What is Holding Arizona State Back in First College Football Playoff Rankings

On Tuesday afternoon the College Football Playoff Selection Committee released their rankings for the first time ever and the results were not exactly as great as Arizona State expected.

Arizona State was ranked at 14th in the first week of the inaugural College Football Playoff Rankings, two spots below rival Arizona.

Three SEC teams (Mississippi State, Auburn, and Ole Miss) rank in the top four, followed by Oregon, Alabama, TCU, Michigan State, and Notre Dame to close out the top-10. Georgia ranked one spot above #12 Arizona, with Baylor sandwiched in between the two desert rivals.

The one game that is tugging Arizona State down the rankings is their 62-27 loss at home to Pac-12 South rival UCLA. Although the one and only loss of the Sun Devils’ season looks bad on paper based off of the final score, the Committee shouldn’t have been so hard on the Sun Devils.

Sep 25, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Mike Bercovici (2) throws a pass under pressure from a UCLA Bruins defender at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The first half was competitive with Arizona State only trailing 20-17 with under a minute to go in the half before backup quarterback Mike Bercovici threw a pick-six that was returned 95 yards for the score.

UCLA returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to start the second half and before you could say “blasphemy” the Bruins had the win locked up.

There were a few takeaways from the game that seem to have been overlooked by the Committee members.

First off, the Sun Devils were entering their first of three games without senior (and captain) quarterback Taylor Kelly entering that contest. Bercovici played extremely well in his first career start by throwing for 488 yards and three touchdowns.

Secondly, the Arizona State defense was still working on figuring out how to gel as a unit as this was their first true contest of the season after facing Weber State, New Mexico, and Colorado in their first three games.

The Sun Devil defense held the Bruins in check by only allowing them 58 offensive plays (compared to 105 offensive plays for Arizona State), but gave up five plays of 80+ yards in the process.

Sep 25, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins offensive linesman Jake Brendel (54) prepares to snap the ball as he lines up against the Arizona State Sun Devils defense during the first half at Sun Devil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Finally, the offense as a whole controlled this game and if you were to look at the stats (without the score) you would have sworn Arizona State won this contest.

ASU gained 38 first downs compared to UCLA’s 19, out-gained the Bruins 626-580, and committed two less penalties for 19 less yards than the Bruins.

Arizona State had the ball for 33:50 of the game, controlling the clock even when their rushing attack wasn’t up to par (138 rush yards). The glaring stat that would draw some speculation whether or not the Sun Devils did in fact control the game and come away victorious is the turnovers… Four committed by Arizona State. Zero committed by UCLA.

It was also the most points allowed by Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium in the 55-year history of the stadium, which doesn’t bode well for an argument in Arizona State’s favor, but is definitely a statistic worth mentioning.

Oct 4, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA: Arizona State Sun Devils receiver Jaelen Strong (21) catches a 53-yard touchdown pass while defended by Southern California Trojans linebacker Hayes Pullard (10) on the final play of the game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Arizona State defeated USC 38-34. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The 38-34 win on the road against USC in dramatic fashion (See: “Jael Mary”), the dominating 26-10 victory at home against Stanford, and another road victory (improving Arizona State to 5-0 on the road) against Washington in rainy Seattle have helped the Sun Devils remain afloat in the College Football Playoff Rankings thus far.

Upcoming games against #17 Utah and #10 Notre Dame at home over the next two weeks should allow the Committee to see the Sun Devils true colors and how far this defense has improved since the UCLA game.