Memory Lane: UI clinches '83 Big Ten title

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.

This week: A look back at the UI's win against Northwestern that capped off a 9-0 run and a Big Ten football title in 1983

UI 56, Northwestern 24

Nov. 19, 1983

Headline: Illini were forced to take to air

EVANSTON - Mike White, whose tension-packed and strategy-cluttered mind operates like whirlwind on game day, doesn't always find it easy to wind down.

In those first few minutes after the 50-23 win at Minnesota two weeks ago, he was found distraught and fuming because Gopher defensive strategy had forced Illinois into a passing game he preferred to keep under wraps.

The same thing happened Saturday at Dyche Stadium, with same personal reaction.

"We really didn't want to keep passing," he explained after the Illini's 56-24 win. "But we didn't have any choice."

WHITE BUILT consistency into this team by developing it across the board - offensively and defensively - in order that it would be capable of taking advantage of whatever the opponent "gave" it.

Let opponents overload up front, and the Illini would pass. Let them play soft, and the Illini would run. It's called balance. Most championship teams have it.

"We made that decision last spring," he reflected. "We began to emphasize the running game because we had the runner in Thomas Rooks and Dwight Beverly, and we needed to develop the power to push it in the last 20 yards. We felt we could 'play to' our veteran defense."

But, when the emotion of October had dissipated, the proud defense slipped in the face of hard-to-predict aerial attacks, and White was forced to run up points in a manner that goes against his grain.

"What happened today," said Jack Trudeau, "is Northwestern kept blitzing up the middle to stack up our running game and left a giant cushion on the sidelines. The passes were wide open."

SO, TRUDEAU and Ken Cruz completed 30 of 38 passes for 381 yards, and White had to forego his plan to keep the ball on the ground most of the game. Northwestern wouldn't let him. And Illinois, which won with defense in October, closed with 155 points in a wild November windup to a 10-1 season.

Later, with time to reflect on the 9-0 Big Ten season and the UI's first conference championship since 1963, he said:

"This was a tremendous accomplishment and I'm extremely proud of the players. Something happened after the opening loss at Missouri, and this team just kept getting better right through the last game in October.

"These last three games have not been easy," he went on. "We had to play on pride and we never really let down. There was a consistency about this team that was really amazing.

"There are all kinds of pitfalls in a round-robin schedule. You have to face wind and weather and opposing crowds. There are outstanding teams. The possibility of losing is always there. But this team remained consistent."

WHITE WORKED himself, his staff and his players to their limit, nor will he stop now.

In an effort to capitalize on the team's glowing national image - No. 4 in the AP poll - he'll oversee on a thorough recruiting whirl. Four or five players, he said, have already committed to him personally.

In-state recruiting is more promising than it has been in two decades, and three staff men were scheduled to fly to California at 6:30 this morning to begin laying groundwork for more extensive sales-work there in December.

"We've made some gains and we want to take advantage of it," said White. His stated goal, sometimes doubted by those who believe he'll soon move elsewhere, is to put Illinois "over the top" for a sufficient number of years to make it possible for the program to run on effectively in his absence.

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