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Big 12 football power rankings: Texas is to Logan Paul as Texas Tech is to CM Punk

nathan giese, lubbock avalanche-journal
·3 min read

Welcome to a very special and final edition of the 2023 Big 12 football power rankings that may be the greatest to date.

In honor of the conference's affiliation with the WWE for this week's championship game, we're finding every Big 12 team's pro-wrestling equivalent for how their 2023 season went. Let's start with our two participants in the Big 12 championship game: the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma State Cowboys.

1. Texas (11-1, 8-1)

Last week: 1 (Big 12 championship participant)

WWE equivalent: Logan Paul. Not exactly the most beloved outside of their own circle, but even their critics have to admit they're pretty good at this thing, whether they like it or not.

2. Oklahoma State (9-3, 7-2)

Last week: 3 (Big 12 championship participant)

WWE equivalent: Seth Rollins. Old guard carrying the flag for those who are remaining loyal to the Big 12, even with some shinier teams coming and going this summer.

3. Oklahoma (10-2, 7-2)

Last week: 2

WWE equivalent: Rhea Ripley. Involved in pretty much everything throughout the year. Strong start met by a stalling-out period left a good team stuck in neutral.

4. Iowa State (7-5, 6-3)

Last week: 8

WWE equivalent: Chad Gable. Quietly went about their business before showing they were sneakily consistent in a sea of hit-and-miss.

5. West Virginia (8-4, 6-3)

Last week: 5

What to know: Maxxine Dupri. Nobody expected anything of the Mountaineers but darn it if they didn't surpass our wildest imaginations.

6. Kansas State (8-4, 6-3)

Last week: 4

WWE equivalent: Drew McIntyre. Couldn't replicate their previous championship experience and have to watch wondering what could have been.

7. Kansas (8-4, 5-4)

Last week: 7

WWE equivalent: Cody Rhodes. Unable to finish the story that got fans excited and could point to a few different things that played a factor into that.

8. Texas Tech (6-6, 5-4)

Last week: 6

WWE equivalent: CM Punk. Generated the headlines and the hype, couldn't hold up when pressed to the fire and the commissioner helped rankle some feathers along the way.

9. UCF (6-6, 3-6)

Last week: 10

WWE equivalent: Ricochet. Lot of flashy offense that was fun to watch, got the bowl game but couldn't hang with the stiffer teams more than once.

10. TCU (5-7, 3-6)

Last week: 9

WWE equivalent: Natalya. Lived on past accomplishments and tried to skate by before people realized this team just wasn't very good.

11. Houston (4-8, 2-7)

Last week: 12

WWE equivalent: Karrion Kross. Had the look and the scheme when brought into the fold and it just didn't pan out. Try again later.

12. BYU (5-7, 2-7)

Last week: 11

WWE equivalent: Shinsuke Nakamura. Even when it seemed possible, nobody was really buying the Cougars getting the elusive sixth win to get to a bowl game, try as they might.

13. Baylor (3-9, 2-7)

Last week: 13

WWE equivalent: Raquel Rodriguez. Said all the right things but ultimately too much just-happy-to-be-here vibes that weren't good enough to actually win.

14. Cincinnati (3-9, 1-8)

Last week: 14

WWE equivalent: Cedric Alexander. Had a spotlight on them for a while a few years ago, was nowhere to be found when split off from their old conference.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Big 12 football power rankings: CM Punk, Logan Paul and WWE comparisons