Dirty Dozen Rankings - Week 8

Our weekly ranking of all Big 12 teams. All Big 12 teams are well into conference play, so we're starting to see more and more surprises each week. Teams are ranked on where I think they are right now in the season. Previous week's rankings are in parenthesis. As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcome.

1. texas(1): Winning ugly is still winning.
2. Oklahoma State(3): Nice win over Missouri at home.
3. Texas Tech(6): Defese won the game for them in Lincoln.
4. Oklahoma(5): The fact that they are still ranked this high still shows how weak the Big 12 is.
5. Missouri(4): Played like the inconsistent, young team they are in Stillwater.
6. Nebraska(2): Lack of offense came back to bite them at home.
7. Kansas State(10): Blowout win over A&M was a complete turnaround from blowout loss last week.
8. Kansas(7): Defense deserted them in Boulder, and offense couldn't pick up slack.
9. Iowa State(11): Nice win over Baylor for Paul Rhoads.
10. Colorado(12): Win over Kansas was a much needed boost for Hawkins and his team.
11. Baylor(9): They really miss Robert Griffin.
12. Texas A&M(12): The Aggies deserve this ranking after their performance in Manhattan.

Notes: One more ugly win like the Oklahoma game, and they might as well start calling Colt McCoy Craig Krenzel. ctually I don't think Krenzel ever had a three turnover game like McCoy did against Oklahoma, so that may be an unfair comparison. Winning ugly is better than losing, though, and that is why texas is still at the top of the DDR...Oklahoma State didn't look pretty doing it, but they took care of business in winning over Missouri at home. I continue to be impressed with their offensive line play. They gave up no sacks against Missouri, not an easy task when Sean Weatherspoon is on the opposing side of the line of scrimmage...Tech's defense won the game for them in Lincoln; this may be the first time you have been able to say that phrase in the Mike Leach Era. Tech's defense scored a TD, and then kept Nebraska's offense in check, so an unusual sub-300 yd day from the offense didn't hurt the team...Oklahoma's offense can go from being dreadful to downright non-existent, but their defense is so good, it still keeps them in games. Sooner fans may not appreciate Brent Venables, but he is the only thing between them and the oblivion that is a losing season... is a young team, and they play inconsistently like a young team. They look like a team that will win 7-8 games, go to a bowl, and then compete for a ten-win season and the Big 12 North division title next season. The way the North is this year, though, Missouri isn't out of the hunt yet. Blaine Gabbert looks like one of those QBs who will benefit fromt he time off between the end of the regular season and the bowl game, and will light it up in the bowl game, putting himself on early Heisman lists next season...After three quarters, Nebraska's offense came alive against Missouri last week. This past weekend, against Tech at home, their offense was nowhere to be seen. Things are so bad, Bo Pellini is considering starting Cody Green at quarterback this week. When you are considering a QB change in Week 8 of the season, you are having issues...Despite some ugly losses this season, Kansas State was doing what you are supposed to do as the season goes on, which is show improvement. That slow but steady improvement and their ability to execute fundamentals showed bigtime in their blowout win over A&M. Kudos to Bill Snyder for keeping his team on an even keel...Kansas was playing Russian Roulette the last few weeks, and finally hit a full chamber in their visit to Boulder. Colorado's defensive line has been improving these last few weeks, and they took out a season of frustrations on Kansas' offense... Iowa State finally broke through with Paul Rhoad's first conference win after weeks of near-misses. Rhoads is continuing to get it down in Ames. The future looks bright for the Cyclones. They are making baby steps of progress, but it is still progress...While they still have a long way to go, 1-1  in conference after two conference games against ranked opponents is a good place  Dan Hawkins and his Colorado team to be...Baylor keeps plugging away, but they just don't have the horses right now. We'll see how much fight they have in them when they play Oklahoma State in Stillwater...Not much more needs to be said about A&M; you don't show up against a weak Big 12 North team, you deserve to be ranked as the worst team in the Big 12.