Big 12 power rankings: Oklahoma’s loss throws rankings in flux
By Nick Villano
Oklahoma was upset, Texas nearly was upset but it’s still a dumpster fire for the rest of the Big 12.
The Oklahoma Sooners did not learn from last year’s mistakes, and once against the Kansas State Wildcats unexpectedly overcame a huge deficit and a massive line to beat the best team in the conference. This changes literally everything. In a ten-game season where the Big Ten and Pac 12 are returning to their own seven-game seasons, this could knock the Sooners out of the running for the College Football Playoff.
It wasn’t the only surprising ending to a football game. Three of the five matchups came down to one score. The world learned a lot about the Big 12 this week, and it’s not good. It’s starting to become clear there isn’t a top team in this league, and that could see the Big 12 get passed by on a national scale.
There is one sure thing in the Big 12 this season. Kansas is the worst team in the conference. If the Jayhawks win one game this year, it will be an upset. Kansas’ defense is awful, and that’s even by Big 12 standards. An offense led by Pooka Williams Jr. (who scored two touchdowns this week) isn’t nearly enough to keep up with the rest of this conference.
Weirdly, number nine is the hardest position to rank in this power rankings. Last week’s number nine, Texas Tech, went to overtime with one of the top teams in the conference. Number eight beat Oklahoma. The former number seven beat number four. The rankings are all over the place now. West Virginia had a really disappointing offensive performance against the Cowboys. Jarret Doege missed some throws badly but hit some others on the money. His inconsistency could spell doom for the Mountaineers outlook for the season.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders taking Texas to the limit, and almost winning in overtime, was the most surprising result of the weekend. Everything Texas Tech showed until then made it seem like they were one of the worst teams in the conference. Then, all of a sudden, they are going shot for shot with the Texas offense. They put up 56 points against a talented Texas defense. The Longhorns needed an onside kick recovery and two touchdowns in less than three minutes to avoid the upset. Still, Texas Tech needs to win games to move up this list.
Prior to the season, losing to Iowa State wouldn’t have looked so bad, but after losing to a Sun Belt team to start the season, the Cyclones aren’t looking so hot right now. TCU hadn’t played a game up to this point, but their defense was supposed to be one of the best in the Big 12. They got ran all over by Breece Hall. Brock Purdy didn’t look great, especially on one particular turnover. Still, TCU couldn’t stop their offense. It led to their first loss and a lot of lost expectations. TCU had nine players rush the ball, and none of them was prized five-star recruit, Zach Evans. That’s a development worth watching.
Iowa State bounces back huge after a losing effort against Louisiana to start the season. Brock Purdy still has some issues, but a big-play run game saved the day for the Cyclones. The win was big, but their inability to stop TCU from driving is something to address. Iowa State is still not one of the top teams in the Big 12 like they looked like they might, but this win could help them put the Louisiana loss in the rearview mirror.
Where does a team go when they beat one of the top five teams in the country but also lost to a team that lost to Arkansas State? There’s so much that still needs to be discovered about Kansas State, but beating Oklahoma two years in a row is incredibly impressive. Skylar Thompson was amazing on Saturday. An absolutely insane fourth quarter and a collapse by the Sooners lead to the Wildcats season coming back from the dead. Chris Kleiman needs to keep on his team and make sure they don’t rest on their laurels.
The Baylor Bears are a hard team to rank when their only game is against a lowly Kansas team. They did take care of business in the first game after the Matt Rhule era. Two kickoff returns for a touchdown led the Bears effort. It wasn’t really a repeatable performance, but not much against Kansas is. Baylor could be really good again under Dave Aranda, but next week’s matchup in Morgantown will be a much better game to judge.
The Oklahoma Sooners completely fell apart on Saturday. They were up 35-14 late in the third quarter before allowing 24 unanswered points in 17 minutes of gameplay. Oklahoma’s last five drives went fumble, punt, punt, punt, interception. An offense led by assumed Heisman candidate Spencer Rattler has to be better than that. The lofty goals of the Sooners might be completely gone unless other top teams struggle. One thing is for certain, their stranglehold on the top of the Big 12 is now an uphill battle.
It appears Oklahoma State really just needed a practice game to get their season going. They looked dominant on defense at times against West Virginia, stopping momentum as soon as it reared its head. They allowed one touchdown on a 70-yard pass where a wide receiver just broke one free. Besides that, they kept WVU in check. The running game was great. Both Chuba Hubbard and LD Brown went for over 100 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
Things could have gone really bad for Texas on a day they were celebrating their biggest rival’s loss. Texas was able to answer to an upset big unlike Oklahoma and scored 63 points to beat Texas Tech. Every great team usually faces a scare. This could be Texas’ on the way to a special season. Either that or the Big 12 isn’t good enough. However, it appears Sam Ehlinger and Texas is the conference’s best bet to make the College Football Playoff. Next week, they face a very interesting TCU team that’s coming off a close loss to Iowa State.
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