5 college football teams that can make their first New Year’s Six bowl this season

Arizona State could be a Pac-12 title contender.

In the last six years, the Pac-12 has brought up the rear in the Power 5. Only two teams have made the College Football Playoff: The 2014 Oregon Ducks and the 2016 Washington Huskies. Though they’re guaranteed at least one New Year’s Six Bowl invite annually, usually the Rose Bowl, the Pac-12 has received multiple invites in a year only half the time. Will it ever change?

With Oregon feeling like the Pac-12’s best playoff bet and the closest thing to a Rose Bowl lock we have at this time, one team we seriously need to pay attention to is Herm Edwards’ Arizona State Sun Devils. He’s got his program on the rise entering his third year in Tempe. With the feel of a Pac-12 Champion dark horse, could the Sun Devils reach the Fiesta Bowl as an at-large team?

Though they have a weak non-conference schedule, Arizona State only has one certain loss on its Pac-12 docket this year: at Oregon on Nov. 13. Then again, the Sun Devils did beat the Ducks in Tempe late last season to kill Oregon’s playoff chances before the conference title bout. If Arizona State wins the Pac-12 South, there’s a good chance it doesn’t leave Phoenix for its bowl game.

While opening conference play at the division rival USC Trojans will be tough, Arizona State seems to have it more together at this time than Clay Helton’s program. Arizona State also gets a huge break by hosting the Utah Utes at Sun Devil Stadium this year. Though another Pac-12 team could get to the Fiesta Bowl besides them, the on-the-rise Sun Devils feel like a sneaky-good bet here.