Illinois football climbs to best AP Poll spot in over two decades

Ribin Peter

Illinois football climbs to best AP Poll spot in over two decades image

Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

The Illinois Fighting Illini are showing tremendous form early in the season. Back-to-back dominant wins have helped push the Fighting Illini steadily higher in the AP Top 25 poll.

On Sunday, Illinois reached its highest AP ranking since 2001, jumping two spots to No. 9 this week following a 45-19 win over Duke. The climb came from their previous rank of No. 11 in last week's poll.

In Week 1, Illinois dominated with a 52-3 victory against Western Illinois. Their 45-point effort in Week 2 marked the first time in 20 seasons they have scored 45 or more points in back-to-back games.

Here are the full rankings for this week:

AP Top 25 college football poll rankings

  1. Ohio State
  2. Penn State
  3. LSU
  4. Oregon
  5. Miami (Fla.)
  6. Georgia
  7. Texas
  8. Notre Dame
  9. Illinois
  10. Florida State
  11. South Carolina
  12. Clemson
  13. Oklahoma
  14. Iowa State
  15. Tennessee
  16. Texas A&M
  17. Ole Miss
  18. South Florida
  19. Alabama
  20. Uta
  21. Texas Tech
  22. Indiana
  23. Michigan
  24. Auburn
  25. Missouri

Ribin Peter

Ribin Peter is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. While he started as a soccer writer, he now covers college football and the NFL. Ribin is especially captivated by the adrenaline rush that football provides and sees every play and rivalry through an unbiased lens.