ASU remains in AP poll after narrow victory against Utah

On Thursday, the Stanford Cardinal upset the No. 2 Oregon Ducks in dominating fashion and on Saturday, the Arizona State Sun Devils accomplished a feat the mighty Cardinal failed to do earlier this season.

Arizona State traveled to Salt Lake City and escaped with a 20-19 win in comeback fashion against Utah that was enough to hold the Sun Devils steady in the AP Top 25. The Sun Devils will host Oregon State with a ranking of 21st overall which is two spots higher than last week's spot at No. 23.

Saturday's victory was enough for Arizona State to jump Oklahoma and Miami, two teams that lost this weekend.

Though Utah's loss drops the Utes to 4-5 on the season and 1-4 in conference play, beating Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium is among the most impressive victories on the Sun Devils' resume this season (although the computers might view that differently). Prior to losing to Arizona State at home, Utah lost to Oregon State in an overtime game and fell to UCLA by just seven points despite tossing six interceptions in Salt Lake City.

The poll voters remain high on Arizona State as the Pac-12 South leaders improved to 7-2 and 5-1 in Pac-12 play with Saturday's win. Arizona State's next chance to improve upon its ranking comes on Saturday when the Sun Devils host Oregon State at Sun Devil Stadium. Arizona State is 5-0 at home this season and has scored at least 50 points in four of those five wins.

At the top of the poll, Alabama remained No. 1 with a thorough win against LSU and Florida State jumped up to No. 2 after a 59-3 blowout against Wake Forest.