The Week 4 College Football rankings are out and as expected the AP and USA Today Coaches Polls were not kind to the Arizona State Sun Devils coming off their loss to the unranked Illinois Illini. The Coaches poll dropped the Sun Devils from the 18 spot to roughly 27 while AP has them falling from 22 out of the top 25 to an estimated 36th.
At the top of the heap, the best teams retain their hold with Oklahoma locking up the number one spot in the nation thanks to their win over Florida State. Both AP and USA Today have the Sooners at No. 1 while AP has LSU No. 2 and Alabama No. 3 and the Coaches Poll has those reversed.
The ASU Sun Devils certainly can come back into the the rankings with a couple of big wins. While losing on Saturday to Illinois was a disappointment, it by no means signals the end of the season. With a big Pac 12 South game next week against No. 23 USC, the focus turns from rankings to fixing the protection scheme and preventing a repeat of the six sacks allowed by the offensive line.
Elsewhere in the Pac 12, Stanford is No. 5 in the college football rankings in both polls thanks in part to their convincing win over the poor Arizona Wildcats who have a ridiculously hard schedule. The Oregon Ducks at 10th in AP and 13th in USA Today after they put a beat down on Missouri St. USC climbs to 23 in the AP ranking with their 3-0 record. No other Pac 12 teams are sniffing a spot in the top 25.
For more on ASU football, head to House of Sparky.