Arizona State gets a bump in last CFP poll before Big 12 title game

Arizona State completed a thorough dismantling of their rival on the road to close out a five game win streak and notch their first 10-win season in a decade. On top of it, they punched their ticket to the Big 12 title game, where they'll face off against Iowa State, with a College Football Playoff berth on the line.

Now, with the final CFP rankings released before conference championship weekend, we have a clearer idea of what those playoff implications will actually be in Dallas.

The CFP committee only bumped the Sun Devils up one spot, going from 16th to 15th. Their next opponent, the Cyclones, moved up two spots to claim No. 16, making this week's Big 12 title game a matchup of two teams that are dead even with each other in the rankings.

Directly ahead of the 10-2 Sun Devils are three SEC teams - South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Alabama - each with three losses on the year, as well as a 10-2 Miami team that just got upset by previously-unranked Syracuse, who debuted in this poll tonight at No. 22.

This decision from the committee won't do anything to quiet the accusations of SEC bias, as Arizona State has yet to lose a game when favored while the same cannot be said of the teams ahead of them. More than that, the Sun Devils haven't lost a game with starting quarterback Sam Leavitt in the fold since the middle of September.

One factor that matters even more to Arizona State is the other team that's ranked ahead of them: Boise State. With the way this brand new 12-team playoff works, only the four highest ranked conference champions get a first round bye, which would mean the fifth highest ranked champion will have to travel on the road as the 12th seed in the playoff.

With Boise State coming in at No. 10 in these rankings, that means that the winner of the Big 12 is almost certainly going to be forced to go on the road. That despite Boise State playing in an objectively weaker conference and losing their only game of the year against a ranked team, while the Sun Devils are undefeated against ranked teams and play in one of the Power 4 conferences.

It seems now that Arizona State's only hope to earn a first round bye in the playoff is for UNLV, who was moved up to 20th in these rankings, to upset the Broncos in the Mountain West title game this weekend. Otherwise, a Big 12 championship would only earn the Sun Devils the right to travel all the way to the east coast to face No. 3 Penn State.

That certainly won't sit well with Arizona State, though they'll need to channel that anger into their preparation for Iowa State this Saturday.