Been quite a bit of national noise about the College Football Playoff committee dropping Florida State down a spot, a one loss Oregon team moving up to number two and Alabama dropping down to five. I think that number six Arizona State is coming into an interesting couple of weeks when it comes to what they need to do to impress the committee.
Style points are going to play a roll in their ability to move up the next two games. Not just the final score, but how did they look in the process of winning the game.
Winning Saturday night over the Beavers 24-23 isn’t going to cut it. Same goes for the following Saturday when the Sun Devils can’t afford to be rubbing sleep out of their eyes for an 11am kickoff against Washington State (not a typo, 11am!!!).
Last Saturday, Alabama beat LSU but were DROPPED out of the top four by the committee. Oregon has a home loss to Arizona but rose up to number two based on their complete body of work.
Arizona State is going to NEED Arizona to be a ranked and relevant team when the two meet on the field later this month. The worst possible scenario for the Sun Devils the next three weeks is to play three unranked teams.
If you’re a true Sun Devil fan you need to root for Arizona to win the next two weeks. Plain and simple. If you don’t agree, then you’re not plugged in on the new landscape of college football.
I’ve heard the argument, “well, all ASU has to do is win out and they are in”. Not the way this group of twelve is looking at things. Easy to say in mid-November that the winner of the Pac-12 title game will make the playoff. I am not so sure about that.
Style points are on the line this Saturday night.