Big 12 Power Rankings: Week 4

Sep 22, 2022 - 10:08 PM

Week 3 is behind us and the upcoming week in college football will cause some chaos in the rankings. Kansas meets another 3-0 squad, Texas travels to Lubbock, Iowa State and Baylor face off and TCU travels to in-state SMU. Should be another great weekend of football!

10. West Virginia

2022 record: 1-2

Hey, would you look at that, West Virginia is in the win column. I’ve always heard Towson is a great football program, so good for them. West Virginia now has to travel to Virginia Tech for a Thursday night game. I sneakily like the Mountaineers in this matchup. Virginia Tech’s offense is awful and that explains why West Virginia is favored in the game. The term “must-win game” is overused a ton in sports but I’m going with that phrase for this one. West Virginia faces Texas and Baylor in their next two games and you don’t want the possibility to start 1-5.

9. Kansas State

2022 record: 2-1

Yikes, what a fall for the Wildcats. Tied for sixth and now sitting in ninth place in the rankings. The Tulane game hurts a lot for Kansas State and I mean a lot. This team could have won eight games with this schedule and were a sleeper for the Big 12 Championship game. Now, this wasn’t a conference game, but this can be one of those losses that hang with you all season. Tulane is 3-0 and they aren’t terrible but any means, but this is a game that K-State should win. Scoring just 10 points at home makes this loss just hurt a lot more. What’s next? Well, a trip to Norman for a night game against No. 6 ranked Oklahoma is next.

8. Texas Tech

2022 record: 2-1

This looks a lot worse than is it. Eighth place isn’t great, but a loss at ranked NC State doesn’t look terrible on paper. It just so happens the teams below them had won and earned their chance to move up. You could make the case that Texas Tech is actually not good and the Houston game was fluky. That would be an interesting point and I would counter that with the upcoming game this week. A home game against ranked Texas. Texas Tech, show us what you can do on Saturday, please and thank you.

7. TCU

2022 record: 2-0

TCU has their bye week this past weekend with time to plan for in-state SMU. TCU is a favorite for this game and 90% of the public is on them. This game should be great and I see this gamer going down to the last two minutes. Shoutout to TCU for not losing during the bye week, so obviously they will move up. Should they move ahead of Kansas State after not even playing? Yes, now spot questioning my rankings.

6. Kansas

2022 record: 3-0

America’s team continues to move up in the rankings. Going to Houston and beating them by 18 was quite impressive. Somehow the matchup of Duke vs. Kansas is not College Gameday. The battle of 3-0 teams will determine the true powerhouse of college football. Oh, by the way, Jalon Daniels scored five touchdowns last week, while also having 123 rushing yards. Spencer Sanders is still the best QB in the Big 12, but Daniels continues to make statements week after week.

5. Iowa State

2022 record: 3-0

Maction was no match for the Cyclones this past week. This is the first 3-0 start under Matt Campbell and things are really getting interesting. Baylor now comes into town and there has been some bad blood and close games between these teams. A fight in the 2018 matchup always seems to be brought up when they play each other. The past three games between Baylor and Iowa State have all been decided by one possession. This matchup will be a fun one even if it’s an 11 a.m. game.

4. Baylor

2022 record: 2-1

I’ve already explained how important this game is in the Iowa State section. Baylor wants and kind of needs this win. Starting this season 2-2 after high expectations would be a massive disappointment. For the Cyclones, it would be the first 4-0 start under Matt Campbell with expectations continuing to climb after every week. Great game to start this weekend of football

3. Texas

2022 record: 2-1

Is Texas back? The answer is still no. They go on the road to Lubbock, Texas, in hopes of a good road win. Hudson Card looked solid last Saturday, but he is no Ewers. Ewers will be missed and we all saw that in the first half when they were tied with UTSA at halftime. They picked it up in the second half after that slow start. Don’t read into that slow start, especially when you are inserting a new QB. I think if Ewers was playing Texas would win this game, but now with Card I think Texas Tech has a fair shot at a dub.

2. Oklahoma

2022 record: 3-0

It’s as simple as this, if the Sooners take care of business on Saturday they will be ranked No. 1 in these rankings. They just destroyed Nebraska on their turf in front of a huge crowd. Sure Nebraska is bad, but the display of both offense and defense was very impressive by Oklahoma. Two passing TDs and a rushing TD from Gabriel really showed us he can do almost everything on the field. Win this game against Kansas State and the top spot is yours.

1. Oklahoma State

2022 record: 3-0

It’s a bye week for the Cowboys after a 63-7 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Just a casual game from Sanders in this one, 13/16, 242 passing yards and 4 touchdowns. Only 13 competitions along with those stats are just crazy numbers, I don’t care if it’s Arkansas-Pine Bluff. There’s nothing to worry about if Oklahoma passes you, it’s just about the timing. Oklahoma State travels to Baylor after this bye week and that game should tell us a lot about this Oklahoma State squad.