This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com We believe in an old college football theory: If a coach is going to win at his current job, he’s going to have a good second season. The exceptions, like Bill McCartney and Jim Harbaugh, prove the rule. This year, 28 FBS coaches enter their second season in charge o…

Fall camp approaches. Let’s talk about the most consequential transfer portal moves of the offseason that weren’t quarterbacks and, in a lot of cases, didn’t even happen in national championship-contending programs. Oklahoma’s new running back and receivers! Dabo’s dip into the portal! Oregon’s new secondary import from Purdue! Notre Dame’s acquisi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Cody Alexander of MatchQuarters joins Richard to discuss how the football coach at North Carolina will actually, ya know, coach football (a novel concept, we know). His evolution as a defensive mind shaped the way you watch the game in more ways than you can realize,…

A running back from Boise State helped define the 2024 season. Does CFB have an RB waiting in the wings to make a similar imprint in 2025? Probably not exactly, given Jeanty’s historic season and the difficulty non-power programs have had retaining star running backs this offseason. But if we’re just looking for running backs who can defy difficult…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com In this week’s CFB Lunch Break, Alex and Richard answer live questions from Split Zone Duo subscribers: * What to make of Luke Fickell’s mediocre first two years at Wisconsin and a challenging situation in Year 3 * Ohio State/Texas scheduling fight * Florida’s upside…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com For live show tickets in Raleigh on 8/23: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/78691649/the-2nd-annual-sports-podcast-festival-raleigh-the-rialto Godfrey, Richard, and Alex present the second episode in our “Anatomy of a Coaching Carousel” series. This show covers the new c…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Split Zone Duo State is the newest startup FBS program. We've got our coach, but now we need a staff. Blueprint Sports head of analytics Parker Fleming joins the show to help Richard break down who to hire, and the roles that need filling, to build SZD State into a t…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Richard and Alex take live questions from our Split Zone Duo subscribers. Topics covered in this episode include: * The slightly messy ending between Jim Knowles and Ohio State * What we’re most excited about in the 2025 season * More developments in Bill Belichick/J…

College football history is loaded with BS national championship claims, as well as some non-consensus claims that AREN’T ridiculous. How do we tell the difference? What patterns emerge when we look at decades of disputed titles? What is the most ridiculous national title claim of all time? (Spoiler: It’s one of Alabama’s claims. But why don’t the …

Sports Podcast Festival tickets: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/78691649/the-2nd-annual-sports-podcast-festival-raleigh-the-rialto Extra Points publisher Matt Brown joins Alex to break down a handful of big offseason stories in the business of college football. * 1:25: Donald Trump’s presidential commission on college sports, co-chaired by Nick Saba…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com The Rice Owls have had 36 winning seasons since 1914. They once lost 18 games in a row. They have wandered from conference to conference since the death of the SWC, and despite being in a huge city that loves football, they have precious few fans. They are the only c…

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner close out SZD’s Offseason Vibe Check series with the Mountain West. How has everything gone for this conference and its teams between the end of the regular season and now? Let’s discuss: * The state of the Mountain West’s squabbling with the Pac-12 * New Mexico’s new head coach, Jason Eck, has been an FCS lifer * …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Bill Belichick’s relationship with Jordon Hudson is the stuff of sports gossip legend, but we are most interested in what it says about Belichick’s ability to run an ACC football team. Alex and Richard discuss in this subscriber episode: * How Jordon filled a vacuum …

Part 1 of this week’s episode is the continuation of SZD’s “Offseason Vibe Checks” series, checking in on the Pac-12 and the FBS independents. You may be thinking, “Nice, but that’s probably going to be a really short episode, because there are just two Pac-12 teams and three independents at the moment.” Fear not! Part 2 is an interview with author…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com In this live recording, Alex and Richard answer a handful of subscriber questions and take the time to talk about the factors behind Shedeur Sanders’ plummet to the fifth round of the NFL Draft. In this episode: * An announcement: Alex, Richard, and Godfrey will do a…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Steven Godfrey, Richard Johnson, and Alex Kirshner check in on how things are going three-plus years after a blockbuster few days in the coach carousel. Over a few days in late 2021, USC, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, LSU, Oregon, and Miami played a high-stakes game of music…

Alex and Richard break down offseason happenings in the Mid-American Conference, which saw lots of coach carousel turnover. * Ohio: Tim Albin to Charlotte, OC Brian Smith replacing him * Ball State: An off-the-beaten-path coach hire, bringing on a guy who most recently coached non-scholarship football in the Pioneer League * Miami: It’s a Return to…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Renewing our annual NFL Draft week tradition, Richard is joined by ESPN’s Ben Solak and The Athletic Football Show’s Derrik Klassen for a rollicking good time discussing the 2025 QB class. You'll be surprised at a QB the gang surprisingly can tolerate in a class that…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Alex and Richard take a bunch of questions from Split Zone Duo subscribers, recorded at lunch on April 15. The topics covered here include: * Is this the most wide-open track to the national title that CFB has seen in a long time? And what does it even mean for Ohio …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Alex and Richard react to Nico Iamaleava’s split from Tennessee. We’re less interested in where he plays next (UNC? UCLA? Elsewhere?) and more interested in talking through his last few months as a Volunteer: * The job done by Tennessee’s football staff * The way Iam…

Rodger Sherman returns for our offseason check in with the American Athletic Conference, along with Alex and Richard. The group discusses how things have been going since the end of the 2024 season for each team in the AAC: * UTSA finds reason for optimism * Rice gets a bit creative in the coach carousel * FAU makes a hire that Alex is pretty happy…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Matt Brown, publisher of the Extra Points college sports business newsletter, joins Alex to discuss a handful of big business stories that are all coming to a head around the same time. In this show: * The status of the not-quite-finished House settlement * Do we bel…

Alex interviews Dowell Loggains, the recently hired Appalachian State head coach who was most recently at South Carolina after a long run as an NFL assistant and coordinator. After Alex and Richard talk a bit about App State’s last 20 years, Loggains joins (17:10) to discuss: * Why he moved from the NFL to college football at a time when coaches ar…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com This episode is for paid subscribers, but everyone can hear a preview. If you’re not a paid subscriber, you can get a weeklong free trial. Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson take a bunch of live questions from Split Zone Duo subscribers and discuss college football of…

Rodger Sherman joins Alex and Richard for a checkup on all 18 teams in the beefy Big Ten, as our Offseason Vibe Check series rolls on: * Ohio State won the national championship. That’s pretty good! Both the team and coaching staff are about to look a lot different. * Penn State faces its "national championship or go away” season * Washington is ve…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Andrew Luck fired Stanford coach Troy Taylor after off-field investigations of his conduct came to light. In this episode for SZD subscribers, Alex and Richard discuss the circumstances of Taylor’s firing and Stanford’s challenges: * An investigation timeline going b…

The NCAA had complete control of college football TV. The association decided which games the public could watch, and where, and when, and how much money every school would earn as a result. Then came a new group called the College Football Association, an outside TV deal, and a lawsuit from two schools, Georgia and Oklahoma. What happened next, at…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Dan Lanning signed an extension with Oregon that makes it impossible for all but a few teams to hire him away, and most of them aren’t college. Steven Godfrey, Richard Johnson, and Alex Kirshner discuss what his contract says about the evolved pecking order in the co…

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football senior writer Mike Craven discuss the state of the offseason in Conference USA, a league that was spicier than most of us expected in 2024: * Jacksonville State loses the braintrust behind a conference championship and will now be completely different * WKU’s run as the cradle of co…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Alex and Richard take subscribers’ college football questions in this live recording, conducted on the Substack app on Tuesday. We call it CFB Lunch Break, because we’re taking CFB questions at lunchtime: * How we feel about player wearing #0 and single-digits * The …

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football senior writer Mike Craven discuss how the offseason is going for every team in the Big 12 Conference: * Arizona State keeps a playoff core almost totally intact * Arizona is in the danger zone after Brent Brennan’s first year * Baylor is once again ready to contend for the league * …

The Offseason Vibe Check series continues with the ACC, as Rodger Sherman joins Alex and Richard to talk about the state of the league. It's not a 2024 recap, and it's not a 2025 preview. It's a check-in with every team in every FBS conference about what's been happening since Thanksgiving. How was the postseason? How was the coach carousel? How wa…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Alex and Richard take live and pre-submitted subscriber questions in this quick episode to start off the new month. Topics include: * Biff Poggi’s return to Michigan * The tough job ahead of Pitt’s new AD * Brian Kelly’s make-or-break year * Colorado State continuall…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com The history of the Kent State Golden Flashes is full of missed opportunities, real-life tragedies, and lots of losing—never more than in 2024, when Kent State had one of the worst teams in college football history. Why is the program perennially so bad? To answer tha…

Split Zone Duo’s “Offseason Vibe Check” series rolls on with the Sun Belt. It's not a 2024 recap, and it's not a 2025 preview. It's a check-in with every team in every FBS conference about what's been happening since Thanksgiving. How was the postseason? How was the coach carousel? How was signing day? How was the transfer portal window? And is any…

Welcome to Split Zone Duo’s “Offseason Vibe Check” series. It's not a 2024 recap, and it's not a 2025 preview. It's a check-in with every team in every FBS conference about what's been happening since Thanksgiving. How was the postseason? How was the coach carousel? How was signing day? How was the transfer portal window? And is anything else going…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com The coaching carousel before the 2001 season transformed college football. Some programs set themselves up for national championship (or even dynastic) runs. Some screwed themselves. Some set the stage for the next several decades of the top tiers of the SEC and Big …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Split Zone Duo subscribers have some questions for an NIL agent about how the business of paying college football players actually works. Justin J. Giangrande is the CEO and founder of NETWORK, a sports marketing agency that handle…

In one of Steven Godfrey’s favorite early-offseason traditions, the SZD crew glances ahead at the Week 1 schedule many months from now. Not just so there’s something to look forward to as the long offseason gets going, but because the story of Week 1 matchups is increasingly the story of how athletic directors are approaching scheduling. Let’s dive…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com 2024 was a weird (read: bad) year for a lot of college football teams in the state Alabama. Justin Ferguson, publisher of the Auburn Observer and all-purpose ball-knower in the state, joins Alex and Richard to discuss: * How everyone’s feeling after the two Iron Bowl…

On January 18, SZD and our old friends at the Shutdown Fullcast combined for a live show in Atlanta, presented by Homefield. We now present the recording, featuring a whole bunch of FOOTBALL DISASTERS and a round of CFB family feud featuring friends of the program like Homefield founder Connor Hitchcock, Matt Brown, Jessica Smetana, Amanda Mull, an…

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Steven Godfrey discuss the stories they are most interested to watch unfold between now and September. In this show: * Podcast update: Godfrey is becoming host emeritus and will take a lighter load as he works on other things, but you’ll still hear him on SZD regularly. * Richard is tracking a series of potential…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Godfrey, Richard, and Alex made a lot of preseason predictions back in August. Some of them worked out well. (Everyone had Ohio State winning the national title.) Some of them worked out terribly. (Florida State and Michigan in the playoff: Nice job, fellas!) Let’s s…

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner put a bow on the national championship game, a 34-23 win for Ohio State over Notre Dame: * How the Buckeyes did it * Notre Dame’s attempt to stop them, including that late third down * Ryan Day’s unique legacy * And more odds and ends from the title game Thanks so much for listening this season, our fifth as a podc…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com In this subscriber episode, Ross Fulton, Ohio State analyst for Buckeye Huddle, joins Richard to talk about the schematic chess match of OSU vs. Notre Dame for the national championship. Let’s go in depth on how these teams will approach the other and the schematic b…

CBS Sports national college football reporter Shehan Jeyarajah joins Alex and Richard for a preview of Ohio State vs. Notre Dame. Shehan and Richard were at the two semifinals, and now everyone gathers to frame up the title game: * When Ohio State has the ball * When Notre Dame has the ball * Why a lot of our analysis of Notre Dame’s chances keeps …

Richard, Godfrey, and Alex name their winners in the 2024 Split Zone Duo college football awards, aka “The Zonies” aka “The Splitty Ds.” * Team of the Year (not the best team, but the one that we most enjoyed watching or became most interested in going forward) * Moment of the Year * Proof of Concept of the Year, for coaches showing good signs * Mi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Godfrey's back from a variety platter of holiday family illnesses to play some hypothetical coaching games, like Fran Brown to LSU (?!) and why USC needs to clean its house like 2000s-era LSU. Also, let's talk about spoons. A lot. Producer: Anthony Vito Also in the p…

The College Football Playoff semifinals are in the books. Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson share notes on Ohio State over Texas and Notre Dame over Penn State, plus pay tribute to North Dakota State’s win over Montana State in the FCS Championship. Producer: Anthony Vito. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribe…

Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for 247Sports. He joins Alex to talk about the Nittany Lions’ long road to the doorstep of the national title game, including: * How the university responded to James Franklin’s request for more investment in the football program * The relationship between the coach and the fanbase * An athletic director swap in the …