Big 12 Football Power Rankings, Week 5: Oklahoma loss creates chaos

The first weekend of Big 12 football play was a wild one, highlighted by Kansas State beating Oklahoma. How will this shake up our power rankings?

After a handful of non-conference games, the Big 12 began conference play. And it was a wild weekend. Top dog Oklahoma lost to Kansas State (for the second time in an many seasons), Texas and Texas Tech had a shootout, Baylor and TCU finally played their first games of the season, Iowa State and Oklahoma State notched wins, and Kansas and West Virginia taught us a little bit more about themselves.

Previous Big 12 Power Rankings: Week 3 | Week 4

None of that really bodes well for the league as a whole, though, especially the Sooners losing. But Texas — dare I say it — might actually be back. The Cowboys won despite subpar performances from their stars. And second-year head coaches Dave Aranda and Chris Klieman showed their worth.

However, with that in mind, there’s an obvious pick for No. 10 in our Big 12 power rankings. If you can guess it, well, I won’t give you anything because it should be a no-brainer.

Les Miles and the Kansas Jayhawks fell to 0-2 on Saturday after losing 47-14 to Baylor. They struggled at the line of scrimmage for most of the game, giving up four sacks and 10 tackles-for-loss to the Bears. They did, however, amass 169 rushing yards — led by Pooka Williams’ 76 and two scores. Velton Gardner pitched in 70 as well, with the two averaging a combined 5.2 yards per carry.

On the one hand, surrendering 47 points to a team playing their first game of the season isn’t great, especially if you’ve already got a game under your belt. But on the other, if the Jayhawks are able to chew up yards on the ground with consistency — which keeps the clock moving and the opposing offense on the sideline — they might be able to steal a game or two if the defense can figure things out. With Oklahoma State up next for the Jayhawks, they’ll need to figure things out quickly.