ASU places 20th in Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup standings
In a season greatly affected by a pandemic and a 2020-21 campaign where its major sports struggled, Arizona State’s overall athletic department did preserve and finished 20th overall in the Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup standings for that season.
This achievement, in the midst of a football program that finished 2-2 and a basketball team that didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament was ironically close to eclipsing ASU’s best finish in recent memory, an 18th place finish in 2012-13 despite the fact that these two major programs didn't produce any points.
Only three Pac-12 programs placed higher than Arizona State led by no. 2 Stanford, no. 6 USC, and no. 13 UCLA
ASU football declined a bowl invitation due to challenging aspects related to COVID-19. Even a loss in that contest could have netted 25 additional points and tying that 18th place finish nearly ten years ago, while a win in the postseason would have placed ASU at no. 17 earning 49 additional points.
The no. 18 finish by ASU betters the program’s no. 19 placement in 2018-19. Due to the pandemic, there were no standings for the 2019-20 campaign.
ASU’s Water Polo (83 points) and men's golf (82.5) both NCAA championship semifinalists led the way for the Sun Devils.