Aug. 10—Once again, I will represent the state of Illinois on The Associated Press AP Top 25 panel. It is an honor and one of my favorite parts of the job I have been doing for 38 years.Of course, some of you won't like how I rank the teams each week and that's cool. We are all entitled to our opinions. I will take any criticism you want to deliver. If you make a convincing argument, I will change my mind.The poll starts with a preseason Top 25 that will be released Aug. 17. To get the poll talk going, I'm going to use this space over the next month and a half to count down my Top 40.Why 40? Because that is number of teams I usually trackclosely during the year, give or take a team or two.Who is unveiled today ...— Dan Lanning's team brings back stars on both sides of the ball. The most important has to be quarterback Dante Moore, who would have been a Top 10 pick had he entered the NFL draft. With another year in college, Moore has a good chance to be among the first few players chosen in 2027.— Oregon has a bevy of options at receiver. Sophomore Jeremiah McClellan has great upside after catching 38 passes in 2025 for big yardage.— All the starters return on the defensive line. Overall, the unit brings back eight regulars from last year's CFP semifinalist.The Ducks did find some secondary help in the transfer portal.Nov. 7 at Ohio State. The best news for the Ducks during the regular season: no Indiana, which beat them twice in 2025. Both times by double digits. Early games at Southern California and the finale against Washington are the other tests.6. Georgia SEC7. Miami ACC8. Oklahoma SEC9. Mississippi SEC10. Texas A&M SEC11. BYU Big 1212. Michigan Big Ten13. LSU SEC14. Southern California Big Ten15. Houston Big 1216. Washington Big Ten17. Alabama SEC18. Penn State Big Ten19. Texas Tech Big 1220. Missouri SEC21. Utah Big 1222. SMU ACC23. Louisville ACC24. Iowa Big Ten25. Tennessee SEC26. Boise State Pac-1227. TCU Big 1228. Clemson ACC29. Florida SEC30. Illinois Big Ten31. South Carolina SEC32. Arizona Big 1233. Virginia Tech ACC34. Auburn SEC35. Kansaas State Big 1236. Georgia Tech ACC37. Pitt ACC38. Arizona State Big 1239. Virginia ACC40. UCLA Big Ten

Source: Yahoo Sports