Big 12 Power Rankings: Conference Charges Towards Wild Finish

Oct 19, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones running back

(32) is stopped by Baylor Bears linebacker

(5) during the second half at Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears defeated the Cyclones 71-7. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

10. Iowa State Cyclones

Record: 1-5 (0-3)

Previous Ranking: 10

Last Week: Baylor 71, ISU 7

This Week: vs #19 Oklahoma State

Next Week: at Kansas State

Iowa State was down 64-0 until Grant Rohach threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to DeVondrick Nealy with 47 seconds left in the game. All the Cyclones had to do after that was kick the ball out-of-bounds and they would have been only the second team all season to hold Baylor to under 69 points.

So, of course, Corey Coleman returns the ensuing kickoff – that obviously did not go out-of-bounds – 97 yards for a touchdown.

Losing to Baylor at Waco should probably have been expected, but you’d like to avoid getting crushed by 64 points. Fortunately for the Cyclones the part of their schedule loaded with high scoring offenses is about to end after this week. None of their remaining opponents after OSU have explosive offenses, which should mean ISU has a shot to start pulling out some of these games.

Most notably, ISU still has Kansas, West Virginia, and TCU still left on their schedule. All of those are winnable games for the Cyclones and should allow them to end the season on a high note.