1986 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

1986 Arizona State Sun Devils football
Pac-10 champion
Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 22–15 vs. Michigan
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 5
APNo. 4
Record10–1–1 (5–1–1 Pac-10)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJim Colletto (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorLarry Marmie (2nd season)
Home stadiumSun Devil Stadium
1986 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 Arizona State $ 5 1 1 10 1 1
No. 14 UCLA 5 2 1 8 3 1
No. 18 Washington 5 2 1 8 3 1
No. 11 Arizona 5 3 0 9 3 0
Stanford 5 3 0 8 4 0
USC 5 3 0 7 5 0
Oregon 3 5 0 5 6 0
Washington State 2 6 1 3 7 1
California 2 7 0 2 9 0
Oregon State 1 6 0 3 8 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986 Arizona State Sun Devils football team represented Arizona State University as a member of Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by second-year head coach John Cooper, the Sun Devils compiled an overall record of 10–1–1 with a mark of 5–1–1 in conference play, winning the Pac-10 title.

Arizona State quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst looked uncomfortable in the first two games of the season, wins over Michigan State and SMU. He threw five interceptions in the third game of year against Washington State, which ended in a 21–21 tie. A 16–9 win for Arizona State over UCLA in Pasadena on October 4 later proved to be the deciding game in the race for the Pac-10 Conference title. The Sun Devils then defeated Oregon in Eugene and returned to Southern California to defeat USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, becoming the first Pac-10 team to beat both Los Angeles area conference members on their home turf.

With three straight wins at home over former Western Athletic Conference (WAC) nemesis Utah, Washington, and Cal, combined with a UCLA loss to Stanford, Arizona State clinched the Pac-10 title and a Rose Bowl berth on November 8. The Sun Devils dropped their final game of the regular season to in-state rival Arizona, 34–17, in the annual Territorial Cup. The Sun Devils then defeated Michigan, 22–15, on January 1, 1987, in their first Rose Bowl.