Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

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

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 Tide claim other titles that would be a lot less outrageous?) No other sport has a feature quite like this one, and we’ve got an expert to talk through it with us: Keith Gaddie, TCU professor and author of a new book, “Bragging Rites,” on the history of arguing over national championships. (The book comes out May 24.)More from Split Zone Duo’s partners:* Use SZD20 for 20% off your first order at Homefield. There’s fresh college sports apparel dropping at Homefield all the time. Find your school’s collection. Also: auto racing gear. It’s Indy 500 month.* Visit NokianTyres.com/RoadTrips and share your road-tripping plans for the summer, and you’ll be entered to win a set of tires. This contest runs through May 30. Enjoy the same tires that get us where we need to go.Producer: 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

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 Saban: What will it do? How will it interact with the NCAA’s efforts to get Congress to write it a bill? Are Ted Cruz and Tommy Tuberville going to fight? And how seriously should you take the whole thing?* 36:10: Negotiations over a potential 16-team playoff format* 39:46: The drip, drip, drip of news about Bill Belichick’s relationship: Will UNC ever know a moment of peace as long as he’s coaching?* 40:51: Notre Dame and Clemson make a scheduling deal* 44:06: Akron, the first academically ineligible bowl team in a decade* 46:34: Jim Tressel’s new career in Ohio* 47:56: Arkansas’ state law and a House settlement race to the bottom* 56:03: Brett Yormark’s extension as Big 12 commissioner* 59:49: Private equity in college football: Have our views changed at all since this became a big story in early 2024?Read Matt’s newsletter at www.extrapointsmb.comMore from SZD’s partners* Use SZD20 at www.homefieldapparel.com.* Follow Nokian Tyres on Instagram @NokianTyresNA, and learn more about Nokian’s commitment to sustainability at nokiantyres.com/sustainabilityProducer: Antony 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.comThe 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 college football program to struggle so much that when JFK used them to justify going to the moon, everyone understood the reference. For decades, this picture has barely changed.Why is football so hard at Rice? To get to the bottom of it, Alex and Richard interview two experts: Matthew Bartlett and Carter Spires of The Roost, the internet’s top destination for Rice sports news and commentary. Among other things, the group discusses:* How a Rice game day looks* The program’s many downs and occasional ups, like its record-setting 2008 team that won 10 games* JFK’s famous speech that doubled as a minor dig at the team* How Rice fits into, or sets itself apart from, the city of Houston* Why a school that figured out baseball has never cracked football* The difficulties of recruiting to a school that cares about school* The school’s decision to get a bit more serious about football latey* The best possible case for Rice football in the next 10 years* VERDICT TIME: Stay in the AAC, drop to FCS, or stop playing football?This is the second episode in an SZD series, “Why You’re Always Bad." For the first subscriber episode, on Kent State, scroll down in this podcast feed.Everyone can hear a free preview of this episode. To hear the whole thing and get a bunch more subscriber-only episodes, join us on a free trial.Thanks to the crew from The Roost for joining our show.Producer: Anthony Vito

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* Utah State’s Bronco Mendenhall hire could be one of the best moves any team made all offseason* Fresno State gets Matt Entz, formerly of NDSU, and tries to find talent in unconventional places* Boise State loses Ashton Jeanty but has so much coming back* Colorado State has an intriguing group of freshmen and an ex-Ohio State WR* San Jose State tries to build on an encouraging first year under Ken Niumatalolo but has to move forward without an all-time receiver, Nick Nash* UNLV got Dan Mullen … and then some shaky headlines about its finances* Nevada looks to a familiar face, Chubba Purdy, to turn around a 3-10 team* Air Force is a candidate to be one of the most improved teams in FBS, but it’s not clear who will play QB* Wyoming has holes to fill at positions where it’s produced elite players recently* San Diego State tries to get back to basics after an ugly first year for Sean Lewis* Hawaii has athletic director turmoil on an epic scaleGet cool stuff from SZD’s partners* Use SZD20 at www.homefieldapparel.com.* Follow Nokian Tyres on Instagram @NokianTyresNA, and learn more about Nokian’s commitment to sustainability at nokiantyres.com/sustainabilityProducer: Anthony VitoHosts: Alex Kirshner, Ricard Johnson 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.comBill 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 in UNC football communications* Why Alex thinks UNC should look for a way out of this marriage* Why Richard thinks that could be a substantial overreaction* What Urban Meyer’s Jaguars season tells us about the situation* What UNC is losing already and why The Athletic’s report about the program losing “Hard Knocks” is one of the biggest red flags* The idea of Belichick as a coaching hire vs. the reality in his current form* Where Belichick is already, however, providing some value to UNC* Finding common groundFurther listening: Our Belichick “emergency show” when he was hired in MarchProducer: Anthony VitoHosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson

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 Victoria Zeller, who joins Alex to discuss her new book One of the Boys and the deep research she did into the state of modern special teams development. #CollegeKickers are getting better despite lacking training at most high schools. How? Well, there’s a story there.* In the Pac-12, Washington State had the kind of offseason that Oregon State had last year, and now the Cougars have to pick up the pieces* Among the FBS independents: UConn’s doing well, UMass is at least trying something sensible as it prepares to move to the MAC this summer, and Notre Dame has lots of backfilling and an intriguing QB battle on the agenda* Victoria Zeller talks about “One of the Boys,” the privatization of special teams development, and much more.The book comes out May 13 and is available for preorder here: https://victoria.monster/#bookdriveLiked this show? Get bonus episodes at www.splitzoneduo.com/subscribeProducer: Anthony VitoGet cool stuff from SZD’s partnersUse SZD20 at www.homefieldapparel.com and get 20% off your first order.Follow Nokian Tyres on Instagram @NokianTyresNA, and learn more about Nokian’s commitment to sustainability at nokiantyres.com/sustainability 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 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 live taping at the Sports Podcast Festival in Raleigh on August 23. Tickets out May 9* Off-the-dome dark horses for every conference in 2025* Pac-12 candidates from the American Athletic* The Week 1 games we’d go to if we could* Could the next Phil Knight/Oregon donor relationship be at … Texas Tech? It’s not a ridiculous question!* Contract disputes in coach poaching* Coaches getting banned from high schools for recruiting sins* Under Armour fading in college sports* The main event: Discussion of Shedeur Sanders plummeting to the fifth round. (Also, Richard’s very excited the Jags got Travis Hunter)* Alex is even less enamored than before with private equity coming to CFBProducer: Anthony Vito

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comSteven 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 musical chairs. Nowadays, only a few of these teams probably feel content, and they aren’t the ones we expected. What can we learn, and what does all of this have to do with Southern Miss and Marshall?Producer: Anthony Vito

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 the MAC for QB Dequan Finn* Buffalo: Pete Lembo tries to follow up a surprisingly good opening act* Bowling Green: Has an offseason loss of a coach ever looked better than the Falcons winding up with Eddie George? * Western Michigan: Major staff turnover as Lance Taylor tries to fix it * Toledo: Jason Candle has a good roster (as usual) and spicy spring game commentary * NIU: Losing basically everything from last year’s team that beat Notre Dame, and also preparing for a conference switch * Akron: A portal exodus * EMU: Ditto, but Chris Creighton is a hard man to count out * Central Michigan: Trying something different with Army’s Matt Drinkall as head coach. We applaud the spirit of the hire* Kent State: Well, it’s really, really badThe MAC also has some realignment coming for this season, with UMass joining back up. They’re not officially Midwesterners again until July, though, so we’ll discuss the Minutemen when we check in with the independents. (Ed. note! We recorded most of this episode shortly before the spring transfer portal window opened, but we made a few updates before publication on 4/23, mostly to cover the late-spring firing of Kent State’s head coach.) Elsewhere in Offseason Vibe Checks* Big Ten* SEC* ACC* Big 12* Sun Belt* Conference USA* AACSubscriber exclusives all offseason longTwo of them just this week! * What on Earth is going on at Cal? * The NFL Draft QB Tiers Special, with Ben Solak and Derrik KlassenAnd much more from SZDPaid subscribers help us make these episodes and get lots more of them. Get a weeklong free trial to see how you like them.Get cool stuff from SZD’s partnersSUPPORT OUR PARTNERS AND GET COOL STUFF* Shop Diamond Classics and much more at www.homefieldapparel.com. * Follow Nokian Tyres on Instagram @NokianTyresNA 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