Big 12 Football Power Rankings, Week 5: Oklahoma loss creates chaos
By Phil Poling
After having their opener cancelled, the TCU Horned Frogs finally suited up and played some football on Saturday. They battled with Iowa State, but couldn’t overcome the big-play ability of the Cyclones. You could chalk it up to the Horned Frogs simply not being ready, having to adjust to actual game speed and all, but they allowed three 30-plus yard touchdowns — including a 75-yard rushing touchdown — in addition to two passing plays that covered 44 and 49 yards.
Gary Patterson is one of the best coaches in college football, though, so I wouldn’t expect TCU to stay down for long. They’ll certainly have their hands full the next time they take the field, as they travel to Austin to square off with the ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns. Being competitive is expected, but a win might be required to save their 2020 season, albeit just their second game.
The Mountaineers take the biggest tumble in our power rankings, but for good reason: they didn’t get beat, they beat themselves. What team is going to overcome double digit penalties and 100-plus penalty yards? Especially on the road? Not many, if any. And that’s exactly how Saturday went for Neal Brown and West Virginia.
Their defense played great, although the final score of 27-13 looks a bit worse than it was. The West Virginia offense under Neal Brown was expected to be a step or two below his predecessor’s, but this ineptness is starting to become an issue. Will they be able to fix these issues by the time Baylor strolls into Morgantown?
The Iowa State Cyclones improved to 1-1 on the year after defeating TCU on Saturday, 37-34. Running back Breece Hall paced the offense with 155 yards and three scores on 18 carries, and Kene Nwangwu scored from 49 yards on his lone carry of the game.
The defense, although they gave up 34 points, posted some nice stats of their own, too. They recorded nine tackles-for-loss and seven sacks, but it was senior JaQuan Bailey who tallied 3.5 sacks by himself — have a game, young man.
Iowa State was ranked No. 8 in last week’s power rankings, and a win during any other week would’ve moved them up more than just one spot. But this was a wacky one for the Big 12, so we’ll have to see where they go moving forward. They’ll square off with Oklahoma the next time they take the field.