Conference play is underway in Big 12 country as all 14 teams took the field this past weekend. Even though it is early in the year, I thought it would be fun to start things off with a little power ranking each week. Keep in mind, things can change quickly in the Big 12 from week to week, but here are my power ranking after the fourth weekend of action in conference play.
#1 UCF Knights
Are you surprised? Well, you shouldn’t be because the Knights, once again, take the top spot on my power rankings. UCF was able to take two of three from a solid ball club in West Virginia and nearly completed the sweep after a narrow loss on Saturday. At 10-2, they remained on top of the Big 12 standings and are the best team in the conference.
#2 Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas gets another bump up this week after sweeping a red-hot Utah team. I knew that there was going to be a ton of offense this past weekend in Lawrence and it took every bit of their 41 runs scored to do it. Either way, this Kansas squad can knock it out the park.
#3 West Virginia Mountaineers
I decided to move the Mountaineers just a tad down after a tough weekend against a great UCF team. While the bats went cold on Friday and Sunday, they were able to outscore them on Saturday’s high scoring affair. I know this team can pitch but the bats were just too inconsistent against UCF.
#4 Arizona State Sun Devils
The Sun Devils took care of in-state rival Arizona last weekend by taking two of three from the Wildcats. While they won, I simply couldn’t put them above the three teams ahead of them but make no mistake about it, this is a good club.
#5 TCU Horned Frogs
Much like Arizona State, TCU won their series but unfortunately don’t get to move up in the rankings. The Horned Frogs took care of Kansas State despite dropping the opener on Thursday. This is the second weekend in a row where TCU surprised me and after a slow start, they looked much better.
#6 Baylor Bears
Speaking of surprises, how about the Baylor Bears? Two weeks ago, they swept Houston, which wasn’t shocking, but they followed that up with a nice series win against BYU and are now two games above .500 in Big 12 play.
#7 Oklahoma State Cowboys
While I am not completely bought back in on the Cowboys just yet, I was very impressed with the way they handled Cincinnati last weekend. Oklahoma State swept the Bearcats as their offense woke up and with the win, they are back to .500 in conference action.
#8 Utah Utes
The Utes came back to earth after a rough weekend in Lawrence. They had Friday night’s game in the bag but completely blew it after giving up four home runs in the bottom of the ninth. Kansas is a good team, but I thought Utah would at least be able to take a game in the series, but they didn’t have the pitching to pull it off.
#9 Kansas State Wildcats
After a promising opening game against TCU, the Wildcats couldn’t close the deal due to the lack of offense. Kansas State scored just three runs in their final 18 innings against the Frogs. Not ideal.
#10 Texas Tech Red Raiders
How in the world did this team lose a series to Houston? How? It’s the same problem. The bats are there but the pitching is not. This team is now 1-5 in their last six Big 12 games.
#11 Houston Cougars
After a nice series win against Texas Tech, Houston bumps up a few spots to number 11. While they are just 3-9 in conference play, at least they were able to pick up their first series win.
#12 Cincinnati Bearcats
It was a rough weekend for the Bearcats after getting swept by Oklahoma State. Once again, their pitching struggled as they gave up over 30 runs in three games. Yikes.
#13 BYU Cougars
There may not be a team that is more hot and cold than BYU. They lose to West Virginia, beat Oklahoma State, and now they lost to Baylor. I guess you could say that they are consistent at being inconsistent.
#14 Arizona Wildcats
I keep asking myself when will this team wake up? They haven’t yet and that is why they are 3-9 in Big 12 play and have yet to win a series. What in the world is going on in Tucson?
