Week 8 brought chaos to the Big 12, with several surprising upsets shaking up the conference title race and the College Football Playoff berths. Our power rankings also saw plenty of movement.
Utah is back on top after a hard-fought 21-13 win over Houston. The Utes get the top spot largely because UCF upset an unbeaten BYU on the road. Texas Tech also suffered an upset loss at Cincinnati despite entering the weekend as one of the Big 12's top CFP contenders.
Oklahoma State continued its climb with a dominant 57-24 win over Colorado, scoring 37 unanswered points. The conference has a clear top six, extended down to the Arizona Wildcats, who blew out Iowa State 39-3 and are now ranked. West Virginia and Kansas also picked up important wins, with the Jayhawks
recording their first Big 12 win.
Colorado dropped back to last in the rankings after its fifth straight loss and is now the only Big 12 team without a conference win.
Here's how all 16 Big 12 teams stack up following an unpredictable Week 8.
Updated Big 12 football power rankings after Week 8
- Utah Utes (21-13 win vs. Houston) -- Up 1
- BYU Cougars (39-31 loss at UCF) -- Down 1
- Houston Cougars (21-13 loss at Utah) -- No change
- Oklahoma State (57-24 win vs. Colorado) -- Up 1
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (37-24 loss at Cincinnati) -- No change
- Arizona Wildcats (39-3 win vs. Iowa State) -- No change
- Cincinnati Bearcats (37-24 win vs. Texas Tech) -- Up 2
- West Virginia (24-20 win at TCU) -- Up 2
- Baylor Bears (25-24 loss at Kansas) -- Down 1
- UCF (39-31 win vs. BYU) -- Up 3
- Arizona State (28-17 win vs. Kansas State) -- Up 1
- Kansas State (28-17 loss at Arizona State) -- Down 5
- TCU Horned Frogs (24-20 loss vs. West Virginia) -- Down 2
- Iowa State (39-3 loss at Arizona) -- No change
- Kansas Jayhawks (25-24 win vs. Baylor) -- Up 1
- Colorado Buffaloes (57-24 loss at Oklahoma State) -- Down 1
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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Big 12 football power rankings after Week 8: Utah back on top
