The Big 12 calendar is getting tight, and with four weeks left in the regular season, the pressure is starting to show up in a very specific way: not just on résumés, but on the sideline every Saturday. Week 10 brings a fresh round of coaches with plenty riding on the next snap, and for some of them, the stakes are about much more than one game.
Morgan Scalley is first on the list, and the spotlight in Salt Lake City is blinding right now. Utah has rolled through every opponent so far, and the Utes already have one ranked win on the board.
They’re also sitting at No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, which tells you just how far this season has already gone. But BYU is a different kind of test.
Saturday’s rivalry game carries real weight. BYU comes in at No. 9 with one loss, and while the Cougars probably need the result more, Utah has no interest in giving up any ground in the Big 12 race.
A win would all but lock the Utes into the Big 12 Championship game. Scalley has handled every challenge so far in his first year, but this one is different.
He has been around this rivalry as a coordinator. He has not been the head coach in it.
That matters. He doesn’t need this game to save his job; he needs to show he can steer Utah through the biggest stage it has seen yet this season.
Texas Tech is in a different spot, but Joey McGuire still has plenty to manage. His job isn’t the issue.
The Red Raiders’ season is. That’s why he turned to Thomas Castellanos at quarterback last week, and even with that move, Tech had to grind to a 34-26 win over Arizona.
This doesn’t look like last year’s Texas Tech team, but the Red Raiders are still alive in the Big 12 race. The catch is that they don’t fully control their own path.
To get to Arlington, Tech needs to win out and also needs Utah to beat BYU on Saturday. That’s the cleanest route, even if it’s not the only one.
With four games left, there’s no room to waste one.
The timing doesn’t help. West Virginia’s offense can put serious stress on a defense, and the Red Raiders got stuck with an 8:30 CT kickoff - really? - while Utah and BYU are playing at 11 a.m.
CT - again, really? McGuire will know exactly where Tech stands by kickoff, and he has to make sure his team is ready for a game that could swing the whole picture.
Then there’s Baylor, where interim head coach Joe Klanderman has already checked off one important box. He won his first game with the Bears, and he did it convincingly at UCF. Now comes the harder part: backing it up.
Whether Klanderman is a real candidate for the full-time job is still an open question. But if he wants to make that case, he has a chance no one else does.
He can prove it with the players already in the room. That’s why his seat is hot in a different way - because he has a window, and he doesn’t want to let it close.
Baylor’s next game against Iowa State is a big one for the postseason picture. A win would give the Bears their sixth victory and make them bowl eligible.
After that comes a brutal stretch with BYU, Texas Tech and Houston. If Baylor wants to get to a bowl, this is the week it has to handle.
That’s what keeps Klanderman’s seat warm heading into Week 10.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Has A Worry Fans Cant Ignore Before Illinois
Texas Tech got the result it needed against Bethune-Cookman, but the 76-58 win did not exactly quiet every concern heading into a much bigger test. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn carried the Red Raiders with 25 points, while Cruz Davis chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds, giving the offense enough punch to get through a game it was expected to control.
The bigger worry was how the Red Raiders got there. Free-throw shooting and three-point accuracy both lagged, and those are the kinds of issues that can become expensive in a hurry against No. 3 Illinois. Texas Tech has a win in hand, but the next step is a far tougher one, and the margin for sloppiness is about to shrink fast. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Is Showing One Early Strength Fans Should Love
Texas Techs second win of the season, a 76-58 result over Bethune-Cookman, offered another early look at what this group can already hang its hat on at home. The Red Raiders have been steady on the defensive end through their first two games in Lubbock, and the offense showed a little more rhythm after halftime, especially from beyond the arc.
Cruz Davis has emerged as one of the more important pieces in the opening stretch, affecting the game in a variety of ways even as the scoring load has shifted from one player to the next. For a team still sorting out its offensive pecking order, that kind of balance can be encouraging, and it leaves Texas Tech with a useful early sign of what might travel well once the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Boise State Still Has One Real Playoff Obstacle Left
Boise States path into the College Football Playoff is starting to look more manageable by the week, and that matters in the broader race because the bracket projection is already taking shape across the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and the Group of Six. With conference champions, runners-up and at-large candidates all being sorted by current form and injury situations, the Broncos have climbed into a spot where the remaining schedule is doing a lot of the work for them.
For Texas Tech fans watching the wider playoff picture, the interesting part is how few obstacles still seem to be standing in Boise States way. The projection points to one real hurdle left, with the rest of the field shaped by the same mix of results and availability that is tightening the race everywhere else. If the Broncos clear that final test, the rest of the bracket conversation gets a lot more complicated. [Read more 🡒]