For the first time in several weeks, I seriously considered dropping the Big 12 out of the second spot in these college football conference power rankings. At the forefront of that is the Oklahoma Sooners. They were the best team in the Big 12 coming into the week, but they were then upset in the Red River Showdown by the Texas Longhorns.
In truth, this might be a testament to the Longhorns’ quality this season as they have looked like a team primed to make a big run down the stretch after their season-opening loss to Maryland. Having said that, it’s tough to see the supposed best team in the conference first need to come back from a huge deficit in such a game, but then to ultimately fall short in their attempt to come back.
Having said that, the overall quality of the Big 12 is still pretty high at this point. The West Virginia Mountaineers are the lone unbeaten team remaining in the conference and, though they haven’t been perfect, they seem able to compete with anyone at this point. And though they’ve all suffered losses, teams like the Oklahoma State Cowboys, TCU Horned Frogs, Baylor Bears and Texas Tech Red Raiders are above average this season.
At the end of the day, how Texas and Oklahoma perform on the heels of the Red River Rivalry game will go a long way in determining the overall strength of the Big 12. They are still at No. 2, but it’s a lot less definitive now than it has been.