Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

Part 1: EA Sports College Football principal game designer Ben Haumiller joins Alex and Richard for a discussion of the upcoming CFB video game, with a focus on Dynasty mode and lessons learned from last year’s long-awaited return.* What EA learned from the best-selling sports game of all time* The easier and more difficult parts of releasing a second game* How the new game will (and, most importantly, won’t) include microtransactions* Real-life coaches and how they’ll change the dynasty experience* Addressing to Alex’s specific complaints about the coach carousel* Balancing the competing desires of having a realistic game, but also a game in which UMass can eventually sign a bunch of five-stars* Getting the transfer portal and recruiting right* The challenges of keeping up with a sport that is endlessly changing, especially the playoff systemPart 2 of our discussion with Ben, coming later this week, is a listener Q&A just for our SplitZoneDuo.com subscribers. We’d love to have you!Come see us live at the Sports Podcast Festival on August 23 in Raleigh. 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

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-rialtoCool 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

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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comWe 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 beProducer: Anthony Vito

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-rialtoCool 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

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

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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comIn 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 raidProducer: Anthony VitoHosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard JohnsonReminder: Split Zone Duo LIVE in Raleigh, August 23 Details here. Tickets here.

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

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