Welcome to the Arizona State College Football Playoff.

The No. 15 Sun Devils won the Big 12 emphatically in their first year in the conference with a 45-19 victory over Iowa State. ASU scored 35 straight points in the second and third quarters and turned the game into a rout thanks to three Iowa State turnovers.

Each of Arizona State’s three touchdowns in the third quarter came off turnovers. Abu Sama fumbled on the first drive of the second half and ASU capitalized on a touchdown pass from Sam Leavitt to Xavier Guillory. On ISU’s first play of the next drive, Rocco Becht’s pass attempt bounced off an offensive lineman’s helmet and into the arms of defensive back Keith Abney II.

Three plays later, Leavitt found Guillory in the end zone again.

Cam Skattebo – who else? — then provided the exclamation point after Sama’s second fumble of the quarter when he scored on a 33-yard catch-and-run to give Arizona State a 35-point lead.

Skattebo ran for 170 yards and had three total touchdowns all across Iowa State. He opened the game with a 28-yard run and also had a 53-yard carry against an Iowa State defense that had struggled with the run all season.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for the Sun Devils (11-2) in Kenny Dillingham’s second season. The former Oregon offensive coordinator was hired after Herm Edwards’ difficult tenure in Tempe. The former NFL coach was fired three games into his fifth season at the school as ASU went 3-9 in 2022. Edwards and current Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce were also the subject of an NCAA investigation over an improper recruiting plan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of the investigation, ASU self-imposed a bowling ban in 2023 and was sentenced to four years probation in April. Earlier this fall, Pierce was handed an eight-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA for his role.

The Sun Devils went 3-9 in 2023 and were the only team to beat Colorado in the Pac-12 a season ago. This resulted in ASU finishing last in the Big 12’s preseason media poll.

Instead, Arizona State has now won six straight games after a loss in Cincinnati on Oct. 19. And three of his last four wins have come against teams that were ranked at the time. ASU put itself in prime position to reach the Big 12 title game with a win at Kansas State in Week 12 before defeating BYU by five in a chaotic finish in Week 13.

Skattebo is also a fringe Heisman candidate. He now has 263 carries for 1,568 yards and 19 rushing TDs while adding 37 catches for 508 yards and three receiving scores. Colorado’s Travis Hunter is the prohibitive favorite and Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty will undoubtedly be second to Hunter. But Skattebo has a phenomenal argument for third place behind the other two stars.

Where is ASU seeded?

The Sun Devils were the provisional No. 12 seed in the 12-team bracket heading into conference championship weekend as they were ranked outside the top 12.

It’s hard to imagine how ASU will finish at No. 12 after what happened Saturday.

There’s a slim chance the committee could view the win as positively and push ASU ahead of Boise State, which was provisionally ranked Nos. 4 and 10 in the committee’s rankings. But Boise State beat No. 20 UNLV by 14 on Friday night to clinch the Mountain West title and is one fewer loss than Arizona State.

It argues that the committee will not call for Boise State to win by two points in a game in which it led 21-0 at halftime, but Dillingham argued for a bye after the game. He noted that Leavitt did not play in ASU’s loss to Cincinnati.

“We’re 11-1 with our quarterback, we should be treated like an 11-1 team,” Dillingham said after the game.

But it should also help Arizona State rise above last place. If SMU defeats Clemson in the ACC title game on Saturday night and secures a first-round bye, Arizona State could end up at No. 10 or so on Sunday. That would still mean the Sun Devils would be away in the first round, but they would avoid a trip to the top two teams in the rankings.

If Clemson wins, Arizona State should be no worse than No. 4 in the standings since the Tigers have three losses.