Illinois moved up two spots following the 45-19 win at Duke on Saturday.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

September 7, 2025

Week 3 Associated Press Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses)

1) Ohio State (57)

2) Penn State (5)

3) LSU (2)

4) Oregon (1)

5) Miami

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) Utah

21) Texas Tech

22) Indiana

23) Michigan

24) Auburn

25) Missouri

Illinois will be in the top 10 teams in the nation, according to the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, when they return home this coming weekend after back-to-back blowout wins to start the 2025 season.

The Illini (2-0) moved up one spot following the season-opening 52-3 win over Western Illinois and then dispatching Duke 45-19 in Durham, North Carolina on Saturday. Illinois will return home to play Western Michigan (0-2) on Saturday (6 p.m., FS1). Illinois has scored at least 45 points in the first two games of the season for the second time in program history and the first time since 1942. The 1942 Illini squad started the season with shutout wins over South Dakota (46-0) and Butler (67-0).

The Illini held the Blue Devils to 19 points, the fewest points Duke has scored at home since scoring 14 on Sept. 30, 2023, vs. Notre Dame. Illinois earned its first nonconference road win since Sept. 7, 2019, at Connecticut. The Illini's 26-point margin of victory is the team's biggest road win since posting a 38-point margin of victory (41-3) at Northwestern on Nov. 26, 2022. Illinois started the season with zero turnovers in its first two games for the first time since 2001.

This marks the first time since Nov. 25, 2001 (when Illinois had a 10-1 record) that Illinois has been ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Ohio State, the defending national champions, held the top spot after a 70-0 victory on Saturday against Grambling. The Buckeyes received 57 first-place votes. Ohio State (2-0) obviously topped the season-ending poll after defeating Notre Dame 34-23 in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Last week represented the Buckeyes’ first regular season No. 1 ranking since Nov. 1, 2015. The Big Ten Conference stayed 1-2 in the poll after the Buckeyes leaped over Penn State (2-0) last week. The Nittany Lions secured a 34-11 home victory over Florida International on Saturday.

Illinois was one of four Big Ten Conference programs ranked in the top 10 this week’s AP poll (Ohio State 1, Penn State 2, Oregon 4, Illinois 9, Indiana 22 and Michigan 23).The University of Southern California and Nebraska also received votes in this week’s poll.

South Florida jumped into the poll at No. 18. The list of unranked teams to open a season 2-0 with both wins coming against AP-ranked opponents is short: USF did it this year vs. No. 25 Boise State and No. 13 Florida. Oregon State opened 2012 with wins vs. No. 13 Wisconsin and No. 19 UCLA. East Carolina managed the feat in 2008 against No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia. And North Carolina started its 1976 season with wins against No. 20 Miami (Ohio) and No. 18 Florida.

USF, which visits Miami this weekend and has former Illinois assistant coach Alex Golesh as its third-year head coach, is bidding to become the fifth team to open a season with three wins over ranked opponents. Miami did it in 1987, Michigan in 1985, Iowa in 1960 and Oklahoma in 1954.