Big 12 Power Rankings: Week 4

It was a quiet week in the Big 12, which is good as with travelling I didn't have a ton of time to watch a lot of games for ranking purposes.  Still, I'm back in Fort Worth and feeling the vibes of football all around me, so let's do this.

1.) Oklahoma Sooners

There may be a few questions about the OU defense coming out of this week, but there's no questioning the Sooner offense- Even on an off day for Trevor Knight (completing barely over 50% of his throws, the Sooner offense hummed along- converting 50% of third downs and rumbling for over 500 yards of total offense.  The scary part of the OU offense this week?  The bruising freshman running back Samaje Perine- a name that you may remember if you follow recruiting (we were his #2 choice)- absolutely demolished the West Virginia defense to the tune of 242 yards, four touchdowns and an incredible 7.2 yards per carry.  Dang he would've looked good in purple, but instead OU is the one who looks good at #1 for yet another week.
Next week: Bye

2.) TCU Horned Frogs (2-0)

Bye weeks suck.  Rewatching the Minnesota game does not suck.  Beat the hell out of SMU.
Next week: @ SMU

3.) Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-1)

One week down in the J.W. Walsh countdown without the Cowboys having to play anybody.  Happily for them, Texas Tech is up next, which means the Cowboys can lean heavily on the running game to get another week out of the way.
Tomorrow: Texas Tech.

4.) Kansas State Wildcats (2-1, 1-0), Last week: #5

Like West Virginia, the Wildcats dropped a home game against a very highly ranked opponent that was pretty close to the end- but the reason for the swap in the rankings is that Kansas State cost themselves the game with mental errors, while West Virginia simply ran into something that they couldn't stop.  While mental errors are frustrating, they can be fixed with a bit of time and effort, while you don't generally get too much better at stopping something like a running game from week-to-week.  Kansas State is going to be a dangerous team this season, and that defense looked pretty darn good against the up-tempo Auburn attack, to the point where they're closer to #3 than to #5 right now.
Next week: UTEP

5.) West Virginia Mountaineers (2-2, 0-1), Last week: #4

Clint Trickett is a pretty darn good quarterback, but twice this season he's needed to be a great quarterback to make up for a less than stellar effort from the Mountaineer defense and he's not quite at that level yet.  The Mountaineer defense held up surprisingly well through the air, but were absolutely bludgeoned by the Sooners on the ground to the tune of 6.7 yards per carry- not every team in the Big 12 can run though, so it'll be interesting to see how teams attack West Virginia from here.  Still, a very strong performance against a very good team.
Next week: Bye

6.) Baylor Bears (3-0), Last week: #6

In the AP poll, Baylor does nothing for a week and moves up the polls.  In the FoW Power Rankings, Baylor does nothing and nothing happens.  Now that its preseason is out of the way, Baylor has decided to join the rest of the Big 12 in actually playing football this week!  Perhaps movement for them if they win.

Perhaps.
Next week: @ Iowa State

7.) Iowa State Cyclones (1-2, 0-1), Last week: #8

That win @ Iowa suddenly looks a lot better after the Hawkeyes upset a Pitt Panther squad that I actually quite like.  We'll get a look at how ISU's defense is going to stack up against the Air Raids of the Big 12 this week as that team in green comes calling this week.  Go Cyclones.
Next week: Vs. Baylor

8.) Texas Longhorns (1-2), Last week: #7

The Longhorns get bumped down on the Bye as they lose yet another player to Charlie's Strong discipline plan.  I know he wants to change the culture in Austin, but someone needs to tell Chuck that you do generally need offensive linemen to win football games.  Well... Maybe not this week.
Next week: @ Kansas

9.) Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-1), Last week: #9

Arkansas converted 8-12 third downs against Texas Tech, even when everyone knew the run was coming.  This does not bode well against an actual multidimensional offense, which they just so happen to be facing this week- at least their stalwart coordinator had two weeks to put together a great gameplan and... Oh. Oh dear.
Tomorrow: @ Oklahoma State

10). Kansas Jayhawks (2-1), Last week: #10

The score looks like Kansas had a comfortable win, but this was simply a tight showdown between two bad teams that were tied in the fourth quarter.  Despite a 73 yard run to start the game, the Jayhawks still averaged under 4 yards per carry and simply connected on two big plays in the fourth quarter to provide the difference both in yards and on the scoreboard.  Against a teams that don't give up 40 to Syracuse?  After this week it's hard to imagine the Jayhawks sniffing .500 again this season, conference play starts now.
Next week: Vs. Texas