College Football Playoff: A surprise Big 12 team is primed to disrupt the bracket

Predicting the Big 12 title race is anyone's guess right now (nine teams are still alive!) but there's no doubt that the hottest team in the conference right now — outside of CFP-ineligible Kansas — is Arizona State.

The Sun Devils came in at No. 14 in the latest AP poll after downing BYU on Saturday and now sit at 9-2 for the first time since 2014. That's ironically the last time the team was vying for a CFP spot.

That year, then-No. 9 ranked ASU upset No. 10 Notre Dame at home in a statement win that saw the program jump to No. 6 in the CFP rankings, the closest its ever come to touching the bracket.

Unfortunately, that story ended with ASU stumbling in its final few games and settling for a Sun Bowl victory. In 2024, it hopes to write a new ending to a familiar story believed to never be heard again for a long, long time.

Arizona State is one win away from the Big 12 Championship Game and potentially the CFP

Tuesday's rankings from the committee will set up arguably the biggest and most consequential edition of the Territorial Cup rivalry against Arizona in Week 14. As it sits at the top of the Big 12 standings, ASU will be projected as the conference champion and just needs to wait and see if the committee deems its back-to-back ranked wins as enough to surpass Boise State for the 4-seed and a first-round bye.

If not, the Sun Devils will be the 12-seed heading down to Tucson in what could be a massive trap game for them and second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham.

Arizona (4-7) cannot clinch bowl eligibility but that makes it the most dangerous kind of spoiler: The kind with absolutely nothing to lose.

Quarterback Noah Fifita and star wide receiver Tetairoia McMillan are still massive threats to a shaky ASU secondary that barely survived second half comebacks by both Kansas State and BYU in back-to-back weeks.

The Sun Devils are playing with fire, just one critical win away from the program's first conference championship game since 2013 - another loss it will be looking to avenge.

ASU fans will have to just enjoy the ride for now. The last time the team was in serious contention for a national title, quarterback Jake Plummer and linebacker Pat Tillman came within seconds from toppling mighty Ohio State in the 1997 Rose Bowl.