As the 2026 college football season moves toward its midpoint, the conversation around coaching pressure is shifting. It is less about one bad Saturday and more about whether a staff is keeping its footing as the year wears on.
That is the lens for this week’s Big 12 hot-seat watch. Not every name here is fighting for his job in the immediate sense, but each one is dealing with something worth watching as the next round of games arrives.
Lance Leipold is the one drawing the sharpest concern at Kansas.
The Jayhawks are headed to Utah to face the No. 12 Utes, and the matchup does not look friendly.
Kansas is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Big 12 play through four games, and the results have split cleanly between overpowering the lightweights and getting handled by the better teams. The Jayhawks beat Long Island and Middle Tennessee by a combined score of 106-06, but they dropped games to Missouri and Arizona State by a combined score of 62-38.
That’s the issue with Kansas right now: the offense has been able to pile it on when the competition is soft, but it has not carried over against stronger opponents. Utah looks like another tough ask. Leipold may be proven wrong on Saturday, but the Utes are rolling and there are not many obvious weak spots to attack.
The bigger picture is not helping either. Leipold has not posted a winning season since 2023, when Kansas won nine games.
That set a new standard for the program, and the Jayhawks are not reaching it now. He is also coaching under a $7 million-per-year contract that runs through 2029, with a buyout that could approach $22 million.
At Kansas State, the spotlight is a little different, but Collin Klein still has something to prove this week.
The Wildcats are coming off their first real setback under Klein, a Week 4 loss to Cincinnati, and they have had two weeks to sit with the nearly 300 rushing yards they gave up. Now they return to action against No. 22 Houston, and this is the kind of spot where Kansas State has often made life difficult for a ranked opponent.
The question here is not whether Klein is in danger. It is whether he can get his team reset after its first dose of adversity and have them ready to compete at home against a ranked opponent.
Houston cannot really afford another league loss, which only adds to the tension around the game. The interest is in how Klein responds to the challenge and how his team responds with him.
Scott Frost’s UCF team is in a different place, but the pressure is still real enough to watch.
The Knights have hit some bumps, though the situation is not nearly at the breaking point. Quarterback Alonza Barnett III is out with a hamstring injury, and backup Keyone Jenkins has stepped in well.
Jenkins also dealt with cramps and minor injuries against Houston last Saturday. Even so, the biggest problem for UCF in that game came late, when defensive breakdowns hurt the Knights.
Now UCF faces a tricky trip to Oklahoma State, which is now ranked and starting to look like a Big 12 contender. Frost needs a win in Stillwater to keep the Knights moving toward bowl eligibility after they missed out by one win a year ago. The job pressure is not the same as it is elsewhere on this list, but the next result matters for where the season can still go.
In Other News...
K-State Faces An Early Gut Check In A Game That Could Turn Late
Kansas State gets a midday home test Saturday when Houston comes to Bill Snyder Family Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff, and it has the feel of a game that could stay tight deep into the second half. The buildup around this one has centered on how the Wildcats match up with a Houston team that has shown enough to make the odds and the recent form worth paying attention to, especially with both sides bringing strengths that could play well in a close, physical game.
For Kansas State, the bigger picture is simple: this is the kind of early gut check that can shape how the rest of the week feels around Manhattan. The preview of the matchup points to a competitive night with injury news still part of the conversation and a slight edge going to Houston, so the Wildcats may need to be sharp from the start if they want to turn a coin-flip type of game in their favor late. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona State Sits In A Stretch That Could Define Colorados Bowl Push
Colorados bye week arrives with the kind of math that can sharpen a season in a hurry. At 2-3, the Buffaloes still have a path to bowl eligibility, but it asks them to win four of their final seven games, and the margin for error is thin with a schedule that still includes UCF, Arizona State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Houston and Oklahoma State.
Arizona State is part of the stretch that may define whether Colorado keeps that hope alive or watches it slip away. The Buffaloes have to find more dependable offense and hold up better on defense against a run of opponents that includes several ranked teams, which means every remaining week carries more weight than the last and the games against the Big 12 middle can no longer be treated like soft landing spots. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Faces A Huge Big 12 Test With Early Stakes Already Rising
Houstons trip to Manhattan stands out as one of the most intriguing Big 12 games of the week, even in a slate filled with eye-catching matchups. Kansas State gets the kind of early measuring-stick game that can sharpen the picture of where both teams really belong in the league race, while Houston arrives with a chance to show it can handle the week-to-week grind that comes with life in the conference.
The broader Week 6 board also gives this one extra texture, with Arizona at West Virginia, Iowa State at BYU, UCF at Oklahoma State, Kansas at Utah and Hawaii at Arizona State each carrying their own hooks. Still, the Houston-Kansas State game has a little more edge to it because early stakes are already starting to matter, and both sides can turn a solid performance into something bigger as the schedule tightens. [Read more 🡒]