How can Arizona State football play in the Fiesta Bowl?
Dec 5, 2024, 9:53 AM
High-level bowl games no longer have sway in which teams they host, but Fiesta Bowl executive director and CEO Erik Moses said it would be disingenuous not to be excited about Arizona State football’s prospects to reach State Farm Stadium this postseason.
A win Saturday against Iowa State in the Big 12 title game would give ASU a shot.
The Sun Devils have not played in the Fiesta Bowl since 1982, but ASU has a heavy hand in the inception of the organization. ASU played in four of the first five Fiesta Bowl games, initially created for the WAC champions to play postseason football.
“Back in 1968, our nine founders decided, ‘OK, you guys don’t want to put our school in a bowl game? We’ll create our own,” Moses told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday, “and in a very short period of time, (they) elevated that bowl game to the New Year’s Six level and one of the most respected in the entire country. So it would be exciting to have the Sun Devils back in our game … The prospect of that is tantalizing.”
RELATED STORIES
The Fiesta Bowl is hosting a quarterfinal matchup in the first expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. Arizona State’s path to the CFP based on the latest rankings is clear.
A win in the Big 12 Championship game against Iowa State and the Sun Devils would compete for a national title. Only one Big 12 team is presumed to clinch a spot.
Moses said it is much more likely than not the Big 12 champion would secure a spot in the Fiesta Bowl should it earn a bye, but there is a hurdle for the conference winner.
“The challenge that’s out there right now for that potentiality is that Boise State is currently ranked 10, Arizona State is 15 and Iowa State is 16,” Moses said. “So if Boise State holds serve and wins the Mountain West conference championship, they’re a higher seed. They may be more likely to get that fourth automatic qualifier that would give them a bye. And then the Big 12 champ would likely be the fifth automatic qualifier but going as the 12 slot, and so they’d have to win a first-round game to make their way to the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.”
The rankings have ruffled feathers within the Big 12, as commissioner Brett Yormark said on a media Zoom call Wednesday that no Group of Five teams should be placed ahead of the Big 12 victor.
Boise State faces UNLV in the Mountain West Championship on Friday, so a Rebels win could clear a path for the Big 12 champ to snatch a bye. No. 17 Clemson plays No. 8 SMU for the ACC title, another chance for a seed lower than the Big 12 leader to shake up the bracket.
If ASU wins the Big 12 but Boise State and SMU handle business, the Sun Devils’ road to State Farm Stadium would likely run through a highly ranked home opponent that did not win a conference. That means possibly a visit to Penn State or Notre Dame.
“The path right now looks like them going and winning a first-round game that might be in Happy Valley or could be in South Bend, and then coming to the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl as a quarterfinal entrant to play against probably a Boise State team if they win the Mountain West,” Moses said. “So yes, there’s a path for them to come here. Some of us, I think, would like that path to be more direct.”
How would Arizona State making the game in Glendale impact Fiesta Bowl revenue?
The Valley is enthusiastic about Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils. ASU sold out multiple home games, including the victory over BYU two games back that involved multiple field rushes from the fans.
An Arizona State homecoming at the Fiesta Bowl would bring a more local crowd to State Farm Stadium than usual, although Moses pointed out there are ASU alumni all around the country he’d expect to travel in.
Hospitality partners may see an impact from a team playing in its hometown, but the excitement around the Valley would also play a role in sprouting activity elsewhere.
“There may be fewer hotel rooms booked and rental cars and all of those other things,” Moses said, “but by the same token, the joy and the excitement around ASU, who was predicted to be last in the Big 12 playing in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, the bowl game that it helped create, I think would create so much momentum and excitement around the Valley. It would be on fire.”
