ARLINGTON, Texas – No. 15 Arizona State made a case for a top-four spot in the College Football Playoff after a 45-19 victory over No. 16 Iowa State their first Big 12 championship.

The 11-2 Sun Devils were seeded No. 12 after last week’s rankings had Boise State, which won the Mountain West on Friday night, projected at No. 4. The top four seeds must be conference champions. As the top Group 5 qualifier, the Broncos would retain their fourth-place finish if they finish higher than the Big 12 champion in the final CFP rankings.

The Sun Devils, who were picked to finish 16th in the 16-team Big 12 in the preseason media poll after a 3-9 finish in coach Kenny Dillingham’s first season last year, instead won the league and were that first power conference team to do so in first season since Virginia Tech won the ACC in its inaugural season in 2004.

Iowa State, seeking its first conference title since 1912, was overwhelmed by the Sun Devils – and especially running back Cam Skattebo. The Sun Devils led 24-10 at halftime. Then he forced three turnovers — two fumbles and an interception — in the third quarter to finish off the Cyclones.

Skattebo had a 28-yard run on the first play, then added 47- and 53-yard runs in the second quarter and finished the first half with 10 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with nine forced tackles and punctuated his scoring runs with the Heisman Trophy pose. He also caught a 33-yard touchdown from Sam Leavitt in the third quarter.

Skattebo finished the game with 170 yards on 16 carries and Leavitt went 12 of 17 for 219 yards and three touchdowns, the other two going to Xavier Guillory.

An hour before the game began, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark met with reporters, days after he complained that “the (CFP selection) committee continues to demonstrate time and time again that it pays attention to logos rather than resumes.” He said 74% of the Big 12’s wins this year came against other power conferences, while the Group of 5 went 11-80 against the same leagues.

On Saturday, he said he didn’t want to repeat his comments again but continued to stand up for his champion.

“I don’t want to go into too much detail about how we stack up compared to other conferences,” Yormark said. “But I have to say, where I sit, there should be no comparison between us and any G5 conference winner. I will definitely reinforce this. Hopefully the selection committee will do what they need to do.”