1. TCU (previous ranking: 1): Big 12 road wins are rarely easy and TCU sure is getting them the hard way. Some will be more concerned about the butt-kicking the Frogs got in the first half (Gary Patterson’s words, not mine). Some will be more impressed by their poise in a 35-point second half. Either way, there’s no disputing this: If you give
Trevone Boykin the ball with the game on the line, he’s probably going to beat you as badly as
Josh Doctson beats one-on-one coverage. The Frogs keep the No. 1 spot in our Power Rankings until they prove they shouldn’t be.
2. Baylor (2): Art Briles is finally starting to say what we all can see: This is his best Baylor team yet. It made quick work of Kansas and let
Seth Russell and the starters on offense call it a day at halftime with a 52-7 lead. The future sure looks bright for the guys who took their place --
Jarrett Stidham,
Terence Williams and
Ishmael Zamora are going to be crazy good when it’s their turn -- and Baylor’s defensive depth is quietly improving. Feels like we’ve still seen only the tip of the iceberg with this year’s Bears. Whatever they’re saving for the big games should be scary.
3. Oklahoma State (4): You have to admire the Cowboys’ consistency. They’re facing the same issues, showing the same late-game answers and producing the same results week after week.
Mason Rudolph threw three more INTs and the run game is still slogging (
Rennie Childs is their best bet), but they had all the right answers when it mattered in another last-minute win. It’s time to start giving OSU’s defense the respect it deserves.
4. Texas Tech (6): We asked the public for its take on
ranking teams No. 4 through 8 this week, because they’re all fairly interchangeable at this point and Saturday’s results certainly shook up perception of a few of them. Texas Tech is best of the bunch this week because it's playing like it. The offense is scoring 52 points a game, the defense is getting takeaways (although it still needs to get better against the run) and the schedule is looking friendlier. The Red Raiders’ toughest hurdles are behind them and they could be mighty dangerous the rest of the way.
5. Oklahoma (3): Forget the trap-game excuses. Oklahoma looked like a team that didn’t prepare or care on Saturday and got manhandled (for the third year in a row) by a Texas team it badly underestimated. The Sooners’ tackling efforts were startlingly bad, their offensive line needs serious reshuffling, their run game no-showed and their coaches were outsmarted by a basic rushing attack. Their playoff hopes are probably dead, too.
6. Kansas State (7): If Bill Snyder could get a mulligan, he’d use it. Kansas State should’ve run on fourth-and-1 at TCU’s 20-yard line and trusted its offense to pound its way to the win instead of settling for a field goal and a half-hearted belief it could stop Boykin one more time. Their players are taking this one hard, but the Wildcats still have a lot to be proud of after the fight they gave the nation’s No. 2 team. Snyder’s squad is, as always, better than we thought.
7. Texas (8): Charlie Strong questioned his team’s pride during its three-game losing streak and it rediscovered it Saturday, pounding the No. 10 Sooners from start to finish. Texas’ defensive line played with a tenacity we hadn’t seen all season and its young secondary thrived. The
Jerrod Heard-D’Onta Foreman rushing duo has been a revelation. Now the challenge is building on the big break during a bye week. It’s only a turning point if you keep winning.
8. West Virginia (5): The Mountaineers won’t end up being the third-worst team in the Big 12 by season’s end. But they get the short straw this week because, well, who have they beaten? (No offense to Georgia Southern, which is now 4-1.) The Mountaineers rallied from a 15-point deficit against Oklahoma State and played well on defense, but Skyler Howard’s struggles continued and WVU was playing catch-up all night after too many early mistakes. It'll need to beat Baylor or TCU in its next two games to avoid going 0-4 in Big 12 play.
9. Iowa State (9): The Cyclones, down just 17-14 early in the second quarter, imploded on both sides of the ball against Texas Tech. The 3-4 defense became a sieve,
Sam B. Richardson had a rough outing and Iowa State is running out of teams it can beat on its schedule. At least
Mike Warren (245 rushing yards) is blowing up and giving some reason for hope. He’s going to be a star.
10. Kansas (10): Let’s focus on the positives: KU won the time of possession battle,
Steven Sims Jr. scored a nice 36-yard touchdown,
Ryan Willis hung in there and completed 20 passes against Baylor’s defense and nobody got hurt on LaQuan McGowan’s touchdown.
http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/104868/big-12-week-6-power-rankings-shakeup-in-the-middle
