The past two weeks there has been a total of four games with one being postponed due to a spike in COVID-19 cases at Baylor with 42 known cases in the football program. With that, Baylor and Oklahoma State have not had a game since the last edition of the rankings. This upcoming week we have a full slate of games ahead with #17 Iowa State at #6 Oklahoma State. With this new edition of the rankings you will see some surprising rankings as we now know most of these teams identity. Here are the Big 12 Week 8 Power Rankings.
10. Kansas (0-4) (0-3 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 10th
Next Opponent: @ 20 Kansas State
Kansas looked good for about 3 minutes against West Virginia then snapped back into reality and played like the KU team we've all known. They were held to 157 yards on offense and gave up two turnovers. Kansas was good on defense for the first half forcing one turnover and holding the WVU offense to 17 points. Kansas will travel to, the "Little Apple", Manhattan to play the Wildcats of Kansas State. Anticipate the Jayhawks to have a similar performance against KSU like the one from a week ago.
9. Texas Tech (1-3) (0-3 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 9th
Next Opponent: West Virginia
The Red Raiders had a tough time getting anything going on Saturday after a 31-15 loss in Ames. They struggled on offense with only 270 total yards and only 58 rushing yards. It is very hard to win a game with no ground game but Texas Tech would be the team to accomplish that. Tech will now turn to the transfer from Utah State; Junior QB Henry Colombi. this move comes after Alex Bowman has underperformed leading up to this week. When the Mountaineers travel to Lubbock expect the Red Raiders to run a slightly different offense and give the Mountaineers a tough test.
8. Baylor (1-1) (1-1 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 8th
Next Opponent: @ Texas
There is not much to write about the COVID Bears. The team announced last week that there were 42 cases of COVID-19 in the program and shut down team facilities for a week. The troubling part is that even though the game against #7 Oklahoma State was cancelled, Baylor still held Homecoming activities on the field with students who don't understand social distancing. The Bears will travel to Austin to play a tough Texas team who are coming off of a tough loss against Oklahoma. Expect Baylor to struggle to find a groove in the offense and have a tough game against the Longhorns.
7. TCU (1-2) (1-1 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 5th
Next Opponent: Oklahoma
The Horned Frogs struggled for the whole game against Kansas State only getting 14 points on 342 total yards. Max Duggan did not play very good and was held to only 154 passing yards. If TCU wants to win against the Sooners on Saturday, they will need another performance like the one in Austin a few weeks ago and not one from last week. Expect TCU to struggle again against a good team in Oklahoma on Saturday.
6. West Virginia (3-1) (2-1 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 6th
Next Opponent: @ Texas Tech
Even though West Virginia did beat Kansas 38-17, the Mountaineers have a lot of issues on offense. The offense has struggled all season with only 78 points through three Big 12 games. The WVU defense has been spectacular this season and will look to keep the Red Raider offense in check on Saturday. Expect the Mountaineers to roll into Lubbock and withstand a young Texas Tech team and will most likely move to 4-1.
5. Texas (2-2) (1-2 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 3rd
Next Opponent: Baylor
Texas is on a two-game losing streak but, they are still a good team. QB Sam Ehlinger can light up the scoreboard with 1,453 total yards and 21 total touchdowns through four games. The issue for the Longhorns is the defense who've allowed 128 points through three Big 12 games. there is a lot of questions heading into this week with most concerning on how healthy is Baylor? Who's playing? Who's out? Even if those questions are answered the Longhorns should have no issue dealing with the Bears when they come to Austin on Saturday.
4. Oklahoma (2-2) (1-2 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 7th
Next Opponent: @ TCU
Oklahoma finally proved that they can win a tough game this year with a 4OT win over Texas 53-45. QB Spencer Rattler looked better this week by making smarter plays happen. Through three weeks we saw Rattler force too many passes which turned into game-ending interceptions in their two losses against Kansas State and Iowa State. Oklahoma found some rhythm on defense by forcing some turnovers and not allowing the Texas offense to basically do what they want. Expect the Sooners to continue to find their rhythm and gain some confidence in Fort Worth on Saturday when they play the Horned Frogs of TCU.
3. Kansas State (3-1) (3-0 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 4th
Next Opponent: Kansas
Even though the Wildcats won a close game against TCU 21-14, they will be short-handed with the season-ending injury of star QB Skylar Thompson. This will hurt Kansas State in a big way as they relied on him to make the plays that most cannot pull off. Kansas State moved into the AP rankings this week at #20. Most KSU fans didn't expect the Wildcats to be ranked this season but it's 2020 and things are different than what they already were. This week should be used as preparation for the rest of the season without Thompson when one of the worst teams in the nation comes to town.
2. Iowa State (3-1) (3-0 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 2nd
Next Opponent: @ 6 Oklahoma State
Iowa State didn't start the season the way they wanted and if they did we would have a potential top 10 matchup in Stillwater. QB Brock Purdy and RB Breece Hall have been proving me wrong all year by showing that they are a legit team. The question for this Cyclones team is can they score points effectively against a proven defense? Oklahoma State has a top 10 defense and Iowa State will need to have a pristine gameplan if they want to win on Saturday.
1. Oklahoma State (3-0) (2-0 Conf.)
Previous Rank: 1st
Next Opponent: 17 Iowa State
I know there is many people out there who don't respect or hate the Cowboys but you have to give credit where credit is due because this team is CFP worthy. Even though the offense struggled the first two games of the season the Cowboys get their starting QB back in Spencer Sanders. Backup QB Shane Illingworth has been terrific for only being a true freshman but this offense is centered around Sanders and if he is healthy this team is very good. The defense is the best thing about this team in 2020 with only allowing 27 points through three games. Expect the offense to come out firing against the Cyclones on Saturday and the defense to shut down Purdy and Hall.
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