Big 12 Updates

We're through 4 weeks of football, most of the way through the Big 12's nonconference slate (and it has been a bumpy ride indeed), and have seen our first couple of Big 12 conference matchups.  Time to look at the conference standings, recap what we've seen so far, and reassess some of our preseason predictions.

1. #24 Texas Tech (4-0, 1-0)
2. #14 Oklahoma (3-0, 1-0)
3. Texas (2-2, 1-0)
4. #19 Baylor (3-0)
5. #11 Oklahoma State (3-0)
6. Kansas (2-1)
7. Iowa State (0-2)
8. Kansas State (2-2, 0-1)
9. West Virginia (2-2, 0-1)
10. Texas Christian (1-2, 0-1)

First up - Texas Tech.  I owe the Red Raiders a bit of an apology, but I'll be upfront: it's going to be a backhanded apology.  I think that the Red Raiders are only going to be marginally better than I expected (especially with a muddy QB situation).  Texas Tech is bouncing way up in the power rankings, however, because a bunch of teams I originally placed ahead of them are proving to be significantly worse than I expected.  The Red Raiders have already beaten one of those teams (TCU) and could easily run the table (or at least go 2-1) against Texas, West Virginia, and Kansas State.  I'm revising my previous season record prediction upwards to 8 wins or so.

West Virginia and Kansas State are in free-fall regarding power rankings at the moment. Kansas State was taken down by a floundering Texas for their second loss of the season (the first, of course, coming at the hands of FCS North Dakota State).  West Virginia's offense, so potent in the last couple of years, just got shut out by Maryland.

Texas and TCU are also sliding.  UT managed to arrest their slide a wee bit with a win over the Wildcats at home.  The week before, though, the Mormons made Mack Brown utter some naughty words on television and fire his defensive coordinator.  TCU has lost Pachall, whose injured arm was elbowed by one of his teammates in the second most memorable TV clip of the TCU-TTU game (the most memorable was a terrified wild canine (fox? coyote?) seen running around behind the visitor's bench - welcome to west Texas).

In the cellar, a glimmer of light: Kansas just scored its first victory over an FBS school (Louisiana Tech) in 23 games by kicking a field goal as time expired.  Their partners in misery, Iowa State, suffered the Big 12's other loss to an FCS school on the opening weekend of the season.

And at the top, there really isn't much to differentiate Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Baylor thus far.  OU's defense has looked very solid and OSU's victories include a very strong performance against SEC opponent Mississippi State and dominating performances against weaker competition.  Meanwhile Baylor hit the season balls-to-the-wall and has had to throttle back minutes into the 3rd quarter of each of its games against severely overmatched opponents to avoid scoring more than 70 points (the Bears' three victories have seen Baylor tally points totals of 69, 70, and 70, respectively).  Baylor's defensive backfield has looked very suspect at times, but with a more aggressive pass rush forcing errors the Bears' D has outscored its opponents 28-23.  Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have endured some lack of clarity at quarterback, but OU's defense has given Bob Stoops plenty of time to ponder his choice of QB, and using two quarterbacks hasn't severely impacted Mike Gundy's teams lately.  At this early stage of the season, it appears that the road to the conference championship will run through Norman, Stillwater, or Waco.

Without further ado, the current power rankings:

1. #11 Oklahoma State
2. #19 Baylor
3. #14 Oklahoma
4. #24 Texas Tech
5. Texas Christian
6. Texas
7. Kansas State
8. West Virginia
9. Kansas
10. Iowa State

At the top, there's no real separation between the schools.  I give the Cowboys the nod because they get both Baylor and Oklahoma at home this year.  Baylor takes a step over the Sooners simply because the Bears get Oklahoma at home.  That's it - no other reasons at this point.  Texas Tech has vaulted into 4th place over a bunch of teams who are much worse than I had expected.  Texas Christian comes in 5th due to the shakiness of Boykin's play at quarterback.  Texas has slid to 6th and would have gone further down except that the next couple of teams below them are also on a downward trajectory.  Kansas State and West Virginia are essentially in a tie at #7, each with one point in their favor: Kansas State has Bill Snyder; West Virginia hasn't lost to an FCS team.  Kansas jumps over Iowa State with wins over FCS and FBS opponents.