College Football Playoff predictions: Oregon vs. Arizona State in first round
In one of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern college football history, the Arizona State Sun Devils have gone from a predicted last-place finish in the Big 12 to a projected berth in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
Ater winning three games last season, the oddsmakers predicted the Sun Devils would win 4.5 games in 2024.
Entering the final week of the season, Arizona State is 9-2, ranked No. 14 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll and has a legitimate shot to play for a national championship.
In his latest College Football Playoff predictions, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm projects Arizona State will win the Big 12 and earn an automatic bid to the CFP as the No. 12 seed.
Palm has the Sun Devils matched up against No. 5 Oregon in the first round. According to his projections, the winner of that game would play No. 4 Boise State in the quarterfinals.
An Oregon-ASU matchup would come with no shortage of storylines. The two schools have a long history as former Pac-12 foes, not to mention Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham was the offensive coordinator for Oregon coach Dan Lanning before getting the ASU job.
We'll see what the official CFP Rankings look like when they're revealed on Tuesday. Until then, here are Palm's updated projections:
College Football Playoff Predictions
First round (Dec. 20-21)
No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Oregon
No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Notre Dame
No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Texas
No. 10 Tennessee at No. 7 Penn State
Quarterfinals (Dec. 31-Jan. 1)
Fiesta Bowl: Arizona State/Oregon winner vs. No. 4 Boise State
Rose Bowl: Indiana/Notre Dame winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State
Sugar Bowl: Tennessee/Penn State winner vs. No. 2 Georgia
Peach Bowl: SMU/Texas winner vs. No. 3 Miami
Palm's Latest Bowl Predictions
Here's a look at Palm's updated bowl predictions for Big 12 and former Pac-12 teams.
Las Vegas Bowl: Washington State vs. South Carolina
Holiday Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Washington
Sun Bowl: Syracuse vs. USC
Alamo Bowl: BYU vs. Colorado
Texas Bowl: TCU vs. LSU
Pop-Tarts Bowl: Clemson vs. Iowa State
Liberty Bowl: Kansas State vs. Arkansas
Rate Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Nebraska
Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor vs. Navy
Los Angeles Bowl: UNLV vs. Cal
Gasparilla: West Virginia vs. Florida
Frisco Bowl: Kansas vs. Oklahoma
More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis
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.