The legendary Dick Butkus made 374 tackles at Illinois from 1962-64 and helped the Illini win the 1964 Rose Bowl with a 17-7 victory against Washington.

➜ 1. The lap. A lesson most opposing football players learned: Don’t make Dick Butkus mad. But Washington did just that before the 1964 Rose Bowl game, implying the Illini were out of shape. Butkus and running back Jim Grabowski showed the Huskies, leading the team to a 17-7 victory. Afterward, Butkus had the team run a lap around the field, proof the players were in fine condition. Washington was shut out in the final three quarters.

➜ 2. A good start. In the first year of the agreement to match the Big Ten champion against the winner of the Pacific Coast Conference in the 1947 Rose Bowl, Illinois earned the Big Ten nod. Playing nearby UCLA, Illinois trailed 7-6 after one quarter and was up only 25-14 going into the fourth quarter. But a touchdown by the great Buddy Young and a pair of pick-sixes by Ruck Steger and Stan Green turned it into a 45-14 romp.

Kurt Kittner and Illinois scored a bowl-game record 63 points during its win against Virginia in the 1999 Micronpc.com Bowl in Miami.

➜ 3. Not-so-trick play. The day before the 1999 Micronpc.com Bowl game in Miami, a local film crew caught an Illini trick play on camera. Rumor has it, the play actually aired on the news that night. So, what did Ron Turner do? Ran it anyway. And it worked to perfection, with receiver Brandon Lloyd throwing an option pass to wide-open quarterback Kurt Kittner for a touchdown.

➜ 4. Heave no. In the week leading up to the Micron Bowl, Kittner told Turner he was going to throw the ball out of the stadium if the trick play worked. When the touchdown was scored, Kittner threw the ball as far as he could, which didn’t come close to leaving the giant building in Miami. Kittner was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and Turner seemed to chastise his star on the bench. He wasn’t. It was just a show for the cameras, part of a good night that saw Illinois win 63-21.

➜ 5. The other Tate. The second Illinois bowl appearance ever came in the 1952 Rose Bowl. Bill Tate made sure to give his team a bowl winning streak. He ran 20 times for 150 yards and two scores as Illinois rolled past Stanford 40-7.

➜ 6. Johnny on the spot. Illinois quarterback Johnny Johnson had a day in the 1994 Liberty Bowl against East Carolina. He threw for 250 yards and four scores in a 30-0 win against the Pirates in Memphis, Tenn. Johnson was the obvious pick as game MVP.

Mikel Leshoure holds up the Texas Bowl MVP trophy after the the standout Illinois running back rushed for 187 yards in a 38-14 win against Baylor in 2010.

➜ 7. An easy choice. At the 2010 Texas Bowl against Baylor in Houston, Champaign native Mikel Leshoure left no doubt who would be MVP. He ran for 187 yards and three touchdowns as Illinois rolled to a 38-14 victory against future Heisman winner Robert Griffin III. Leshoure became the school’s single-season rushing leader that day and finished his impressive season with a still-standing Illinois record of 1,697 rushing yards.

➜ 8. Nose for the ball. The last Illinois bowl win came in 2011 at the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Playing at the home of baseball’s Giants in San Francisco, Illinois rallied for a 20-14 victory against UCLA thanks for a pick-six by game MVP Terry Hawthorne. Since that win, Illinois is 0-3 in bowls.

➜ 9. Busy guy. In the 2002 Sugar Bowl, Nick Saban and LSU jumped out to a big lead early. But Kittner and Illinois didn’t quit. In fact, receiver Walter Young set a school-bowl record with 178 yards, He scored twice, but the Tigers played well in front of a home-like crowd in New Orleans to earn a 47-34 victory.

➜ 10. Old college try. The 1982 Liberty Bowl was the final game for coaching legend Bear Bryant. Illinois quarterback Tony Eason threw 55 passes for a school-bowl record 423 yards, but the Crimson Tide gave Bryant one last victory with a 21-15 win in Memphis, Tenn.