Week 2 Big 12 Conference football power rankings

One week is in the books, and the Big 12 conference picture is becoming clearer.

Only one week in, it's too soon to be making final declarations for these teams, but every game teaches us a bit more about the state of each program and what we could expect for the remainder of the season.

While we avoid reaching for outrageous claims surrounding any team, player, or coach, we do have some major takeaways after the opening week's mathups.

First of all, Utah is looking very strong out of the gates. A win against SUU doesn't earn a Big 12 championship, but the defense was dominant and the offense was a freight train behind Cam Rising. The Utes are clearly gunning for that playoff auto-bid position, and it's hard to see any other team overcoming them as we see it now.

Other contenders K-State and Kansas also looked very strong, while OK State struggled to create real separation against the top-rated FCS program in South Dakota State. Most importantly, each of these teams found a way to win, and still looked like they could challenge Utah for the top prize.

Not all is well in the Big 12, however, as several teams faced serious FCS scares like Colorado and Texas Tech, while Houston and West Virginia were on the receiving ends of blowout defeats at the hands of Penn State and UNLV. These teams will need to turn themselves around quickly or they may find themselves hokey-pokey-ed out of conference championship contention.

Biggest Risers

BYU: The Cougars handled business against a ranked FCS opponent in Southern Illinois. After a slow start to the first half--only leading 17-6--head coach Kalani Sitake's team exploded in the second half to finish the night with a final score of 41-13. BYU didn't look amazing, but they rose through the power rankings mostly due to looking strong in contrast to their peers, who shrank once the lights came on.

Arizona State: Sparky looked strong in their opening battle with Wyoming, as the Sun Devils branded the Cowpokes with a big fat 48-7 final score. Expectations for this team are low for the rest of the season, but they looked strong against a real FBS-level program, which is something their in-state rival couldn't say for their season kickoff.

Biggest Fallers

Colorado: Coach Prime's Buffaloes have a lot of work to do if they want to overcome last season's final record of 4-8. Shadeur Sanders and Travis Hunter looked spectacular in their week one clash with the North Dakota State Bison, but the supporting cast failed to match their stars' pace. In the end, the Buffs were only a few yards away from a hail mary killing blow as time expired, and they'll need to pick up the slack if they hope to make an impression on their new conference this year.

Texas Tech: Yikes, yikes, yikes. Have you ever heard of Abilene Christian? Apparently the Red Raiders hadn't either, as they needed overtime to defeat their FCS foe by a single point. Last season's overtime loss against Wyoming was an early indicator that Texas Tech wasn't ready to compete in the Big 12, and I'm starting to have flashbacks.

Iowa State: There's not much to say about Iowa State's opening performance other than how underwhelming they played. Against North Dakota, the Cyclones' defense held up their end of the bargain and kept their opponent to 3 points, but the offense was incapable of putting their opposition into the ground, as they no doubt expected to. It's not time to panic, as the game's result was never really in question, but keep an eye on Iowa State moving forward.

Week 2 Big 12 Football Power Rankings

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