Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Will the House Settlement Bring Bagmen Back? Plus More Offseason News Jun 18, 2025

Show notes

Alex and Richard discuss a handful of offseason stories:

* The Pac-12’s expansion efforts are coming to a head, and Texas State—not Sacramento State—appears to be the apple of the league’s eye. Extra Points publisher Matt Brown joins to talk about why Sac State’s extremely public campaign for FBS membership has not paid dividends. Read Matt’s report on the Hornets’ looming move to FCS independence.

* The House settlement is now official, and depending on who you talk to, it’s either an ironclad new system to regulate the college football economy or a house of cards just waiting to be toppled. Justin Williams, a college football reporter for The Athletic, explains these competitive views. Read his recent story: “Return of the bag man: NIL clearinghouse could revive paying college athletes under table.” (Of course, also read Godfrey’s old classic.)

* Playoff expansion might be stalemated, and there’s a surprising group of people at the heart of the resistance: SEC head coaches. What?

* Cal joins Stanford in putting a famous alum in charge of the whole football program, not as head coach but as general manager. What are the ramifications sport-wide, and what is specific to the Bay Area schools? Refer back to our subscriber episode on Cal’s tumultuous offseason.

Sports Podcast Festival tickets for 8/23 (use code SPF25 for a buy-one, get-one-half-off deal): https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/78691649/the-2nd-annual-sports-podcast-festival-raleigh-the-rialto

Cool stuff from Split Zone Duo’s partners

* Use SZD20 for 20% off your first order at Homefield.

* Enter your favorite CFB road trip at our Nokian Tyres landing page, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win free tires.

Production: Anthony Vito.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.splitzoneduo.com/subscribe

CFB Lunch Break: How to Know If Your FBS Transition Has a Chance Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com

Richard and Alex take subscriber questions on:

* How to assess if a school’s FCS-to-FBS transition is in a good place or not, especially if it takes a little bit to win any games

* The big business of college football data distribution

* The endless (?) expansion of eligibility for old players

* Why the SEC owns the offseason every year and the Big Ten doesn’t

* The wisdom of Power 2 schools like Mississippi State throwing House settlement dollars into sports other than football

* Richard trading a Florida basketball title for football

* Do recent moves at Georgia Tech and UVA say anything about the ACC’s financial shortfall?

* If more programs will have general managers in charge soon, a la Andrew Luck and Ron Rivera at Stanford and Cal

Producer: Anthony Vito.

This is a subscriber episode of Split Zone Duo.

Everyone can listen to a free preview, and we offer weeklong free trials if you want to try us out. Help us make the show and get a lot more of it!

Producer: Anthony Vito

CFB's Year 2 Coaches for 2025: Who's Good, and Who's Already Dicey? Jun 16, 2025

Show notes

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 of their programs. Who’s already banked enough goodwill to withstand a down year? Who’s doing fine, with a big year yet to come? And who got off on the wrong foot in 2024 and already needs a major improvement to get his tenure on track? From Curt Cignetti and Jon Sumrall to Sherrone Moore and Sean Lewis, let’s check in with our sophomore class.

Some episode highlights:

* A discussion of exactly where Mike Elko stands relative to expectations after a really nice debut season at Texas A&M

* Why Kalen DeBoer doesn’t fit neatly into any one category of Year 2 coaches

* Sherrone Moore looks very good at Michigan, but we’re watching for two things: the QB living up to the hype and the NCAA going away

* Yikes, Sean Lewis’ start at San Diego State was barren

* Same for Brent Brennan at Arizona

* At UCLA, is that a flicker of … hope? It might be

Producer: Anthony Vito

The 25 Most Interesting Non-QB Transfers in College Football Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

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 acquisition of an actually-good wideout! Indiana’s second act under Curt Cignetti! And picking out the most interesting players Texas Tech got in its very expensive portal class.

Sports Podcast Festival tickets (use code SPF25 to buy one, get one half off): https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/78691649/the-2nd-annual-sports-podcast-festival-raleigh-the-rialto

Cool stuff from SZD’s partners

* Use SZD20 for 20% off your first order at Homefield.

* Enter your favorite CFB road trip at our Nokian Tyres landing page, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win free tires.

Production: Anthony Vito.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.splitzoneduo.com/subscribe

So, What Can We Expect From Belichick ON the Field? Jun 09, 2025

Show notes

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, but can he be the same guy in college football? What's instructive about Steve Belichick's time in Washington? And can a guy who is all about the fundamentals thrive in today's college football? Producer: Anthony Vito.

This is a subscriber episode!

Everyone can hear a free preview or join on a free trial, however. You can do that by clicking this button:

Further listening

Can There Be an Ashton Jeanty in 2025? Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

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 circumstances and elevate their offenses to a new level, we can find some candidates to be 2025’s Jeanty.

SZD audience survey: https://surveys.getwizer.com/s3/d33771e852f9

Tickets to the Sports Podcast Festival on 8/23 in Raleigh (use code SPF25 for half off a second ticket): https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/78691649/the-2nd-annual-sports-podcast-festival-raleigh-the-rialto

Cool stuff from SZD’s partners

* Use SZD20 for 20% off your first order at Homefield.

* Enter your favorite CFB road trip at our Nokian Tyres landing page, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win free tires.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.splitzoneduo.com/subscribe

CFB Lunch Break: Off, Wisconsin? Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

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 fall

* What Penn State actually needs from Drew Allar

* The cloudy landscape of G5 position player talent

* What’s behind TNT’s weird College Football Playoff TV arrangement

* Nebraska and Clemson offseason vapors

* UCLA: Glass half full?

* Notre Dame’s reasonable goals

* Michigan State hiring Georgia Tech’s athletic director

* The air raid is dead. Long live the air raid

Producer: Anthony Vito

Hosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson

Reminder: Split Zone Duo LIVE in Raleigh, August 23 Details here. Tickets here.

Anatomy of a Coaching Carousel: 2010 May 28, 2025

Show notes

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 college football head coaches for the 2010 season. This was the year that Florida State finally pushed out Bobby Bowden, Notre Dame fired Charlie Weis, and USC watched Pete Carroll walk out the door to the Seahawks. What happened after that?

* A messy “coach-in-waiting” situation in Tallahassee, as Bobby Bowden is finally pushed away and Jimbo Fisher steps up

* Notre Dame goes for Brian Kelly after squandering a "decided schematic advantage” and firing Charlie Weis

* Charlie Strong gets a new job at Louisville

* Vanderbilt lives through one of the stranger mid-offseason changes in a while

* Lane Kiffin arrives in Southern California, and Derek Dooley replaces him in Knoxville in a search that sure could have gone differently

* A future senator heads to Siberia, err, Lubbock

* Butch Jones takes on one of the hardest jobs in college football: living up to a high bar set by a string of his predecessors

Then it’s CLASS SUPERLATIVES time, with the boys each naming their pick for the Ellis Johnson/Southern Miss Award, the Coaching Carousel Global Impact Award, and Hire of the Year.

Scroll down in your feed to February 18, 2025 for the first episode in this series.

Producer: Anthony Vito

How to Build a Modern CFB Front Office May 23, 2025

Show notes

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 title contender.

For additional (free) listening on this topic, see our March 2024 episode: “The NFL-ification of college recruiting.”

This is a special episode for Split Zone Duo’s paid subscribers. Get started with a free trial.

Plus, everyone can hear a free preview.

Also this week for SZD subscribers:

CFB Lunch Break: Lincoln Riley, Rivalry Killer? May 21, 2025

Show notes

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/Jordon Hudson

* Rapid scheme turnover, like Washington State will see this year

* Playoff expansion’s effect on SEC expansion

* Lincoln Riley and USC say they want to preserve their Notre Dame rivalry game, but Riley’s old words and current actions say different

* Duke as an ACC dark horse

* How cooked is Virginia Tech?

* New athletic director at Michigan State: Why?

* Maryland’s business-ish approach to filling the AD chair

* Likelier to get fired or win their conference? Mike Gundy, Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley, and Mike Norvell

College Football Lunch Break is a recurring live call that we have at 12 p.m. ET on many Tuesdays in the Substack app. Subscribers get a recording afterward.

Producer: Anthony Vito

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