Big 12 Conference Power Rankings: Week 5

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Week 4 is in the books for the Big 12 Conference. Most of the teams in the conference played in their first Big 12 game of the season. No. 10 Utah Utes (4-0, 1-0) traveled to No. 20 Oklahoma State (3-1, 0-1) winning 22-19 in a game without their seventh-year quarterback Cam Rising. No. 23 Kansas State (3-1. 0-1) traveled to No. 22 BYU (4-0, 1-0) and got destroyed by the Cougars 38-9. Every team has played a conference game this season except No. 18 Iowa State (3-0) and Arizona (2-1). This weekend only has one ranked matchup with Oklahoma State traveling to Kansas State.

College Football Dawgs' Big 12 power rankings are based on an aggregated weighing of writing staff votes for conference members.

Point Structure

Each first-place vote counted for 16 points, going in descending order. For example, second-place votes counted for 15, third for 14 and so on. Each team's points were added up and the poll was organized to reflect how many points (shown in parentheses) each team received. Here are the results, with summaries of each of the top 5 vote-receiving teams.

No. 1: Utah Utes (4-0, 1-0) (96), No. 2 Last Week

In the Utes' first Big 12 game, they traveled to Stillwater, Okla., and beat Oklahoma State 22-19. The final score did not show how much Utah controlled this game leading 22-3 at one point in the fourth quarter. Freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson did enough in this game throwing for 207 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. The real story for this Utah team is their defense who held a prolific Cowboys offense to 285 total yards and 48 rushing yards. If Utah gets Rising back soon it will be tough to beat this Big 12 newcomer.

Upcoming Game: Arizona Wildcats

No. 2: Iowa State Cyclones (3-0) (89), No. 4 Last Week

No. 18 Iowa State played their final nonconference game on Sept. 21 against Arkansas State (2-2) winning 52-7. This was Iowa State's first game scoring more than 21 points this season. Quarterback Rocco Becht had a solid performance throwing for 204 yards 2 touchdowns an interception, and added on a rushing touchdown.

The Cyclones defense is looking to be the stronger of the units this season averaging only giving up 9.6 points a game.

Upcoming Game: at Houston Cougars

No. 3: BYU Cougars (4-0, 1-0) (79), No. 7 Last Week

Last weekend in Provo, Utah, the No. 22 BYU Cougars blew out No. 23 Kansas State. The BYU defense only gave up 9 points in the game shutting Kansas State out of the end zone. There was a six-minute stretch around halftime that flipped the outcome completely. BYU forced 3 turnovers turning each of those into touchdowns to take a 24-6 lead. The next possession ended all hope for K-State when BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston returned his muffed punt 90 yards for a touchdown. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff had 149 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Upcoming Game: at Baylor Bears

No. 4: UCF Knights (3-0, 1-0) (78), No. 5 Last Week

The UCF Knights had a bye week this past weekend. Quarterback KJ Jefferson has 563 yards passing with 5 touchdowns and 1 interception. Outstanding running back RJ Harvey has 448 yards and 8 touchdowns through three games. The Knights needed a comeback to beat TCU 35-34 the week before on the road.

Upcoming Game: Colorado Buffaloes

No. 5: Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-1, 0-1) (77), No. 3 Last Week

No. 20 Oklahoma State had a rough outing at home against Utah. The Cowboys did not get the running game going and quarterback Alan Bowman had an off game to the point head coach Mike Gundy made the change to back up Garret Rangel before switching back to Bowman and found a spark in the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma State rallied to bring the game to within three points but came up short in the comeback. Defending Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II, since the opening game against South Dakota State, has not had a game where he rushed for more than 50 yards. The Cowboys will need Gordon to be more effective in the run game to stay in the Big 12 title hunt.

Upcoming Game: at Kansas State Wildcats

Big 12 Power Rankings: Nos. 6-16

No. 6: Kansas State Wildcats (3-1, 0-1) (64); last week: No. 1; upcoming game: Oklahoma State Cowboys

No. 7: Arizona Wildcats (2-1) (57); last week: No. 8; upcoming game: at Utah Utes

No. 8: Colorado Buffaloes (3-1, 1-0) (55); last wee: No. 13; upcoming game: at UCF Knights

No. 9: West Virginia Mountaineers (2-2, 1-0) (50); last week: No. 12; upcoming game: Bye

No. 10: Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-1, 1-0) (43); last week: No. 11; upcoming game: Cincinnati Bearcats

No. 11: Baylor Bears (2-2, 0-1) (34); last week: No. 9; upcoming game: BYU Cougars

No. 12: Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1, 0-1); last week: No. 6; upcoming game: Bye

No. 13: TCU Horned Frogs (2-2, 0-1); last week: No. 10; upcoming game: at Kansas

No. 14: Cincinnati Bearcats (3-1, 1-0); last week: No. 15; upcoming game: at Texas Tech Red Raiders

No. 15: Kansas Jayhawks (1-3, 0-1); last week: No. 14; upcoming game: TCU Horned Frogs

No. 16: Houston Cougars (1-3, 0-1); last week: No. 15; upcoming game: Iowa State Cyclones

This week's games feature one ranked matchup between Oklahoma State and K-State. The winner of that game will be well in the thick of the Big 12 Championship race. BYU and Utah are set up for possible trap games after big wins last weekend. Colorado and UCF have the makings for a classic Big 12-shootout with two explosive offenses.