Big 12 power rankings: Oklahoma, Texas shine but rest of league takes it on the chin

Oklahoma and Texas looked sensational, West Virginia looked good against inferior competition but the rest of the Big 12 teams in action took it on the chin.

The opening week for the Big 12 did not go as expected for a lot of teams. Coming into the season with some hype, this was supposed to be the “practice” round. Two games were postponed at the last minute (Baylor vs. Louisiana Tech and TCU vs. SMU). Of the eight games remaining, three Big 12 teams failed to win, one of the dark horses was destroyed by a team in the Sun Belt Conference, and another team needed every second to beat a team named Houston Baptist.

Despite some surprising results, there was a lot to learn this week. The names at the top dominated. Some new stars shined against lesser opponents. The Big 12 may have hurt its standings when compared to the ACC and SEC, but there are still things to like when looking ahead.

Oklahoma, Texas and WVU show their dominant side while Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State suffer embarrassing losses to bottom-out in this week’s Big 12 power rankings

When Les Miles took over the Kansas Jayhawks, it brought hope for football fans. However, nobody thought it would be an overnight success story. Kansas has a long history of being bad. That’s not changing this season. Grayson McCall helped lead Coastal Carolina to run out to a 28-0 lead as Kansas felt flat-footed most of the game. Pooka Williams, the Jayhawks star, wasn’t even the team’s leading rusher. A very rough start to the season for Kansas.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are not one of the three teams with a loss already, but there’s no way they can “move up” on the power rankings after their performance last week. They were 9th on the preseason power rankings, and that’s where they’ll stay. They allowed Houston Baptist to come within three points of beating them. This is a team that plays in the Southland Conference and hasn’t won more than five games as an FCS team. Alex Bowman did throw for 400 yards, but there are major questions how this defense can handle the Big 12 offenses.

Chris Klieman came into this season with some hype he alone could help lead the Kansas State Wildcats to a big season. However, there were just too few returning starters to get real hype. That turned out to be the right decision, as the Wildcats lost their first game on a final-minute touchdown to Arkansas State. The defense allowed three touchdowns to receiver Jonathan Adams Jr., including one to give them the lead with 38 seconds left. Time for KSU to lick their wounds and see if some practice time helps salvage the season.

The biggest drop in the rankings comes at the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones. This was supposed to be the breakout year in the Big 12. It’s Brock Purdy‘s senior season. Matt Campbell’s defense was going to impress against these big offenses. Instead, Purdy was terrible, special teams allowed two touchdowns, the defense allowed a 78-yard touchdown pass to give up the lead, and all hope for this season is gone.

WVU’s offense looked like it did in its glory years on Saturday. The running game was insane, with Leddie Brown and Alec Sinkfield running for 123 yards and two touchdowns apiece. Jarret Doege did a good job of avoiding mistakes, and the West Virginia offense was unstoppable. 10 different receivers caught a ball, showing how deep this team goes against a bad Eastern Kentucky team. This shouldn’t be where we judge the Mountaineers. Let’s see how they perform against Oklahoma State later this month.

Unfortunately, the Baylor Bears weren’t able to move past the Matt Rhule era and into the Dave Aranda era because of concerns with Covid-19 infections from their opponent. They added a game against Houston next week to make up for it. A loss by Iowa State puts them in the upper half of the league and Charlie Brewer is hoping to bring some consistency to an offense that went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma last season.

The TCU Horned Frogs also missed their game this week, which is unfortunate because it should have been the best game on the Big 12 docket. Their matchup with SMU would have been key to seeing if TCU could ride their very good defense to wins this season. Adding in a future star running back in Zach Evans will help the offense keep up with others in the conference. Looks like it’s going to be two more weeks until TCU takes the field.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys never had a game on the schedule this weekend. They will take on Tulsa next week as most of the Big 12 will take a bye week. Chuba Hubbard is going to be the straw that stirs the drink here, and this could be the year that Oklahoma State actually competes in the Big 12 Championship Game for the first time ever.

UTEP was just not in the same league as the Texas Longhorns this past week. Sam Ehlinger started his attempted Heisman Trophy campaign with 426 yards and five touchdowns. The running game was split among multiple players, giving Texas a lot of options. The defense was boring yet effective. Like West Virginia, there wasn’t much to learn for Texas in this game as long as they won, which they did by a ton. It appears as if the Longhorns have to wait until October for a competitive matchup.

Spencer Rattler looks like he might be the next great quarterback in the legacy that is Lincoln Riley. Baker Mayfield to Kyler Murray to Jalen Hurts to Spencer Rattler is an all-time heater. He threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns before halftime. It was an impressive start for Oklahoma, especially when COVID cases left the Sooners severely short-handed. The Sooners play two teams that lost this weekend next, and they could put Kansas State and Iowa State into the ground.

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