Mussatto: Big 12 football is weirder than imagined, and it's wonderful

The SEC and Big Ten are colluding behind closed doors, the pillaged Pac-12 is pillaging the Mountain West, the ACC is lawyering up and the Big 12 is … mostly drama free?

Off the field, at least.

When it comes to the actual playing of football, no conference can match the unexpected twists and turns the Big 12 has taken through the first couple weeks of conference play.

We knew the Big 12 would be unpredictable in the post-OU/Texas era, but the conference has gone bonkers.

Is the Big 12 actually good? No clue. Is it the third-best conference in college football? Yeah, but that’s not saying much. Is it wonderfully weird? You bet.

Let’s rapid fire our way through the Big 12 and where things stand entering October:

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Oklahoma State, Kansas falling. BYU, Colorado rising.

➤ Oklahoma State and Kansas, picked third and fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll, are a combined 0-4 in conference play. Colorado and BYU, picked 11th and 13th, are a combined 4-0.

➤ BYU has already matched its Big 12 win total from a season ago. Deion Sanders already has more Big 12 wins (two) than he had Pac-12 wins (one).

➤ OSU is 0-2 to start Big 12 play for the first time since 2005 — Mike Gundy’s first season as head coach. Baylor is 0-2 to start Big 12 play for the first time since 2017.

➤ Kansas (1-4, 0-2 Big 12) is the Big 12’s biggest disappointment, which says something about the Jayhawks ’ improvement under Lance Leipold. We actually expected something out of KU.

➤ Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels has been flat-out bad. Daniels is last among Big 12 quarterbacks in completion percentage (53.1%) and interceptions (eight).

➤ BYU, Colorado and Texas Tech are tied atop the conference at 2-0. BYU beat Kansas State at home and Baylor on the road. Colorado beat Baylor at home and UCF on the road. Texas Tech has home wins against Arizona State and Cincinnati. Based on conference resume, we’ll rank them like this: No. 1 Colorado, No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Texas Tech.

➤ BYU doesn’t play Colorado or Texas Tech. Colorado and Texas Tech will meet Nov. 9 in Lubbock.

➤ Over/under 0.5 of those three teams making the Big 12 Championship Game? I’ll take the under.

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Is Iowa State the team to beat?

➤ BYU (5-0) and Iowa State (4-0) are the Big 12’s only undefeated teams.

➤ If Iowa State beats Baylor on Saturday in Ames, the Cyclones will be 5-0 for the first time since 1980. Last week, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell passed Dan McCarney as the winningest coach in program history.

➤ Iowa State might be favored in every remaining game except one: Nov. 23 at Utah.

➤ Utah was upset by Arizona. An Arizona team that was crushed (in a nonconference game) by Kansas State.

➤ Good on the Wildcats for beating the Utes, but wasn’t Arizona’s offense supposed to be elite with quarterback Noah Fifita and receiver Tetairoa McMillan? The Wildcats rank 75th nationally in scoring offense. Fifita ranks ninth in the Big 12 in quarterback rating. McMillan, though, is second in receiving yards per game behind TCU’s Jack Bech.

➤ Jack Bech? The LSU transfer already has 647 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

➤ What’s going on with Utah quarterback Cameron Rising? The finger injury on his throwing hand could derail Utah’s season. Or Rising could come back and lead the Utes to the Big 12 Championship and College Football Playoff. Or, you know, something in between.

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Big 12 standouts

➤ The two Big 12 players with the best Heisman odds play for the same team. Travis Hunter, Colorado’s two-way phenom, is +700, according to BetMGM . Only Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe and Miami quarterback Cam Ward have better odds. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is +5000, tied for the 15th-best odds.

➤ Three Big 12 running backs rank top-eight nationally in rushing yards per game: Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks is fourth (137.8), UCF’s RJ Harvey sixth (131.3) and Kansas State’s DJ Giddens eighth (120.8). OSU’s Ollie Gordon II is tied for 81st (66.8).

➤ Three Big 12 quarterbacks rank top-10 in passing yards per game: TCU’s Josh Hoover is fourth (355), Sanders is seventh (326) and OSU’s Alan Bowman is 10th (307).

➤ Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby has a 12/1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The Bearcats : Better than we thought. Tough loss at Texas Tech in the battle of red and black.

➤ Sorsby has the best quarterback rating in the Big 12. Hoover is second. UCF’s KJ Jefferson is third.

➤ OSU senior safety Trey Rucker ranks second nationally in tackles (63). Buffalo linebacker Shaun Dolac leads the nation with 72 tackles. Oddly enough, Dolac’s teammate, Red Murdock, is third with 55 tackles.

➤ Texas Tech kicker Gino Garcia is a perfect 8-of-8 on field goals and 14-of-14 on extra points.

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com . Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .

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OSU vs. West Virginia

KICKOFF: 3 p.m. Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater (ESPN2)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mussatto: Big 12 football is weirder than imagined, and it's wonderful