If you’re reading this article then you read the headline. You’ve followed the team and, yes this is all real. The No. 15 Arizona State Football Team (11-2, 7-2 Big 12) that was picked to finish last in the Big 12 has won said Big 12. In dominant fashion no less, dispatching No. 16 Iowa State (10-3, 7-2 Big 12) 45-19 Saturday night.
A near-ethereal night from senior running back Cam Skattebo (18 total touches, 208 total yards and three total touchdowns) and a vice-grip defense of swarming bandits who forced three turnovers on the Cyclone’s first three possessions of the second half spearheaded the Sun Devils’ statement that they have forced upon the nation all year long, but only now has become official.
They are a College Football playoff team.
Not only that but when No. 17 Clemson’s game-winning field goal soared through the uprights as the clock struck zero in the ACC title game securing a 34-31 Tigers’ win over SMU, ASU clinched a bye week as one of the top four ranked conference champions. The committee selected them as the fourth seed and No. 12 overall team in the rankings.
Now, ASU awaits the winner of fifth-seeded Texas and 12th-seeded Clemson. The Sun Devils will travel to play the victor of that clash in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. ASU will have to traverse two time zones and just under 1,800 miles to play the opening of their playoff campaign.
The Longhorns and Tigers will play on Saturday, Dec. 21, to decide who advances to meet ASU. The Sun Devils will have to wait a little less than a month, until Dec. 31, for their chance to take the field again and attempt to secure passage to the semifinals as one of the final four teams in college football.
It’s a far cry from what was believed possible for this team and an even further cry from what was projected. But the Sun Devils are now officially locked in as the fourth seed in the first-ever edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
