Big 12 Power Rankings: Baylor’s Offense Proves Ready for Big 12 Schedule

Oct 5, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; The West Virginia Mountaineers mascot greets some young Baylor Bears before the game at Floyd Casey Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

8. West Virginia Mountaineers

Record: 3-3 (1-2)

Previous Ranking: 7

Last Week: Baylor 73, West Virginia 42

This Week: Bye

Next Week: vs. Texas Tech

Baylor was out to prove something, and West Virginia was the unfortunate team that had to be made example of by the Bears. And with Texas Tech coming to town, another blow out loss may be on the way.

The good news for West Virginia is the backend of their schedule features four very winnable games – at TCU, vs Texas, at Kansas, and home to Iowa State. For different reasons, Texas and TCU are very flawed teams. Catch a few breaks with turnovers and West Virginia could very easily pull off a Oklahoma State-style victory.

Replacing Tevon Austin, Stedman Bailey, and Geno Smith was never going to be easy, and most Mountaineer fans knew that coming in. What wasn’t anticipated were the injuries, which has made it really hard top get the offense up to speed.

Good news is West Virginia has a decent recruiting class building up for them, including a four-star quarterback in William Crest. Revamping the program to deal with a Big 12 style of play isn’t going to be easy, but they have the basics of a foundation to do it. It won’t be long before West Virginia becomes a player in the Big 12.