ASU Football: Sun Devils enter BCS rankings for first time under Graham

The Arizona State football team entered the USA Today Coaches' Poll and climbed in the Harris Poll on Sunday morning, so it only makes sense that the Sun Devils earned their first BCS ranking of the season on Sunday night.

The Sun Devils are ranked 22 in the BCS and it marks the first time the maroon and gold are ranked under head coach Todd Graham. At 6-2 overall and 4-1 in Pac-12 play, Arizona State controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 South.

Todd Graham's team has put together an impressive resume this season, but many poll voters were waiting to see the Sun Devils win on the road before moving them up the rankings. On Thursday night, the Sun Devils took care of business with a 55-21 victory in chilly conditions at Washington State.

The BCS rankings are formulated from two human polls and a computer calculation that combines six computer polls.

The USA Today Coaches' Poll and the Harris Poll are the two human elements that factor into the BCS rankings. Because of the Sun Devils' excellent strength of schedule, it's presumed that the computers (the final BCS element) think highly of Arizona State.

However, the computers make up just one-third of the BCS rankings, so the Sun Devils needed another statement victory to convince enough coaches and Harris Poll voters that they were deserving of a top 25 nod.

Arizona State was not the only Pac-12 team making waves in the BCS rankings this week. Oregon slipped down from the No. 2 spot to the No. 3 spot after Florida State's win over Miami vaulted the Seminoles ahead of the Ducks.

UCLA is the only other Pac-12 South team in the BCS rankings as the 6-2 Bruins come in at No. 19.