Texas Longhorns

The season has come and gone, and brought with it lots of change in the Big 12 Power Rankings. Still, with all the games officially over, here's how I ranked the Big 12 to close the season:

1. Kansas State (11-2, 8-1 Big 12, last week: 1) K-State's year met an unsatisfying end in the desert with another ugly bowl loss. Like last season, the loss was to a team not very far outside of the BCS title picture. Oregon knocked off K-State, but the loss didn't mar all the fantastic things K-State accomplished this year.

2. Oklahoma (10-3, 8-1, last week: 2) Oklahoma suffered a bad bowl loss too, but it mostly exposed defensive deficiencies that may get worse next year. Oklahoma shared a Big 12 title this season, but lacked a big, impressive win. It did have two home losses, but the gap between K-State and OU and the rest of the Big 12 is wide in the standings.

3. Baylor (8-5, 4-5, last week: 4) No team was hotter than the Bears, who closed the season with four consecutive victories, including a home win against then-BCS No. 1 Kansas State to kick off the finish. The streak that featured three wins against ranked teams and the blowout bowl victory over UCLA has Baylor thinking big in 2013.

4. Oklahoma State (8-5, 5-4, last week: 3) The Pokes were better than their record this year, with blowout wins over decent teams such as Texas Tech, West Virginia and TCU. OSU wishes it had those Arizona and Texas games to do over again, but winning eight games with the injuries at quarterback is no small feat. The Pokes will be loaded for 2013, especially if Joseph Randle returns.

5. Texas (9-4, 5-4, last week: 5) Texas rescued a bowl win against a top-15 team, but David Ash still must be better if the Longhorns are going to return to Big 12 prominence. The tenor of spring practice will be heavily influenced by how an ongoing sexual assault investigation plays out. Regardless, until it's over, it's a possible distraction that could substantially affect personnel.

6. TCU (7-6, 4-5, last week: 6) With a bowl win, TCU might have slid inside the league's top five, but coughing up a late lead put a really frustrating end to a gutsy season from the Frogs. Trevone Boykin and Matthew Tucker did their best filling in for injured players, but the Frogs didn't have enough offense without Casey Pachall and Waymon James to win big in 2012.

7. Texas Tech (8-5, 4-5, last week: 8) Tech's finish was ugly, and narrowly surviving against a barely mediocre Minnesota team didn't really impress many folks. The Red Raiders' losing four of five in Big 12 play didn't inspire much confidence, but the future will be really, really intriguing in Lubbock.

8. West Virginia (7-6, 4-5, last week: 7) West Virginia's ugly bowl loss to Syracuse removed any question about the conference's biggest disappointment in 2012. The defense is nowhere near good enough to be competitive in the Big 12, and the offense didn't have enough juice to outscore very many good teams.

9. Iowa State (6-7, 3-6, last week: 9) Beating teams twice is never easy, but Iowa State had an opportunity to move up in these rankings with a win over the Golden Hurricane. Instead, Tulsa dominated the final three quarters, and did so on the line of scrimmage. A second lopsided bowl loss in as many years is not the finish Paul Rhoads wanted.

10. Kansas (1-11, 0-9, last week: 10) No bowl, and not much to report, but the recruiting class is loaded up with about 70 percent junior college commits. We'll see how that looks in the fall, but this spring should be interesting, too.

We're moving on with our rankings of the top 10 players at each position in the Big 12. Today, we tackle the running backs, a position with a lot of potential but not very much returning talent. My only rule for this list: No freshmen or newcomers. You don't know until you know.

Let's get started.

1. Joseph Randle, Oklahoma State: Randle is the Big 12's only returning 1,000-yard running back, and even the league's best back has something to prove in 2012. Quarterback Brandon Weeden and receiver Justin Blackmon took a ton of pressure off him and opened up a lot of space. Can he help carry the offense early this season with a true freshman at quarterback and unproven receivers in the passing game?

2. Malcolm Brown, Texas: Brown's nose for tiny creases in the line is unparalleled in this league, even though he doesn't have breakaway speed. He's tough to bring down and loves to fall forward. In short, he's a perfect fit for Texas' offense, and the likeliest member of Texas' talented backfield trio to top 1,000 yards in 2012.

3. John Hubert, Kansas State: Life is good for Hubert when defenses focus heavily on quarterback Collin Klein, but you can't argue with his production. He averaged nearly five yards a carry and racked up 970 rushing yards last season.

4. Waymon James, TCU: James averaged a silly 7.23 yards per carry last season, leading TCU's trio of backs in rushing, though all three had between 120 and 123 carries (seriously). Ed Wesley is gone, and James' yards per carry average will drop as he faces tougher defenses this season, but he's still a big talent.

5. Jeremy Smith, Oklahoma State: Smith is the forgotten man in Oklahoma State's backfield until he keeps his legs churning and converts third downs, and chips a blitzing nickel back in the backfield to give Wes Lunt a couple more seconds to get rid of the ball. He's faster than he gets credit for, and averaged better than seven yards a carry in the Big 12 last season, the league's second-highest average.

6. Eric Stephens, Texas Tech: Stephens' season was cut way short last year by an awful knee injury. There's no telling how he'll look when the season starts back up, but not many guys were better than him over the first half of last season.

7. Dominique Whaley, Oklahoma: Whaley's season was cut short, too. He suffered a broken ankle, but the former walk-on is back and will try and make a run at a 1,000-yard season for the Sooners' pass-heavy offense. If he plays like he did last season before the injury, expect it to happen, and expect him to hog the carries in a crowded backfield.

8. Matthew Tucker, TCU: Tucker joins James in TCU's backfield. He scored 12 touchdowns last season, which ranks second among returning Big 12 running backs. Without Wesley, Tucker is due for more touches. The trio combined for more than 2,300 yards on the ground last season. Watching Tucker and James race for 1,000-yard seasons will be fun.

9. Roy Finch, Oklahoma: Finch loves to put defenders in the spin cycle, but could hardly get on the field last season until Whaley was injured. Once he did, though, he made a big impact. He topped 83 yards four times in five weeks late last season, but he has to be more consistent. He also had four yards on six carries against Iowa. We'll see if he showcases his explosiveness as a junior in 2012.

10. James White, Iowa State: Iowa State badly needed White to step up when Shontrelle Johnson went down with a neck injury, and White did. He topped 135 yards twice after Johnson's injury and scored eight times, including two in a triple-overtime win against Iowa early in the season.

Honorable mention: Dustin Garrison, West Virginia; Joe Bergeron, Texas; James Sims, Kansas; Shontrelle Johnson, Iowa State; Tony Pierson, Kansas

Today is the next step in a new series on the Big 12 blog that we've never done before. I love predicting the standings from top to bottom, but we're going to do it week by week leading up to the season. The end goal is to offer my official prediction for each Big 12 team's record heading into the bowl games.

Remember, these are preseason predictions. We'll obviously still do week-to-week picks once the season arrives, and they may change between now and then. There are a lot of preseason practices and a whole lot of games between now and the end of the season.

There are always teams who disappoint and teams who surprise. But here's how I see the Big 12 shaking out in Week 6.

PREVIOUS PREDICTIONS

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5

TCU 27, Iowa State 24: The Cyclones nearly trip up the Horned Frogs' undefeated season in a physical game in Fort Worth, but Waymon James rumbles in for a three-yard, go-ahead score in the final minute to deny Paul Rhoads another big upset. James White tops 100 yards, but the struggles at quarterback are catching up to the Cyclones a bit.

Kansas State 44, Kansas 17: The Sunflower Showdown is no longer a joke, but the state is still very much owned by Kansas State. Kansas prevents the Wildcats from scoring 59 points this year (a feat it failed to do in 2010 and 2011), but the Wildcats save their best performance of the season so far for the rival Jayhawks, who leave Manhattan limping.

Oklahoma 41, Texas Tech 34: Call this one revenge. The Sooners haven't won in Lubbock in three tries since 2003, and the Red Raiders knocked off top-ranked OU at home last season. The Sooners hold off a late Texas Tech rally behind Eric Ward and Seth Doege, but escape West Texas as winners, an unfamiliar feeling for Sooners in some time.

West Virginia 31, Texas 27: Can West Virginia walk into Austin and leave with a win in its first year as a Big 12 member? Yes, yes it can. The Longhorns don't make it easy. It's a fistfight. Geno Smith is sacked five times and throws two interceptions. Malcolm Brown tops 150 yards on the ground against an inexperienced front seven for the Mountaineers, who somehow find a way to get the program's biggest win in awhile.

And looky who's sitting all alone at the top of the Big 12. It's the new guys.

BIG 12 STANDINGS (after Week 4)

1. TCU: 5-0 (2-0)
1. West Virginia: 5-0 (2-0)
3. Oklahoma: 4-0 (2-0)
4. Kansas State: 4-1 (1-1)
4. Texas: 4-1 (1-1)
4. Texas Tech: 4-1 (1-1)
7. Oklahoma State: 3-1 (0-1)
7. Baylor: 3-1 (0-1)
9. Kansas: 3-2 (0-2)
10. Iowa State: 2-3 (0-2)

We've already discussed the conference's 3,000-yard passers in 2012, followed by the 1,000-yard receivers.

But what about the guys toting the ball?

Last season, 47 running backs topped 1,000 yards, including five from the Big 12.

Here's who will hit quadruple-digit rushing yards in 2012 across the Big 12.

1. Joseph Randle, RB, Oklahoma State: Randle is one of two returning 1,000-yard rushers in the Big 12, and the league's leading returner. He'll do it again as a junior in 2012. He's the best and most experienced weapon in OSU's offensive arsenal, and he'll get plenty of touches with true freshman quarterback Wes Lunt learning the ropes in 2012.

2. Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State: Nobody could stop him in 2011, so why would anyone be able to do it in 2012? Manhattan, Kansas' resident Panzer tank could have stood up and alerted the entire defense to the play for some of his snaps in 2011, and it still wouldn't have mattered. He led the Big 12 in carries last season and he may do it again this year. He'll top 1,000 yards easily. He may throw it better and a little more, but coach Bill Snyder won't get away from the bread and butter of his offense.

3. Malcolm Brown, RB, Texas: Brown will break through a crowded backfield this season and surge ahead of Joe Bergeron and Johnathan Gray to earn his first 1,000-yard season as a sophomore. He'll barely do it, but he'll do it. The carries will be spread out between that trio, but Brown should be the most consistent of the group. The only variable is his health. Brown and Bergeron both had trouble staying healthy in 2011.

4. Waymon James, RB, TCU: Ed Wesley's offseason exit frees up 120 or so carries in the offense, and James will be the man to take a few more and top 1,000 yards. James had 875 yards last year, and TCU will have to throw it more than it did in 2011, but James will hit quadruple digits late in the season.

Just missed: Dustin Garrison, RB, West Virginia; Matthew Tucker, TCU; Tony Pierson, Kansas; Joe Bergeron, Texas; John Hubert, Kansas State; Jeremy Smith; Oklahoma State; James White, Iowa State