Big 12 Power Rankings: Arizona and Houston climb as K-State sinks like a stone

The Big 12 went undefeated Saturday.

West Virginia came from behind to beat Pittsburgh, Texas Tech throttled Oregon State and every other Big 12 team won as a heavy favorite. That gave the conference a perfect 8-0 record for the day. Believe it or not, that’s not the first time the Big 12 has gone 8-0 on a Saturday this season. It also happened back in Week 1.

This is the first time since 2012 that the Big 12 has posted two perfect Saturdays of nonconference games in the same season.

Perhaps that is a good omen for the league as it looks to close out nonconference play with four games on the schedule this coming Saturday.

But the really exciting stuff is set to happen in conference this week, with Texas Tech heading to Utah and Arizona State traveling to Baylor for high-stakes games.

There is plenty to cover.

Let’s take some time to analyze everything we have seen up to this point — heading into Week 4 — and project what will happen in the future with a new edition of Big 12 Power Rankings.

Undefeated and ranked in the top 25

1. Texas Tech (3-0): The Red Raiders retain the top spot after a 45-14 victory over Oregon State. I am well aware that Texas Tech hasn’t played a quality team yet, but you can’t argue with a plus-139 scoring margin after three games. Joey McGuire’s team isn’t just winning. It is winning with style points.

2. Iowa State (4-0, 1-0 Big 12): The Cyclones seem to be living a charmed life after a Big 12 officiating crew negated back-to-back scoring plays from Arkansas State over the weekend that could have swung the game. Credit Iowa State for a 4-0 start, but none of its wins have been all that impressive.

3. Utah (3-0): Beating UCLA 43-10 no longer looks as good as it once did for the Utes, but this team has crushed all three of its opponents on the way to an undefeated start. We should learn more about Utah when it hosts Texas Tech in a game with Big 12 championship implications Saturday.

Something to prove

4. Arizona State (2-1): The Sun Devils got terrific games from their star players last weekend. Sam Leavitt threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Raleek Brown rushed for 144 yards and one touchdown. Jordyn Tyson caught six passes for 105 yards and one touchdown. That led to an easy win over Texas State.

5. Kansas (2-1): It won’t come as a surprise if the Jayhawks get off to a fast start in the Big 12. Kansas begins conference play with games against West Virginia, Cincinnati and UCF. Anything less than three wins will be considered a disappointment in Lawrence.

6. Houston (3-0, 1-0 Big 12): Willie Fritz has the Cougars playing his style of football in Year 2. Houston rushed for 209 yards and held Colorado to 96 yards on the ground in a big win on Friday.

7. Arizona (3-0): Are the Wildcats once again a “good football team,” as Keanu Reeves describes them in the classic 1994 movie “Speed”? Maybe. They are on my radar after opening the season with wins over Hawaii, Weber State and Kansas State.

8. Baylor (2-1): Dave Aranda’s team finally played some defense in a 42-7 win over Samford. Next up: a potential game of the week in the Big 12 against Arizona State.

Undefeated but untested

9. BYU (2-0): A trendy new thing to do on social media is poke fun at a power-conference team for losing to a mid-major opponent by pointing out how much the home team paid the visitor to play. I’m not sure I understand it, though. It beats the alternative of agreeing to a weird road game like the one BYU is about to play at East Carolina.

10. TCU (2-0): Boo to early idle weeks. How in the world have three teams from the Big 12 only played in two games thus far?

11. UCF (2-0): The Knights have an opportunity to give the Big 12 a 2-0 record against Bill Belichick this season.

On the rise?

12. West Virginia (2-1): It’s good to see old rivalries like the Border War and Backyard Brawl back on the schedule. West Virginia came from behind to beat Pittsburgh in overtime Saturday, and Morgantown looked like the happiest place on earth afterward.

13. Cincinnati (2-1): Sure, he did it against Northwestern State, but you have to give Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby his flowers after he went 15-of-15 for 253 yards and five touchdowns in a 70-0 victory.

Still searching for first FBS win

14. Kansas State (1-3, 0-1 Big 12): An argument could be made for the Wildcats to occupy the basement of this week’s power rankings. Their only victory came at home against North Dakota, and Avery Johnson had to engineer a game-winning drive just for K-State to win by three. This team could easily be winless. At the same time, all three of their losses have come by single digits. They aren’t a lost cause. Maybe Chris Klieman can get things turned around with two weeks to prepare for UCF.

15. Colorado (1-2, 0-1 Big 12): The Buffaloes also deserve strong consideration for last place after Deion Sanders blamed his team’s loss at Houston on morning practices. What?

16. Oklahoma State (1-1): It’s not going to be easy for the Cowboys to move up unless another team in the conference suffers a 69-3 loss like Oklahoma State did at Oregon. That being said, OSU does have a winnable home game on deck against Tulsa.

Kellis Robinett

The Wichita Eagle

Kellis Robinett covers Kansas State athletics for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star. A winner of more than a dozen national writing awards, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.