Will Arizona State get a bye in the College Football Playoff?

The Arizona State football team left no doubt on Saturday.

Leading Iowa State by 2.5 points in the Big 12 Championship, the Sun Devils dominated every aspect of the game with an impressive 45-19 victory over the Cyclones.

The Sun Devils gained 464 yards on offense, averaged 12.2 yards per pass and forced three turnovers – and coach Kenny Dillingham retired his starters early in the fourth quarter.

But was it enough to move from No. 15 in the college football rankings to No. 10 (or higher)? To reach a round of 16 in the CFP, the Sun Devils would have to get ahead of No. 10 Boise State (MWC champion) or No. 8 SMU (projected ACC champion). The top four conference champions receive byes.

After the game, Dillingham advocated for the Sun Devils to receive a first-round bye from the CFP committee.

“Last year they left out a team (then-undefeated Florida State) because of a quarterback. “We are 11-1 with our starting quarterback, beat four ranked teams and won the Big 12 championship,” Dillingham said after the game. “We’ve set the standard that the quarterback is so valuable…I definitely think we should have a game.”

Dillingham is referring to the only game Arizona State (11-2) played without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt – a 24-14 road loss to Cincinnati.

Arizona State definitely has the resume. The Sun Devils have won six straight games, with three of those wins coming against ranked teams – No. 16 Kansas State, No. 14 BYU and No. 16 Iowa State. ASU has four wins against ranked teams this season.

Boise State has only beaten one ranked team this season, and that came Friday night when they defeated No. 20 UNLV 21-7 in the Mountain West Conference championship game. Other than that, the Broncos’ best win was against Washington State, a team that finished 8-4 and lost to New Mexico, Oregon State and Wyoming at the end of the season.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark expressed his feelings earlier this week, taking a look at the strength of Boise State’s schedule.

“Strength of schedule should matter, and wins against Power 4 opponents should matter – 74% of Big 12 wins this season have come against Power 4 opponents,” Yormark said. “Now the Group of 5 is 11-80. … Under no circumstances should a Group 5 champion be ranked above our champion.”

“Of course I question what I have seen so far and again I will rely on the strength of the schedule. I don’t think it went the way it was supposed to. But I have confidence in the committee that ultimately we will end up where we are supposed to end up. And that ultimately means we get a bye… That decision will be made by the selection committee, but I’m confident it will be the right thing.”

The final CFP rankings and categories will be released Sunday at 10 a.m. MST. This is what the current rankings look like:

1. Oregon
2. Texas
3. Penn State
4. Notre Dame
5. Georgia
6. Ohio State
7. Tennessee
8. SMU
9. Indiana
10. Boise State
11. Alabama
12. Miami
13. Ole Miss
14. South Carolina
15. Arizona State
16. Iowa State
17. Clemson
18. BYU
19. Missouri
20. UNLV
21. Illinois
22. Syracuse
23. Colorado
24. army
25. Memphis

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