Sun Devil football a Top 15 team according to most analysts

A year ago, Arizona State was picked to finish last in the Big 12. That definitely won't happen this year.

Not only did the Sun Devils not finish last in their inaugural season in the Big 12, they won the conference title and earned a first round bye in the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff. While they lost their best player - superstar running back and newly-minted Giant Cam Skattebo - Arizona State returns nearly every other starter.

Notably, they get quarterback Sam Leavitt and wide receiver Jordyn Tyson back, both of whom are viewed as among the best at their position. They've also added some big names in the transfer portal, namely wide receiver Jalen Moss and running back Kanye Udoh, to beef up the squad that took Texas to two overtimes in the Peach Bowl.

Now, the Sun Devils aren't flying under anyone's radar.

Appropriately, many analysts around the nation have been showing that respect to Arizona State. As these experts put together their Top 25 rankings after the spring portion of the offseason has concluded, the Sun Devils are almost unanimously being ranked inside the top 15 teams.

Pate, in particular, seems very high on Arizona State. On Monday, he went so far as to call them "America's Team." Pate had this to say regarding the Sun Devils:

"Well, Kenny grew up in the shadow of that stadium. I mean the guy probably would have crawled across broken glass or taken a 50 percent pay cut to stay there just because. So Kenny Dillingham is Arizona State and think about the rest of the world around him."

Of course, not everyone is sold on Arizona State being one of the 15 best teams in the nation. Andy Staples of On3 split from his colleagues and put the Sun Devils at 16th, which is still a good spot to be but the lowest of anyone to have released their rankings at this stage.

While everyone seems to agree that Arizona State is right in that top 15 range, there are very split opinions on whether or not they're still the team to beat in the Big 12.

Pate and PicKell both have the Sun Devils as the highest-ranked Big 12 team, but they're the only ones. Wasserman and Klatt both have BYU ahead of Arizona State, while Breneman and Staples have Texas Tech ranked ahead. Last year, the Red Raiders were one of two Big 12 teams to beat Arizona State, and they'll have a rematch in Tempe this year.

Arizona State certainly hopes to have similar success in 2025, but it's pretty clear they won't be taking anyone by surprise this time around. College football has been sufficiently put on notice.