Memory Lane: UI 16, Michigan 6 in '83

EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF LOREN TATE AND THE MEMORIES OF JIM TURPIN.

Oct. 29, 1983: Illinois beat Michigan 16-6 as the fans rush the field again at Memorial Stadium

HEADLINE: Illini should feel vindicated with win over U-M

CHAMPAIGN — Mighty Illinois shattered the last yoke of Big Ten football subservience here Saturday.

With a legendary, former redhead watching in Central Florida, and a coast-to-coast audience of millions tuning in on CBS-TV, Mike White's athletes completed a miracle October by whipping Michigan at its own game.

The Score - 16-6 - tells the story. Michigan was held without a touchdown for only the second time in 72 games. It was the UI's first win in the series since 1966, only the second in a quarter-century and the first over the Wolverines at Memorial Stadium since 1957.

An 80-year-old Red Grange called in the formula by telephone. Blocking and tackling. And as bright sunshine bounced off the green Astroturf, these surging Illini hammered the proud visitors into submission and realized their finest hour in 20 years.

THE OUTCOME SENT a long suffering community into delirium. The old town hasn't seen anything like it in 20 years, and that last Rose Bowl-clinching effort took place at Michigan State with the nation in mourning over the death of President John F. Kennedy. By any measuring stick, this one was bigger.

Sophomore safety Craig Swoope, bidding for Midwest defensive honors, spearheaded a gutty unit that for the third time this season refused to allow its goal line to be crossed (Iowa was blanked and Michigan State scored on a pass interception).

"Defense! Defense!" was the cry in the locker room. With Mark Butkus rejoining the fold and linemate Don Thorp turning in another all-conference performance, the Illini never permitted Michigan's well-conceived slants and cutbacks to penetrate their 10-yard line and didn't allow the Wolverines to reach their own 40-yard line in the final one-third of the game (20 minutes).

AND THE BLOCKERS gave Jack Trudeau all the time he needed to complete 21 of 31 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns.

At the same time, left-footed Chris Sigourney had one of those days a punter dreams about.He repeatedly knocked the Wolverines back on their heels, a hustling coverage downing the ball at the 7-, 2- and 11-yard lines and finally notching a two-point safety when Joe Miles tackled Evan Cooper in the end zone.

It was, as the Los Angelas Times' Bob Oates said, "a game between old and new concepts" - Bo Schembechler representing the old and Mike White the new.

This was never more obvious in the last two minutes before halftime. Illinois went ahead 7-3 on a string of short passes with !:50 showing, and Schembechler was given the football on his own 20. Three times he called line plays to nearly eat the clock before Steve Smith passed into an interceotion (by Mike Heaven) with 10 showing.

ILLINOIS SOUGHT TO make use of what little time it had. Trudeau fired downfield to Tim Brewster for a 23-yard gain to the U-M 32, the alert Brewster bouncing off the turf with a time-out signal just as he did a year ago in the closing seconds at Wisconsin. It put Chris White within field goal range but his 49-yard try lurched low and left.

The point is, while Schembechler's athletes have always appeared out of sync in short-time, long-yardage situations, White and his Illini thrive on them. Michigan had posession for 34.5 of the 60 minutes Saturday, but Illinois made moryardage, 378 to 246, and was again in absolute control throughout the fourth quarter.

 Was it a revenge meeting? Yes, by any definition of the word, and Schembechler did not accept the result with grace.

He complained loudly about the officiating - it appeared on TV replays that two Michigan completions were erroneously disallowed - and he griped about crowd noise that jammed Steve Smith's signals. Michigan received only two penalties and he whined about both.

THESE, IT WOULD seem, are "rub-of-the-green" factors that make it tough to win at (as Illinoisans have learned) Wisconsin and Iowa, not to mention Michigan and Ohio State.

Nor has U-M defensive coordinator Gary Moeller lost any of his bitterness. He refused at game's end to even shake hands with UI aide Brad Childress, an assistant under him during the 1977-78-79 seasons here. Moeller remains furious with Illinois when it really ought to be the other way around. After all, he nearly destroyed the UI football program, chasing away the fandom as he misdirected the team through 13 consecutive home games without a win.

But the fans are back and Illinois is taking aim on a Top 5 rating. This football program has been accused of everything from illegal picks to dirty play to outright cheating, so a little more complaining by Bo and more hatred stemming from Mo merely goes on the growing pile of unspotsmanlike bull feathers.

YOU SEE, IT really doesn't matter any more. Underrated and shamelessly discredited all season, these Illini are going to the Rose Bowl ANYWAY. They're going because they've been able to overcome such mini-disasters as a lost fumble on Michigan's 1-yard line and bounce back. When the chips were down this October, they believed in themselves and not in what their detractors said about them.

Hey. Bo, junior college products have character, too. And they can sure play football, can't they.

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