Big 12 power rankings: Oklahoma State keeps conference’s playoff alive

A huge win by the Oklahoma State Cowboys has their hopes for the College Football Playoff holding on.

The Big 12 probably had its most normal week of the season this past week. Only one favorite lost outright. A few teams fell out of favor entirely (Baylor, TCU, WVU). However, there’s one team that’s established themselves as the dominant team of the conference. Oklahoma State survived its biggest test of the season when they skirted by Iowa State. Now, they just need to make sure they don’t fall to a traditional powerhouse and win the rest of their games, a spot in the College Football Playoff is close to guaranteed.

There is still a lot of Big 12 games to play. These teams can still beat each other to the point of irrelevancy. The Big 12 does not have a lot of respect right now, and with the Big Ten starting things this week and the Pac 12 starting soon, they have an even bigger hill to climb. From here on out, all eyes will remain on Oklahoma State to save the Big 12. As far as the power rankings go. There is a clear leader, then there is a clear second class, third class, then bottom of the conference teams.

Big 12 power rankings after Week 8

Kansas is bad. Like, really bad. Not sure how else to analyze this. Pooka Williams opted out of the season, which isn’t surprising since he’s actually talented and he plays for this tire fire of a football team. The running back was one of the only hopes, but not that he’s gone hope went along with him. Kansas got destroyed by their in-state rival, and it is just not fun to watch them play. They are so far below everyone else in this conference, it’s the opposite of impressive.

It wasn’t expected that Baylor would see this big of a drop off in production after Matt Rhule left for the Carolina Panthers since Charlie Brewer is still under center. The Bears were unable to make any noise against Texas, falling to 1-3 in a shortened season. It’s a hard hole to dig out of, and the team has never really bounced back after multiple canceled games. They face TCU next week in the battle of the underwhelming.

The TCU defense was supposed to help them win games this season. A combination of great safeties and great running backs was supposed to carry the Horned Frogs into wins this season. They have one win that basically ruined Texas’ season, but that’s about it. Max Duggan hasn’t been bad, but he’s been missing those big plays (only four touchdown passes in four games). The running game has been awful, with its leading rusher outside Duggan with 125 yards on the season. It seems like it’s time to just give the rock to five-star running back Zach Evans and see what happens.

Texas Tech was the one team that was able to upset an opponent in the Big 12 this week, beating West Virginia on their home turf. WVU’s defense could not keep up with the offensive miscues, and the Red Raiders were able to get their first Big 12 win of the season. This still feels a little high for them, but it’s a rough season for this conference. A loss to Oklahoma next weekend could push them down again. A win would do wonders, but that would need some epic 2020 chaotic energy to happen.

West Virginia absolutely should not be ranked at the same place they were ranked last week after a deflating loss to Texas Tech, but with all the bad teams losing and only Tech winning, it’s hard to move them down. WVU’s offense was full of disappointments, including a fumble return for a touchdown that ended up being the game-winning score. Jarret Doege‘s stats always look good, but his offense isn’t winning games. This is with a very good defense keeping them in games. They had 13 drives last week. 27 points are not enough when the offense is getting that many chances.

Tsk Tsk Texas. It was a fine win against Baylor, but it just reminds everyone of what could have been for this team. The Texas Longhorns watched their season fall apart quite quickly. They were able to end a two-game losing streak thanks to a good defensive performance against the Bears, but the offense still has some work to do. The offense and defense have not been able to get on the same page in terms of winning games. Texas might have won a boring contest, but a boring win is much better than an exciting loss at this point in the season.

Iowa State went into the biggest matchup of the year for the Big 12 so far and wasn’t able to come out with a win. They tried to make an actual comeback when it was just too late to do it. They scored a touchdown with 49 seconds left, but they were still down three points. A failed onsides kick led to some kneel-downs and another loss for Iowa State. It was their first Big 12 loss of the season and knocked them out of the Top 20 in the nation. The Cyclones still have a shot to make Brock Purdy‘s final season special, but they are running out of moments to prove this the season to get behind them.

The Oklahoma Sooners looked a lot like their normal selves this week. Their offense was all over the field, the defense suffocated the TCU running game, and they won the game with ease. Marvin Mims was a big-play maker for Spencer Rattler, with 61 and 50-yard touchdown catches. Rattler’s Heisman campaign is over, but it was nice to see exactly what he could do. At one point, they had a 30-7 lead, which is something many have come accustomed to during Oklahoma-TCU matchups. It’s hard to take much more from the win than that.

Fine. It’s time to give Kansas State their due. No, it’s not a win against a hapless Kansas team that did it. It’s showing up week in and week out. Now they find themselves ranked 16th in the nation. Too many teams are losing dumb games to not acknowledge Chris Klieman and his Wildcats 4-1 record. They are 4-0 in Big 12 play and their only loss of the season came at the very beginning when everyone was extremely off their game. They could use a little more offense in this conference, but for now, they’ve done a really good job of beating who’s in front of them. Going to Morgantown this week might show how “for real” this Kansas State team really is.

There is no team more solidly in the number one spot in their conference besides Clemson. Oklahoma State still isn’t getting much respect, as they’ve been stuck at number six in the Top 25. Beating a ranked team in the Big 12 doesn’t get you as much credit as it used to. Their running attack can match any defense in the league. Spencer Sanders did not have a good game against Iowa State, but the Cowboys still came up as the victors. If Oklahoma State can put it all together, then maybe they can get the right respect to get in the top four. If not, they just have to wait for two of Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Georgia to lose. It’s still possible for OK State at least.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion, and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.