1942 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

American college football season

1942 Illinois Fighting Illini football

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	6–4 (3–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ray Eliot (1st season)
MVP	Elmer Engel
Captain	Jimmy Smith
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1941 1943 →

1942 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Ohio State $	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Wisconsin	4	–	1	–	0	8	–	1	–	1
No. 9 Michigan	3	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Illinois	3	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Iowa	3	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
No. 19 Minnesota	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Indiana	2	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Purdue	1	–	4	–	0	1	–	8	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1942 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1942 Big Ten Conference football season. In their first season under head coach Ray Eliot, the Illini compiled a 6–4 record and finished in a tie for third place in the Big Ten Conference.^[1] End Elmer Engel was selected as the team's most valuable player.^[2]

Illinois was ranked at No. 11 (out of 590 college and military teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1942.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 26	South Dakota *	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 46–0	7,500
October 3	Butler *	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 67–0	10,000
October 10	Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 20–13	24,276
October 17	at No. 19 Iowa	No. 5	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 12–7	25,600
October 24	No. 8 Notre Dame *	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 14–21	43,476
October 31	at No. 13 Michigan	No. 12	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	L 14–28	33,826
November 7	at Northwestern	No. 20	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	W 14–7	35,300
November 14	vs. No. 10 Ohio State	No. 13	Cleveland Stadium Cleveland, OH (Illibuck Trophy)	L 20–44	68,586
November 21	Great Lakes Navy *	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	L 0–6	10,856	^[4]
November 28	at Camp Grant *	Camp Grant Rockford, IL	W 20–0	5,000	^[5]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^ "1942 Illinois Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
^ "Fighting Illini Football Record Book" (PDF). University of Illinois. 2015. p. 155. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
^ Dr. E. E. Litkenhous (December 16, 1942). "Litkenhous Rates Georgia No. 1, Ohio State No. 2". Twin City Sentinel. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Sweiger Score Tips Illini, 6-0". Minneapolis Sunday Tribune and Star Journal. November 22, 1942. p. 29 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Vaughan, Irving (November 29, 1942). "Illinois Beats Camp Grant by 20 to 0 Margin". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. B2.

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini football
Venues	Illinois Field (1890–1922) Memorial Stadium (1923–present) Soldier Field (1994–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Indiana Michigan Missouri Northwestern Ohio State: Battle for Illibuck Purdue
Culture & lore	Illinois Loyalty "Oskee Wow-Wow" Marching Illini Gene Honda Fighting Illini Sports Network Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal 2021 Penn State game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold

Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
AP	5 (18)	5 (1)	12	20	13	—	—	—