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College football conference power rankings: Week 4 – Pac-12 plummets

By Nathaniel Reeves

LOUISVILLE, KY - SEPTEMBER 16: Clemson Tigers players celebrate after the game against the Louisville Cardinals at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clemson won 47-21. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - SEPTEMBER 16: Clemson Tigers players celebrate after the game against the Louisville Cardinals at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clemson won 47-21. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 16: Mason Rudolph (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

3. Big 12

Despite the loss in a head-to-head matchup between Kansas State and Vanderbilt, the Big 12 jumps the SEC for third place thanks to its two legitimate national title contenders.

Oklahoma State hasn’t been challenged yet, but Mason Rudolph’s ridiculous 23-of-32, 497-yard performance to lead a romp over Pittsburgh is still worthy of attention. Rival Oklahoma is also a playoff favorite and overcame a slow start against Tulane’s option attack for an easy 56-14 victory.

While Texas will be disappointed at missing out on a chance for a season-defining upset, Tom Herman has made major strides since the week one loss to Maryland and can beat anyone if it plays that well for the rest of the year. With Kansas State going down, the third-best team in the conference looks to be TCU, which moved up to 16th in the AP Poll with a 20-point victory over SMU.

West Virginia cruised to a second straight victory and shouldn’t be overlooked as a Big 12 contender even after narrowly losing to Virginia Tech to open the season. Iowa State is also rapidly improving under Matt Campbell and a Texas Tech squad that was expected to struggle picked up a Power Five win, leaving Baylor and Kansas as the only really poor teams in the Big 12.

A few teams in the Big 12 appear to have solid enough defenses to go along with always high-powered offenses this year, giving the conference the No. 3 spot for now. Next week’s Big 12 slate is highlighted by Oklahoma State’s trip to TCU, while Texas Tech can grab another solid nonconference win against Houston.

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