After four weeks, I have come to the conclusion that we have absolutely no idea if anybody in college football is actually good this year. We’ve already seen some predicted favorites flame out and some dark horses rise up in the rankings during the first month of the season.

There is no shortage of interesting story lines in the Big 12 as we head into the first weekend of conference play. A number of questions remain unanswered.

Can Oklahoma right the ship and salvage a once-promising season? Will Texas be able to hang with the top dogs of the conference with an 18-year-old starting quarterback? Can Baylor really compete for a conference championship after everything that happened this offseason?

All of these questions will be answered soon. Let’s take a look at where things currently stand in the Big 12 as we prepare for the first week of conference play.

1. Baylor (Preseason: 2)
*ESPN spontaneously combusts* Baylor’s defense is the best it’s ever been at any point in the Art Briles/Jim Grobe era. Verkedric Vaughns, Jameson Houston and Tion Wright have performed well in the secondary and have not been giving up the long balls that have plagued Baylor’s defense for the past several years. Offensively, Seth Russell is starting to look like his pre-injury self, and they have ample skill-position players to complement him. Baylor fans should take comfort in the fact that Coach Grobe may have finally found a kicker who isn’t Chris Callahan and a corner back who isn’t Ryan Reid.

All of the talk about how Baylor’s offseason events will carry over onto the field have been put to bed. They have more than enough talent to compete for a third Big 12 title in four years. The Bears essentially have three bye weeks in a row (sorry Iowa State and Kansas, but that’s become your role in this conference) before they play another real opponent. It is almost certain that the Bears will start the year 6-0.

2. West Virginia (Preseason: 5)
Country roads take me home and leave me there forever because these guys still haven’t played a road game all year.

The Mountaineers are one of two remaining undefeated teams in the Big 12, and they survived their first real test against BYU last week. Quarterback Skyler Howard makes them a viable threat to beat anybody in the conference, especially considering they refuse their favorable home schedule.

3. Oklahoma (Preseason: 1)
It’s hard to gauge how good Oklahoma really is this year. Granted their two losses were against the 2nd and 6th ranked teams in the country, but they have yet to look like the team everyone thought they were going to be coming into this season. Baker Mayfield still hasn’t found a go-to receiver to fill Sterling Shepard’s role from last season. Mayfield is holding the ball too long and trying to do too much by himself.

I still think the Sooners are the most talented team in the Big 12, but they have a lot to figure out and not a lot of time to do so. Mayfield and company travel to TCU this weekend followed by the Red River shootout against Texas the following week.

4. Texas (Preseason: 7)
It will be interesting to see how true freshman QB Shane Buechele holds up as the Longhorns move into conference play. He has looked unusually calm and composed so far for an 18-year-old who has been thrown into the fire right out of the gate. The Horns are going to need him to be on top of his game as they head into Stillwater to face Oklahoma State this Saturday.

5. Texas Tech (Preseason: 6)
The Red Raiders have given up a whopping 113 points over the last two games. That is not good. Their offense scores enough to keep them in most games, but they won’t get far in the Big 12 unless they close the floodgates on defense.

6. TCU (Preseason: 3)
I said before the season that I didn’t have much faith in Kenny Hill, and nothing I’ve seen so far has changed my mind. The Frogs are going to have to rely on their defense to step up in a big way if they want to have a prayer against Oklahoma this weekend. I don’t expect this one to go well for Gary and the boys.

7. Oklahoma State (Preseason: 4)
The Cowboys have looked at least competent the last two weeks after an abysmal home loss to Central Michigan. They had a chance to take a fourth quarter lead against Baylor, but their hopes were quickly dashed by a failed 4th and 1 attempt and a fumble at the Bears’ 1 yard-line. They don’t have time to dwell on what could have been as Shane Buechele and the Longhorns come to town this Saturday.

8. Kansas State (Preseason: 8)
It’s hard to say whether or not the Wildcats are good or not based on the small sample size they’ve given us so far. Since losing to Stanford in week 1, K-State has steamrolled Florida Atlantic and Missouri State, neither of whom is what you would call a powerhouse. As long as Joe Hubener doesn’t have to play quarterback for them, they could surprise a few teams in Big 12 play.

9. Iowa State (Preseason: 9)
The Cyclones finally found their way into the win column last weekend with a 44-10 win over every Orange County kid’s safety net school, San Jose State. I hope they celebrated well because it will probably be awhile before they win another game. It could be worse though Cyclones fans, you could be Kansas.

10. Kansas (Preseason: 10)
You might as well go ahead and assume the Jayhawks have the 10 slot locked down for the rest of the year. Good news is they’ve already won more games than they did all of last season, and basketball season is only 33 days away.