Big 12 Football: Power rankings following more chaos in Week 4

Big 12 Football power rankings post-Week 4

2. Oklahoma State Cowboys 2-0 (1-0 Big 12)

The de facto top two teams on this list out of the Big 12 are going to be Oklahoma State and Texas. With Oklahoma State escaping from two upsets at home in Stillwater in each of the last two weekends, they don’t have all that high of a stock heading out of Week 4. Nonetheless they did what the other big Oklahoma school couldn’t, survive the weekend.

Oklahoma State took on West Virginia in their Big 12 opener in Week 4. In the second quarter, it looked like head coach Mike Gundy and the Pokes were going to take control of this game. True freshman quarterback Shane Illingworth couldn’t find a consistent rhythm in the wake of an unreliable ground attack, a few fumbles, and a shaky offensive line.

Illingworth registered just 139 passing yards, no passing touchdown, and one interception. But Gundy and the Pokes really played it conservative here, spreading the ball around multiple running backs. Their leading rusher actually wasn’t redshirt junior Chuba Hubbard, but senior LD Brown. The latter of those two running backs managed 109 rushing yards and one rushing score.

Hubbard wound up sealing the win for Oklahoma State, and registered more than 100 rushing yards and one rushing score himself.

We’ll see if Oklahoma State gets redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Sanders back next week, when they take on Kansas on the road in Lawrence. He missed this week with a lower-body injury he suffered in the Pokes’ win over Tulsa on Sep. 19.