Sun Devil football tabbed to place second in Pac-12 South Division
The Arizona State football team has been picked to finish second in the Pac-12 South Division in a preseason poll of media members who regularly cover the conference, league officials announced.
The Sun Devils received 207 votes to win the South Division, while USC tallied 230 points. However, the Trojans are on probation and ineligible to participate in the postseason due to NCAA sanctions. Therefore, USC would not be able to represent the South Division in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Should the Trojans capture the South Division crown, the team finishing second would be the South Division's representative in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
ASU collected 13 first-place votes in the division race and also received three votes to win the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Football Game, the third-highest total in the league.
Defending Pac-12 champion Oregon was listed in the top spot in the North Division after collecting 239 points and 28 of those pollsters tabbed the Ducks to come out on top in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game. Stanford was picked to finish second in the North Division, collecting the other 13 first-place votes in the balloting for the division race, with 11 of those members of the media casting a vote for the Cardinal to capture the Pac-12 title.
The Pac-12 title contest will take place Friday, December 2 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and will be telecast to a national audience on FOX. The Championship game will match the winner of the North Division vs. the winner of the South Division. The game will be played on the campus of the division winner with the best overall conference record. The winner of the inaugural Pac-12 Championship will earn the league's automatic BCS berth.
NORTH DIVISION
1. Oregon (29) 239
2. Stanford (13) 220
3. Washington 142
4. Oregon State 120
5. California 110
6. Washington State 51
SOUTH DIVISION
1. USC (24) 230
2. Arizona State (13) 207
3. Utah (4) 170
4. Arizona (1) 140
5. UCLA 89
6. Colorado 46