Ranking the Big 12, with the incoming Pac-12 football schools, through Week 3
If the Four Corners schools — Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Arizona State — were already part of the Big 12 Conference, where would they be placed in a set of football rankings after Week 3 of the college football season? Deion Sanders has his CU Buffaloes 3-0 heading into Week 4. Utah is also 3-0. Those two schools have plenty of reason to think they can rule the Big 12 once Texas and Oklahoma leave.
It is precisely with that point in mind that we are ranking the Big 12 with the four incoming Pac-12 schools — and without Texas and Oklahoma — during this 2023 college football campaign.
Let’s go to the big board for the latest rankings, reminding you that rankings are based on actual results against opponents with their own results. These rankings do not reflect end-of-season projections or assessments of which team Las Vegas would favor on a neutral field:
ARIZONA STATE
ASU’s only win is an FCS win, and it just got shut out by Fresno State after losing to Oklahoma State. Keep in mind that Oklahoma State just got dominated by South Alabama.
IOWA STATE
Iowa State scored just seven points in a loss to Ohio of the Mid-American Conference. ISU’s only win is over an FCS team. That’s a really bad resume.
HOUSTON
The Cougars have lost to Rice and TCU. Not great, Holgo.
BAYLOR
Baylor is 1-2 with a loss to Utah. Because Utah is a good team, Baylor’s resume isn’t quite as bad as some of the other bottom-rung teams in this rankings list.
TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech’s loss to Oregon is on par with Baylor’s loss to Utah, and Wyoming actually played Texas close for three quarters. Tech is therefore slightly ahead of Baylor.
CINCINNATI
Cincinnati lost at home to Miami of Ohio. Yikes.
OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State got pounded by South Alabama. Double yikes. South Alabama is better than Miami-Ohio, though, so the Pokes are ahead of Cincinnati (but not by much).
ARIZONA
Arizona’s loss is at Mississippi State, which is better than a loss at home to South Alabama. The Wildcats are therefore ahead of Oklahoma State.
KANSAS STATE
Losing at Missouri is not a good loss, but it’s not a terrible one, either.
TCU
The Colorado loss looks better and better.
WEST VIRGINIA
WVU’s loss at Penn State is the best loss of any one-loss team in the Big 12 through three weeks. WVU is probably not as good as several teams already mentioned on this list, but the resume is better than those teams through three games.
KANSAS
KU is unbeaten, but the Jayhawks looked awful in a narrow win over Nevada on Saturday. Kansas won by seven in a game it was favored to win by 27.
UCF
UCF’s road win at Boise State has the Knights in front of Kansas.
BYU
BYU’s road win at Arkansas vaults the Cougars into the top three.
UTAH
It’s true that Utah has played an FCS opponent, but so have BYU and UCF. The Utes’ Florida win looks better after the Gators beat Tennessee. The win at Baylor is solid. Utah is almost No. 1 here.
Almost.
COLORADO
Colorado might look like a weaker team after the Colorado State game, but strictly in terms of actual results, the Buffaloes don’t have an FCS opponent on their slate, and the TCU win looks better after the Frogs beat Houston on the road. That’s good enough for the top spot through three weeks.
