Arizona State Now in Driver's Seat for Pac-12 South

This is what the Sun Devils worked for all offseason. Now, opportunity arises.

After five weeks of football, no Pac-12 teams remain undefeated. 

The conference appears up for grabs this year, as all 12 teams have stumbled and shown points of weakness through the first several weeks of the 2021 season. 

The Oregon Ducks, heavy favorites to win the Pac-12, were the last to fall over the weekend. Although it took overtime after scoring a touchdown on the final play of regulation, the Stanford Cardinal took down the back-to-back conference champions at home.

While Oregon is still considered to be strong contenders to at least emerge out of the North (Oregon State would like a word about that), the conference's South division appears very much open.

USC? Not particularly strong, as the program already fired the head coach earlier in the year, although the Trojans may have found something in freshman quarterback Jaxson Dart. 

UCLA? After suffering its second home loss in three weeks to unranked opponents, the Bruins aren't as strong as some initially projected. 

Utah? Sitting at 2-2 with tough road losses to BYU and San Diego State, the Utes haven't looked as promising as some thought. 

Other options (Colorado, Arizona) aren't nearly as strong, leaving only one other team to take control of their destiny the rest of the way. 

The Arizona State Sun Devils find themselves at the top of the Pac-12 South standings with a record of 4-1, with one of their toughest tests of the season (UCLA) now under their belt as a win. 

Arizona State now controls its destiny for a potential Pac-12 title game appearance.

Don't tell head coach Herm Edwards, though. 

"It’s a week-to week situation in the Pac-12. We all know that, and that’s how it works in our conference. I’ve told you guys this since I first got here. You never know what’s going to happen. You just see it, I just think every week, and that’s how we approach it, getting into conference games," said Edwards following the win at UCLA. 

"Players can enjoy it. It’s basically a relief for coaches that we won another conference game. We’ve won another [game] on the road, which is important. Now, we have a bigger one coming at home against a good team in Stanford.”

There are no truly easy games on the schedule (aside from Arizona, of course), as the team still has to battle through the likes of Stanford, USC, Utah, Washington and a surprisingly tough Oregon State team. 

However, Arizona State has to really like its chances of potentially making a run and achieving the goal of playing for a Pac-12 championship. 

The Sun Devils began preparations for Stanford almost immediately, given the teams would be clashing on a short week (ASU hosts Stanford on Friday). They now prepare alone at the top of the division, knowing their goals solely rely in their own hands. 

That's the only thing Arizona State could have asked for prior to the start of the season.