Big 12 Power Rankings: Will Rogers would be so proud
Too bad famous Oklahoma-born humorist Will Rogers isn’t around to see what's become of his home state teams. He’d surely have a humorously defensive quip about them because, after 11 weeks of the season, guess what we’ve discovered in the Big 12? Defense does in fact win championships.
Or at least it looks that way now.
While high-octane machines Baylor and TCU puttered last weekend, the conference's two best defensive teams now top the Big 12 Power Rankings. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma have ascended to the catbird seats by scoring a lot of points, but more importantly, they play the best defense in the conference as the top two scoring defenses.
For each of the teams from the Sooner State - or the Cowboy State, depending where you stand - it was their defenses that led them to victories last weekend, as the Sooners won a biggie at Baylor 44-34 and the Cowboys escaped Iowa State 35-31. Granted, giving up 34 and 31 points doesn’t sound so hot, but look inside the numbers.
After digging themselves into a 24-7 hole in the game's first 21 minutes, the Cowboy defense finally put their nose to the grindstone and clamped down on ISU. As the Pokes’ offense was making its comeback, the defense held the Cyclones scoreless on six of their last seven possessions and 104 second-half yards.
The Sooner defense was downright astounding, considering it was going up against Baylor’s unstoppable force. Yet, they held the Bears to 416 total yards, 249 yards below their average of 665. Add a little magic from quarterback Baker Mayfield, and the Big Red found itself back in the title talk with a 10-point win.
“The battles vs. their offensive line were the main point of the game,” OU coach Bob Stoops said about his defense. “Baylor will destroy you running the football if you let them but we controlled them after that first quarter. I believe they had 83 yards in first quarter and 76 yards the next three quarters. That was a major part of the game.”
Now the big question: with the Cowboys hosting Baylor, and the Sooners hosting TCU on Saturday, what do they have for an encore?
The Big 12 Power Rankings
1. Oklahoma State (last week: 2)
The Pokes overcome a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to down ISU. Now, home games vs. Baylor and Oklahoma are all that stand in the way of a Final Four appearance.
2. Oklahoma (last week: 3)
Two interesting notes from the win at Baylor: 1) OU is now 20-9 in games where ESPN’s "GameDay" was on hand. And 2) Sterling Shepard finished with 14 catches, one shy of the school record.
3. Baylor (last week: 1)
The struggle is real. Last week, it was a narrow escape of Kansas State. This week, it was a solid loss to OU on the national stage. Corey Coleman can’t do it all himself.
4. TCU (last week: 4)
The Frogs are in dire straights, having Josh Doctson and Trevone Boykin injured and barely beating Kansas. A ridiculous total of 23 Horned Frogs have fallen to injury this season.
5. West Virginia (last week: 5)
Ballhawks. The Neers defense collected five Texas turnovers, including Jared Barber’s 42-yard scoop-and-score. Wendell Smallwood cracked the 1,000-yard mark with his career-high 165 yards rushing.
6. Texas Tech (last week: 6)
In the 59-44 win vs. Kansas State, the Raiders gained nearly 300 yards in the first quarter alone, staking themselves to a 28-7 lead as DeAndre Washington finished with 252 yards rushing.
7. Kansas State (last week: 7)
Oof. The Wildcats will have to win out vs. Iowa State, Kansas, and West Virginia just to become bowl eligible and get those extra few weeks of practice they could certainly use.
8. Iowa State (last week: 8)
Nearly giant killers again, the gut-punch loss to Oklahoma State means the Cyclones will sit at home in the postseason for the third straight year.
9. Texas (last week: 9)
In true road games this year, the Longhorns have been outscored 150-30. They lost five turnovers in the game at WVU after losing just seven turnovers - total - this year.
10. Kansas (last week: 10)
KU nearly pulled a stunner, falling 23-17 at TCU. Had they won, it would’ve been the first time in the modern era an underdog of 46 points would've won.