The 2024 college football season is nearly wrapped up after another chaotic week of Big 12 football. The conference is now trying to make sense of its tiebreaker rules ahead of the final week of the regular season. But in Week 13, we had upsets, surprises and more in the second-to-last game of the season for all 16 teams in the conference.
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 performances by a team to date.
1. Kansas Jayhawks (Last Week: 2)
Hey, the Kansas Jayhawks did something no other college football team has done ever, be a losing team with three-straight wins over AP Top 25 teams. They’re also the only Big 12 team to do that this season. In fact, no other Big 12 teams has back-to-back ranked wins this year. Kansas might be the most dangerous team in the Big 12 right now, and they still need a win on Saturday to get to a bowl game.
Related: All 13 ESPN Experts Picked the Same Big 12 Team to Reach the College Football Playoff
2. Arizona State Sun Devils (Last Week: 4)
Arizona State’s magical season continued with a field storming (2x) on Saturday after beating BYU to take control of the Big 12 Championship Race. Cam Skattebo may be the most underappreciated player in the Big 12, while Sam Leavitt keeps getting better at quarterback. This team is getting more confident by the week, which is scary for their opponents.
3. Baylor Bears (Last Week: 3)
The Baylor Bears remain one of the hottest teams in the country with a five-game winning streak entering Week 14. And no one is really talking about them, but we have had them near the top of our Power Rankings the last few weeks. Baylor vs. Kansas might be the best game of the weekend, but it has very little meaning.
4. Colorado Buffaloes (Last Week: 1)
Colorado was finally picked off, and as Deion Sanders alluded to, the guys were feeling themselves a little too much this week. As a result, Kansas made them pay. Their run defense was abysmal, and it was a surprise since it had been one of the best since conference play began. Now they need to beat Oklahoma State and get a lot of help to reach Arlington.
Related: Big 12 Football Week 13: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
5. Iowa State Cyclones (Last Week: 6)
Iowa State played with fire on the road at Utah, but came back thanks to Rocco Becht’s leadership on the final drive, along with some trickery that worked at the end of the game. The special teams were not special, which has been an issue on-and-off during Campbell’s tenure, but Iowa State is still in a great position to make the Big 12 Championship Game.
6. Kansas State Wildcats (Last Week: 8)
The Kansas State Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak with a dominant win over Cincinnati. Avery Johnson had his best rushing game in two months, and that made him look much more comfortable in the passing game. Speaking of guys who don’t get enough attention: D.J. Giddens. K-State fans love him, but the casual college football fan likely doesn’t, but should.
Related: Chris Klieman Believes This Coaching Move Helped His Offense vs. Cincinnati
7. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Last Week: 7)
Texas Tech hung on for dear life in an old-school Big 12 shootout in Stillwater between two teams who keep growing their budding rivalry. Say what you want about Joey McGuire, but he still has this team technically in contention for a Big 12 title and has three-straight winning seasons to start his career in Lubbock.
8. BYU Cougars (Last Week: 5)
BYU’s free fall continues. I know what the box score shows, but Arizona State ran the Cougars out of the building on Saturday in the first half. Their passing game woke up in the second half and did its best to try and make a comeback, but it wasn’t enough. Now, after a 9-0 start, BYU needs help to reach Arlington.
9. TCU Horned Frogs (Last Week: 9)
TCU blew the doors off Arizona on Saturday afternoon. The Horned Frogs offense was humming, as we expected, but it was the defense that actually had one of its better performances, especially along the line. Overall, Sonny Dykes has bounced back from last year’s 5-7 season and appears to have things trending back in the right direction.
10. West Virginia Mountaineers (Last Week: 11)
West Virginia beat UCF and is still in contention for a Big 12 Championship appearance. It’s a super-unlikely shot, but they do have a shot. But of course the way Neal Brown is talked about would suggest they’re 3-8, not 6-5. I do wonder if they didn’t have Penn State and/or Pitt, and played an easy non-con, is WVU 7-4 or 8-3, and is this season viewed differently? I don’t know for sure, but it’s worth considering and thinking about.
11. Houston Cougars (Last Week: 10)
Houston’s defense continues to be the stronger side of the ball, as was on display on Saturday vs. Baylor. But this program needs to find a quarterback ASAP. I don’t think the quarterback is on the roster. Once Willie Fritz finds that, this program will take the next step.
Related: Five Biggest Takeaways From Week 13 of the Big 12 Football Season
12. Cincinnati Bearcats (Last Week: 8)
Cincinnati hit the hard part of its schedule and now the program has lost four in a row, with possibly five losses in a row to end the season if they can’t beat TCU. Also, if they lose to TCU, they will miss a bowl game after a 5-2 start to the season. That would be a tough way for Year 2 under Scott Satterfield to end. But they aren’t exceptional at anything, and mediocre at everything.
13. UCF Knights (Last Week: 13)
UCF went to Morgantown and was never really in this game. RJ Harvey led a potent rushing attack, but as has been the case too often, UCF couldn’t stop anything on the ground. They’re now missing a bowl game for a second-straight year in the Big 12. But Gus Malzahn insists he’s not retiring or going anywhere.
14. Utah Utes (Last Week: 15)
Well, Utah deserves credit for leading Iowa State late in the game. Hence why I moved them up one slot. But this team’s disastrous and forgettable season continued as they fell to 1-7 in the conference. Injuries are killing this team and the off-season can’t come soon enough.
15. Arizona Wildcats (Last Week: 14)
Arizona’s offensive line and defense stink. Brent Brennan stinks. He could set this program back half a decade, if they keep getting worse.
16. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Last Week: 16)
Oklahoma State remains the only winless team in Big 12 play. Who would’ve seen this coming back in August? Not me. Not in a million years. Mike Gundy also insists he’s not retiring. But if nothing else, he really needs to hit the reset button.
