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With the regular season over, how did the Big 12 land in USA TODAY Sports latest 1-133 re-rank of every college football team in the nation?
It’s championship week in college football. But for some teams, it’s the beginning of the offseason, while others wait on their bowl destinations.
It was a unique season in the Big 12. A number of teams met or exceeded expectations in 2023. And several were incredibly disappointing based on preseason expectations.
Let’s take a look at how each of the Big 12 teams ranked in the USA TODAY Sports 1-133 rankings in the preseason compared to how they now rank after the regular season.
How does the Big 12 stack up after the final week of the regular season? Here are this week’s power rankings.
The 2023 college football season has been a thrill ride from start to finish. In its lone season as a 14-team conference, the Big 12 did not disappoint. There were fantastic games throughout the conference schedule that brought us to a dramatic final weekend of the regular season.
The Sooners will look back on this season, knowing they missed an opportunity to reach the Big 12 title game. Their performances against Kansas and Oklahoma State were the difference. And although there was some officiating negligence in the loss to the Cowboys, the Sooners also gave the ball away three times in the loss in Bedlam. Combined, the Sooners turned the ball over six times in their two losses and just seven times total in their other 10 games.
Take care of the football and the Sooners are playing for the Big 12 title this weekend.
Week 13 provided a thrilling overtime game between Oklahoma State and BYU. Iowa State and Kansas State played down to the wire in a wintery Farmageddon. Texas beat Texas Tech by 50 with Brett Yormark in attendance, and West Virginia made good on their promise to the preseason media poll look foolish.
After the final week of the regular season, let’s take a look at this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings.
The Oklahoma Sooners head into the regular season finale still with a shot to make the Big 12 title game. They have to beat TCU on Friday and hope for some good things to go their way, but there’s still a chance. A win over the Horned Frogs would …
The Oklahoma Sooners head into the regular season finale still with a shot to make the Big 12 title game. They have to beat TCU on Friday and hope for some good things to go their way, but there’s still a chance.
A win over the Horned Frogs would give Brent Venables his first 10-win season as a head coach and Oklahoma the bounce-back season they needed heading into the SEC in 2024.
With bowl season right around the corner, the Big 12 has eight teams that have earned bowl eligibility. BYU, UCF, and TCU can all earn bowl bids if they can pick up a win this Saturday.
BYU plays Oklahoma State. A Cougars win and a Sooners win puts Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.
Here’s a look at the latest Big 12 bowl projections from USA TODAY Sports.
With just one week remaining in the regular season, how doe the Big 12 power rankings look after Week 12 action?
The Big 12 will come down to the final week of the regular season to determine who will represent the conference in their title game in Arlington, Texas.
Texas was challenged by Iowa State and Oklahoma State survived a terrible start in Houston. The Kansas State Wildcats trailed in the fourth quarter against Kansas before pulling out a win and the Oklahoma Sooners survived in Provo despite the loss of Dillon Gabriel.
Here’s a look at the Big 12 Power Rankings ahead of the final week of the regular season.
According to the latest Big 12 bowl projections, the Oklahoma Sooners take on the Utah Utes.
The final two weeks of the regular season are upon us. It’s crunch time for the conference title and College Football Playoff contenders. While the playoff is out of reach for the Sooners, they still have an outside shot at a Big 12 title game berth.
They’ll need to take care of business against BYU and TCU over the next nine days. But if the Sooners finish strongly and get a little help, one final trip to Arlington is certainly in the cards.
But at the moment, they’re on the outside looking in, and that affects where they’re heading in USA TODAY Sports’ latest bowl projections.
Let’s take a look at where the Big 12’s projected postseason landing spots.
Oklahoma’s win over West Virginia and Oklahoma State’s loss to UCF shook up this week’s Big 12 power rankings.
There are just two weeks left in the regular season, and there’s still a lot to sort out. Texas and Oklahoma State currently hold the top two spots in the Big 12 standings, but Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Iowa State are lurking.
There’s no time for anyone to slip up like Oklahoma State did this past weekend in Orlando.
The UCF Knights’ dominating 45-3 win over the Cowboys was shocking after Oklahoma State knocked off Oklahoma in Bedlam.
As for the Sooners, they responded to their two-game losing streak with authority, putting together arguably their best game of the season in their 59-20 win over West Virginia.
In the win, the Sooners looked like one of the best teams in the Big 12. That combined with the Cowboys’ loss, there’s been a shakeup in this week’s Big 12 power rankings.
The Oklahoma Sooners got a bump in the latest US LBM Coaches poll after their 59-20 win over West Virginia.
The Oklahoma Sooners got back on the winning side of things in their 59-20 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers. It was a performance that resembled the Sooners team we saw leading into the bye week that beat Iowa State by 30 and pulled out an upset win over the Texas Longhorns.
With their win, the Sooners earned a bump back into the top 15 in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll. They’re now the second highest-rated team in the Big 12 after Oklahoma State and Kansas lost this weekend.
Oklahoma moved up three spots this week after their 29-point win. With a trip to Provo and a home date against TCU, there’s a chance the Sooners could finish inside the top 10 if they can take care of business.
Here’s a look at the top 15 of the US LBM Coaches Poll and where the Oklahoma Sooners stand.
The Oklahoma Sooners played one of their better games of the season in their win over West Virginia and here are our takeaways from the game.
In Saturday’s 59-20 win over West Virginia, the Sooners were able to exorcise their demons from the last two weeks.
The offense was explosive through the air and on the ground. They attacked down the field as opposed to working at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Defensively, they looked like a better tackling team this week than either of the previous two weeks.
There are always going to be things to clean up from a game, but when you win 59-20, a lot of things went really right for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Here are this week’s takeaways from the game.
Dillon Gabriel, Drake Stoops, and the Oklahoma Sooners had huge days in their win over West Virginia, and here’s how social media reacted.
That’s what they call a palate cleanser.
After two weeks of poor execution, unforced errors, untimely penalties, poor play calling, and poor officiating, that’s just what the Oklahoma Sooners needed.
The Sooners thoroughly dominated West Virginia. Sure, the Mountaineers scored 20 points, but this is a team that was averaging 37.75 points per game over their last four games. WVU had the No. 7 rushing attack. And even though they gave up some runs, the Sooners’ defense put them in 2nd and 3rd and long situations enough to be able to force Garrett Greene to beat them with his arm.
And we saw how poorly that worked out for West Virginia.
As well as the defense played, it was the Oklahoma Sooners offense that was the story. Dillon Gabriel passed Colt Brennan for 10th all-time in career passing yards and then set a new Oklahoma record for touchdowns in a game with eight.
Drake Stoops followed up his career day in Bedlam with another career day in Oklahoma’s win.
The offense was back on track, didn’t turn the ball over, and the defense played sound football and the Sooners still have Big 12 title aspirations, even if they do need a lot of help to get there.
It was a dominating win for the Sooners and here’s how social media reacted.
Sooners Wire Staff Predictions for Oklahoma’s matchup with the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Even in their two-game losing streak, the Oklahoma Sooners have shown signs of an improved football team. Obviously, it hasn’t been perfect, and there are things they have to improve, but there are encouraging signs.
But those encouraging signs won’t mean as much if the Sooners can’t correct the issues that have plagued them in recent weeks.
Self-inflicted wounds hurt the Sooners in tight games. If they avoid untimely penalties and protect the football better, they’ll put themselves in a position to snap their two-game skid.
The Oklahoma Sooners played a good defensive game a year ago in Morgantown, but struggled to contain Garrett Greene after he replaced J.T. Daniels at quarterback. It was Green’s ability to run the football that killed the Sooners, especially late in the game after West Virginia ran a ton of plays and kept a tired Sooners’ defense on the field for 93 plays.
Better depth, in particular at linebacker should allow their defensive guys to stay fresh as the Mountaineers attempt to slow the pace again and run a ton of plays.
But who wins the game? Let’s take a look at this week’s staff predictions.
