Big 12 power rankings: Under the influence

A couple of Big 12 programs look like they are in late-season form, while others appear to be under the influence, literally ...

1. Oklahoma Sooners (4-0, 1-0) -- Suspensions and injuries all at one position would be a season-ender for most teams. At OU, it's called opportunity. Freshman running back Samaje Perine averaged 7.1 yards per carry ... for 34 carries, as the Sooners won a track meet in Morgantown in semi-comfortable fashion.

2. Baylor Bears (3-0) -- The Bears had a week off in the midst of three consecutive road games. After blowing out Buffalo, the Bears now head to Ames and then Austin. Neither game should pose much of a problem for Art Briles' souped up offensive machine.

3. Kansas State Wildcats (2-1, 1-0) -- Mistakes turned what could have been a national coming out party into having to regroup this week against UTEP. Here's what we've seen: KSU has enough talent to compete with anyone; now, it has to prove it can achieve the consistency that Bill Snyder covets each year.

4. Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-1) -- The Cowboys were off this week, like most of the Big 12. OSU gets the Thursday game this week, however, taking on the quickly developing mess that is Texas Tech football.

5. TCU Horned Frogs (2-0) -- The Horned Frogs hit the road this week, which might seem interesting until you realize it is to take on SMU. In three losses, the Mustangs have been outscored 146-12, including getting shut out 45-0 against Baylor. Trevone Boykin, here's your chance to pad some stats. The same goes for your teammates.

6. West Virginia Mountaineers (2-2, 0-1) -- WVU has now played two of the top four teams in the nation in the first month with encouraging results - having lost 33-23 to No. 2 Alabama and 45-33 to No. 4 Oklahoma this past weekend. It's pretty easy to see how much of a pain in the rear WVU is going to be this season for its conference brethren. There isn't a lot of defense being played, but if a team isn't careful, it will find itself down early and possibly big to the talented Mountaineers offense that has proven it can score on the nation's best units.

7. Texas Longhorns (1-2) -- Charlie Strong's crew also enjoyed a bye week after back-to-back bruisers against BYU and UCLA. After resting up, the Longhorns head to Lawrence, where it shouldn't be a game. That said, it's just been a weird season already for Texas, so nothing would be surprising at this point. Well, okay, that's not true. If KU pulled off the upset, I'd be pretty gosh darn surprised.

8. Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-1) -- I've heard of a coach officially resigning mid-season for "personal reasons," but I've never heard of it happening because a guy showed up for work under the influence of something nobody seems to want to divulge at this point. Wow, Matt Wallerstedt ... just wow. The sad event means Texas Tech is now on its sixth defensive coordinator since 2009. Continuity be damned.

9. Iowa St. Cyclones (1-2, 0-1) -- The Cyclones were among the bye group, giving ISU two weeks to prepare for the really daunting task of slowing down Baylor. The game is in Ames, where tricky things can happen, but even Vegas isn't expecting anything close as the Bears are an early 21.5-point favorite on the road.

12. Kansas Jayhawks (2-1) -- When you're at this level, you will take any bit of positive you can find. KU found it this week in showing a little second-half resolve against the Chippewas. Still, unlike some, I don't believe that Charlie Weis will be allowed to point at this victory as a reason to keep his job considering it was a 14-point win against a MAC team; not with the Jayhawks having gone 1-17 in Big 12 play in Weis' first two seasons. Conference wins have to come, this year, or Charlie will have to go.