College Football conference power rankings: Week 12

Here’s how the Power Five stacks up after a wild Week 11 in college football.

Week 11 of the 2016 college football regular season didn’t figure to make much of an impact on the playoff race, apart from a couple of marquee games. That notion turned out to be false, as fans were treated to perhaps the most chaotic week in recent memory.

Saturday morning started out with business as usual in No. 1 Alabama’s 51-3 destruction of Mississippi State. The upsets came fast and furious after that, as No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Washington, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Auburn all went down against underdog teams.

All three top four teams that went down still have a great shot at the College Football Playoff given the results around the nation. Still, nobody really knows how the rankings will play out over the rest of the year, as this could be the first season the committee has a really tough decision to make.

There aren’t any changes in this week’s conference power rankings, as the chaos spread around the country evenly. However, the Big 12 made a big stride to get closer to the rest of the Power Five, while the ACC has fallen well behind the clear-cut top two conferences.

Here’s how the Power Five shapes up heading into Week 12.

5. Big 12 

No conference in the land was happier than the Big 12 on Saturday, as all the upsets just may have opened a path to the playoff for the conference.

Unlike every other Power Five, the top three teams in the Big `12 all took care of business on Saturday. Oklahoma, the highest ranked team in the Big 12, had little trouble with Baylor in its seventh straight win to retain control of first place.

While the Sooners will still be ranked higher by the committee come Tuesday, West Virginia remained the only one-loss team in the conference with a 24-20 road win over Texas. Oklahoma State also held on for a 45-44 victory against Texas Tech and has quietly won six in a row itself.

Those three teams should be ranked in the top 10 by the committee, which is an impressive feat for any conference. Still, the huge dropoff to Baylor and Kansas State after the top three keeps the Big 12 in fifth for this week’s power rankings.

The conference’s exact path to the playoff will be determined by next week’s huge showdown between Oklahoma and West Virginia in Morgantown. A two-loss conference champion Sooners team would have a shot with some help, while the Mountaineers are very much alive if they win out and Oklahoma State loses once more.

If the Cowboys end up winning the conference, the Big 12 will be all but eliminated. While the odds are slim, the Big 12 is in much better shape than at this time last week.