Week 2 is barely here, and already the Big 12 pressure cooker has a few coaches feeling the heat.
Not every hot seat is about a job hanging by a thread. Sometimes it’s about momentum.
Sometimes it’s about a fan base that wants a reason to believe. Sometimes it’s about walking into a game that can either calm the noise or turn it up fast.
These four coaches have the most riding on this week, even if the reasons look different for each of them.
Sonny Dykes is in that spot because TCU had two weeks to sit with what happened in Ireland, and that loss to North Carolina still stings. It was the kind of game the Horned Frogs could have taken, and they let it get away. That leaves Dykes and his staff with the same uncomfortable reality they’ve been staring at since then: the missed opportunity is gone, but the frustration isn’t.
There’s no denying the larger picture, either. Since that run to the College Football Playoff final in Dykes’ first season, TCU is 23-16.
That’s solid, but it’s not the level many around the program expected to sustain. A win over Grambling won’t fix everything, but it would at least give the fan base something to grab onto before next week.
Eric Morris finds himself under pressure for a different reason. Oklahoma State still views him as a long-term hire, but the mood around the program changed quickly after the Cowboys went to Tulsa and lost 24-10 to the Golden Hurricane. The offseason buzz evaporated in a hurry, and now the Cowboys are trying to claw back from the problems they’ve built over the last two seasons.
This week doesn’t offer much relief. No.
6 Oregon is the opponent, and only the most loyal Oklahoma State backer is expecting a Cowboys win. The real bar here is improvement.
The Cowboys also need to avoid the kind of mistakes that bury you early, which means Drew Mestemaker cannot afford to throw three turnovers.
Arizona’s Brent Brennan is dealing with the kind of pressure that comes with opportunity. The Wildcats are coming off a nine-win season, and after a rocky first year in Tucson, Brennan steadied things and got Arizona back on track. Now the next step is obvious: push into the Big 12 title conversation.
That’s why this trip to BYU matters. The Wildcats open Big 12 play against the No.
15 Cougars, a team many view as a CFP contender, and they have to do it on the road. Arizona also has last year’s double-overtime loss to BYU in Tucson hanging over this matchup.
If the Wildcats lose, especially by a wide margin, the noise around Brennan is going to get a lot louder.
Then there’s Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State, where the heat is lighter but still real. Nobody in Ames is going to panic if the Cyclones go to Iowa City and lose to No.
21 Iowa. But a win would go a long way toward winning people over fast.
It’s a rivalry game, and it’s one Iowa State has had the better of recently. The Cyclones have taken three of the last four meetings on the field, and Iowa had to vacate its 2023 win because of NCAA violations.
Before that, the Hawkeyes had won six straight. For a new coach, that’s exactly the kind of game that can shape how people feel early.
Rogers doesn’t want to be the one who lets the trend slip.
In Other News...
Cy-Hawk Just Got More Tense For Iowa State's 2028 Recruiting Push
Jimmy Rogers and his staff at Iowa State are still sorting through the ripple effects of the coaching change, trying to stabilize a recruiting class that took some hits after Matt Campbells departure. The Cyclones have kept building with the Class of 2027, which sits No. 43 nationally with 24 commitments and includes names like Isaiah Hansen and Will Slagle, but the bigger long-term work is already underway for 2028.
Thats where this weekend carries a little extra weight for the Cyclones. Iowa State has already brought in several Class of 2028 prospects, including defensive lineman Hunter Mosolino and quarterback Chase Grove, and both are set to visit rival Iowa this weekend. For a program trying to reassert itself in the next recruiting cycle, every cross-border visit in the Cy-Hawk orbit matters a little more than usual. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Still Carries Mari-Rae Soppers Powerful Legacy 25 Years Later
Twenty-five years later, Mari-Rae Soppers story still reaches beyond gymnastics and well into the larger memory of September 11. Before her life was cut short, she had been a former gymnast and a Navy JAG officer who left a high-paying attorney job to chase a collegiate coaching career, a choice that said plenty about the kind of path she wanted to build. For Iowa State, her legacy remains tied not just to what she accomplished, but to the ambition and purpose she brought to the sport.
Sopper boarded American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001, and was among those killed when it was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. Her name lives on at Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon Memorial and the National September 11 Memorial, reminders of a life remembered in more than one place. For the Cyclones, the resonance is especially powerful because her story still represents a blend of sacrifice, service and the pursuit of coaching that continues to matter long after the calendar turned on that day. [Read more 🡒]
Former Hawkeye Caden Crawford Has Everything To Prove For Iowa State
Caden Crawford arrives at this weeks Iowa State-Iowa matchup with a rare kind of motivation for a player on the Cyclones defensive line. After starting his college career with the Hawkeyes, he saw limited action, moved on to South Dakota and rebuilt his stock there before landing at Iowa State, where he now opens games as a starting defensive end.
For Crawford, the emotional backdrop is obvious, but so is the football importance. Iowa State will need him to help set the edge and slow down the run, and this is the kind of assignment that can quietly shape a rivalry game. For a player who has already taken a long road to this point, Saturday offers a chance to show how far he has come. [Read more 🡒]