No. 15 Arizona State may have just been gifted a first round bye in CFP thanks to Clemson
By David Howman
Saturday morning began with the 15th ranked Sun Devils blowing out the No. 16 Iowa State Cyclones to capture their first outright conference championship in 28 years and punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff. Saturday night ended with potentially better news for Arizona State.
Based on the most recent CFP rankings, Arizona State seemed likely to be slotted in at the 12th seed in the first ever 12-team playoff, which would mean a road trip in the first round of the playoff while four other conference champions get a first round bye.
Following the win, head coach Kenny Dillingham made his case for the committee to move the Sun Devils over the No. 10 Boise State Broncos, thus giving them a first round bye instead. Many on social media began to support Dillingham in this argument, but the ACC title game may have just made it all a moot point anyway.
In Chatlotte, North Carolina, the No. 17 Clemson Tigers upset the No. 8 SMU Mustangs on a last-second field goal to win the ACC championship 34-31. That means Clemson is a lock to make the playoff, while SMU will suddenly have to hope they don't drop out of the at-large field to still make the tourney.
What it means for Arizona State, though, is significant. Based on the most recent rankings, SMU would've been the third seed, with Boise State as the fourth seed. Clemson now takes their place as an automatic qualifier by virtue of winning their conference, but they were ranked two spots below Arizona State.
While the committee could decide that Clemson's win over a higher ranked SMU team is more valuable than Arizona State's win over a (slightly) lower ranked Iowa State team, conventional wisdom would suggest that the Sun Devils should be moving up to that fourth seed, with Boise State moving up to the third seed.
Of course, conventional logic would also have moved Arizona State ahead of Boise State a long time ago, so don't start making any plans.
Regardless, this is very good news for the Sun Devils, as all they can do now is wait for the CFP selection show, which will began at 10:00 AM MST on Sunday.