Big 12 Power Rankings: House of the Dragon Vibes

Fire and Big XII Officials

Welcome back. Like Texas, these power rankings appear to be questionably back. Maybe some controversial calls along the way.

Some reminders for the new folks, these are totally objective, entirely scientific rankings that are based on a complex, mathematical formula that is proprietary to Smoking Musket. I have been sworn to secrecy on the actual formula, but I can tell you we’ve reweighted the formula and while vibes remain an important part we have spent the last few weeks tweaking it.

Honestly one thing that stands out to me is how much parity there is in the conference. There’s a little bit of separation now with the top 4 teams, but you still really can’t make a statement that anyone is much better or worse than anyone else. All of the teams have a lot to like about them, but also have some appalling failures or something you can point to as a weakness.

1. TCU (6-0, 3-0): We have been skeptical about these Horned Frogs, but like Viserys First of His Name, they are in power for at least another week. A huge test for this crew looms with Kansas State coming to town.
2. Kansas State (5-1, 3-0): So it turns out that Tulane is actually a pretty good football unit. Who knew. Much like Daemon, they took a weird L, but seem to be doing pretty good! Also, just imagine Adrian Martinez going SAY IT.
3. Oklahoma State (5-1, 2-1): For most of their game against TCU, the Pokes looked fully incontrol but somewhere along the third quarter in Ft. Worth, things went awry. Texas heads to Stillwater on Saturday, and along with the aforementioned match in the metroplex, we could really see the title race take some real shape. Real Veleryon vibes tbh.
4. Kansas (5-2, 2-2): Stay with me here. Yeah, Kansas has lost two in a row, including one to a previously moribund Oklahoma but those loses have been without a fully healthy Jalon Daniels, who might as well be Aegon the Conqueror when healthy. The Jayhawks could really use a bye week, but instead have to head to a hungry Baylor that will be looking to atone for their loss in Morgantown.
5. Texas (5-2, 3-1): Otto “Texas” Hightower may have won the game in OT, but by all rights, should have probably lost or had to go to OT versus Iowa State. The fact that this bunch of shitbirds who run our conference continue to help them is asinine. That said, Texas did Find A Way to win, and if they win in Stillwater would have be to considered a solid contender to be in Dallas for the title game.
6. West Virginia (3-3. 1-2): Here at Smoking Musket Dot Com, we have said that if we’re not going to be good, we should at least be fun and let me tell you reader, the Baylor game was fun! The biggest question for me is if this represents a turning point in the season, or if it is just another “step forward to take a step back” that we’ve seen far too often in the Neal Brown era. A win in Lubbock would be absolutely massive. If you’re wondering, I don’t have a good reference here. I guess we’re George, tbh. Our fans always want us to do something and then lol.
7. Texas Tech (3-3, 1-2): Since beating Texas, Tech has dropped two straight road games, both to ranked teams. In fact all three of their losses are on the road and to at-the-time ranked teams.
8. Oklahoma (4-3, 1-3): They got their dragon back and wow, look like they have a pulse. I still think they have a long way to go, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for them to finish 9-3. Real Dany showing up and going “My Reign Has Just Begun” tho.
9. Baylor (3-3, 1-2): The High Septon of the Big XII, Baylor probably feels they’re like one or two plays from being 5-1, 6-0, but in all three games they lost, they made a ton of mistakes. They also were probably a play here or there from losing to Iowa State, but yet they’re still pretty holier than though about it. Again, Baylor does not deserve to exist as a university, let alone have good sports so I wish them poorly.
10. Iowa State (3-4, 0-4):Speaking of the Queen Who Never Was, Iowa State has been so brutally close in every game they’ve played this season against P5 teams. The problem for them is that the bounce has only gone their way once (Iowa). At some point you have to start asking questions about Matt Campbell’s inability to win close games.