THIS IS A WEEKLY COLUMN WHERE WE BREAK DOWN THE POWER RANKINGS IN THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE.
1. Baylor (Last week: 1)
Baylor barely scraped by against Iowa State on Saturday. Any time a game comes down to a Chris Callahan field goal attempt, that game is too close. Senior running back Shock Linwood was the Bears saving grace tallying 237 rushing yards, and his team needed every last one of them to escape Ames with a win.
The Bears defense looked atrocious as they allowed the Cyclones to score touchdowns on their first six possessions. Eventually, Baylor decided that winning would be much more fun than losing to Iowa freaking State and they pulled it together to mount a fourth quarter rally. Crazy stat of the year: Baylor has still yet to surrender a single point in the fourth quarter all season. The Bears are off this week before taking on Kansas followed by another bye week (seriously, who makes these schedules?)
2. Oklahoma (Last week: 3)
Sooner fans finally got to see the Baker Mayfield they grew to love last season as Oklahoma’s offense steamrolled through a porous TCU defense. While the offense looks like they’re finally firing on all cylinders, the same can not be said for the Sooners’ defense. The secondary looked lost on Saturday as one or two Horned Frog receivers seemed to be open downfield every play.
The Sooners head into the Red River this weekend shootout looking to avenge their lone regular-season loss from last year. Look for Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine to have a field day on the ground against Texas’ weak front seven. The Longhorns are in shambles right now, so on paper Oklahoma should be heavy favorites. Stranger things have happened thought (*cough* last year *cough*).
3. West Virginia (Last week: 2)
I refuse to fully buy into West Virginia until they play a road game. The Mountaineers had their second consecutive narrow miss at home against Kansas State. WVU is off this weekend before they make the 1,500 mile trek to Lubbock for their first road test of the year against Texas Tech.
4. Oklahoma State (Last week: 7)
We may have hit the panic button too early for Oklahoma State. The Cowboys ran Texas out of the building on Saturday. The Horns defense had no answer for Justice Hill on the ground, and they managed to do something that I thought was impossible by making Mason Rudolph look like a competent quarterback. The Cowboys have a pair of easy games coming up against Kansas and Iowa State (seriously, how does everybody get these two teams scheduled back to back?), so look for them to continue to creep back up the rankings.
5. Texas Tech (Last week: 5)
The Red Raiders let Kansas hang around far longer than they should have. They still have a plethora of question marks on defense, and it looks doubtful that quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be able to go against Kansas State this weekend after injuring his shoulder in week 5. If Mahomes isn’t able to play, Tech is definitely on upset alert against Kansas State on the road this Saturday.
6. TCU (Last week: 6)
TCU caught the wrath that had been dwelling inside Baker Mayfield for months. After jumping out to an early 21-7 lead, the Frogs were on the wrong end of a 28-3 run by the Sooners that proved to be insurmountable in the end. They had trouble defending the deep ball as Dede Westbrook lit up the TCU secondary to the tune of 7 catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns. The Frogs will try this weekend to do what they haven’t been able to the past two years in beating Kansas soundly.
7. Texas (Last week: 4)
Life comes at you fast. Less than a month ago Longhorn fans were raving about how great Charlie Strong was and how he’d finally turned the program around. Now it seems almost inevitable that Strong will be fired after the season.
The Horns looked hapless on defense this week and turned in what has to be one of the all-time worst special teams performances last week against Oklahoma State. Charlie Strong’s last hope of saving his job comes this weekend against Oklahoma, but even that may not be enough at this point.
8. Kansas State (Last week: 8)
After 5 weeks, I still don’t know what to make of this K-State team. They pushed West Virginia to the brink in Morgantown last week behind Elijah Lee’s 14 tackles. The Cats seem primed to upset Texas Tech at home this week, especially if Patrick Mahomes doesn’t play.
9. Iowa State (Last week: 9)
The Cyclones almost played spoilers against Baylor last week before wilting in the fourth quarter. ISU is usually good for one quality upset in a year, and they appear to have missed their shot. Keep your heads high Cyclone fans, only 34 days until you play Kansas.
10. Kansas (Last week: 10)
In a shocking turn of events, Kansas once again finds themselves as the caboose in this weeks power rankings. They have TCU at home this weekend which has been the one quality opponent that the Jayhawks have put up a fight against the past two seasons.