Arizona State sleeping giant

Arizona State has all the tools to be a college football power. Is it the sport's biggest sleeping giant?

(Darren Abate, AP)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- How's this for a recruiting sales pitch?

Come play for us: We're located in a vacation spot, we're in a Power Five conference, we have dozens of cool uniform combinations and our recently-renovated stadium is built into a mountain. Oh, and there are beautiful women everywhere.

Find a top-rated college football prospect who isn't listening.

That's Arizona State's sales pitch, yet somehow the Sun Devils -- located in beautiful Phoenix -- haven't come close to competing at the highest level.

It makes you scratch your head. The state of Arizona isn't particularly loaded with top prospects, but it's located near Los Angeles, one of the most densely-populated cities in the country for elite talent.

Since 2000, Arizona State has only one conference title and three 10-win seasons. Coach Todd Graham had two such seasons in his first four years, but something is missing.

Arizona State has it all: Conference, location, recruiting territory, uniforms and facilities. Granted, they aren't the best in all five categories -- and may not be able to stack up against the elite of the elite -- but there's potential there.

The Sun Devils are a sleeping giant in college football, a program, if led right, that's equipped with the resources to be one of the sport's consistent winners.

Some of the newly finished stadium construction, foreground, as Sun Devil Stadium starts to fill up with fans prior to a game against Northern Arizona on Sept. 3 in Tempe, Ariz.

It's the top sleeping giant in college football.

Let's look at those five categories -- facilities, location, recruiting territory, uniforms and conference -- to highlight other such programs.

* Rutgers: What if Rutgers was New Jersey State? Is it really that weird to think that the name of the university is holding it back?

Rutgers has the two most important categories on its side: It's located in New Jersey, which is loaded with talent. Loaded. So picture a world where New Jersey State was keeping all of its best players home, which is the main mission for new head coach Chris Ash. Sell top prospects on staying in New Jersey and playing for New York. It's a romantic thought, but it could work.

Rutgers is trying to redefine itself, starting with a major upgrade to its football facility and a new coach. That job may have seemed like Mission Impossible six months ago given it has to compete in the Big Ten East with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State.

Tom Herman's Houston team is a darkhorse for the College Football Playoff. Could that be the reality every year for the Cougars?

But the tools are there for Rutgers to compete at a high level. It just isn't easy.

* Houston: Don't get confused with the Cougars being a darkhorse for this year's College Football Playoff. They are good this year and were last year, yes, but it's not a giant until it becomes a destination job. Tom Herman is widely expected to leave when a powerhouse program that fits him comes calling.

Right now, Houston's biggest issue is that it's not in a Power Five conference. But that could be changing in the near future with the Cougars being one of the most attractive potential additions to the Big 12.

Houston is the college football team in one of the biggest cities in the country, it has recently renovated facilities and stadium and can recruit Texas. There's enough talent in the Lone Star State to sustain multiple elite programs.

Left to right, UCLA director of athletics Dan Guerrero, former All-American QB Cade McNown and Jeff Throop, Tournament of Roses president announce a $152 million renovation of the 100-year-old Rose Bowl in 2010. But is the Rose Bowl too far away from UCLA?

Could Houston, in the Big 12, be what they are this season every year?

* UCLA: The Bruins are fake good. Every year, UCLA is regarded as a team that could make noise. But want to hear the truth? It has only won 10 games in a season three times since 2000.

What's the excuse? Maybe facilities? Maybe the fact that the iconic stadium they play in -- the Rose Bowl -- takes an hour to get to from campus? It's a basketball school?

But the Bruins are located near Beverly Hills, have awesome uniforms, are in a rivalry with a traditional national power, are near more elite players than it can count and play in the Pac 12. Ten wins three times in 16 years? Not good enough.

* Maryland: Money is the answer to everything, right? So are uniforms and facilities. Luckily for Maryland, it has an alum that's attempting to change things. That alum is Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of Under Armour.

Could Maryland's direct connection to the Under Armour empire be the thing that puts the program over the top?

Sports Illustrated wrote a story a year ago about how Maryland could become the Oregon of the East. Maryland has a better location than Oregon near Washington D.C., is near much more high school talent and could be on the verge of big things outside of just cool uniforms.

From the SI article: "The Oregon of the East model becomes even more fitting given Maryland's plans to construct a facility rivaling the Ducks' Star Wars-like creation."

That's dangerous.

Honorable mention: North Carolina, Arizona, Washington, Colorado and Oklahoma State.

*** Be sure to vote below on who you think is the biggest sleeping giant and please discuss your view in the comments below. If we left a program off, let us know.