Arizona State landed at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings revealed Tuesday night, jumping three spots following a 55-31 win over Notre Dame.
ASU's victory over the Irish, combined with losses by Kansas State, Michigan State and Auburn -- all one-loss teams ranked ahead of ASU last week -- moved the Sun Devils (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12) into one of the "first two out" spots.
Notre Dame, which was 10th last week, fell to 18th.
The top four in order: Mississippi State, Oregon, Florida State and TCU. Alabama came in fifth.
Some expected Baylor to jump ASU after an impressive road win over then-No. 15 Oklahoma, but the Bears came in at No. 7 followed by Ohio State, another team that could have potentially moved ahead of ASU after its win over then-No. 8 Michigan State.
The Sun Devils essentially control their playoff destiny. Should they win out in the regular season, they would face Pac-12 North champion Oregon in the Pac-12 title game. Win there, and ASU would be 12-1 and almost certainly in the top four of the selection committee's final rankings.
Asked on ESPN if ASU controlled its destiny, selection committee chairman and Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said:
"You know, we don't look at it that way. We look at to this point, thus far. Certainly they have games to be played, and depending on what they do and what others do, that's what controls their destiny."
Arizona moved up five spots after a win over Colorado, climbing to 14th. ASU and Arizona meet in the annual Territorial Cup game on Nov. 28, and the stakes could be higher than they've ever been.
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