Lombardi Award (POY)
» Joe Spencer – Rimington Trophy (C), Wuerffel Trophy (Community Service)
» Ke'Shawn Vaughn – Doak Walker (RB)
TOUGH ROAD
• Only four college football teams will play against more 2015 bowl teams during the 2016 season. Illinois' nine bowl opponents are tied for fifth in the nation behind USC (11), BYU (10), Colorado (10) and Ole Miss (9).
• Four Illinois opponents are ranked in the preseason AP Top-25 – No. 7 Michigan, No. 12 Michigan State, No. 17 Iowa and No. 22 North Carolina. Three more opponents are receiving votes – Wisconsin, Nebraska and Northwestern.
• The Big Ten moves to a nine-game conference slate this season, meaning each team will play three division crossover games. Illinois' cross-division games are home against No. 12 Michigan State, at No. 7 Michigan and at Rutgers, meaning the Illini have five road games and four home games in B1G play.
MURRAY STATE CONNECTIONS
• Saturday will be the first meeting on the gridiron between the Fighting Illini and Murray State.
• Murray State freshman quarterback Eli Oltean is from nearby St. Joseph-Ogden HS (St. Joseph, Ill.). He led his high school team to an undefeated regular season and a run to the state semifinals.
• Murray State defensive line coach Kevin Park was a redshirt freshman defensive lineman on the 2010 Baylor team that lost to Illinois, 38-14, in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 29, 2010 in Houston, Texas.
• Illinois freshman DL Brandon Jones (Hickman HS) and Murray State freshman WR Nick Collins (Rock Bridge HS) are both from Columbia, Missouri, and played against each other in the Hickman vs. Rock Bridge rivalry game.
ILLINOIS AGAINST FCS/I-AA TEAMS
The Fighting Illini are 15-0 all-time against FCS opponents (formerly I-AA). Illinois is averaging over 42 points per game against FCS foes with an average margin of victory of over 28 points per game. All but three of those wins have been by at least 21 points.
THAT DEFENSE, THO
The Fighting Illini defense showed vast improvement from 2014 to 2015.
» In 2014, the Illini allowed 456.4 ypg and 34.0 ppg. In 2015, they allowed 350.8 ypg and 23.3 ppg. The 105.6 ypg improvement was the best improvement in FBS.
» The Illini finished in the top-20 nationally in blocked kicks (4), third down defense (12), passing yards allowed (15) and tackles-for-loss (16).
» The Illini improved at least 70 spots in the NCAA rankings in six different categories, including total defense (+79) and scoring defense (+70).
» Illinois ranked fourth in FBS with five blocked kicks in 2016 (2 punts, 2 PATs, 1 FG), including two that were returned for touchdowns. Senior DT Rob Bain ranked second among FBS individuals with three of those blocks (2 PATs, 1 FG).
GRADS ON GRADS ON GRADS
The 2016 Fighting Illini roster features 11 student-athletes that have already earned a bachelor's degree, including one player – Justin Hardee – who already has two degrees and is working toward a third. The 11 graduates is tied for the third-most in the nation behind only Virginia (15) and Pittsburgh (13).
| Student-Athlete |
Bachelor's Degree |
Master's Pursuing |
| Rob Bain |
Communication (Dec. '15) |
Education Policy, Org. & Leadership |
| Taylor Barton |
Communication (May '16) |
Education Policy, Org. & Leadership |
| Ryan Frain |
Kinesiology (May '16) |
Technology Management |
| Justin Hardee |
Communication (Dec. '14) |
Education Policy, Org. & Leadership* |
| Wes Lunt |
Sport Management (May '16) |
Recreation, Sport and Tourism |
| Michael Martin |
Mechanical Engineering (May '16) |
Mechanical Engineering |
| Hardy Nickerson |
Legal Studies (Cal–Summer '16) |
Recreation, Sport and Tourism |
| Gimel President |
Fitness, Cond. & Perf. (Auburn–May '16) |
Education |
| David Reisner |
Advertising (May '16) |
Business Administration |
| Joe Spencer |
Finance (May '16) |
Business Administration |
| Mike Svetina |
Finance (May '16) |
Accountancy |
*Hardee already has a Master's degree in Recreation, Sport and Tourism (May '16) and is pursuing a second Master's
MAKING THE GRADE
The Illini have excelled in the classroom over the last four seasons.
• A total of 42 football student-athletes earned degrees in 2015-16, including nine that are on the 2016 roster pursuing master's degrees plus two more graduate transfers that joined the team this summer (Hardy Nickerson and Gimel President).
• Since 2012, the number of football graduates have gone from 15 (2012), to 16 (2013) to 21 (2014), to 38 (2015), to 42 (2016).
• Illinois has broken its school record for Academic All-Big Ten selections in each of the last four seasons in Champaign. Prior to 2012, the school record was 12 (2000 & 2009). Since then, the Illini have had 18 (2012), 21 (2013), 29 (2014) and now 31 (2015).
• For eight consecutive semesters, at least 40 football student-athletes have posted at least a 3.0 grade-point-average, including 59 in Spring 2016. In the same time frame, Illinois' team GPA also has risen steadily from 2.71 in fall 2012 to a high of 3.05 in Spring 2016.
WALK-ONS EARNING THEIR $$$
• Senior walk-on long snapper Michael Martin was surprised with a scholarship for his final season on Aug. 28. Martin, a Champaign, Ill., native, earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in Dec. 2015 and is currently pursuing a master's degree in the same field during his final year of football eligibility.
• In all, three players on the current roster have gone from walk-on status to scholarship student-athlete – RB Nathan Echard, WR Zach Grant, and LS Michael Martin.
WHITMAN IN CHARGE
• Former Fighting Illini tight end Josh Whitman took over as Director of Athletics at Illinois in February. His first order of business? Hiring Lovie Smith as head coach just two days after officially starting the job.
• Whitman was named the university's 14th permanent director of athletics on Feb. 17 and officially started on March 5. On March 7, he made national headlines by hiring coaching icon Lovie Smith to lead the football program.
• Prior to coming back to Illinois, Whitman served as director of athletic as Washington University in St. Louis and UW-LaCrosse and also practiced law in Washington, D.C.
• Whitman has two Illinois degrees. He graduated with Bronze Tablet honors in 2001 while earning a bachelor's degree in finance. In 2008, he graduated summa cum laude from the Illinois College of Law. He worked in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at Illinois while earning his law degree.
• A native of West Lafayette, Ind., Whitman was a four-year starting tight end and two-time First Team Academic All-American on the gridiron for Illinois. He then spent parts of four seasons as a player in the NFL, including stints with the Chargers, Dolphins, Seahawks and Bills.
» COMPLETE ILLINOIS-MURRAY STATE GAME NOTES (PDF)
