There’s plenty of football today, but we also need to talk hoops. Big 12 basketball media days were in Kansas City this week. I had a blast talking to players from all over the conference for another Big 12 Anonymous Player Survey coming your way soon!

I also loved hearing from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. It’s striking how much confidence he always projects for the league, and that was on full display again. He wasn’t afraid to call out the SEC and Big Ten trying to tweak the playoff format again, gave an update on Big 12 expansion, and said he thinks the league is on pace to land multiple teams in the playoff this year.

You can hear all of his thoughts below.

• Utah has an interim offensive coordinator. Mike Bajakian will take over for Andy Ludwig, who resigned earlier this week. Bajakian’s official title had been “Offensive Analyst/Quarterbacks,” and he is essentially the Utes’ quarterbacks coach. He’s a 29-year veteran who was most recently the offensive coordinator at Northwestern.

• Here are the Big 12 football TV ratings for week eight. The league had a quieter week, with Colorado-Arizona leading the way at 2 million viewers.

• Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter says he’s back to 100% healthy. Hunter left the K-State game two weeks ago in the first half and didn’t return. He played at Arizona on Saturday but left early for precautionary reasons.

• Arizona men’s basketball head coach Tommy Lloyd took a shot at the Pac 12 on the podium at Big 12 media day. He says road games will be a totally different challenge in the Wildcats’ new league.

• K-State men’s basketball head coach Jerome Tang put the Big 12’s strength in hoops into proper perspective. He says the league is every bit as strong as the SEC is in football.

Prefer Big 12 news in video form? Ready to take shots at your rival? Subscribe to my YouTube Channel and make sure to join in the live shows on Wednesdays and Sundays. Fans from all across the Big 12 and the college football world mix it up in the live chat while getting my take on the week’s news.

Big 12 Power Rankings

Here are your week nine Big 12 power rankings! Please note: these are rankings, not power ratings. That means they are primarily based on what a team has accomplished so far this year – not necessarily how good I think the team is. You’ll see their ranking from last week in parentheses.

1.   Iowa State (LW: 1)
2.   BYU (LW: 2)
3.   K-State (LW: 3)
4.   Colorado (LW: 6)
5.   Cincinnati (LW: 7)
6.   Arizona State (LW: 5)
7.   Texas Tech (LW: 4)
8.   TCU (LW: 13)
9.   West Virginia (LW: 8)
10.  Utah (LW: 9)
11.   Baylor (LW: 14)
12.   UCF (LW: 11)
13.   Arizona (LW: 10)
14.   Kansas (LW: 16)
15.   Oklahoma State (LW: 15)
16.   Houston (LW: 12)

• The top three stay unchanged for another week. There’s a ton of chaos in the conference, but it’s staying away from the top of the totem poll – for now.

• Colorado’s dominant win at Arizona has established the Buffaloes as a true contender in my eyes. They’ve demolished back-to-back road foes and led K-State late in the fourth quarter. I think there’s a pretty substantial drop from the top four to the remaining 12, but Cincinnati has a chance to prove me wrong in Boulder on Saturday.

• I kept Arizona State above Texas Tech because the Sun Devils’ two losses were very close, while Tech got thumped by Washington State and Baylor. I know who won head-to-head, but I have to consider the entire resume here.

• TCU moves up mainly because so many teams around them had horrible performances. I’m still not convinced they’re a top-half Big 12 team, but they get the nod for now.

• There’s plenty of time for Utah to move back up, but they may have played the least aesthetically pleasing game of the year on Saturday against TCU. Maybe the change at offensive coordinator will make a difference?