Pre-season projections were unanimous in one regard in the Big 12.  Kansas State, West Virginia and Kansas were going to bring up the rear, almost always in that order.

Last weekend was an absolute revelation for the conference!  Perennial doormat Kansas performed a rope-a-dope worthy of Muhammad Ali.  The Jayhawks gave up an early lead to Boston College then, amazingly, dominated the last 40 minutes of the game.  It is hard to recall the last time a visiting 3-touchdown underdog was so dominant for so long.  BC was shut out in the 2nd half.  KU’s QB, Carter Stanley, shut up his numerous critics with a terrific performance that was greatly aided by Les Miles opening up the playbook.  Maybe Les should have “48-24” tattooed on his body as this truly was a signature win.  Or, at the very least, eat two extra helpings of grass.

West Virginia’s projected rebuild in 2019 was deemed so extensive that Dana Holgerson did the virtually unprecedented:  He bolted Morgantown for a Group of 5 program!   West Virginia was coming off a 38-7 blowout at Missouri even more putrid than the score indicated.  The Mountaineers proceeded to spank undefeated NC State 45-27.  This West Virginia team is 2-1 with their other victory coming over FCS power, James Madison, and is officially off the mat.

Kansas State ventured to  Cowbell U. for a daytime sauna and emerged with yet another upset, riding a game-winning kickoff return touchdown for a 31-24 win over Mississippi State.  Road wins over SEC teams are tough to come by. K-State’s 3rd straight impressive performance indicated that the Wildcats were extremely wise to tap North Dakota State’s Chris Klieman (69-6 in Fargo!) as their new head man .

Can this possibly be too much good news for the conference?  Only if one takes a playoff-centric view.  The Big 12 round-robin schedule will be a much tougher gauntlet to navigate than anybody foresaw a month ago.  Going 8-1 and then winning the Big 12 title game will be quite a feat.  Anything short of that and the conference will likely miss the playoffs, paradoxically, for being too good.