Sep. 21—We’ve reached the back third of September and still know very little about Big 12 football.

We assume the Sooners are the class of the league; the Sooners always are the class of the league. But OU has played two opponents outside of Western Carolina. Both Tulane and Nebraska could be described as mediocre. So-so Big Ten. So-so mid-major. OU beat the former by five and the latter by seven.

OSU is unbeaten, with victory margins of seven (Missouri State), five (Tulsa) and one (Boise State).

Kansas State is unbeaten, with two decent victories, but has lost its quarterback, Skylar Thompson.

Texas Christian is unbeaten but has an advantage, it’s only played two games.

Texas, as usual, is an enigma. The Longhorns seem likely to be on both ends of upsets throughout the year. Iowa State? Who knows yet?

Iowa State? Who knows yet?

West Virginia? Cold and hot.

The Monday ScissorTales take a look at the OU-Nebraska game and post the finale Boise travelblog. But we start with the Big 12 football rankings.

Big 12 play begins in earnest Saturday (Baylor at Kansas hardly counts), and the hunt for a Big 12 Championship Game berth, ostensibly against OU, seems open to a bunch of teams.

Let’s get to the rankings, and remember, these are based on what teams have done. Who they played, where they played and how they did.

1. Kansas State 3-0

Another impressive win for the Wildcats. Nevada was hot coming in, having beaten California. So of the Big 12’s eight solid wins in non-conference, KSU has two of them, one with Will Howard quarterbacking.

“What a win,” said K-State coach Chris Klieman said. “We challenged the guys early in the week that we needed to take the next step as a football team. We’ve been prepared for it, we kind of built for this, we knew the non-con schedule was going to be extremely difficult. We knew adversity had struck losing Skylar, and we challenged the guys to rise up, get their game to the next level and show that we can play with a really quality team like Nevada.”

2. Oklahoma 3-0

When the Sooners struggled with Tulane in the opener, winning 40-35, the hope was perhaps that the Green Wave is better than advertised. Score from Saturday — Ole Miss 61, Tulane 21.

“Proud of our team for finding a way to win,” Lincoln Riley said. “I thought we were in the fight the whole way. Our mentality is starting to take shape a little bit. We’ll get another challenge next week on that. But I’m pleased with what I’m seeing from our mentality.”

3. Oklahoma State 3-0

Wasn’t pretty, wasn’t easy, wasn’t void of officiating controversy. But OSU won 21-20 at Boise State, and any win in Boise is to be treasured. Both Oregon and Washington lost in their only trip to Albertsons Stadium.

“I told the team after the game that because of the way that we have to play football right now, we’re learning how to play as a team,” Mike Gundy said. “We have a culture in place that allows guys to ignore the conditions and keep playing, and that’s what they did.”

4. West Virginia 2-1

I didn’t figure the Mountaineers for losing at Maryland 30-24, then beating Virginia Tech 27-21 Saturday. I would have expected a reversal. Either way, it puts you ahead of the curve in the Big 12.

“Really happy for our team, for our fans,” WVU coach Neal Brown said. “I’m worn out. I feel like I played. This was going to be a grind-it-out game from the start. Winning is hard, and I thought this was going to be a defining moment for us and this team, where we’re at.”

5. TCU 2-0

The Horned Frogs have a huge non-conference game this week, against cross-Metroplex rival Southern Methodist.

6. Texas 2-1

Casey Thompson looked solid at quarterback in his first start for the Longhorns, against Rice. The most important piece of information in that previous sentence was the word “Rice.”

Still, UT coach Steve Sarkisian was pleased with Thompson.

“I imagine Casey will kind of lead the charge next week against Texas Tech,” Sark said.

7. Texas Tech 3-0

The Red Raiders’ victory over Houston remains a feat of unknown import. Tech rallied to beat Stephen F. Austin a week ago, then eventually routed Florida International 54-21.

“You look back on the first two games, and resilient is the first word that comes to mind,” Tech coach Matt Wells said. “Down 14 at half, down seven at half, nobody bickering, nobody griping, nobody arguing, playing together and then having a sense of urgency in the third quarter to tie games to take leads and find ways to win at the end. I think I learned that we are in pretty good condition, we are built for a fourth quarter game.”

8. Iowa State 2-1

What if the Cyclones’ loss to Iowa looks better and better as the season progresses? The Hawkeyes appear to be a load.

Anyway, it’s a good sign that Iowa State finally blew out an overmatched foe, Nevada-Las Vegas, 48-3. The Cyclones had opened the season with a narrow victory over Northern Iowa.

“I think we played with the intensity and the sense of urgency that really I expected our football team to have,” ISU coach Matt Campbell said. “For whatever reason, I’ve done a poor job prior to maybe early on this week of getting that sense of urgency demanded ... I put those things on my shoulders. And I thought, in terms of a sense of urgency and energy, I certainly think some of those things were much improved from where we were the first two weeks.”

9. Baylor 3-0

The Bears host Iowa State on Saturday. We start learning a lot more about the Bears. 10. Kansas 0-3

10. Kansas 0-3

KU trailed only 14-7 at half-time against Baylor. That’s progress.