Big 12 (Lack of) Power Poll: Week 4
This week in The Thirsty Beagle Big 12 (Lack of) Power Poll: Pondering the future for Kansas State (it’s definitely not good), OSU (it’s probably not good), and Iowa State (it’ll only be good if they can play North Dakota State three more times this year). On to the poll!
1. Baylor (2-1, beat Northwestern State 68-13; next, vs. Kent State) Even though Baylor won handily to improve to 2-1 — and let’s all admit it, having more wins than losses is no small shakes for the Bears – the loss of starting quarterback Robert Griffin for the year puts them in a hole the rest of the season. And I’m talking about a different hole than the proverbial football hole they’re usually in.
2. Colorado (1-2, bye; next, at West Virginia) Colorado holding steady with the second best (lack of) power rating in the poll. The Thirsty Beagle feels a big run of losses coming on for the Buffs.
3. Kansas State (2-2, beat Tennessee Tech 49-7; next, at Iowa State) Kansas State flexed its not so significant muscles against Tennessee Technical Non-Athletic Community College. Now they must go into the snake pit that is Ames, Iowa. Wait, did I say snake pit? I meant corn field. What? Not as intimidating?
4. Iowa State (3-1, beat Army 31-10; next, vs. Kansas State) Somehow Iowa State is 3-1, surpassing last season’s win total. Warm up the tractors and the convertibles, we’re parading through Ames tonight, baby! Now if the Cyclones can find a way to get North Dakota State, Kent State and Army on their schedule again this year, bowl eligibility, here we come!
5. Texas A&M (3-0, beat UAB 56-19; next, vs. Arkansas) Yes, A&M is undefeated. But when the most remarkable thing about the first three weeks of your football season is some guy apparently throwing a basketball through a hoop from the top deck of the football stadium, it doesn’t say much for your football team.
6. Texas Tech (2-2, lost to Houston 29-28; next, vs. New Mexico) Texas Tech vs. unranked teams: 2-0. Texas Tech vs. ranked teams: 0-2. I know Tech’s losses have come on the road to decent teams, but the Red Raiders looked rather unremarkable on offense and defense against Houston. Ranked highly last week, they walk the plank in the poll this time around.
7. Missouri (4-0, beat Nevada 31-21; next, bye) Speaking of unremarkable, Tigers looked average at best against Nevada. Their signature win against Illinois (which was shut out 30-0 by Ohio State on Saturday) is looking less and less impressive as the weeks go by. Next three games are against ranked teams, so they’ll have a shot to prove themselves.
8. Oklahoma State (3-1, beat Grambling State 56-6; next, bye) Beating Grambling handily was good. And while the offensive line seemed a little more in sync, there’s trouble on the horizon. Two fumbles and two interceptions against the not-necessarily-vaunted Grambling defense? Nine penalties? There were a lot of new players out there, but when is this team going to put it together? Are they ever going to put it together? Even more disturbing, OSU had nine rushes for only 1 yard. Worse, they had eight rushes for no gain or negative yardage. That’s more than a third of their runs for 1 yard or less. You gotta be gaining at least three or four yards every time you run it against a team like Grambling! A team with a real defensive line (read: Texas, OU) will make things miserable for the Cowboys.
9. Oklahoma (2-1, bye; next, at Miami) After Miami looked more like the P-U, what was a marquee matchup between the Hurricanes and the Sooners doesn’t look quite as good. In fact, Miami went from being in the top 10 to being a seven-point underdog on their own field. Ouch.
10. Nebraska (3-1, beat Louisiana-Lafayette 55-0; next, bye) OK, I know what you’re about ask, and I can tell you that yes, that’s the same Louisiana-Lafayette that beat Kansas State two week ago. I would usually say something witty about Nebraska here, you know, something about my extreme fondness for the Bill Callahan era. But let’s ponder for a second how terrible Kansas State is going to be this year! They lost to a team that got destroyed 55-0 by Nebraska! Did Kansas State send their championship intramural flag football team to represent the school at that game? WTH?!
11. Kansas (4-0, beat Southern Miss 35-28; next, bye) Kansas looking good at 4-0, but let’s look inside the numbers: Jayhawks have given up 3, 7, 16 and 28 points in the first four weeks. At that pace of growth, they’ll allow 212 points to Missouri in their regular-season finale.
12. Texas (4-0, beat UTEP 64-7; next, bye) Longhorns played all right against UTEP. I mean, they only had a 639-53 advantage in total yardage. They only had 8.2 yards per pass and a paltry 7.2 yards per rush. They only scored 47 points in the first half alone. Texas clearly hasn’t shown they’re a team to be reckoned with.
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