I've dealt with the disparaging comments long enough; it's time for a rebuttal in the form of a HOT TAKE.

"It is hard to be optimistic when the best team you have beaten this season is Northern Arizona."

"With wins over UTSA, Nevada, NAU, Oregon State, and Colorado, Arizona is still without a "quality win" on their resume with just three games left."

"UTSA, Nevada, and NAU should be free wins for any decent power five team."

You gone and done it now. You've awakened the sleeping Lumberjack. Look at him! You don't want any part of someone who snowboards in short sleeves.

As an NAU season ticket holder, alumni, employee, and all-around lame fanboy, I'm here to contest that NAU is the best football team in the state of Arizona. But don't worry - this means that the Wildcats are the best team in the state of Arizona.

Make sense? Good.

First off, let's look at some objective, completely within reason, and not in any way massively-stretched-to-suit-a-narrative criteria.

Record
ASU: 4-5 overall, 2 - 4 conference
NAU: 6 - 3 overall, 4 - 2 conference
UofA: 5 - 5 overall, 2 - 5 conference

Winner: NAU

Best Win
ASU - @ #7 UCLA, 38 - 23
NAU - @ #4 Eastern Washington, 52 - 30
UofA - vs. NAU, 77 - 13

Winner: NAU*

*These are objectively fair criteria because #4 is clearly better than #7 (math), a 22 point win is clearly better than a 15 point win (again, math), and, in all honestly, I'm fairly confident that EWU could legitimately beat ASU or UofA.

In Playoff Hunt
ASU: Not a chance, Herbstreit
NAU: Yes
UofA: Playoffs?

Winner: NAU

Quarterbacks
ASU: Mike Berkovici - 219/370 (59.2%), 2473 yards, 19 TD / 8 INT
NAU: Case Cookus - 164/233 (70.4%)(!), 2496 yards, 27 TD / 3 INT (again, !)
UofA: Anu Solomon - 175/279 (62.7%), 2061 yards, 16 TD / 3 INT

Winner: NAU

(Seriously, take a minute to look up the stat line on Cookus. The guy has been incredible all year long, and even showed flashes of it early against Arizona. Every game I watch him play increases my shock that this guy didn't get a Division 1 offer.)

Uniforms
ASU: Horrendous
NAU: Flawless*
UofA: Gradient

Winner: NAU

*This is objective truth and not up for debate.

It's pretty obvious beyond any shadow of a doubt and using nothing but clear-cut objective fact that NAU is the best team in the state of Arizona. This is great news for the Wildcats, because that makes them the best team in Arizona.

"To be the best, you have to beat the best." As we're all well-aware, the transitive property can be universally applied to sports. This is why the Arizona Cardinals won Super Bowl XLVIII and why Nebraska is the front runner in the BIG10. It's also why NAU being the best team in Arizona makes Arizona the best team in Arizona; a 77 - 13 beatdown? ARIZONA IS STACKED. I predict they'll go undefeated after that big win.

Maybe you disagree with this assessment, and that's okay. I've been wrong before, too. I do, however, think that we should all agree that regardless of the order for the top two teams, ASU has earned their place as a very distant 3rd. I'm also shamelessly plugging the Lumberjacks since they've got a real shot at making the playoffs, which genuinely does make them the most competitive team in the state at this point.

Watch the best team in the state, NAU, take on Sacramento State at home in the Skydome this Saturday, 11/14, at 2pm, with playoffs on the line. You'll still have plenty of time to watch the best team in Arizona, the Wildcats, play against Utah at 8pm.