Big 12 Power Rankings: Texas Beats Oklahoma, Big 12 Up In The Air
By Ben Nielsen
Sep 28, 2013; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers linebacker Jared Barber (33) celebrates after making a defensive stop against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
8. West Virginia Mountaineers
Record: 3-3 (1-2)
Previous Ranking: 8
Last Week: Bye
This Week: vs. #16 Texas Tech
Next Week: at Kansas State
Here’s the good news for the Mountaineers: Oklahoma, Baylor, and Oklahoma State are all off the schedule now, and winnable games against TCU, Kansas, and Iowa State are still on their schedule. So can the Mountaineers return to bowl season?
Unless there was a light switch that went off during the bye week for the Mountaineers offense, WVU is going to have to win three games with their defense. WVU is tied with TCU for the Big 12 lead in forced turnovers and, when eliminating the Baylor game, is one of the better passing defenses in the conference.
This is where Saturday’s game against Texas Tech becomes very intriguing. Tech has lot of issues with turnovers and hasn’t had a consistent rushing attack all season. They’ll also have a 1,500 mile flight and bus ride to get to Morgantown, something that has tripped up other Big 12 schools who were experiencing the trip for the first time. There may be enough ingredients in this matchup for the upset, which completely changes the way the Kansas, Iowa State and TCU games are viewed.
There’s a lot left to play for in Morgantown.