Big 12 power rankings: Kansas State football keeps No. 1; Iowa State, Texas Tech move up

There wasn’t a lot of must-see football in the Big 12 last weekend. Three of the top four in last week’s power rankings — Kansas State, Utah and Brigham Young — had open dates. Among the notable outcomes, Texas Tech football pulled an upset at Arizona, West Virginia extended Oklahoma State’s swoon, Arizona State won a thriller against Kansas and Iowa State remained one of two unbeaten teams left in the Big 12.

Nearly half the conference could make a claim for being No. 1, but we’re sticking with Kansas State atop this week’s power rankings:

1. Kansas State (4-1, 1-1 in Big 12)

Last week: 1

This week: at Colorado

What to know: Chris Klieman, good coach, right? How have his teams lost four in a row coming off open dates?

2. Iowa State (5-0, 2-0)

Last week: 5

This week: at West Virginia

What to know: Transfer running back Jaylon Jackson, a fifth-year senior, has the highest rushing outputs of his college career in the past two weeks: 96 yards at Houston, 107 against Baylor.

More: Iowa State football team stays undefeated and improves to 5-0 with win over Baylor

3. Utah (4-1, 1-1)

Last week: 3

This week: Friday at Arizona State

What to know: One of these weeks, Cam Rising’s going to warm up and actually play.

4. Brigham Young (5-0, 2-0)

Last week: 4

This week: Arizona

What to know: Cougars intend to celebrate 40th anniversary of their national championship team by not losing any games.

5. Texas Tech (5-1, 3-0)

Last week: 7

This week: Idle

What to know: Tech has won seven games in a row decided by eight points or fewer. How long can that last?

6. Arizona (3-2, 1-1)

Last week: 2

This week: at Brigham Young

What to know: Noah Fifita has three touchdown passes in four games after throwing 29 in a 10-game stretch dating to last season.

7. Colorado (4-1, 2-0)

Last week: 8

This week: Kansas State

What to know: Travis Hunter’s No. 1 and Shedeur Sanders No. 12 and the top quarterback on Mel Kiper Jr.’s newest 2025 NFL draft big board.

8. West Virginia (3-2, 2-0)

Last week: 10

This week: Iowa State

What to know: WVU didn’t fire Neal Brown when a lot of people wanted to see it, and now the Mountaineers are 13-6 since Thanksgiving weekend 2022.

9. Central Florida (3-2, 1-1)

Last week: 9

This week: Cincinnati

What to know: Nothing says not quite ready for power-conference football like not even coming close against a Billy Napier team.

10. Oklahoma State (3-3, 0-3)

Last week: 6

This week: Idle

What to know: Is there a quarterback controversy brewing in Stillwater? Does it even matter?

More: Oklahoma State football suffers disastrous loss to West Virginia | 5 takeaways

11. Cincinnati (3-2, 1-1)

Last week: 13

This week: at Central Florida

What to know: Cincinnati-UCF should be on the AAC Classic Network.

12. Arizona State (4-1, 1-1)

Last week: 14

This week: Friday vs. Utah

What to know: Sizzling at the start in Tempe: 107 degrees. Sizzling at the end: Five lead changes in the fourth quarter of ASU’s 35-31 win against Kansas.

More: Cam Skattebo fuels Arizona State’s ground game in Big 12 victory over Kansas

13. Kansas (1-5, 0-3)

Last week: 12

This week: Idle

What to know: For the misery index, we present the Jayhawks, losers of five straight, four by six points or less.

More: Grading Kansas football on its 35-31 loss against Arizona State: Losing streak continues

14. Baylor (2-4, 0-3)

Last week: 15

This week: Idle

What to know: Dave Aranda is the Bears‘ second coming of Kevin Steele. Good at calling defenses, bad at coaching Baylor.

15. Houston (2-4, 1-2)

Last week: 16

This week: Idle

What to know: Cougars end their six-week run at the bottom.

16. TCU (3-3, 1-2)

Last week: 11

This week: Idle

What to know: Diagnosing the Horned Frogs’ hard fall isn’t rocket science. Only three players who started in the national championship game less than two years ago started in TCU’s loss to Houston.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Big 12 power rankings: Kansas State keeps No. 1; ISU, Texas Tech move up