Explore every episode of the podcast Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

MACtion is back as of this week, and the Toledo Rockets are once again right there in the mix to win the conference. How did the most consistent program in the Mid-American get that way? And what challenges has it needed to overcome to stay there? There are a lot of them. Inside this episode:

4:20: The Cignettification of Toledo

6:38: Mike Jacobs and the small-college coaching pipeline

15:38: Remembering Toledo coaches, from Nick Saban to Jason Candle

20:04: Giant-killing and the Glass Bowl

24:38: The university, the city, and the challenges of MACtion

34:07: Can anybody else in the MAC do this?

Producer: Anthony Vito

Become a paid subscriber today to get every SZD episode.

Richard and Alex look ahead to one of the juiciest weekend schedules college football has seen in years. First, a quick discussion of the midterm elections’ effect on the college football landscape, and then dozens of games, including:

- 10:34: Virginia Tech at SMU

- 14:04: New Mexico at Nevada

- 18:15: BYU at Utah

- 23:46: Texas at Missouri

- 31:38: Texas A&M at South Carolina

- 34:25: Alabama at LSU

- 40:14: Oregon at Ohio State

- 52:39: Georgia at Ole Miss

- 58:05: Miami at Notre Dame (note: recorded before we heard Malachi Toney’s status is uncertain)

- 1:05:43: Oklahoma at Florida

Producer: Anthony Vito

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Guest host Jessica Smetana joins Alex to talk through the first College Football Playoff rankings reveal of the season. This episode first aired as a live stream on YouTube and has been spruced up lightly by our producer, Anthony Vito, to go into your podcast feeds now. In this episode:

* Running through the opening 1-25

* What the committee says it’s doing differently this year

* Our biggest beefs with the committee (Alabama, hello again lol)

* The committee’s crush of the week

* The team at risk of being dropped from the group chat

* Jessica Smetana’s Notre Dame Discourse Corner

* The sneaky good win (or loss) of the week. Hi, Oregon?

Thanks for listening, and especially thank you if you were one of the people who joined us live and waited for us during some early technical glitching!

Florida State is open. Richard and Alex give the whole job market an overview but focus most of this episode on the Noles, who are still (for most people) the best available gig on the market. In this episode:

3:01: Richard walks Alex through the backroom and infrastructural changes FSU has already made (and the ones fans still want)

12:50: Where exactly did Mike Norvell’s tenure go wrong?

22:59: Where will this job sit in the pecking order of available gigs?

25:24: Names who might make sense in Tallahassee

30:29: NC State’s apparent pursuit of Philip Rivers and what we see in it, plus a bit more on on Baylor and Sam Houston

Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard and Alex take you through Week 9, telling you about dozens of interesting games in 30ish minutes. Including but not limited to:

USC 30, Ohio State 18

Indiana 23, Minnesota 16

Washington 17, Nebraska 10

South Carolina 42, Oklahoma 25

BYU 27, Arizona State 20

Texas Tech 34, Arizona 26

Iowa State 51, Oklahoma State 49

Miami 38, North Carolina 35

Clemson 36, Florida State 24

Troy 24, James Madison 21

Johns Hopkins wins on a FAIR-CATCH KICK

Producer: Anthony Vito

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The New Mexico Lobos have a long and mostly bleak football history. A former coach one said you could fit the fanbase in a few rows of bleachers. The list of UNM players the casual college football fan remembers watching is zero player long. But right now, under coach Jason Eck, UNM is one of the most exciting turnaround stories in the country and has a real chance to make the playoff. The Lobos are doing something no one else is doing, and Rodger Sherman joins Alex Kirshner to talk about it on this SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL:

0:16: New Mexico’s moment

9:51: The Jason Eck story

19:26: Remember a Lobo (Brian Urlacher edition)

25:20: Why winning at New Mexico is ultra-difficult

36:48: The defense and the turnovers

42:50: What happens after Eck?

Producer: Anthony Vito

Alex and Richard break down the Week 9 of the college football season, including Lincoln Riley’s uphill climb against Ohio State, and the Cody Campbell rants that should have Texas Tech fans concerned.

Florida Atlantic University at North Texas (00:02:37) Baylor at UCF (00:06:08) Arizona at Texas Tech (00:09:50) Notre Dame at Navy (00:19:32)Wisconsin at Iowa (00:24:06) Florida at Georgia (00:31:22)Miami at North Carolina (00:52:40)Ohio State at USC (01:00:28)

Those are just a handful out of the dozens of games we cover this week. Produced by Anthony Vito.

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Cohost emeritus Steven Godfrey joins Richard and Alex on this episode for a discussion what the player pay market has done to coach expectations.

5:07: The price of the brick (or of Jesse Legree or Kamario Taylor) goes up: What does a mid- or low-budget program do when a superstar emerges?

13:47: How much longer can coaches use NIL as an excuse?

22:01: Why different people in the same program will give you a different number for their roster spend

32:36: If coach pay isn’t going down, what does that say about what we can reasonably expect from coaches without a ton of roster cash?

43:23: Dissecting the season’s three big-budget disasters so far: Oregon, Michigan, and Texas A&M.

Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner take you on a 30-ish minute journey through yet another really wild weekend in college football. This episode covers 43 games, including:

1:25: UCF 39, BYU 31 (2OT)

3:13: Cincinnati 37, Texas Tech 24

5:27: Utah 21, Houston 13

11:02: Texas 34, Ole Miss 27

13:59: South Carolina 27, Tennessee 24

19:13: Indiana 13, Michigan 6 (OT)

25:00: Wisconsin 24, USC 7

28:23: Miami 52, Pitt 23

34:46: FAU 51, Rice 49

38:33: New Mexico 21, North Dakota State 16

Producer: Anthony Vito

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Coach firing season is upon us, and the first ouster of the year comes from Maryland, alma mater of SZD host Alex Kirshner. Richard joins him to talk through the first opening on the market. In this episode:

The meaning of Locksley’s Maryland tenure, and why it isn’t a failure despite eight-plus years of mostly bad results

5:48: Why firing season got a late start this season

12:47: What kind of job is this, really?

21:50: A very, very early candidate wishlist from a Terp

Producer: Anthony Vito

Week 8 preview! Richard and Alex start this episode with a quick football digression about Manchester City and then get into the mega-preview of this week in CFB. We cover a bunch of games, some in a lot of detail, some quickly:

* 1:41: Manchester City digression

* 6:10: JMU at App State

* 18:21: Indiana at Michigan

* 26:45: LSU at Auburn

* 35:40: Rutgers at Northwestern

* 39:50: West Virginia at TCU

* 46:48: Oregon at Illinois

* 50:22: BYU at UCF

* 1:04:20: San Diego State at Colorado State

* 1:07:09: Virginia Tech at Clemson

* 1:10:55: Ole Miss at Texas

* 1:13:19: Mike Locksley news breaks mid-show

* 1:23:56: Houston at Utah

Those are just a handful out of the dozens of games we cover this week. Produced by Anthony Vito.

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Utah placed a big, risky bet when it nudged away Kyle Whittingham so that it could elevate a coach-in-waiting, Morgan Scalley. Rodger and Alex both thought this team would be worse this season. But instead, the Utes are undefeated contenders for both the Big 12 and the playoff, and their decision to show one of the best coaches in recent history the door is looking … pretty good?

* 2:13: Why Utah has surprised both hosts

* 8:18: The two-quarterback experiment at a weird time for it (but it works!)

* 11:59: Remembering some Utes

* 15:41: BYU’s rise and the pressure to move on from Whittingham

* 26:24: The coach-in-waiting gamble and why Utah wanted Scalley

* 45:41: Utah’s private equity deal and the cost of keeping up

Everyone can hear a free preview of this episode. To get the whole thing, become a paid subscriber today. For $10 a month (or you can get a free month with an annual subscription), subscribers get about twice as many Split Zone Duo podcasts, as well as our coach carousel reporting, deep dives on college football history, Q&A opportunities, and many more goodies as we think of them. You also help keep this show independent and ensure we're making a podcast that puts our listeners, not anyone else, first.

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner break down one of college football’s wildest weeks ever, in which five of the top seven teams in the country lost and another came awfully close. We start with BYU’s late escape against Notre Dame and continue through the rest of this historic Week 7 in the following order:

* 1:33: Big 12 and Notre Dame, led by BYU 28, Notre Dame 24

* 12:53: SEC, led by Auburn 27, Georgia 24

* 27:58: Big Ten, led by Ohio State 19, Indiana 15

* 36:15: ACC, led by Miami 43, Florida State 35

* 42:40: American, led by Tulane 31, Memphis 17

* 46:04: Pac-12, led by Oregon State 48, Washington State 30

* 47:45: Mountain West, led by Air Force 41, UNLV 31

* 50:20: MAC, led by Western Michigan 21, Central Michigan 14

* 51:54: Sun Belt, led by App State 35, Coastal Carolina 32

* 53:36: Conference USA, led by Jacksonville State 27, FIU 24

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Producer: Anthony Vito

To get this episode, make sure you’re a paid subscriber.

Richard and Alex react to the College Football Playoff’s expansion to 12 teams, starting in 2027. Let’s talk through this together:

* 0:00: Why this thing we dislike is happening

* 9:12: Whose lot in life just changed a whole lot

* 19:30: The inevitable impact on the regular season

* 30:20: The big winners here, plus a closing discussion about how Split Zone Duo is going to respond to (and be affected by) this change

Produced by Alex in a pinch! Thanks for listening.

College football forgot about Oregon State. But Jesse Legree, Braden Atkinson, and JaMarcus Shephard are forcing the Beavers back in the national CFB consciousness. Yes, there are anxieties about how to keep the band together, but there is also a beautiful story about how a team is rising from the ashes anew to apparently kick ass in the new Pac-12. Richard and Rodger discuss how the Beavers have become one of the nation’s most enjoyable teams.

* 0:00: Oregon State’s revival under JaMarcus Shephard

* 5:05: Jesse Legree’s unlikely rise

* 17:13: Remember a Guy, and how Oregon State got left behind

* 29:25: Pac-12 title hopes and a possible playoff path

* 40:39: Can the Beavers keep Shephard and Legree?

Produced by Anthony Vito.

TEAM OF THE WEEK is a subscriber series where Rodger Sherman and SZD hosts talk about a college football team doing something no one else is doing

We’ve already covered the following:

* Week 1: North Dakota State

* Week 2: UMass

* Week 3: Oklahoma State

* Week 4: Arkansas

* Week 5: Mississippi State

* Week 6: Charlotte

This series will continue all season.

Richard and Alex take you on a preview of Week 7, starting with the weeknight grab bags and continuing through various blockbusters in places like Columbus and Provo. We cover dozens of games on this show, including these:

* 13:55: Florida at Texas

* 20:02: Kansas at Kansas State

* 24:38: Mississippi State at LSU

* 33:53: Ohio State at Indiana

* 42:19: Western Michigan at Central Michigan

* 43:51: Alabama at Tennessse

* 51:36: Missouri at Ole Miss

* 55:04: Penn State at Michigan (who should be more upset?)

* 1:05:37: Florida State at Miami

* 1:09:38: TCU at Baylor

* 1:16:05: Notre Dame at BYU

* 1:34:56: Nebraska at Oregon

Producer: Anthony Vito

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Steven Godfrey joins Richard and Alex to talk about some stories we’d already planned to mark the halfway point of the season. But first, we’ve got a REALIGNMENT INTERRUPTION, brought to us by James Madison leaving the Sun Belt for the American Conference in 2028. In this episode:

0:26: JMU’s move to the American

9:44: Roster management people and coaches seem to think it’s impossible to find good backup QBs now. Do we agree? And is there a statistical way to see if anything has really changed? (It’s hard because defining a “backup” in a robust statistical way is impossible in modern college football.)

29:09: A change to punt formation rules was supposed to chaos special teams chaos this season. What actually happened?

39:48: Alex expands on FOOTSHOT, his blunt-object stat that elaborates on how often teams shoot themselves in the foot. Hello, Buffs!

Producer: Anthony Vito.

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner guide you through the best college football week yet this year, led by Georgia’s big win in Tuscaloosa and a Red River upset and then bouncing through dozens more games. Including:

* 1:33: SEC, led by Georgia 20, Alabama 17 and Oklahoma 27, Texas 24

* 14:40: Pac-12, led by Boise State 38, Fresno State 31

* 16:23: Big Ten, led by Indiana 20, Nebraska 17

* 25:59: Big 12, led by BYU 24, Iowa State 10

* 29:14: ACC and Notre Dame, led by North Carolina 21, Pitt 17

* 33:43: American, led by Army 20, Tulane 17

* 35:48: Mountain West, led by UNLV 13, North Dakota State 7

* 36:58: MAC, led by Eastern Michigan 25, Akron 23

* 38:49: Sun Belt, led by James Madison 27, Georgia Southern 24

* 43:01: Conference USA, led by FIU 22, New Mexico State 3

Producer: Anthony Vito.

THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS

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Subscriber mailbag, with questions brought to you by the listeners at www.splitzoneduo.com.

Alex Kirshner answers subscriber questions ahead of Week 6! Why does Lincoln Riley always put mediocre defenses on the field? There are three pretty good theories from people who know him well. Is there a surprising reason to think Texas’ offense will turn things around? Does Michigan have a “culture” problem or something more simple? Can Kane Wommack tell us anything much about how the coaching carousel works today? Would the Protect College Sports Act be a bad thing for portal-heavy head coaches? Are stadium renovations over? And plenty more in this mailbag, which is edited by Anthony Vito.

CATCH UP ON THIS WEEK AT SPLIT ZONE DUO

* Listen to the Week 6 Tasting Menu, our preview of the weekend. Alex and Richard Johnson cover all of the week’s most interesting games and stop along the way to talk about a few big stories and ask some questions. Such as this one: Is South Carolina actually too broke to fire Shane Beamer?

* The Charlotte 49ers are the worst team in the country. They are also Split Zone Duo’s TEAM OF THE WEEK. Rodger Sherman talks with Richard about a program whose potential remains completely theoretical, and about how an ambitious move into FBS football can go horribly awry.

* We’ll see you Sunday for the Hurry-Up, landing by early afternoon.

Week 6 preview! Richard and Alex talk about what’s interesting to them in the big college football weekend to come, while stopping to cover a handful of big stories along the way.

32:43: Is South Carolina actually too broke to fire Shane Beamer?

47:31: Can Oklahoma score an offensive touchdown in Red River?

1:07:27: When it comes to Cal coach Tosh Lupoi, Richard is … vindicated?

1:10:35: Are Ohio State fans in the “Lunatic Fringe” right to be worried?

1:18:47: Is UNLV a genuine trouble spot for North Dakota State?

1:21:05: Are we fully aligned on Alabama being all the way back, before the Tide host Georgia in a potential hurricane game?

1:27:50: Who wins: Penn State’s stoppable force or USC’s movable object?

1:30:54: Could Fresno State spoil Boise’s run to an unbeaten Pac-12 slate?

Producer: Anthony Vito

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Subscriber episode! Join us to hear the whole thing.

The Charlotte 49ers are quite possibly the worst team in FBS in 2026, so why should you care? Rodger Sherman joins to explain. Part of Charlotte's story is the actual cautionary tale of moving up from FCS to FBS and the old thing Richard never shuts up about: Winning is not a business model. But there are nearly 1:1 examples of Charlotte-style programs that have found success. We dive into what gives in the Queen City. In this episode:

0:00: Why Charlotte gets the nod this week despite being so bad

5:15: A rapid climb from startup program to the American

16:31: “Winning is not a business model”

30:33: What UTSA got right that the 49ers very much did not

Producer: Anthony Vito

TEAM OF THE WEEK is a subscriber series where Rodger Sherman and SZD hosts talk about a college football team doing something no one else is doing

We’ve already covered the following:

Week 1: North Dakota State

Week 2: UMass

Week 3: Oklahoma State

Week 4: Arkansas

Week 5: Mississippi State

This series will continue all season.

Richard and Rodger Sherman take you on a 30(ish)-minute journey through Week 4 of the college football season. We begin with Missouri beating Florida to a pulp and waltz through the rest of the CFB schedule.SEC

* Missouri 45, Florida 17

* Georgia 38, Vanderbilt 14

* Alabama 56, Mississippi State 23

* Tennessee 24, Auburn 14

* Kentucky 35, South Carolina 34

BIG TEN

* Ohio State 31, Iowa 14

* USC 25, Washington 21

* Purdue 24, Illinois 17

* Michigan 20, Minnesota 14

* Nebraska 48, Maryland 23

* Northwestern 34, Penn State 13

* Wisconsin 31, Michigan State 3

BIG 12

* BYU 17, TCU 10

* Texas Tech 29, Colorado 7

* Houston 27, UCF 17

* Arizona 34, Cincinnati 7

* Baylor 55, Arizona State 19

* Iowa State 45, West Virginia 42

ACC

* Notre Dame 37, North Carolina 26

* Miami 41, Clemson 13

* SMU 25, Boston College 16

* Florida State 38, Virginia 7

* NC State 31, Louisville 28

* Pitt 35, Virginia Tech 33

* Wake Forest 57, Stanford 3

AMERICAN

* Memphis 59, Charlotte 8

* UTSA 16, Rice 14

* Temple 17, USF 13

* North Texas 45, Tulsa 44

MOUNTAIN WEST

* Air Force 14, Navy 9

* San Jose State 20, Hawaii 16

* NDSU 28, Wyoming 0

* UNLV 39, Cal 31

MAC

* Toledo 39, Ball State 24

* WMU 20, Buffalo 17

* Ohio 13, Kent State 10

* Eastern Michigan 35, UMass 14

* Bowling Green 24, Miami (OH) 20

SUN BELT

* James Madison 45, Marshall 17

* Louisiana 23, Arkansas State 20

* Louisiana Tech 31, Army 29

CONFERENCE USA

* New Mexico State 34, Western Kentucky 13

PAC-12

* Oregon State 56, Colorado State 26

* San Diego State 31, Texas State 29

FBS INDEPENDENTS

* Syracuse 42, UConn 41

FCS

* Idaho 35, Montana State 34

* Harvard 20, Colgate 17

* Yale 41, Merrimack 28

Producer: Anthony VitoTHANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS

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Mailbag time! Alex and Richard answer subscriber questions on three broad topics, which sometimes meander into new areas:

0:53: Oklahoma has two losses heading into Red Vier. Who do we blame, and what would we do about it?

11:43: What keeps college football fresh for us, given that it’s now “work”?

17:19: How much has College GameDay changed? And how much of our shifting perception about the show is because we have changed?

29:54: What do we think about the current Protect College Sports Act?

Producer: Anthony Vito* What do we think about the current Protect College Sports Act?

Producer: Anthony Vito

The regular season is somehow one-third finished. Host emeritus Steven Godfrey joins Richard and Alex for a discussion about nine teams that have really surprised us and, in some cases, caused a big shift in opinion:

* 6:09: Michigan

* 15:30: Texas

* 19:41: Georgia

* 23:12: Wake Forest

* 26:42: Oregon State

* 32:14: Cal

* 35:04: UCLA

* 39:28: Washington

* 43:08: Oregon

* 53:46: Texas A&M

Producer: Anthony Vito

THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS

* Quo, a business phone service! 20% off your first six months using this link

* 10% off a set of Nokian Tyres with code SPLITZONEDUO

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Week 5 preview time! Richard and Alex look at dozens of games and also talk about some messes around college football:

6:28: Two good Friday night games (Pitt-Virginia Tech, Penn State-Northwestern)

14:45: Alabama at Mississippi State: We think the Tide are good, but for obvious reasons, Alex wants this to be State’s time

26:09: Houston is angry at the Big 12 over the scheduling of the Cougars’ game against UCF, which leads to a long talk about Friday night college football and how TV is causing fights like this in all kinds of leagues

32:13: Auburn vs. Tennessee: Richard does not believe in the Auburn offense

36:25: Is UMass about to win 10 games?

39:16: Florida vs. Missouri is one of the games of the week. Alex is trying to figure out the mystery of the Mizzou offensive line

48:16: Could Kirk Ferentz do “it” to Ohio State one more time?

52:39: Will NDSU, JMU, or Boise State eventually lose a shocker?

56:32: Dead cat bounce in Kentucky vs. South Carolina?

1:01:02: Oregon State has one of the most exciting players in the country

1:06:20: Deion Sanders’ Colorado program is falling apart in new ways

1:08:44: USC is poised to have a nice rebound against Washington

Producer: Anthony Vito

The Mississippi State Bulldogs have the most exciting young QB in college football and are about to play their biggest game in years. Rodger Sherman joins Alex to talk about Kamario Taylor, the stroke of luck that led a QB of this caliber to State, why it’s exhausting to talk about the transfer portal, and why a longtime SEC bottomfeeder should go ahead and make the playoff right effing now.

Producer: Anthony Vito

TEAM OF THE WEEK is a subscriber series where Rodger Sherman and SZD hosts talk about a college football team doing something no one else is doing

We’ve already covered the following:

* Week 1: North Dakota State

* Week 2: UMass

* Week 3: Oklahoma State

* Week 4: Arkansas

This series will continue all season.

Richard and Alex take you on a 30(ish)-minute journey through Week 4 of the college football season. We begin with Iowa’s stunning win at the Big House and meander through dozens of games from there, in this order:

Iowa 20, Michigan 19

Oregon 41, USC 27

Wisconsin 24, Penn State 20

Notre Dame 49, Purdue 10

Indiana 29, Northwestern 23

Ohio State 42, Illinois 19

UCLA 54, Maryland 3

Nebraska 31, Michigan State 13

Minnesota 27, Washington 24

Texas 20, Tennessee 17

Georgia 41, Oklahoma 13

Florida 52, Ole Miss 28

Alabama 49, South Carolina 18

LSU 35, Texas A&M 6

Mississippi State 31, Missouri 24

Arkansas 34, Tulsa 6

Auburn 21, Vanderbilt 15

Kentucky 45, South Alabama 21

Texas Tech 49, Sam Houston 14

Utah 31, Iowa State 17

Baylor 23, Colorado 13

Cincinnati 31, Kansas State 26

UCF 21, TCU 13

Oklahoma State 41, West Virginia 24

Wake Forest 30, Louisville 27

Virginia Tech 21, Boston College 14

Clemson 24, California 10

NC State 41, App State 31

Stanford 34, Georgia Tech 27

Army 21, Temple 17

UAB 24, Navy 20

Tulane 24, Southern Miss 21

UTSA 59, Colorado State 45

Oregon State 33, UTEP 7

Wyoming 27, Hawai’i 10

USF 14, Bowling Green 6

Kent State 26, Ball State 13

Miami (OH) 24, UConn 21

UMass 35, Sacramento State 6

Toledo 41, San Diego State 16

Boise State 32, Western Michigan 7

Houston 42, Georgia Southern 28

Georgia State 35, Northern Illinois 14

James Madison 46, Old Dominion 20

FAU 45, UL Monroe 17

Liberty 34, Coastal Carolina 17

New Mexico 42, New Mexico State 18

Arizona 34, Washington State 24

Producer: Anthony Vito

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Producer: Anthony Vito

Our big preview of Week 4, with little notes and things to watch in dozens of games that we find interesting. Included but not limited to:

Clemson faces a pivotal moment in … Berkeley?

Texas visits a different kind of Tennessee team

Boise State visits Western Michigan with major playoff implications (plus Boise’s coach stirs the pot over the Michigan Hail Mary)

Iowa and Michigan prepare to play an ugly one

Why is Florida favored to beat Ole Miss?

A huge list of coaches face their old teams

USC’s latest chance to change its trajectory under Lincoln Riley

Texas A&M and LSU: Someone’s going to be miserable

4-0 UMass?

Producer: Anthony Vito

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Three games into Ryan Silverfield’s coaching tenure, Arkansas fans are in open revolt against their athletic director. The team is bad, and the university overlords are already running a “review” of the athletic program. How did the vibes get this bad this quickly? It’s a long story, and it’s only somewhat about the coach who was under pressure from the second he took the job. Rodger Sherman joins Alex for our latest TEAM OF THE WEEK episode, where we finally focus on a program where things are not going well.

* 1:05: Ryan Silverfield’s honeymoon never started

* 7:22: The coaching hire, and the cost of waiting another year on Sam Pittman

* 15:25: What Arkansas gained and lost by joining the SEC

* 18:59: The Waltons, the chicken money, and Arkansas’ billionaire relationships

* 28:59: Hunter Yurachek’s mounting problems

* 39:52: What would success even look like for Arkansas now?

TEAM OF THE WEEK is a subscriber series where Rodger Sherman and SZD hosts talk about a college football team doing something no one else is doing. Scroll for episodes on NDSU, UMass, and Oklahoma State.

Richard and Alex recap a busy Week 3 in college football, starting with Ole Miss’ cathartic win over Lane Kiffin’s LSU and continuing through 48 more games. Kentucky exposes Texas A&M, South Carolina’s slide accelerates, Clemson finds a flash of urgency, North Dakota State enters the Playoff conversation, and Grand Valley State scores 96 points. We sort by conference home stadium, in this order:

SEC, led by the showdown in Oxford

Big Ten, featuring a sad affair in College Park

Big 12, where BYU might just be the best team

ACC, where Miami definitely is the best team

Group of 6, where the stage is now set for Broncos vs. Broncos

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Rodger Sherman guides Alex through our latest “Team of the Week” episode, featuring the Oklahoma State Cowboys. This subscriber special is our weekly look at one team in college football that is truly trying to do something different from every other program in the sport. In this episode, we talk about Oklahoma State from the following angles:

* 0:26: Going from losing to Tulsa to beating Oregon

* 3:40: Importing the North Texas offense behind Eric Morris

* 8:25: Morris’s absurd QB development history, from Baker Mayfield to Drew Mestemaker with a whole lot in between

* 21:59: A program of unusual highs and lows

* 26:53: What T. Boone Pickens built, and why he was a different kind of megabooster than we typically see

* 33:40: Can the Morris model last in the Big 12? What does OKST need to do to give it a long-term chance?

Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard and Alex preview Week 3 of the college football schedule, headlined by Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford but featuring dozens of matchups. They include:

* 11:19 Houston at Texas Tech

* 27:19 North Texas at Texas State

* 32:41 Florida State at Alabama

* 45:28 SMU at Louisville

* 49:35 Mississippi State at South Carolina

* 55:46 Florida at Auburn

* 1:01:00 LSU at Ole Miss

And many, many more games featured inside.

Producer: Anthony Vito

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It was the College GameDay interview heard around the world, if only because it was forced down your ears. Richard and Alex talk with Extra Points publisher Matt Brown about what we think went into ESPN’s decision to have Senator Ted Cruz on College GameDay (a reasonable choice) for a barely-interrupted stump speech in support of the bill being pushed by noted GameDay panelist Nick Saban. Is this a big corporate influence operation, something simpler, or much ado about nothing? We cover that and a handful more topics on this version of the Extra Points/SZD Sports Business Hour, a recurring feature around here:

* 0:52: Why did ESPN lend its time to Cruz and decline to check any of his claims as he took up 10 of the most valuable minutes in sports TV?

* 16:53: A lot of FCS buy games feel even uglier than normal right now, and there’s probably an economic reason for that. Is this tenable?

* 28:03: Rutgers obviously needs to split with Greg Schiano, but … can they afford it? Let’s discuss an outrageously bad financial situation

* 32:36: Florida State fires its athletic director. What do we make of that?

Producer: Anthony Vito

The Sunday Hurry-Up goes just a little over 30 minutes this week, as Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner take you through a stacked Week 2 in college football. We touch on all of these games in the following order:

Texas 24, Ohio State 23

Georgia 70, Western Kentucky 20

Texas A&M 48, Arizona State 20

LSU 45, Louisiana Tech 14

Alabama 45, Kentucky 17

Florida 52, Campbell 3

South Carolina 45, Towson 9

Vanderbilt 35, Delaware 26

Michigan 17, Oklahoma 10

USC 49, Louisiana 30

Washington 16, Utah State 14

Iowa 16, Iowa State 13

Duke 31, Illinois 27

Michigan State 35, Eastern Michigan 7

Mississippi State 38, Minnesota 13

Wake Forest 38, Purdue 36

UCLA 28, San Diego State 10

Oklahoma State 39, Oregon 31

BYU 28, Arizona 17

Utah 43, Arkansas 10

Missouri 38, Kansas 21

Kansas State 34, Washington State 7

Miami 77, Florida A&M 7

Tennessee 45, Georgia Tech 24

Boston College 28, Rutgers 21

Clemson 22, Georgia Southern 7

Pitt 12, UCF 7

California 21, Syracuse 18

Virginia Tech 44, Old Dominion 21

Penn State 27, Temple 9

USF 28, Army 24

App State 27, East Carolina 24

FAU 38, Navy 30

North Texas 44, UNLV 6

Tulane 28, South Alabama 24

UAB 26, UL Monroe 20

North Dakota State 38, Air Force 32

Montana State 20, Nevada 7

Illinois State 28, Northern Illinois 24

Akron 45, Robert Morris 10

Ohio 29, Jacksonville State 27 (4 OT)

Western Michigan 49, Monmouth 14

James Madison 87, Wagner 3

Georgia State 31, Kennesaw State 17

Liberty 24, Gardner-Webb 23

Tulsa 23, Sam Houston 17

Texas Tech 35, Oregon State 24

Boise State 38, Memphis 20

Fresno State 49, Sacramento State 3

UTSA 31, Texas State 26

Worcester Polytechnic Institute 22, University of New England 21

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Richard and Alex preview Week 2 on the college football schedule but take a few detours, first stopping to review the Sunday and Monday games from Week 1 and later closing the book (hopefully) on the WMU-Michigan situation. We cover dozens of games in this episode, including the ones below:

* Missouri at Kansas

* App State at East Carolina

* Arizona State at Texas A&M

* Oklahoma at Michigan

* Wazzu at Kansas State

* Alabama at Kentucky

* Arizona at BYU

* Cal at Syracuse

* Mississippi State at Minnesota

* UTSA at Texas State

* Memphis at Boise State

* Tennessee at Georgia Tech

* Iowa State at Iowa

* North Dakota State at Air Force

* Oh yeah sure we’ll talk about Ohio State at Texas

Producer: Anthony Vito

THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS

* 10% off a set of Nokian Tyres with code SPLITZONEDUO at: https://www.tires-easy.com/brands/nokian-tires

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Not even a year ago, Rodger Sherman joined Alex for a deep dive into how the UMass Minutemen made a case as the worst team in modern history.Now, we have a much different episode about UMass: They’re our TEAM OF THE WEEK coming out of Week 1. This is a new subscriber series in which we talk about a team in college football attempting to do something that nobody else is trying to do. Rodger and Richard cover the Minutemen, fresh off their season-opening win over Rutgers. Let’s talk about this rising team from the MAC:

* 0:18: Why UMass earned TOTW honors

* 5:49: Pop Watson! The option! What a win in Piscataway

* 11:10: The very New Englandy character of the team

* 16:06: UMass’ investment in not being terrible

* 25:37: Are we crazy, or is a bowl a possibility?

Producer: Anthony Vito

The Sunday Hurry-Up makes its triumphant return. Rodger Sherman is again in the hot seat with Richard Johnson to break down a Week 1 that was anything but boring. We go through as many games as are fit to print (or podcast about).

* Michigan 13, Western Michigan 12

* Oregon 34, Boise State 27

* Ohio State 56, Ball State 3

* Indiana 52, North Texas 16

* USC 39, Fresno 0

* Penn State 45, Marshall 0

* Iowa 40, Northern Illinois 0

* Illinois 42, UAB 23

* Michigan State 30, Toledo 20

* Nebraska 49, Ohio 21

* Northwestern 34, South Dakota State 18

* UMass 37, Rutgers 21

* LSU 51, Clemson 10

* Auburn 17, Baylor 16

* Oklahoma 51, UTEP 0

* South Carolina 57, Kent State 0

* Alabama 48, ECU 10

* Florida 66, FAU 21

* Vanderbilt 28, Austin Peay 9

* Georgia 63 vs Tennessee State 3

* Texas Tech 33, Abilene Christian 10

* Houston 33, Oregon State 20

* Cincinnati 34, Boston College 15

* West Virginia 31, Coastal Carolina 24

* Miami 45, Stanford 6

* UCLA 45, Cal 24

* Duke 17, Tulane 3

* Colorado 14, Georgia Tech 13

* Pitt 59 vs Miami (OH) 14

* Wake Forest 38, Akron 16

* The Citadel 43, Charlotte 41 (3OT)

* Memphis 42, Arkansas State 24

* USF 19, FIU 9

* Temple 38, Rhode Island 14

* Tulsa 24, Oklahoma State 10

* UNLV 21, Hawaii 6

* Nevada 49, Western Kentucky 14

* New Mexico 38, Central Michigan 7

* North Dakota State 38, Fordham 0

* Tarleton State 20, Bowling Green 13

* Buffalo 21, UAlbany 17

* San Jose State 27, Eastern Michigan 21

* Sacramento State 52, Mississippi Valley State 0

* James Madison 20, Liberty 13

* Louisiana Tech 80, Northwestern State 6

* Troy 24, Sam Houston 21

* Colorado State 35, Wyoming 13

* Idaho State 29, Utah State 17

Yeah, we went big for Week 1.

Producer: Anthony Vito

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

* 10% off a set of Nokian Tyres with code SPLITZONEDUO at: https://www.tires-easy.com/brands/nokian-tires

* Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

Guest host Rodger Sherman joins Richard for the first weekend preview of the season, running through dozens of games. They touch on about 38 games, including these:

- 5:02: UMass vs. Rutgers is technically football

- 6:48: Colorado vs. Georgia Tech: What do we want the Buffs to be, exactly?

- 12:49: Fresno State vs. USC will have at least someone in attendance

- 23:43: Liberty vs. James Madison is not a gentle handshake for Billy Napier

- 36:00: Baylor vs. Auburn: Sneaky game of the weekend?

- 50:53: Clemson vs. LSU: There will be celebs, but will there be a game of any consequence?

- 1:02:56: UCLA vs. Cal: Hell yeah, brother

- 1:06:47: Louisville vs. Ole Miss: The actual game of the weekend

- 1:09:18: Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame: [Insert “play it on campus” discourse]

- 1:13:15: SMU vs. Florida State: Don’t lose big, Noles

Producer: Anthony Vito.

The Sunday Hurry-Up will arrive on Sunday as usual, despite several big games being played after that time. See you then.

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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* Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

New series! It’s the Split Zone Duo TEAM OF THE WEEK, a weekly episode in which guest host Rodger Sherman joins Alex and/or Richard to talk in detail about one college football team doing something interesting. That team can be good or bad or anything in between, as long it has a compelling story. This week, we spin off North Dakota State’s first game in FBS, a blowout win over Jacksonville State, and talk about the long arc of the Bison.

Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard is joined by Justis Mosqueda, an Acme Packing Co. writer and Oregon fan, for a quick preview of the national championship-contending Ducks and a deep dive into how college football’s rule changes will affect the special teams plays you might typically tune out. Maybe Kirk Ferentz had a point? Maybe don’t grab that beverage or use the bathroom on fourth down this season. Also, because Richard can’t shut up about it, what does it really mean that the Rams’ use of 13 personnel might be infiltrating the rest of the NFL?

In this episode:

- 0:56: Oregon’s new coordinators, offensive line, and brutal defense

- 7:04: NFL cutdown day and the return-to-college eligibility mess. (Note: This episode was recorded last week, and this is a developing story.)

- 11:17: How college football’s new fair-catch kick will work

- 14:18: Why a new punting rule has Kirk Ferentz pissed

- 30:24: How four-strong formations break match coverages

- 36:22: What the Rams’ 13 personnel package does to a defense

Producer: Anthony Vito

It's a part-subscriber, part-free episode. Host emeritus Steven Godfrey joins Alex and Richard for this annual special. Having previewed every FBS conference and spent months thinking about the season, we make a bunch of big predictions about college football in 2026:

- 0:00: A post-production note about Brent Venables’ new Oklahoma extension, i.e. we recorded this episode last week - 2:30: Conference champion picks for every FBS league- 38:02: Which consensus Playoff favorite misses the field?- 46:30: Full CFP fields and national championship picks- 50:18: Heisman finalists and individual awards- 54:39: Favorite games, Oklahoma chaos, and the Lane Bowl- 1:05:13: First firing, coaches moving up, and the best job to open- 1:09:29: Poll risers, poll fallers, and whether Congress will (or should) do something along the lines of the Protect College Sports Act

Producer: Anthony Vito

This week, Split Zone Duo celebrates a major milestone: welcoming Six Zone Duo. This episode explains what we’re doing. Find it here:

* Subscribe to the YouTube channel

* Apple Podcasts (Listen and leave a review!)

* Spotify (Listen and leave a star rating)

* Any other podcasting app, pretty much

* Follow on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, Twitter, and Threads.

Here’s more from Richard:

How did we get here? The quick backstory.

Alex and I had wondered for a while what a second show might look like—ideally, one that would be part of our broader universe without being hosted by us. We considered all kinds of ideas: the NFL, non-sports topics, and something centered on women’s sports. But women’s sports aren’t a monolith. Would it be a generalist show? Would it cover softball, soccer, or basketball?

As we brainstormed, we kept coming back to volleyball. We began looking more closely at a sport whose viewership was exploding, and it was easy to understand why. One night last December, I couldn’t sleep and turned on highlights from the NCAA tournament. The matches were fast-paced, and the athleticism of the women on the court was remarkable.

We also started learning about the emerging professional leagues, LOVB and MLV. Pretty much everyone we spoke with in the sports business world and college athletics agreed that volleyball has all the ingredients for a boom. But one point kept coming up: Beyond the matches themselves, the sport isn’t covered in very many places. And there’s no good reason for that.

So we decided to find someone who could build a show and help fill the void. But who?

Friends of Split Zone Duo recommended Erin Sorensen, whom subscribers may remember from her appearance on the feed for a Nebraska Dead Letters episode. In February, I called our mutual friend Amie Just to get Erin’s contact information. When I explained what we were considering, Amie said, “Well, I’d be interested in that too.”

That is the origin story of the show we are proud to debut this week

Amie, a true ball knower, came up with the name. “Six Zone Duo” refers to the six positions on the volleyball court. It connects naturally to Split Zone Duo while giving the new show a visual identity all its own. We could not be more excited to support Amie and Erin as they begin this journey.

They’ll be on-site for some of the biggest matches in the professional and college games, and they’ll cover the sport nationally through a new, free weekly show. Expect analysis, interviews, and coverage that makes you a smarter volleyball fan.

Volleyball deserves to be covered in depth. We trust Amie and Erin to do exactly that from Nebraska, the epicenter of the college game.

As they get started, I have a few people to thank.

Thank you to Erin and Amie for throwing themselves wholeheartedly into this project and already bringing so much passion, commentary, chemistry, and knowledge to it.

Thank you to Alex for his continued partnership, for navigating the better part of eight months unlike anything we’ve experienced together before, and for trusting that we could make this happen even when the vision wasn’t yet clear.

Thank you to our presenting partners at Homefield for believing in us years ago, sticking with us throughout, and enthusiastically supporting this new project.

Thank you to Hector, Tyson, Anthony, Warren, Austin, and the many others throughout the Split Zone Duo ecosystem who helped us get Six Zone Duo off the ground. Your creativity and counsel made this possible.

And thank you to volleyball fans everywhere. We know you’re out there, and we know you care. This is for you.

Does this change anything for Split Zone Duo?

We get to have fun as executive producers working with Erin and Amie. But otherwise, nope! We have big plans for this college football season and will share them [checks watch] next week, which is Week 1.

Our last conference preview of 2026 is one of our beefiest episodes ever: Richard and Alex preview the 18-team Big Ten, going in the following order:

- 2:12: Purdue

- 7:04: Maryland

- 14:40: Michigan State

- 20:53: Wisconsin

- 25:55: Rutgers

- 31:23: Penn State

- 38:56: UCLA

- 45:46: Northwestern

- 50:24: Nebraska

- 57:53: Minnesota

- 1:01:25: Illinois

- 1:05:59: Washington

- 1:11:26: Iowa

- 1:18:44: Michigan

- 1:24:06: USC

- 1:32:42: Oregon

- 1:35:18: Ohio State

- 1:42:31: Preseason honors

- 1:47:29: Indiana

Zach Osterman and Mike Niziolek’s new book is Unthinkable to Undstoppable: How Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers Stunned College Football. It comes out September 22, and you can learn more and preorder here.

Producer: Anthony Vito

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

That wraps conference preview season here. See also:

* SEC

* Mountain West

* MAC

* Sun Belt

* Conference USA

* American

* Big 12

* Independents and Pac-12

* ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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Richard and Alex go into detail on all 16 teams in the SEC, as we wind toward the end of conference previews. In order:

- 6:00: Ole Miss

- 10:35: Georgia

- 21:13: Texas A&M

- 27:18: Alabama

- 35:01: Texas

- 41:00: Oklahoma

- 50:24: Vanderbilt

- 53:26: Missouri

- 1:00:47: Tennessee

- 1:06:05: LSU

- 1:17:19: Kentucky

- 1:21:26: Florida

- 1:27:29: Auburn

- 1:34:04: Mississippi State

- 1:36:48: South Carolina

- 1:40:30: Arkansas

- 1:45:38: Preseason honors

Producer: Anthony Vito

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

* Big Ten

* SEC

* Mountain West

* MAC

* Sun Belt

* Conference USA

* American

* Big 12

* Independents and Pac-12

* ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

* Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

* Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

Hello! This episode is free for everyone, but to get our full catalog of shows this season and beyond, we’d love it if you became a paid subscriber.

Paid subscribers (there are thousands of them!) get about twice as many episodes from us during the season, as well as Q&A and chat opportunities and other perks as they come to our minds. Thanks so much.

The Mountain West looks very new in 2026. The guts of the league left for the Pac-12, and then the MWC brought in reinforcements. North Dakota State brings FCS’ greatest dynasty up a level. NIU is here from the MAC, and UTEP comes aboard from Conference USA. Richard and Alex have a rose, bud, and thorn for all 10 teams:

- 4:35: New Mexico

- 8:17: UNLV

- 14:29: Hawaii

- 19:48: Air Force

- 23:35: Nevada

- 26:56: Wyoming

- 32:04: San José State

- 37:19: Northern Illinois

- 44:29: UTEP

- 46:57: North Dakota State

- 51:53: Preseason honors

Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard, Alex, and Steven Godfrey discuss the state of FCS football ahead of a year of transformation. Then, it's time to make picks in our annual "FCS Upset Draft," which you can join at www.splitzoneduo.com. Which FBS teams will lose to FCS opponents? We'll talk about it here.

Thank you to our subscribers and partners

Become a paid subscriber today to get a lot more SZD, and check out www.nokiantyres.com/szd and www.homefieldapparel.com

Producer: Anthony Vito

Conference previews continue with a (mostly) business-free preview of the MAC, focused on the actual football. We’ve got something good, something bad, and something curious about every team in the league, in this order:

- 2:41: Western Michigan

- 5:41: Ohio

- 8:59: Toledo

- 15:02: Miami (OH)

- 19:10: Central Michigan

- 22:27: Akron

- 25:37: Buffalo

- 28:59: Kent State

- 33:00: Ball State

- 34:39: Eastern Michigan

- 38:08: Bowling Green

- 42:31: UMass

- 46:39: Sacramento State

- 53:15: Preseason honors

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

* Sun Belt

* Conference USA

* American

* Big 12

* Independents and Pac-12

* ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

* Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

* Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

Our conference preview series rolls on with the Sun Belt. Alex and Richard have something to be excited about, something to be worried about, and a point of curiosity for every team in the league. We go in reverse standings order from last year:

- 2:43: James Madison

- 10:14: Old Dominion

- 13:32: Coastal Carolina

- 16:35: Georgia Southern

- 28:01: Marshall

- 31:50: Appalachian State

- 38:48: Georgia State

- 40:56: Troy

- 46:00: Southern Miss

- 48:32: Louisiana

- 53:03: Arkansas State

- 54:21: South Alabama

- 58:03: ULM

- 1:00:50: Louisiana Tech

Producer: Anthony Vito

THE CONFERENCE PREVIEW INDEX

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

* Conference USA

* American

* Big 12

* Independents and Pac-12

* ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

* Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

* Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

Ralph Russo spent many years as a college football writer for the AP and an administrator of the AP Top 25. Now a senior writer for The Athletic, Ralph joins Richard for a preseason chat about the poll everyone loves to hate. In two decades at the AP, Ralph saw just about everything. How does the poll come together? What does it say about the history of college football? It’s imperfect, but it’s also our best record of how seasons played out across 90 years. Ralph takes us through the AP Poll’s history, its current status in the CFP era, and why, in a way, it matters now more than ever. Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard and Alex preview the 2026 season in Conference USA. Last year, the richest school in the league went 4-8, while a recent FCS team that looked like a disaster a few months earlier went ahead and won the league. Go figure. Here’s what we’re thinking about this season for:

- 1:42: Kennesaw State

- 6:49: Jacksonville State

- 10:34: Western Kentucky

- 14:16: Missouri State

- 17:55: FIU

- 23:36: Delaware

- 28:17: Liberty

- 35:56: Middle Tennessee

- 38:16: New Mexico State

- 43:39: Sam Houston

- 49:37: Preseason honors

Producer: Anthony Vito