Arizona State moves up CFP rankings

The College Football Playoff committee unveiled their newest rankings Tuesday night as we head into the final week of the regular season, and Arizona State moved up five spots to come in at 16th in the nation.

Coming off a huge win at home over the previously 14th ranked BYU Cougars, Arizona State moved into a four way tie for first place in the Big 12, though tiebreakers currently have the Sun Devils as the top team. That was reflected in these polls, as Arizona State is the highest ranked Big 12 team in this new poll. Iowa State sits at 18, BYU at 19, Kansas State at 24, and Colorado at 25.

Based on these rankings, Arizona State is currently projected to slot in as the 12th seed in the first ever 12-team playoff, which would see them travel to Columbus to play No 2 Ohio State. That's because Boise State, who is 10-1 right now, was ranked 1th. That would make them the fourth-highest ranked conference champion, assuming they win the Mountain West conference, and thus give them the fourth and final first round bye.

This is sure to ignite debate over whether Boise State is truly more deserving of the first round bye than Arizona State. Some would point to the fact that the Sun Devils have faced thre Top 25 teams this year and won all three games, while the Broncos have only faced Oregon - currently the top ranked team in the nation - and they lost. Boise State fans would argue that they only lost by three to the Ducks, an indicator that they can hang with fellow CFP contenders.

There is also debate to be had over whether the committee moved Arizona State up enough. The Sun Devils have been one of the more consistent teams all year but didn't break into the Top 25 until last week when they debuted at 21. Then they beat the No. 14 team and only moved up to No. 16.

The three teams immediately ahead of the 9-2 Sun Devils are Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina. All three of those teams have three losses already on the year and are not in contention for their conference title game, inviting accusations of SEC bias keeping the Sun Devils from a higher ranking.

Do you think these rankings are fair? Did Arizona State move up enough after beating BYU, and is it fair to deny a Power 4 conference champion a first round bye in the playoff?