The evidence of Arizona State's status as the preseason darling continues to poor in. Ranked 26th in the first USA Today College Coaches Poll, the Sun Devils have been picked to win the Pac-12 South and are generally considered the third-best team in the conference behind Oregon and Stanford.
Sports Illustrated's weekly Top 25 ranking of college football teams would seem to agree with the rest. SI has ASU 23rd on their list behind only the Ducks (3) and Cardinal (5). They seem to have gotten bored with plain old rankings so this year SI is going to get hip and cute on us.
Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon top 2011 preseason Top 25 - Andy Staples - SI.com
So to spice things up this season, each week's rankings will have a different theme. This week, I'm ranking each team alongside its corresponding musical act.
ASU's musical theme is Bob Marley:Bob Marley:
Marley's music evokes images of tanned hardbodies sweating in the summer heat. Sounds like an Arizona State cheerleading practice. And just as Legend plays in every college dorm room in America, every college football pundit has the Sun Devils penciled in somewhere in the Top 25.
A major conference team that returns that many starters has to be good. Doesn't it? This group has yet to prove that, but it certainly has some nice pieces. Still, one question remains. Aside from linebacker Vontaze Burfict, are the Sun Devils a little too chill to take advantage of a wide-open Pac-12 South? We'll see.
Speaking of the wide-open Pac-12 South, SI has Utah listed 25th. Can the Utes make a run at a conference title game in their first year in the conference? That would be kind of rude, wouldn't it.
The argument for ranking Utah this high doesn't sound all the convincing either, "USC isn't eligible for the Pac-12 title game. That leaves Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA and Utah. Someone please make a convincing argument why the Utes can't win the division. I'm waiting."
As with everything in life, we'll just wait and see what happens next. We're chill like that here in the AZ.