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Illinois Football improves to No. 61 in S&P+ rankings despite loss to Western Michigan

Check out the latest batch of College Football rankings below.

Western Michigan v Illinois Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The Fighting Illini may have been completely outmatched against a MAC program on Saturday, but they evidently did enough to improve their standing in the latest S&P+ rankings. The Orange and Blue improved two spots, and now sit at No. 61 nationally — a single spot behind Western Michigan despite the 34-10 loss.

Illinois’ offense is ranked No. 82, making it the team’s worst phase by a wide margin. The defense is still respectable at No. 47 overall, and I think that’s because advanced stats are taking opponents’ average field position into account; Lovie Smith’s talented front four can only do so much when pinned inside their own territory. Lastly, the program’s special teams units check in at No. 37.

ELSEWHERE. Did y’all see what Louisville did to Florida State? In case you haven’t, viewer discretion is absolutely advised. Ohio State and Michigan State each notched huge victories for the conference over Oklahoma and Notre Dame, respectively, while Michigan held steady with their own win over Colorado.

Here’s what the national landscape looks like with three weeks in the books.

Week 4 College Football Rankings

AP (prev, if diff) Coaches (prev, if diff) S&P+ Massey
1 Alabama Alabama Michigan Alabama
2 Ohio State (3) Ohio State (4) Alabama Ohio State
3 Louisville (10) Clemson (3) LSU Clemson
4 Michigan Louisville (10) Washington Stanford
5 Clemson Michigan Ohio State Houston
6 Houston Stanford Clemson Michigan
7 Stanford Houston Oklahoma Louisville
8 Michigan State (12) Michigan State Louisville Tennessee
9 Washington (8) Washington Florida Florida State
10 Texas A&M (17) Wisconsin (12) Florida State Wisconsin
11 Wisconsin (9) Georgia (13) Ole Miss Michigan State
12 Georgia (16) Tennessee (15) Stanford Arkansas
13 Florida State (2) Texas A&M (20) Tennessee Oklahoma
14 Tennessee (15) Florida State (2) Baylor Texas A&M
15 Miami (25) Baylor (19) Miami Baylor
16 Baylor (21) Florida (23) USC Washington
17 Arkansas (24) LSU (22) Oregon LSU
18 LSU (20) Arkansas (24) UCLA Georgia
19 Florida (23) Miami (25) Texas A&M Utah
20 Nebraska (NR) Nebraska (NR) Wisconsin Ole Miss
21 Texas (11) (tie) TCU (NR) Notre Dame Nebraska
22 San Diego State (NR) (tie) Ole Miss (17) Auburn Iowa
23 Ole Miss (19) Utah (NR) TCU Oregon
24 Utah (NR) Texas (16) Virginia Tech Miami
25 Oklahoma (14) Iowa (11) Oklahoma State North Carolina