Arizona State receiving votes in Week 11 Top 25 rankings after beating Iowa State

Arizona State's Big 12 championship defense isn't dead just yet. The Sun Devils pulled off a gutsy 24-19 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames on Saturday, keeping themselves on the fringe of contention in the conference and earning qualification for a bowl game.

That effort caught the attention of a handful of Associated Press voters as ASU received exactly four votes in the latest Top 25 rankings. The Sun Devils are unofficially in a three-way tie for 34th in the nation with Illinois and LSU, who also received the same amount of votes.

With three losses, it's unlikely ASU finds its way back into the official rankings but there is a path to Dallas. Thanks to our colleague here at Devils in Detail, Andrew Hayslett, we have a rough picture of what would need to happen.

To keep it as simple as possible, ASU needs to win its last three games to start. BYU and Cincinnati must lose at least twice. Texas Tech, Houston and Utah must lose at least once more. The Sun Devils would have a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Red Raiders and likely meet the Cougars in the championship game. That's a lot to hope on happening but it's possible.

Week 11 AP Top 25 brings College Football Playoff picture more into focus

The first College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Tuesday, meaning the AP rankings will become obsolete for the remainder of the year with regard to the postseason. But for now, these standings give us a preview of who the 12 teams vying for a national championship will be.

Ohio State, of course, remains No. 1 after handling a scrappy Penn State team post-James Franklin and Drew Allar. The Buckeyes are closely followed by No. 2 Indiana and No. 3 Texas A&M who also received first place votes.

There were some significant drops in the rankings too with six ranked teams falling on Saturday. No. 16 Georgia Tech, No. 18 Miami and No. 25 Cincinnati all dropped eight spots while No. 23 Tennessee fell nine positions. No. 15 Vanderbilt slid six slots and Houston fell out of the rankings altogether just a week removed from topping ASU.

No. 24 Washington is the only addition to the group at 6-2, No. 22 Memphis remains the Group of Five's only representative and the Big 12 has two teams in the Top 10 for the first time this year (No. 8 BYU and No. 9 Texas Tech).