AP Top 25 Poll: Arizona State makes big leap in final college football rankings

It's the Sun Devils highest ranking in 10 years
Arizona State Sun Devils running back Cam Skattebo (4) holds up the WWE Big 12 championship belt after the Sun Devils beat the Iowa State Cyclones.
Arizona State Sun Devils running back Cam Skattebo (4) holds up the WWE Big 12 championship belt after the Sun Devils beat the Iowa State Cyclones. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Afer starting the 2024 college football season unranked and picked to win fewer than five games, the Arizona State Sun Devils officially ended it as a top 10 team.

In the final AP Top 25 Poll of the season, released Sunday morning, the Sun Devils (11-2) moved up five spots to No. 10 after their resounding 45-19 victory over Iowa State in the Big 12 football championship game. It's the highest ranking for Arizona State since 2014.

The Big 12 finished with four teams in the final rankings: No. 10 Arizona State, No. 17 BYU, No. 18 Iowa State and No. 20 Colorado.

The SEC finished with six ranked teams, the most of any conference. And they have a chance to get four team into the College Football Playoff Rankings, which will be revealed later Sunday.

Oregon (13-0) finished as the top team in the country after beating Penn State 35-27 in the Big Ten championship game. Georgia (11-2) jumped up to No. 2 after defeating Texas 22-18 in the SEC title game.

Here's the final AP Top 25 poll of the 2024 college football season.

College Football AP Top 25 Poll

Dec. 8, 2024

  1. Oregon (62)
  2. Georgia
  3. Notre Dame
  4. Texas
  5. Penn State
  6. Ohio State
  7. Tennessee
  8. Boise State
  9. Indiana
  10. Arizona State
  11. Alabama
  12. SMU
  13. Clemson
  14. South Carolina
  15. Miami (Florida)
  16. Ole Miss
  17. BYU
  18. Iowa State
  19. Army
  20. Colorado
  21. Illinois
  22. Syracuse
  23. Missouri
  24. UNLV
  25. Memphis

Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 75, Louisville 37, Kansas State 9, Marshall 8, LSU 8, Florida 5, Ohio 2, Tulane 2, Baylor 2, Louisiana 1.

More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis


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Ben Sherman
BEN SHERMAN

Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.