Big 12 Week Five Power Rankings

16. Houston (Previous Ranking – 10)

In their lone victory this season over Rice, Houston scored 26 points on offense. In their three losses, they have combined for 19 points. Their latest defeat was getting thoroughly dominated 34-0 by Cincinnati. Their defensive effort against Oklahoma appears to be more about the Sooners struggling to move the ball, not because the defense had made significant strides. Willie Fritz will look for answers next week when Houston travels to Iowa State.

15. Kansas (Previous Ranking – 15)

Remember in June when Jalon Daniels was tagged as the best Big 12 quarterback in 2024? That quarterback has not shown up for the 2024 season. He only had 184 passing yards against a defense that let Albany and Pitt throw for more than 300 yards against them. Kansas did play a competitive game against the Mountaineers. They held a 28-17 lead with 5:13 left in the game. But a late rally by West Virginia aided by a Kansas fumble resulted in the Jayhawks falling to 1-3 on the season by a score of 32-28.

14. TCU (Previous Ranking – 11)

Speaking of remembering, does anyone remember when TCU played for a national championship in football? That was at least 10 years ago, right? Sonny Dykes might be asking himself that same question these days. Maybe he was asking that question when he was ejected from the battle for the iron skillet in the third quarter. After all, TCU was losing 49-28 at that point. When the dust settled, SMU won by a final of 66-42. The Horned Frogs take on the struggling Jayhawks this week on the road.

13. Baylor (Previous Ranking – 13)

Dave Aranda, what was your defense doing? Colorado dropped what would have been a game-tying touchdown on third down. Then, he decided to bring pressure even though Colorado was on Baylor’s 43. The pressure call wasn’t the biggest issue though. The execution was awful. They lost contain on Shedeur Sanders and then had two defenders in the endzone floating around the back of the endzone instead of at the front. As a result, they essentially played the Hail Mary with nine defenders. The cherry on top was a fumble out of the endzone to lose the game. It doesn’t get any easier this week when BYU comes to Waco.

12. West Virginia (Previous Ranking – 14)

Kudos to the Mountainers for an end-of-game rally to defeat Kansas. However, Neal Brown can’t exactly feel comfortable with his team. West Virginia’s defense still can’t stop anyone. Quarterback Garrett Greene had two interceptions. Again, a win helped them bump up slightly in these Big 12 week five power rankings. But they only moved up in part because the teams behind have been struggling. Winning a conference game is better than losing, but they did not show anything to suggest that 2023 was more than a flash in the pan.

11.  Cincinnati (Previous Ranking – 16)

Full disclosure here from Last Word, Cincinnati is an absolute anomaly. Cincinnati should be 4-0 if they could have just hung on against Pitt at home. This week, they smashed possibly the worst team in the Big 12. But their three wins are over Towson, Miami (OH), and Houston. So does Cincinnati even know how good they are? They have a chance to prove they are making substantial progress under Scott Satterfield this week with a road game against Texas Tech.

10. Arizona State (Previous Ranking – 6)

It had been a great start to the season for Kenny Dillingham and his Sun Devils team. But they were going to run into a speed bump eventually. Arizona State made some mistakes early in the game that set them up to be run out of the building in Lubbock. Credit is due for a rebuilding program that they were able to tighten their execution up and stay in this game to the end. Maybe the game would have gone differently if they started the first quarter a little cleaner, but it was not a bad performance by the Sun Devils. They have a chance to bounce back quickly at home with Kansas coming to town.

9. Texas Tech (Previous Ranking – 12)

It was not pretty. A Texas Tech defensively led win over Arizona State was a much-needed result for Joey McGuire. Running back Tahj Brooks carried the load for the offense as the passing game struggled for most of the game. The start of the show was the defensive performance by this team. They upgraded from “terrible” to hovering near “average” in terms of stopping the run. But it was enough to secure the win. Much like Cincinnati, it’s still hard to get a great read on this Red Raider team. But a win over the Bearcats will be a big momentum builder for the rest of the season.

8. Arizona (Previous Ranking – 8)

Arizona was on bye this past week. They officially play their first Big 12 game this week when they travel to Utah.

7. Colorado (Previous Ranking – 9)

There is a good chance that Colorado lives in the seven-to-nine spot all season in the power rankings. Their offensive line is still terrible (they gave up eight sacks). The defense, while improved, still isn’t great. And yet, they just keep finding ways to win. Certainly having the best overall college football player we have seen in at least the last decade helps. But this team will be in games on their skill and talent alone to the bitter end. And almost 30 years to the day that Kordell Stewart completed his Hail Mary against Michigan, Sanders, and the Buffs pulled off their own late-game magic against Baylor in a 38-31 OT victory.

6.  Oklahoma State (Previous Ranking – 2)

The Stillwater police need to put out an APB to be on the lookout for Ollie Gordon. He is only averaging 3.5 yards a carry through four games. And while quarterback Alan Bowman has looked good so far this season, his history tells us that he cannot win the biggest games on his own. It got so bad for Bowman in this one, that he was benched in the first half. Speaking of history, Mike Gundy had a prime opportunity to re-write his own with a home win over a contending team in the conference. Instead, with expectations mounting, the Pokes came up short yet again.

5. Kansas State (Previous Ranking – 1)

Did anyone think Kansas State was going to go undefeated this season? Of course not. But to get dominated the way they did against BYU was shocking for everyone. The Wildcats lost the turnover margin by three. Kansas State also surrendered a wild punt return for a touchdown. Add it all up, and it was a very ugly showing for one of the front-runners in the conference. So possibly this big drop in the Big 12 week five power rankings is just a one-week stay. However, with Oklahoma State coming to town, either the Wildcats or the Cowboys will likely have their championship hopes burst before October.

4. UCF (Previous Ranking – 4)

UCF was also on bye last week. They resume action this week with a dangerous Colorado team coming to Orlando.

3. Iowa State (Previous Ranking – 5)

Apparently, Matt Campbell’s team was not going to overlook its last non-conference game of the season. Arkansas State had proven to be a competent challenge for its first three games of the season. However, the Cyclones ensured they would not fall into any trap before Big 12 play started. A 52-7 beatdown of the Red Wolves was good enough to slide this undefeated team up in the Big 12 week five power rankings. Just don’t trip up this week against Houston.

2. Utah (Previous Ranking – 3)

Until further notice, Last Word is going to assume Cam Rising will not play another game for the Utes. But he will continue to dress for them for the next 15 years. All jokes aside, Kyle Whittingham proved why he is one of the best college football coaches in the country. Utah’s defense smoothed an Oklahoma State team with plenty of offensive talent. They went into a very tough place to play and won with a true freshman at quarterback. The defense will be tested again this week with Arizona coming to town. Seeing the Utes near the top of the rankings isn’t necessarily a surprise though.

1.  BYU (Previous Ranking – 7)

No doubt the biggest surprise takeaway is that the Big 12 might have to run through the state of Utah. The Holy War is still four games away, but the Cougars made the biggest statement of the weekend. Winning ugly against SMU was nice, but appeared to just have luck on their side. However, a dismantling of Kansas State has quickly transformed this 4-0 team into a team to be taken seriously. They still have a long way to go to prove they are “for real” starting with not stubbing their toe against Baylor this week in a letdown spot. But, for one week at least, the Cougars will sit atop both the conference standings and the Big 12 week five power rankings.