Arizona State did not hear its name called Tuesday night when the College Football Playoff committee unveiled their first poll of the 2025 season, but it was still a win for the Sun Devils.
The initial College Football Playoff Rankings and the projected 12-team bracket: pic.twitter.com/jdeKYWIvhs
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 5, 2025
Three different Big 12 teams debuted in the CFP Top 25, with BYU and Texas Tech making it inside the first 12. That means if the season ended today, the Cougars and Red Raiders would both get to host a playoff game in the first round of the playoff.
That's a far cry from last year, when the CFP committee seemingly arranged their rankings of Big 12 teams around the idea that only the conference champion was good enough to make the postseason tournament.
Utah isn't far behind, either. They clock in at No. 13, just behind Texas and Oklahoma, who were the first two out of the playoff. The Utes have just two losses on the year, both coming to the two Big 12 teams ahead of them. A strong finish to the season, combined with some stumbles for other teams ahead of them, could see the conference get three teams into the playoff.
This is also great news for Arizona State, considering they're still very much in the thick of the Big 12 race after their upset win over Iowa State this past weekend. The odds are stacked, sure, but the Sun Devils still have a chance at repeating as conference champions.
At present, Arizona State is tied for fourth in the Big 12 with Utah and Houston. While there are a lot of different scenarios that can get them back to the conference title game, Arizona State could really use a loss for both Texas Tech (whom they beat head to head) and Cincinnati, while losses for Houston and Utah would certainly help, too.
Notably, the Red Raiders host BYU this weekend, and Houston is a 1.5-point favorite on the road against UCF on Friday night. BYU will also travel to face Cincinnati in three weeks.
It's already been a chaotic year for the Big 12, but with three teams now in clear reach of the College Football Playoff, things are primed to get even crazier.