Arizona State football moves up to 23rd in AP poll, Taylor, Davidson named Pac-12 Players of the Week

Arizona State football moved up in the latest AP Poll released on Tuesday. The Sun Devils will enter the UNLV contest ranked 23rd in the nation. This is now the third season under Herm Edwards that the team has been ranked 23rd or higher at some point during the year with the shortened 2020 season being the lone exception.

The Sun Devils remain the fifth-highest ranked Pac-12 team despite Washington falling out of the rankings after losing to Montana. Utah moved up to 21st, USC jumped one spot to 14 and Oregon went down to 12 after struggling against Fresno State. Meanwhile, UCLA made the biggest splash across the whole poll. The Bruins went from unranked to 16th following their win over LSU.

Arizona(?) earned five votes even though the Wildcats lost to BYU.

Taylor, Davidson named Pac-12 Players of the Week

D.J. Taylor earned the nod for the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week. He returned three punts against Southern Utah for 22, 18 and 47 — which he nearly broke for the distance — yards. Taylor also had two kick returns for 34 and 21 yards.

The conference also selected D.J. Davidson as its Defensive Lineman of the Week selection. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the Pac-12’s highest-graded defensive lineman in run defense this week (90.5) and had the second-best overall run defense grade in the conference behind Oregon’s Noah Sewell. Davidson was part of five defensive stops, the second-most in Pac-12