(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)
Despite a second half offensive outburst that culminated in a resounding 52-31 win over Washington State last week, the Arizona State football team remained locked in at No. 13 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings.
A week after dropping out of the top ten because of a loss to Oregon State, ASU’s entrenchment at 13th is in large part due to the top-12 teams taking care of business against lower caliber opponents.
In fact, the only movement within the top ten was formerly-No. 8 Ole Miss tumbling to No. 19 after a loss to Arkansas. As a result, UCLA, Georgia and Michigan State all slid up one spot.
As was reflected in the AP Poll, the College Football Playoff Committee deemed Arizona’s win over now-No. 25 Utah convincing enough for it to jump to No. 11 in the country.
The Sun Devils bowl game hopes remain unchanged from last week. UCLA controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 South, and a win over Stanford on Saturday would lock the Bruins into the Pac-12 Championship against No. 2 Oregon. A UCLA loss would open the door for the winner of the Territorial Cup to emerge as the representative from the south.
Looking forward a bit further, the discussion still remains as to whether or not a two-loss Pac-12 champion would gain support from the Playoff Committee. The situation could easily present itself if either UCLA, Arizona or ASU goes to Santa Clara and tops Oregon in the conference championship game.
As Adam Stites pointed out last week, not once has the committee ranked a Pac-12 team lower than its ranking in the AP Poll—evidenced again this week by UCLA at No. 8 in the CFP Rankings and No. 9 in the AP Poll, Arizona at No. 11 in the CFP Rankings and No. 12 in the AP Poll, and Utah No. 25 in the CFP Rankings and unranked in the AP Poll. With that in mind, it is apparent that the selection committee continues to hold the Pac-12 strength of schedule in a favorable light.
Still, it is worth noting that with USC’s slip from No. 19 to unranked, only one of ASU’s wins (a 19-16 win in Tempe over now-No.25 Utah) is against a top-25 ranked team.
The No. 13 Sun Devils will look to significantly bolster their resume when they return to action this Friday in Tucson at 1:30 for the 88th Territorial Cup matchup.
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