clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

BCS Rankings: Arizona State ascends to No. 12 in the BCS

The Sun Devils are among the nation's hottest teams and the BCS rankings are validation of their success.

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sport

After climbing to the 13th spot in the AP poll on Sunday morning, the Arizona State Sun Devils made an even bigger statement in the BCS rankings revealed on Sunday night as they ascended to 12th overall.

The Sun Devils used a 38-33 victory over the previously-14th ranked UCLA Bruins to jump five spots from their spot at No. 17 heading into Saturday's contest.

The Sun Devils' victory over UCLA was the program's first win over a ranked opponent on the road since 2007, which is the last time that Arizona State recorded a 10-win season.

Arizona State owns a 9-2 record and a 7-1 mark in the Pac-12 conference and the Sun Devils are the only Pac-12 team with less than two conference losses. Todd Graham's squad is reaping the benefits of a six-game winning streak as the Sun Devils have vaulted one place ahead of the Oregon Ducks in the BCS standings.

The Sun Devils are ranked 16th in the Harris Poll and 18th in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, but the maroon and gold look great to the computers. Arizona State's average ranking in the computers used to calculate the BCS rankings is 6th overall, which puts the Sun Devils ahead of Clemson, Stanford, Baylor, and South Carolina among others.

One of the reasons the Sun Devils fare so well in the computers is their strength of schedule. After Saturday's victory, Arizona State has now recorded victories over three teams currently ranked in the BCS top 25.

The Pac-12 asks teams to play a nine-game conference schedule and the physicality of playing against quality opponents on a weekly basis has begun to take its toll on some teams. The Oregon Ducks dropped a 42-16 final to the unranked Arizona Wildcats in stunning fashion on Saturday and the Ducks slid to the 13th spot in the BCS rankings as a result.

While many Pac-12 teams have wilted under the pressure, the Sun Devils have simply taken care of business and now have an opportunity to host the conference championship game with a victory on Saturday against Arizona. If the Sun Devils lose, they will travel to Palo Alto to play the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal in a rematch of a September matchup that the Cardinal dominated.

But as for now, they'll focus on defending the Territorial Cup in their rivalry matchup with the Wildcats. The visiting team has won the last four contests in the Territorial Cup series, so Arizona State will look to reverse that trend and continue its rise to national prominence with its 10th win of the season.

BCS Harris Poll USA Today Computer Rankings

RK TEAM AVG PVS RK PTS % RK PTS % AVG A&H RB CM KM JS PW %
1 Alabama .9881 1 1 2595 .9981 1 1544 .9961 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 .970
2 Florida State .9697 2 2 2494 .9592 2 1488 .9600 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 .990
3 Ohio State .9200 3 3 2389 .9188 3 1428 .9213 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 .920
4 Auburn .8236 6 5 2139 .8227 5 1268 .8181 4 5 7 4 5 8 4 .830
5 Missouri .8077 8 6 2109 .8112 6 1243 .8019 5 4 10 5 7 6 5 .810
6 Clemson .7726 7 4 2148 .8262 4 1289 .8316 10 12 4 9 10 14 7 .660
7 Oklahoma State .7615 10 7 2013 .7742 7 1225 .7903 8 7 5 10 14 5 10 .720
8 Stanford .6665 9 8 1759 .6765 10 981 .6329 9 8 8 7 8 11 12 .690
9 Baylor .6456 4 9 1679 .6458 8 1009 .6510 11 9 6 12 13 10 9 .640
10 South Carolina .6101 11 10 1620 .6231 9 1003 .6471 12 13 11 11 16 7 13 .560
11 Michigan State .5780 13 11 1595 .6135 11 962 .6206 14 14 15 13 9 13 14 .500
12 Arizona State .5052 17 16 976 .3754 18 574 .3703 6 6 13 6 4 9 6 .770
13 Oregon .4950 5 12 1284 .4938 12 777 .5013 15 11 12 15 12 17 16 .490
14 Northern Illinois .4620 16 17 936 .3600 20 459 .2961 7 10 9 8 6 3 8 .730
15 Wisconsin .4448 19 15 1035 .3981 14 661 .4265 13 17 14 16 11 12 11 .510
16 Fresno State .4124 15 13 1206 .4638 13 687 .4432 17 21 20 14 NR 15 15 .330
17 LSU .3737 22 14 1155 .4442 15 646 .4168 19 22 19 24 18 19 18 .260
18 Oklahoma .3380 20 19 856 .3292 17 581 .3748 18 15 17 18 21 18 20 .310
19 UCF .3364 18 20 855 .3288 19 512 .3303 16 19 16 17 23 16 17 .350
20 Louisville .2522 21 18 930 .3577 16 603 .3890 27 NR 18 25 NR NR NR .010
21 Texas A&M .2243 12 21 698 .2685 21 410 .2645 23 23 23 23 20 23 21 .140
22 UCLA .1921 14 22 391 .1504 22 257 .1658 19 18 21 21 15 20 19 .260
23 USC .1779 23 23 385 .1481 23 210 .1355 21 16 22 19 17 21 22 .250
24 Duke .0885 NR 24 298 .1146 24 203 .1310 26 24 NR 22 NR NR NR .020
25 Notre Dame .0674 NR 25 55 .0212 NR 17 .0110 22 20 NR 20 19 24 23 .170