Defensive tackle Will Sutton and the Sun Devils will defend their ranking at Washington State on Thursday. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Arizona State inched back into the latest AP poll at No. 25, while the Arizona Wildcats appeared on one ballot.
Rich Rodriguez’s team, 5-2 overall, convinced Tom Murphy of the Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, Ark., that it deserved to be ranked. Murphy put the Cats at No. 24, giving them their two points in the poll.
Of course, there’s always the chance he confused Arizona with Arizona State, which he did not rank.
The Sun Devils, who were idle Saturday, play at Washington State on Halloween. They were ranked as high as No. 16 on three ballots.
The 60 AP voters have ASU and Michigan State ranked over Notre Dame, which defeated both teams. Head-to-head matchups aren’t everything — which is way I kept Missouri ahead of South Carolina, for example — but I do like having the bottom of my ballot in a defensible order:
No. 21 Michigan beat No. 22 Notre Dame, which beat No. 23 ASU, which beat No. 24 Wisconsin.
Logic ends there, as I slid a hot Texas team into the No. 25 slot over BYU, which smacked Texas in early September. Sometimes, you just have to go by feel.
Here is my ballot:
| Gimino | Team | AP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon | 2 |
| 3 | Florida State | 3 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 4 |
| 5 | Stanford | 6 |
| 6 | Miami | 7 |
| 7 | Baylor | 5 |
| 8 | Clemson | 9 |
| 9 | Auburn | 8 |
| 10 | Missouri | 10 |
| 11 | LSU | 11 |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 12 |
| 13 | South Carolina | 14 |
| 14 | Oklahoma | 13 |
| 15 | UCLA | 17 |
| 16 | UCF | 19 |
| 17 | Louisville | 20 |
| 18 | Texas Tech | 15 |
| 19 | Oklahoma State | 18 |
| 20 | Fresno State | 16 |
| 21 | Michigan | 23 |
| 22 | Notre Dame | NR |
| 23 | Arizona State | 25 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | 22 |
| 25 | Texas | NR |