THIS IS A WEEKLY COLUMN WHERE WE BREAK DOWN THE POWER RANKINGS IN THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE.
1. Baylor (Last week: 1)
Baylor was off this week which makes it kind of hard to bump them off the top spot. They should have an easy game against Kansas in Waco this weekend for homecoming. Thankfully for Bears fans, Gary Patterson isn’t their coach so they should handle the Jayhawks without much trouble.
2. Oklahoma (Last week: 2)
Four turnovers almost came back to bite the Sooners against Texas, but career days from Dede Westbrook and Samaje Perine were enough to eek out a 45-40 victory. The defense, particularly the secondary, has issues that need to be addressed. The Sooners have K-State at home this weekend as they look for their third consecutive win after a 1-2 start.
3. West Virginia (Last week: 3)
It’s October 12, and West Virginia still hasn’t played a road game. Their Floyd Mayweather strategy of only fighting in their own backyard finally comes to an end this weekend as they make the 1,500 mile trek to Lubbock to play Texas Tech. The over/under in this game is currently 83, so don’t expect a lot of tackling or other things that defenses usually do in this one.
4. Oklahoma State (Last week: 4)
The Cowboys edged out a recently-frisky Iowa State team 38-31 at home last weekend. The Pokes have now gone two consecutive games without coughing up the football after a disastrous four turnover game against Baylor three weeks ago. Mike Gundy and his staff have a bye week this week to prepare for the always dangerous Kansas Jayhawks in week 8.
5. Kansas State (Last week: 8)
Is this K-State team good? I still can’t tell. They’ve had back-to-back strong performances against West Virginia and Texas Tech, and they’ve yet to suffer a bad loss this season. We’ll get a better idea of what they’re made this weekend as they face the Sooners in Norman.
6. Texas Tech (Last week: 5)
Kliff Kingsbury went from “Patrick Mahomes probably won’t be able to play this weekend” to “Actually he’s fine and we’re gonna throw the ball 62 times” real quick. In the end, Mahomes’ gutsy performance wasn’t enough as his team fell 44-38 against K-State. They don’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they have undefeated West Virginia coming to town this weekend in what is sure to be an absolute shootout.
7. TCU (Last week: 6)
I think it’s been long enough that we can officially say that TCU is not very good at football this year. The Frogs had to watch anxiously as Kansas, who has an impressive four Big 12 wins in the last eight seasons, attempted a potential game-winning field goal as time expired. Thankfully for Gary Patterson and company, they were able to escape with a win and keep the city of Fort Worth from burning to the ground. TCU has a bye this week to recover from this near-disaster before they travel to West Virginia on October 22.
8. Texas (Last week: 7)
Can you believe it was less than a month ago that everybody was declaring that Texas was back and that Charlie Strong had finally restored the program to national prominence? The Longhorns now sit at 2-3 and the alumni are calling for Strong’s head. Things have a chance to really get out of hand this weekend if the Horns lose at home against Iowa State.
9. Iowa State (Last week: 9)
The Cyclones pushed another formidable opponent to the brink, but turnovers eventually did them in against Oklahoma State. While they are still a ways off from being mentioned with the top-tier teams in the Big 12, they have proven that they are not the doormat that they have been the past few years. The Cyclones have a chance to score a major victory for the program on the road against Texas this week.
10. Kansas (Last week: 10)
As Matthew Wyman’s kick sailed wide-right, so did the Jayhawks chances of winning a Big 12 game this season. They now return to doing what they do best which is being everybody’s homecoming opponent.