ASU Jumps To No. 16 In College Football Playoff Rankings

(Photo: Sammy Nute/WCSN)

Last week, Arizona State reached heights it hadn’t seen in a decade. When the third round of rankings for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff was announced on Nov. 19, the Sun Devils slotted in at No. 21, marking the first time they appeared on the list since 2014. At that point, ASU was coming off a convincing win over then-No. 16 Kansas State and Manhattan for its third straight victory

ASU’s resumé has only become stronger since then. The Sun Devils picked up their third AP Top-25 victory of the season Saturday, downing No. 14 BYU, 28-23, in the first ranked matchup at Mountain America Stadium in a decade. They were rewarded accordingly.

Thanks to the big win, ASU jumped five spots to No. 16 in the Week 13 CFP Rankings, are the highest-ranked team in the Big 12. It is a projected 12-seed in the bracket and is currently expected to visit Columbus, Ohio to face five-seeded Ohio State in a National Championship quarterfinal game.

After a 3-9 2023 campaign hampered by NCAA sanctions in head coach Kenny Dillingham’s first season, the Sun Devils are 9-2 and atop the Big 12 standings with only one massive game — the Territorial Cup at rival Arizona — left to play between now and a potential Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 7.

“If you go and win, the next game is more important than the game you just played,” Dillingham said. “(Arizona) is the most important game on our schedule because we put ourselves in a position for it to matter, not just from a rivalry perspective but from a bigger perspective of achieving other aspirations.”

In essence, ASU controls its path to a Big 12 title game, but they’ll first need to get through an intrastate rivalry game that now has even more implications. At 4-7, an appearance in a bowl game is out of the question for the Wildcats, but that doesn’t mean they won’t get up for Saturday’s game. They have a chance to not only win their third straight Territorial Cup for the first time since the turn of the century but to spoil their bitter rival’s postseason hopes.

A win over Arizona would likely seal ASU’s trip to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in early December to fight for the Big 12 title in their first year. However, with the Sun Devils, BYU, Iowa State and Colorado all tied with 6-2 conference records, things could get dicey.

According to conference officials, if the Sun Devils win, they will get the tiebreaker in any three-team tie scenario except if BYU loses to Houston, Baylor beats Kansas and Cincinnati defeats TCU, resulting in Colorado facing Iowa State. If ASU loses, it would need either Iowa State or Colorado to lose to maintain its spot in the championship.

Beyond the conference title game, the landscape becomes even murkier. If it wins out, would ASU’s resumé as a two-loss Power 4 champion be more impressive than a one-loss Group of Five team? Where would the Sun Devils be ranked and where would they play? Nobody knows that except the committee.

“Honestly, I haven’t even thought about it,” Dillingham said. “I’m a positive thinker… I don’t think about the negative, like, what’s the best possible outcome? That’s what’s going to happen. If it doesn’t happen, well, now what’s the best possible outcome. Just think like that over and over again, and it’s contagious.”

One thing is certain: as has been the case for the entire season, Dillingham and the Sun Devils aren’t concerned about any nightmare scenario where they miss the Big 12 Championship despite winning at Arizona Stadium on Saturday. There’s no need to change their approach — it’s worked quite well to date.

“I think we’ll find out,” Dillingham said. “You’re only as good as your next game, simple as that. You have to continue to prove to people constantly that you’re deserving of something. Do I think that the body of work that we put together is worthy of it? Yes, but do I think the body of work is worthy of it if we lose a game? No. So, can you get blinded by all that? No.

“Somebody asked me today, ‘So what does it take for us to get in the Big 12 title game?’ I still don’t know, I really don’t. I know we don’t get in if we lose. I know that, (I’m) 100% sure we don’t get in if we lose. So who cares? Focus on the main thing, which is us getting better over and over again.”