The Implications of the Week 3 AP Poll for Big 12 Teams

It was not a banner week for the Big 12 in Week 2 of the NCAA season, and the new AP Poll shows as much.

Unsurprisingly, Alabama remains the near-consensus top team in the nation, bringing in 1,572 points and 60 first-place votes. However, it’s the seismic movement in and around the Top 10 that stands out in Week 3. Georgia remains the overwhelming second-place team, with 1,514 and three first-place votes, but a couple of Top 10 upsets impacted the Top 5.

Oregon’s somewhat shocking upset of Ohio State in Columbus and Iowa’s strong performance over Iowa State in Ames shook up college football. Oklahoma (1,402) moved up a spot, Oregon (1,355) jumped from 12 to four and Iowa (1,263) jumped from 10 to five.

Clemson (1,246 points) stuck at six, Texas A&M (1,206 points) dropped a couple of spots after a shaky performance against Colorado, Cincinnati (1,149) dropped a spot due to the rising teams above them, Ohio State (1,049) fell six spots after the loss to Oregon and Penn State (1,005) moved up one spot to round out the new-look Top 10.

With Texas being thoroughly stomped by Arkansas, 40-21 (welcome to the SEC), and Iowa State suffering a loss to rival Iowa, the Big 12 only features one team in the Top 10 now. Oklahoma’s no-issue 76-0 victory over Western Kentucky cemented a one spot rise in the rankings.

Iowa State, the lone Big 12 team not named Oklahoma in the Top 25, fell from nine to 14 on the heels of a 27-17 loss against Iowa in Ames. With UNLV, Baylor and Kansas over the next three weeks, it’s unlikely that the Cyclones will be away from the Top 10 for too long.

TCU (103 points), Kansas State (30 points), Texas (23 points) and Texas Tech (two points) featured in the “Others Receiving Votes” category of the poll.

Even after a 66-0 shellacking of Long Island University, West Virginia remains on the outside looking in. But, with a matchup against No. 15 Virginia Tech this week and No. 3 Oklahoma over the next two weeks, WVU will truly show the country just how much climbing Neal Brown’s team has to do.

For the entire Week 3 AP Poll, click here.