Arizona State deserves to be in College Football Playoff Rankings
Kansas State had everything working in its favor heading into Saturday night's matchup with Arizona State.
Coming off a bye week, playing in the friendly confines of Billy Snyder Family Stadium — where they were 4-0 — in a familiar late-season college football game with Big 12 championship implications, the Wildcats had every reason to feel good about their prospects.
But Arizona State had other plans.
The Sun Devils raced out to a 24-0 lead and led by at least two scores the entire game in a thorough 24-14 victory over a team that was favored by 7.5 points.
Now, finally, Arizona State should get its just due.
What Are The Oddsmakers Watching?
Kansas State and Arizona State came into Saturday's game with identical records and very similar resumes, yet the Wildcats have been ranked in the AP Top 25 poll all season and are No. 16 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
If you watched film the last two weeks, there's no way the Wildcats should have been favored by 7.5 points. In their last game Kansas State gave up 24 points to a historically deficient Houston offense, and struggled mightily on offense in a bad loss.
Arizona State, on the other hand, had been rolling on offense. Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt had 6 touchdown passes and no picks in his last two games, and sophomore wide receiver had 15 catches for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Both Leavitt and Tyson and clearly NFL-caliber players, and the Sun Devils added another pro prospect to the lineup on Saturday with the return of running back Cam Skattebo.
It makes you wonder what the oddsmakers — and the CFP committee — are watching.
Arizona State Deserves Top 20 CFP Ranking
It stands to reason — based on Kansas State's No. 16 ranking coming into the game — that Arizona State should be in the top 20 of the next CFP Rankings, which come out Tuesday.
The Sun Devils are now tied for third place in the Big 12 with Iowa State, one game behind Colorado and two games behind BYU (pending Saturday night's BYU-Kansas result). And ASU is clearly playing its best football of the season.
Here are how the last 10 of the CFP Rankings looked heading into Saturday's games:
- No. 15 Texas A&M (won)
- No. 16 Kansas State (lost)
- No. 17 Colorado (won)
- No. 18 Washington State (lost)
- No. 19 Louisville (lost)
- No. 20 Clemson (won)
- No. 21 South Carolina (won)
- No. 22 LSU (lost)
- No. 23 Missouri (lost)
- No. 24 Army (idle)
- No. 25 Tulane (won)
Kansas State (7-3), No. 18 Washington State (8-2), No. 19 Louisville (6-4), No. 22 LSU (6-4) and No. 23 Missouri (7-3) all lost. And all five should drop out of the rankings. Arizona State should be No. 18 at worst, behind Clemson.
If the Sun Devils land in the top 20, it sets up some fascinating scenarios for next week's home game vs. No. 6 BYU (9-0). If ASU knocks off the Cougars, would they leapfrog them in the CFP Rankings, despite having two losses?
Whatever happens next week, the Sun Devils have put themselves in a position that no one outside of that locker room expected them to be in.
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.