Last night’s long overdue loss by Southern Florida (which is in Tampa…not even near South Florida…go figure) leaves only 5 teams in major college football undefeated. They include our beloved ASU Sun Devils, along with Ohio State, Boston College, Kansas, and (ahem) Hawaii. Now, Hawaii plays in an awful conference and doesn’t play anybody until they play Boise State and Washington (the last two games), so I wouldn’t consider them a major player in the BCS (indeed, they are only ranked 18th in the BCS poll, which is great for Hawaii, but not great for a 7-0 team). Even Boise State and Washington, while likely to beat Hawaii, are unranked teams.
That leaves 4 major undefeated teams with at least decent schedules. That’s pretty good company for ASU to be in as they rest through the bye week, and then start the most difficult part of their season. Over the 4 weeks (well, 4 and a half…there is a Thanksgiving night game against USC) following the bye week, ASU will face three top 15 teams, two of which are ranked higher (Oregon and California), along with a USC team that is hungry to prove they belong at the top of the BCS standings. A game against UCLA rounds out that 4 week stretch, and the Bruins are a dangerous team even though two terrible losses to bad teams have dropped them from national favor. What a season for college football fans! What a season for Sun Devil fans! Long live college football.
ASU Fans, you need to get to Sun Devil Stadium next Saturday night, wear gold, and be loud! Go Devils!