The Illinois Fighting Illini have raced out to a 7-1 record this season, and as a reward they have been ranked in the College Football Playoff for the first time ever.
The Illini, who have reeled off five consecutive victories after a loss to Indiana in Bloomington, checked in at No. 16 in the CFP rankings, which were released during a televised special on Tuesday night.
Tennessee, Ohio State, Georgia and Clemson were the top-four teams in the first edition of the rankings.
TCU, Oregon, USC and LSU all finished just outside of the top-six rankings. Michigan was ranked No. 5, and Alabama was ranked No. 6.
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Penn State, who is 6-2 and has losses to Ohio State and Michigan on their resume, are No. 15 in the first ranking.
The College Football Playoff was established in 2014, and Illinois had never been ranked in the competition until this season.
With seven wins in eight games, the Illini are in control of their own destiny in the Big Ten West, with games against Northwestern and Purdue remaining on their slate of games.
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Illinois currently ranked No. 13 in the AP Top 25, their highest ranking since Dec. 2007.
Chase Brown, who ran for 145 yards in Saturday’s win over Nebraska, leads the nation in rushing with 1,208 yards on the ground so far this season. He is the first Big Ten running back to rush for 100 or more yards in each of his team’s first eight games since Ezekiel Elliott pulled off the feat for Ohio State in 2015.
Illinois’ defense is also the best in the nation in both points allowed per game, with 8.9 per game, and in yards against per game, allowing just 224.5 yards per contest.
The top four teams in the final College Football Playoff ranking, released after the conference championship games in December, compete for the national championship.
This season, the Fiesta Bowl, contested in Glendale, Arizona, and the Peach Bowl, contested in Atlanta, will serve as the semifinal games on Dec. 31. The winners of those games will play on Jan. 9, 2023 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
