Where Arizona State lands in the preseason Top 25

The College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire)

College football is less than three weeks from kickoff (two weeks for Week Zero participants), and with that comes the preseason rankings for all fans to dissect at will.

The rankings are as one would expect in this new age of collegiate super-conferences. The SEC leads the way with 9 of their 16 members in the rankings (because it just means more), while the Big Ten is right on their heels with 8 representatives, including the top two ranked teams in Ohio State and Oregon. The Big 12 checks in with four teams in the initial rankings (No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 14 BYU, No. 21 Utah, and No. 23 Houston), defending national runner-up Miami headlines the three reps from the ACC, and Notre Dame rounds out the field, producing an all-Power Four (or Power Four-adjacent) preseason ranking. The highest ranked Group of Six representative with 43 vote points is Boise State, hailing from the revived Pac-12 Conference.

Defending national champions Indiana fell to No. 6, while their aforementioned championship opponent Miami slid down to 7. Top 5 teams in Notre Dame and Texas both missed out on the College Football Playoff field entirely last season; Notre Dame bounced in favor of American Conference champion Tulane, while Texas finished No. 13 in the final CFP rankings with a 9-3 record.

Arizona State was not one of the Big 12 representatives in these rankings, and did not register a single vote point, falling behind in-state rival Arizona (32 points) and a fully revamped Oklahoma State (8 points). To be honest, this is not a situation for Sun Devil fans to be disappointed at. Last season is proof enough that lofty expectations can take a fast downturn, as the team bounced in and out of the Top 25 following a Week 2 road loss to Mississippi State.

If you're one to keep this as bulletin board material and look down the schedule, the Sun Devils will play 5 games against teams in or receiving votes in the preseason rankings: September 12th at No. 8 Texas A&M, October 17th at No. 12 Texas Tech, October 31 at No. 14 BYU, November 21 vs. Oklahoma State (RV), and November 28th at Arizona (RV).

Arizona State opens the season from Mountain America Stadium on September 5th when they host Morgan State (FCS).