1952 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 1952 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1952 Big Ten season. In their 11th year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Fighting Illini compiled a 4–5 record (2–5 in conference games), finished in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a total of 194 to 175.^[1]

1952 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	4–5 (2–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ray Eliot (11th season)
MVP	Al Brosky
Captain	Al Brosky
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1951 1953 →

1952 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 11 Wisconsin +	4	–	1	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
No. 18 Purdue +	4	–	1	–	1			4	–	3	–	2
No. 17 Ohio State	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Michigan	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	1	–	2			4	–	3	–	2
Illinois	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	6	–	1
Iowa	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Halfback Al Brosky was selected as the team's most valuable player.^[2] Three Illinois players received honors on the 1952 All-Big Ten Conference football team: quarterback Tommy O'Connell (AP-1, UP-1); end Frank Wodziak (AP-1); and safety Al Brosky.^[3][4]

The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 27	Iowa State*	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 33–7	47,702
October 4	at No. 8 Wisconsin	No. 2	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 6–20	52,071	[5]
October 11	Washington*	No. 13	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 48–14	48,248
October 18	at Minnesota	No. 17	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 7–13	54,787
October 25	Purdue		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 12–40	71,119
November 1	at No. 15 Michigan		Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	W 22–13	65,595
November 8	at Iowa		Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 33–13	44,855
November 15	Ohio State		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Illibuck)	L 7–27	60,077
November 22	Northwestern		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	L 26–28	41,214
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Games summaries

Iowa

Following the win at Iowa, which was full of penalties and a couple of ejections for fighting, Iowa students began to throw fruit, cans, and bottles at the officials and Illinois' team as they left the field. One Iowa student was also punched by an Illinois player in the melee. Illinois and Iowa were not scheduled to play in 1953 and 1954, but their athletic directors decided to expand that timeline to 1958 in order to allow for a "cooling-off" period. That time frame was eventually extended until 1967, which created a 14-season gap in the series between the conference schools.^[6][7]