Big 12 Power Rankings - 11/10/2014

About the only sure thing we have this week is that the top team will remain the top team, and the bottom team will stay the bottom team.  Other than that, where does everyone fill in?

1. TCU (Previous Ranking: 1)

After demolishing Kansas State, they deserve to be the number one team in the conference.  They dominated that game from start to finish and seem to be the best team right now.  So long as they take care of business this week, I don't see that changing.

2. Baylor (Previous Ranking: 4)

Demolishing Oklahoma this week was rather impressive.  While it is clear that this isn't your typical Oklahoma powerhouse, the fact that they were able to turn the game around so quickly underlines just how dangerous this team is.

3. Kansas State (Previous Ranking: 2)

Sure, they lost handily to TCU.  But they were on the road against the hottest team in the conference, and every serious contender to move ahead of them lost handily as well.

4. Oklahoma (Previous Ranking: 5)

I know, this one seemed strange to me too.  But the three loses they have are to the three teams ranked above them.  While they definitely need to right the ship this week, the schedule sets up well for them to finish the year strongly.

5. Texas (Previous Ranking: 6)

Big win against West Virginia, who seems to be in shock after losing to TCU at home.  Only needs to beat Oklahoma State this weekend to become bowl eligible, something that seemed nearly impossible after losing to BYU and UCLA handily at the beginning of the year.

6. West Virginia (Previous Ranking: 3)

A steep drop for West Virginia, but they let a devastating last-second loss to TCU carry over against an opponent that they should have beaten.  The fact that Texas shut them down so soundly reflects the regression of both team, Texas upwards to the middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team we thought they were, and West Virginia coming back down to earth to the team that had tons of holes at the beginning of the year.

7. Oklahoma State (Previous Ranking: 8)

I REALLY wanted to put Kansas here, but even if I try to factor in momentum (OSU has been blown out 3 times since barely beating the Jayhawks), there just isn't enough there to overcome the fact that they have won 2 more games against a tougher schedule than us AND they beat us head to head on the road.  The same note is true of last week though, that they are in trouble of losing out, especially after Texas beat WVU.

8. Kansas (Previous Ranking: 9)

Victory is sweet, and I don't think anyone can honestly complain about Iowa State dropping below us.  I will admit I may have been a bit premature ranking Texas Tech below us last week, but with our win, I think the momentum argument should be able to carry everyone through to at least accepting it as okay.  Now if we somehow beat TCU (I know, I know, huge overreaction to think it's even possible) then we skyrocket up the rankings and I don't want to hear any complaints from anyone.

9. Texas Tech (Previous Ranking: 10)

The bye this week was hopefully just what this team needs to regroup and come out swinging.  They face the tough task of taking on Oklahoma, who is likely going to be rather pissed off as a result of the pasting they got from Baylor.  Good luck Red Raiders.

10. Iowa State (Previous Ranking: 7)

Had I known about the Iowa State injury issues, I likely would have ranked them lower last week.  But losing your QB and Defensive spark plug in the same week is enough to pretty much gut any team.  And it looks like they will be out for a while too, so the chance this team goes 0-9 in conference is pretty large right now.