The Big 12 Conference has four more weeks of games. By the end of November we’ll know who will play in the Big 12 Championship game — perhaps the last one in league history.
Each week I write about the coaches that are on the hottest seats in the Big 12. Sometimes it’s about their job and sometimes it is about the stakes for that week. Week 10 is definitely a “this week” kind of hot seat.
Let’s dig into this week’s list.
Morgan Scalley, Utah
So far, first-year head coach Morgan Scalley has passed every test at Utah. The Utes have beaten every team they’ve played and have one ranked victory on the ledger. But Saturday’s game with BYU is a different animal.
I covered this game in 2024 for the first time. It was at Rice-Eccles in Salt Lake City and I’ve covered only a couple of rivalry games that exceeded what I witnessed that night (2021 Ohio State-Michigan in Ann Arbor and 1998 Texas-Texas A&M in Austin come immediately to mind).
Whenever BYU and Utah play each other its big. But the stakes are enormous this season. The Utes are undefeated and No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Cougars have one loss and are ranked No. 9. The Cougars need it a bit more than the Utes, but Utah doesn’t want to surrender any ground in the Big 12. A win on Saturday all but assures Utah of a spot in the Big 12 title game.
This is an enormous test for Scalley. Sitake has been a head coach in this game. He gets the deal. Scalley has been a coordinator in this game but never the head coach. It’s a whole different animal. He needs to show he can handle it — not to keep his job, but to keep Utah’s incredible season on track.
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
Joey McGuire’s job isn’t on the line. But the Red Raiders’ season is, which is why he went to Thomas Castellanos as quarterback last week. Even then, Texas Tech had to work hard to survive to beat Arizona, 34-26.
It’s clear this Texas Tech team isn’t quite as good as last year’s team. But the Red Raiders are still in the race to reach the Big 12 title game, but their destiny isn’t completely under their control. Tech needs to win out and needs Utah to help with a win over BYU on Saturday. That is Tech’s clearest path to get to Arlington. It’s not the only one, but it’s the clearest one with four games left.
It’s a stealthy tough game. West Virginia’s offense can blow up a defense, the Red Raiders drew a cruddy game time (8:30 CT — really?) and they’ll know where they stand at kickoff because Utah and BYU play at 11 a.m. CT (again — really?). McGuire must make sure his Red Raiders are ready.
Joe Klanderman, Baylor
Congratulations to the Bears interim head coach, who won his first game with Baylor on Saturday at UCF — resoundingly. Now the hard part — he must follow it up.
Is Klanderman a candidate for this job? I dunno. But if he wants to be he has the one edge that no one has — he can prove he’s the guy with the players that he has right now. So his seat is hot because he doesn’t want to let his chance slip.
Beating UCF was a good start. This weekend its Iowa State and this is a critical game in the context of the postseason. If Baylor wins this game, that’s the team’s six win and that’s a bowl game. The pressure is on because of what’s ahead after the Cyclones — BYU, Texas Tech and Houston.
If Klanderman wants to ensure the Bears go to a bowl game, they have to win this week — which means his seat is warm.
