Big 12 Power Rankings: OSU Stunned By Mountaineers

Sep 28, 2013; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver

(19) celebrates after beating the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

Well now this is interesting.

Oklahoma State, considered to be the clear-cut favorite to win the Big 12, fell to one of the worst teams in the conference, West Virginia, last weekend to completely muddy up the conference picture. Rival Oklahoma and Baylor now take the driver’s seat in the Big 12.

Nobody really had any clue what the state of the conference was before OSU’s loss and now things are even more complicated. What is known is this conference simply isn’t very good. The conference’s best win is OU’s victory against Notre Dame, but the Irish are no longer ranked in either the Associated Press or USA Today polls. In fact, the conference does not have a single win over any of the non-conference teams currently ranked in the top 25 of either of the major polls. This would probably explain why the Big 12 has yet to land a team in the top 10 for the sixth consecutive week.

What this does mean is that the door is now wide open for someone to grab a title. While the Sooners, Longhorns, and Texas Tech lead the conference for the time being at 1-0, all three are immensely beatable teams. Baylor has looked great early, but haven’t played anyone of note. TCU has a great defense, but has quarterback issues and a loss to Tech on their resume. Kansas State lost to the Longhorns on the road, but could be right back in the thick of things with a win in Stillwater this weekend.

Plus, there are more upsets to come. Iowa State has Texas at home on Thursday night, a setting the Cyclones have done damage in recently. Kansas’ running game could be a problem for some Big 12 opponents – remember they almost knocked off both Tech and the Longhorns last season. And West Virginia has already proved they can throw a wrench in other team’s plans.

This is going to be a strange Big 12 season, indeed.

To the power rankings…