With just one Big 12 team playing in week three of the college football season we skipped out on rankings last week. Now, after a full weekend of conference action, we’re back and we’re bringing quite the shake up with us. Fresh off getting upset, 38-35, to Kansas State at home the Oklahoma Sooners have dropped from the top spot and were replaced by their top rival.
There was plenty of movement this week in the power rankings. Texas Tech (#7) and Kansas (#10) were the only teams to remain steady from our last set of rankings.
Kansas State (#6) and Iowa State (#5) had the biggest climb this week. Both moved up three spots. Ironically, Iowa State had the biggest drop in our last rankings.
Oklahoma (#4), TCU (#8), and West Virginia (#9) tied for the biggest tumble this week. Each dropped three spots.
Below are our consensus rankings and then after that you’ll find the individual rankings from our writers with an explanation for each of the top three and the bottom two as well.
2020 Heartland Sports Week 4 Big 12 Power Rankings
| Ranking | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Texas | 49 |
| 2. Oklahoma State | 45 |
| 3. Baylor | 37 |
| 4. Oklahoma | 33 |
| 5. Iowa State | 31 |
| 6. Kansas State | 30 |
| 7. Texas Tech | 18 |
| 8. TCU | 14 |
| 9. West Virginia | 13 |
| 10. Kansas | 5 |
Craig
1. Texas | The Longhorns held off Texas Tech in overtime this weekend to claim the top spot in the conference. Texas seems to have some major defensive issues, but their offense is the real deal behind Sam Ehlinger.
2. Oklahoma State | The Cowboys haven’t looked great in either of their first two games, but they remain undefeated. If this team can figure out how to put together a complete game, they can still compete for a Big 12 championship.
3. Oklahoma | Oklahoma definitely let one slip away this weekend. It was a complete meltdown from top to bottom. Play calling was bad, execution was poor, and these things allowed Kansas State to pull off an incredible comeback. The Sooners stay in my top three because I think they are still a legit team, but there’s definitely some improvements needed moving forward.
4. Baylor
5. Kansas State
6. Iowa State
7. TCU
8. West Virginia
9. Texas Tech | The Red Raiders gave Texas all they wanted and more this week. I believe that is exactly what they will be doing to teams this year. They have a great shot at upsetting a couple of teams, but that’s about it.
10. Kansas | The Jayhawks got absolutely destroyed by Baylor. Will Kansas ever be able to turn things around?
Rich
1. Texas Longhorns | Yes, I understand that an overtime win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders was unexpected. Yet, good teams find a way to win and that’s exactly what the Longhorns did. While I can’t say “Texas is back,” the program takes over the top spot by default this week.
2. Oklahoma State Cowboys | While the offense has been lackluster at best, the defense continues to provide opportunities to win games. This may very well be the best defense in the league. But, as the meat of the schedule remains ahead, OSU needs to find a consistent way to put points on the board. Is Illingworth the answer?
3. Baylor Bears | The Bears are a hard team to gauge as the opener was against KU. Despite the level of competition, BU’s running backs excelled while the defense showed a bit of tenacity. Claiming a conference win is nothing to scoff at especially last weekend. Needless to say, I have Baylor at No. 3 but they’ll have to prove worthy of the ranking in the coming weeks.
4. Kansas State Wildcats
5. Iowa State Cyclones
6. Oklahoma Sooners
7. Texas Tech Red Raiders
8. West Virginia Mountaineers
9. TCU Horned Frogs | In their first game of the season, the Horned Frogs proved they have a few pieces to build around moving forward. However, I believe the score of the contest was very misleading. If Max Duggan played a complete game, TCU could have easily been much higher on this list. But, until the program puts it’s full trust in him at QB, I’ll hang on to my doubts.
10. Kansas Jayhawks | A rough start to the season puts the Jayhawks season in jeopardy. The possibly of a winless season is real.
Zack
1. Texas | The Longhorns got lucky against Tech, and you can’t convince me otherwise. Still, a win is a win, so they takeover the top spot after Oklahoma’s debacle against K-State.
2. Oklahoma State | The Cowboys have yet to find their stride offensively, partially due to Spencer Sanders’ subject, but the defense has been impressive thus far.
3. Baylor | I’m not sold on the Bears, but they’ve done everything they need to do so far, so they keep moving up the ranks.
4. Iowa State
5. Kansas State
6. Oklahoma
7. Texas Tech
8. TCU
9. West Virginia | It was a lot harder than I realized to rank the 7th-9th teams. I’m not convinced the Mountaineers will stay this low, but it’s hard to give them an edge over the narrow losses of Tech to Texas in OT and TCU by 3 to Iowa State.
10. Kansas | Yes, it’s still 2020. Yes we’re still in a pandemic. Yes, Kansas is still Kansas.
Mark
1. Texas | The Longhorns escaped with an overtime win against the Red Raiders. Ehlinger had a strong performance with 6 touchdowns which is the primary reason that I have them at the top spot. I think the senior leadership and experience making big plays down the stretch will be invaluable in big games.
2. Oklahoma | Poor tackling once again sunk the Sooners. They have been in this spot before and rallied to a playoff, but this year they have a very talented yet inexperienced QB. Going to Ames to rebound against Iowa State won’t be easy.
3. Oklahoma State | The Pokes defense had another good showing and were the brightest spot of the Big XII this weekend, and we will find out how real it is but so far so good. I think Spencer Sanders should be back this week against Kansas to get back into the flow before the meat of the conference schedule comes up.
4. Baylor
5. Kansas State
6. Iowa State
7. Texas Tech
8. TCU
9. West Virginia | The Mountaineers had a hard time getting anything going against the Cowboys, but it should be a fun matchup with Baylor this weekend.
10. Kansas | After back to back disappointing losses, things do not get any easier with Oklahoma State coming to town.
Matt
1. Oklahoma State | It hasn’t been impressive for the Cowboys but it sure has been effective. The Pokes are reverting back to some old school football in the absence of quarterback Spencer Sanders – a heavy dose of the run game and suffocating defense – and the result is a 2-0 start to the season.
2. Texas | You’re probably like me and wrote this team off with about three minutes remaining in the game. Being down two scores to Texas Tech was a bad look but the comeback was super impressive and showed a lot of resolve.
3. Iowa State | Winning on the road is key in the Big 12 and the Cyclones had a nice bounce back, after dropping the season opener, by stealing one in Ft. Worth.
4. Baylor
5. Oklahoma
6. Kansas State
7. Texas Tech
8. West Virginia
9. TCU | The good news for the Frogs is that quarterback Max Duggan played. That was a huge concern going into the season.
10. Kansas | It doesn’t get any easier for Les Miles’ Jayhawk crew. They host Oklahoma State this weekend.
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