A Shake-Up at the Top of Week 7 Big 12 Power Rankings
Saturday Blitz Big 12 Power Rankings Week 7
The Texas Longhorns clearly look like the best team of all the 2-4 teams in the conference, which may not be saying much. But giving Oklahoma a run for their money and losing to Baylor, UCLA, and BYU shows they have played a far tougher schedule than any of the other teams with this record. And for most people following Charlie Strong’s Longhorns, they still have a great chance to go bowling.
The good news is this team is getting better with each week. Tyrone Swoopes finally looked like he could play quarterback on Saturday, and that’s underselling him. After playing awful up to that point, Swoopes had 344 yards and 2 touchdowns against a loaded Sooners defense. That is something to be excited about going forward, because the Longhorns have proven that they have a good defense. If they can get the passing game going, perhaps the running game will improve at that point. And then maybe, just maybe, the offense can start to gel, which would turn this into a Top 25-caliber team. The next few games in the schedule will tell us if they are developing.
Iowa State at home should be a win, and then they have a chance to prove they belong back with the Big 12 elite against Kansas State. The keys to the season, though, will be the two games following, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Both games are must-wins for the Longhorns to go bowling, along with beating Iowa State and Kansas. Otherwise, they will have to upset a ranked team somewhere. This is certainly a middle of the pac Big 12 team right no.
But these guys could improve dramatically throughout the rest of this year.