The 2024 college football season is underway and the Big 12 starts a new era with 16 teams in the conference. Week 5 was the first Saturday where the Big 12 Conference was only playing league games, with seven on the schedule.
Here’s a reminder on how I’ve done this for year or for those of you who are new at Heartland College Sports: It’s about how your team looked and how it played, not always about if your team won or lost. And last week’s rankings have little impact on this week’s. That’s what makes this fun. These are also not predictions for the way the season will end, just a Power Rankings based on the most recent performances.
1. BYU Cougars (Last Week: 2)
The BYU Cougars are 5-0 for the third time in five seasons, after reaching that mark only two others times (2001 and 2008) since their undefeated 1984 championship season. BYU was 2-7 in Big 12 play last year after playing as an independent the previous 12 seasons. With their 2-0 start in conference play, they have match last year’s Big 12 win total. And while they needed to hold off Baylor, they did generally dominate for much of that game. What a start in Provo.
2. Kansas State (Last Week: 5)
Kansas State gets back into the win column with a dominant victory over Oklahoma State, which was preceded by a tough loss at BYU. Also, K-State’s big win over Arizona two Fridays ago looks that much more impressive based on what Arizona did vs. Utah on Saturday night. K-State’s only loss to No. 1 BYU looked worse in the final score than it was, so KSU deserves this No. 2 spot this week.
3. Colorado Buffaloes (Last Week: 9)
Well, hello there, Coach Prime!
The Colorado Buffaloes skyrocket up the Power Rankings after going on the road and beating the UCF Knights as a 14-point underdog in this game. Travis Hunter continues to build a Heisman Trophy case after another strong performance on both sides of the ball. The Buffaloes also had more yards per carry than UCF, which if you had told me that would happen before the game, I would have called you crazy.
4. Iowa State Cyclones (Last Week: 4)
Iowa State may be one of the Top 3 teams in the league, but remember that’s now how our Power Rankings are done. ISU looked good against Houston, but it was an ugly first half, where the Cyclones only held a 3-0 lead. The defense was stout, but the offense, not so much. They finally got clicking as the second half progressed. Plus, this is only the first game of the Big 12 season for Iowa State. There’s more to come.
5. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Last Week: 7)
The Red Raiders are a surprising 2-0 to start Big 12 play. It hasn’t always been pretty, but who cares. They defended home field through two weeks, made some key defensive plays on Saturday night vs. Cincinnati and may have the best running back in the Big 12 in Tahj Brooks. At 4-1, there’s plenty to like about how this Texas Tech team is trending.
6. Arizona Wildcats (Last Week: 13)
Arizona kicked off Big 12 play after a bye week with an old Pac-12 foe and dominated Utah. The Wildcats were the more physical team and looked completely different from the team who got blown out in Manhattan two weeks prior. The offense was able to hold its own and the defense kept Isaac Wilson in check. What a season-changing win for the Big 12 and also dramatically changes the outlook across the Big 12.
7. Utah Utes (Last Week: 1)
Now to Utah, who struggled mightily to get the offense going. In fact, the Utes didn’t. The defense didn’t play poorly, necessarily, given how good the Arizona offense can be, but it’s clear this team will have a much tougher time winning the Big 12 without Cam Rising, who has now missed three games in a row. The good news for the Utes is that they have a be week to get him more rest for his injured hand.
8. UCF Knights (Last Week: 3)
Well, who saw that coming on Saturday? The Knights were the toast of the Big 12 after their comeback road win vs. TCU two weeks prior. They had Big Noon Kickoff in Orlando, were coming off a bye week and welcomed in a Colorado team riding high off a huge comeback victory. Everything was on UCF’s side. Then the game happened and they got smacked around in every facet of the game. Back to the drawing board for the Knights.
9. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Last Week: 6)
Oklahoma State‘s fall continues after a brutal performance in Manhattan, where everyone is now questioning this team on both sides of the ball. But the offense is getting much more of the heat, as it should. Alan Bowman has been inconsistent, at best, Ollie Gordon got some early touches on Saturday and then OC Kasey Dunn went away from him. Why? Who knows. But this season could be unraveling quickly in Stillwater.
10. Arizona State Sun Devils (Last Week: 8)
Arizona State enjoyed a bye week and just falls two slots due to what happened around them in the Big 12. The Sun Devils host a reeling Kansas team this Saturday, would could be a prime opportunity for Arizona State to get its first-ever Big 12 win.
11. West Virginia Mountaineers (Last Week: 10)
West Virginia is another team that enjoyed a bye week this past Saturday. They now hit the road to face an Oklahoma State team that is desperate to figure things out. Both teams need this win to be considered a Big 12 contender.
12. Cincinnati Bearcats (Last Week: 12)
The Bearcats aren’t playing poorly, but they had some ill-timed mistakes in their game at Texas Tech in the second half. The Red Raiders scored 14 second-half points off turnovers, which proved costly in a three-point loss. Clean those up and Cincinnati will be a tough out across the Big 12 the rest of the way.
13. Baylor Bears (Last Week: 11)
The positive: Baylor made a comeback vs. BYU. The negative: They were down 21-0 in the blink of an eye in front of their home crowd in the Big 12 opener. That’s embarrassing and inexcusable. Great, they almost came back in the game. But why was this team in that position to begin with? None of it reflects well on head coach Dave Aranda, whose seat keeps warming up.
14. TCU Horned Frogs (Last Week: 14)
TCU got back in the win column, so good for them, but beating one of the two teams ranked below them in the Power Rankings is not something to go wild about. Plus, their blown loss to UCF looks worse after what happened to UCF on Saturday. TCU has a passing game, but the questions remain on running the ball and stopping the run.
15. Kansas Jayhawks (Last week: 15)
Yikes. KU fell to 1-4 as this season is off to a horrible start and no anywhere close to what Jayhawks fans expected during the offseason. Much of the blame continues to fall on the offense, notably the quarterback Jalon Daniels. But the defense isn’t lighting it up either, especially the secondary, which was supposed to be a strength of this team.
16. Houston Cougars (Last Week: 16)
Well, we know this was a rebuild for Willie Fritz. But Houston was just shut out in back-to-back football games for the first time since 1994. That’s where things are at right now. A positive is the defense has done a pretty good job, at least in games vs. Iowa State and Oklahoma. And that’s worth celebrating as a small win. You try to find them where you can right now in Houston.
