Big 12 Report: Oklahoma joins Baylor, West Virginia at top of conference

There are two undefeated football teams in the Big 12, but you could make an argument they are both chasing a team with two losses in the conference championship race.

No. 11 Baylor (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) is the highest-rated team in the league. No. 20 West Virginia (4-0, 1-0) has the best wins of any team in the league. But some will say No. 19 Oklahoma (3-2, 2-0) should be favored to win the conference title for a second straight year.

The issue at hand is strength of schedule.

Though the Sooners have likely played themselves out of the playoff picture with two early losses, they came against No. 13 Houston and No. 2 Ohio State. Few, if any, can match that type of difficulty in their nonconference schedule. But once the Sooners began conference play, they beat TCU on the road and took down Texas on a neutral field.

Maybe everyone had it right when they declared Oklahoma to be the preseason favorite.

Then again, the Bears and Mountaineers could truly be the teams to beat. We just don’t know much about them at this stage. Perhaps that is why they are the two lowest-rated undefeated teams from a power conference.

Baylor has a solid victory against Oklahoma State, but lacks other significant wins. With Kansas and a bye week up next, the Bears won’t get truly get tested until right before Halloween when they travel to Texas.

“I hope we are under the radar a little bit,” Baylor coach Jim Grobe said. “I hope we are a pretty good football team. But it is going to take a little while for people to draw the right (conclusions) on a lot of teams. I think we beat two good teams the last two times out. We won’t know until we get a little further along into the season how good we are. Our schedule gets a little harder pretty quick.”

West Virginia has more impressive victories than anyone else in the conference, beating Missouri, BYU and K-State in its first four games. But the Mountaineers haven’t played a true road game.

We may learn more about them this weekend when they travel to Texas Tech for a game as underdogs.

New coordinator, same defense

A week after Texas coach Charlie Strong demoted defensive coordinator Vance Bedford and took over the job himself, the Longhorns showed no improvement.

Oklahoma torched Texas for 672 yards and 45 points. Quarterback Baker Mayfield did a number on the Longhorns’ secondary, completing 22 of 31 passes for 390 yards and three touchdowns. He found receiver Dede Westbrook for 232 yards and three scores.

“You just look at the plays we gave up,” Strong said. “You can’t give up home runs thrown over your head.”

Strong appears in real trouble at Texas. After a 2-3 start, he may need to mount a big turnaround to return for another season.

Player of the week

Two K-State players picked up more hardware from the Big 12 on Monday. Byron Pringle was named the conference’s special teams player of the week and D.J. Reed was newcomer of the week. Pringle returned a kickoff 99 yards in a win against Texas Tech. K-State has claimed the league’s weekly special-teams honor three consecutive times. Reed intercepted a pass and took it 35 yards the other way for a touchdown.

Power rankings

1. West Virginia (4-0, 1-0 Big 12): Mountaineers face first true road test at Texas Tech.

2. Baylor (5-0, 2-0): We will learn more about the Bears after they play Kansas.

3. Oklahoma (3-2, 2-0): Undefeated in Big 12 play without a home game.

4. Oklahoma State (4-2, 2-1): Slow start and strong finish against Iowa State.

5. Kansas State (3-2, 1-1): Almost unbeatable when scoring on special teams and defense.

6. Texas Tech (3-2, 1-1): Red Raiders need to beat West Virginia to stay in the race.

7. Texas (2-3, 0-2): Defense remains a work in progress, despite its coordinator.

8. TCU (4-2, 2-1): Needed all kinds of good fortune to beat Kansas.

9. Iowa State (1-5, 0-3): Heartbreak Cyclones have lost two deflating games in a row.

10. Kansas (1-4, 0-2): What if? That’s the question the Jayhawks are still asking after TCU loss.

This story was originally published October 10, 2016 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Big 12 Report: Oklahoma joins Baylor, West Virginia at top of conference."