Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

Godfrey, Richard, and Alex pick through eight interesting cases from Week 1 of the college football season. What do we believe, and what might look like a lie from Duke, Clemson, FSU, LSU, Colorado, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and Texas State. Plus a detailed preview of Week 2, including Bama-Texas. Production: Anthony Vito See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice...

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner take you on a details-packed sprint through Week 1 of the college football season. Colorado pulls off a stunner. (So does Texas State!) Florida falters. Washington beats down Boise’s door, Penn State’s new QB impresses, and Virginia State and Norfolk State combine for one of the most farcical endings you will ever see in your life. Plus a whole lot more. Productio...

Godfrey's exploration of this year's paucity of good kickoff games yielded predictable results – it's yet another weird TV money problem – but maybe we need those billionaires this time? There's certainly some shine missing from the slate, but it's COLLEGE FOOTBALL, FULL STOP. Still, Week 1 might look way different in the near future. Production: Anthony Vito. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.c...

After offering some quick Week 0 impressions, Alex, Godfrey, and Richard preview Week 1 of the 2023 season, highlighting dozens of games from Kent State-UCF to Boise State-Washington to LSU-FSU. Congratulations, you made it. Production: Anthony Vito. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info . This is a public epi...

Godfrey, Richard, and Alex start the show with an extended talk about Netflix’s Florida doc series, which has come under scrutiny not for what it includes but for what it leaves out. Then it’s time to set caution to the side and pick big storylines for the 2023 season: The Heisman contenders, the best G5 and defensive players, the games of the year, the coaches who will get fired and hired, confer...

Jason Kirk joins Alex and Richard to draft FCS teams that will beat FBS teams this season. Then the group talks about this season’s FBS independent programs (38:17). Army is really going away from the flexbone option, and Richard reports on why. Plus, are you still feeling good about Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame? Production: Anthony Vito. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californ...

Godfrey, Richard, and Alex preview the entire Sun Belt and then talk about why this league is such a breath of fresh air in a moment of non-geographic realignment. Starting at Troy and South Alabama, continuing through an East fight between JMU, App State, and Coastal Carolina on down, there's something here for everyone. Production: Anthony Vito. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy an...

Richard, Alex, and Godfrey preview the Southeastern Conference for 2023. Let’s try to figure out a way for Georgia to not make the Playoff again. (It’s hard.) Tennessee will still score points, but will that be enough? Is the West an Alabama-LSU hunt, or can A&M disrupt things? Then let’s go through questions and rebuilds in various stages at Auburn, Florida, and Vanderbilt. How will Mississip...

Alex, Godfrey, and Richard preview the MAC for 2023. Toledo looks like it’s on firm footing again, but this is an unpredictable league, and Ohio has a serious QB in Kurtis Rourke. Could EMU, Ball State, Miami, or Buffalo breach the top tier? Is Akron, NIU, or Central Michigan a serious candidate for a big bounce? (Plus, why Joe Moorhead might be worth watching in Akron.) Kent State and Western Mic...

Godfrey, Richard, and Alex preview the Big Ten for 2023. It’s an Ohio State-Michigan-Penn State race at the top. Is Maryland or Michigan State capable of making any noise in the East? Which big ’23 storyline is most compelling between West contenders Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Could Illinois make another run? What should you make of Purdue in a new coach’s first year? And how long will it tak...

Alex and Richard set up the season for a 14-team Big 12. Texas should finally do it on its way out the door. Oklahoma might have the next-highest ceiling, but also a low floor. Who has more staying power: Kansas State or TCU? Who ends the year feeling best between Kansas, Texas Tech, and Baylor? Is Oklahoma State or Iowa State closer to getting back to Big 12 contention? Are the new entrants in sh...

Richard and Alex preview the dramatically reshaped CUSA for 2023. Is this league Liberty’s right away, or can WKU (or someone else) keep it in the control of the holdover schools? Is Middle Tennessee or Louisiana Tech better positioned to contend? Are UTEP and New Mexico State poised to rise together? Which new FBS entrant, Sam Houston or Jacksonville State, is best positioned? And how much hope i...

The Southern Conference birthed both the SEC and the ACC. Then the league died in everything but name. What happened, and what is still happening?  Welcome to the finale of Season 2 of Dead Letters, a Split Zone Duo series about what happens when bad things happen to good college football teams (or conferences).  Writing: Alex Kirshner Production: Anthony Vito Interviewee: Matt Brown  This is a pu...

Steven Godfrey and Richard Johnson are here to disrespect the Tide... of Tulane! The American welcomes a bunch of new schools, and one of them (MEEP MEEP) looks like a more complete program right now than the school that upset USC in the Cotton Bowl eight months ago. Just sayin'. There's also a lot of new head coaches at these new AAC programs, and we'll figure out which one was the dumbest move l...

Steven Godfrey and Richard Johnson take you on a magical and not-at-all predictable journey through the sport's most predictable conference. Visit the lovely cul-de-sac of .500 clubs! Determine which HOMEGROWN HERO has the most impossible set of expectations (Spoiler: Richard thinks it ISN'T Miami)! And let's debate which narrative is dumber: Clemson DONE or Florida State BACK? Also Alex isn't her...

Alex Kirshner and Steven Godfrey have some Mountain West conversations, touching on every team in the league heading into 2023. Has Boise State averted the worst? Are the Broncos in a two-team race with Fresno State? Will Air Force butt in? Let’s check in with Craig Bohl, Brady Hoke, and Troy Calhoun. What is the deal with Blake Anderson’s Utah State? And let’s see which of the conference’s most m...

Steven Godfrey and Alex Kirshner preview the Pac-12's 2023 season by touching every team in the conference. Which quarterbacks in this league could join Caleb Williams in the highest tier of CFB passers? What could get in Utah’s way? Which Bay Area school ends the year feeling most hopeful? Which Arizona school? And, yes or no: Do you believe in the 2023 Colorado Buffaloes? Production: Anthony Vit...

Football wasn't much at Kentucky until Bear Bryant came along. That, it would soon become clear, was exactly how Adolph Rupp liked it.  Welcome to Season 2, Episode 5 of Dead Letters, a Split Zone Duo series about bad things happening to great college football programs.  Writing: Alex Kirshner Production: Anthony Vito Interviewee: Derrick White, University of Kentucky  This is a public episode. If...

Richard and Alex go through some college football news of the week, starting with some thoughts on a couple of tragic CFB losses this week in Ryan Mallett and Terry Price. Then the show covers why recent NCAA enforcement actions do not have any cultural juice, the overcomplicating of what will soon become a legal fight between San Diego State and the Mountain West, the Florida Gators' rebuild unde...

Welcome to our first live show, recorded June 15 in D.C. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. After talking a little bit about D.C.’s merits as a college football town, Godfrey, Richard, and Alex preview the 2023 season in an interactive fashion. Tickets to our next live show, in Minneapolis on September 1, are on sale now at splitzoneduolive.com . Production: Anthony Vito and Tony Fowler. See...

Richard shares insights from his extensive dive into the quirkiest clauses in the contracts for 2023's new head coaches. Some of them could be a big deal and seem to be getting more common in the industry. Then, he and Alex run through a big June mailbag that touches on a bunch of topics, including the significance of Notre Dame's new AD hire, DJ Uiagalelei at Oregon State, what's going on at Geor...

American higher education is about to have a big numbers problem on its hands, and it could affect college football in significant ways (albeit probably not for the Ohio States and Alabamas of the world). Alex interviews Dr. Nathan Grawe, an expert on the "enrollment cliff" that's rapidly approaching for U.S. colleges. Before that, Alex, Richard, and Godfrey talk about CFB news of the week and wha...

This week marks the launch of season 2 of "Dead Letters," an SZD Patreon series ( patreon.com/szd ) about the rises and falls of great college football programs and what happened next. This episode traces the ascent of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the many, many things that came together to unwind the most dominant team of much of the 20th century. We've changed the format of these shows a little...

Jake Gaither built a college football powerhouse at FAMU in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. The Rattlers towered over their HBCU competition and struck fear in everyone they played. Then the world changed.  Welcome to Season 2, Episode 1 of Dead Letters, a Split Zone Duo series about what happens when great programs hit the rocks.  Writing: Alex Kirshner Production: Anthony Vito Interviewee: Dr. Derric...

Godfrey, Richard, and Alex talk about college football news of the week: USC and Michigan both let guys resign who shouldn't have had their jobs in the first place. Georgia makes a pivot toward an even scarier future by leveling up its QB recruiting to the tippy top of the sport. USF may actually, at long last, build a stadium. And the Big Ten has trouble in paradise over its very lucrative TV dea...