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PODCAST

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner

An independent college football podcast that covers the whole sport, led by Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner. Free episodes each week (twice per week in season), plus frequent subscriber episodes. Featuring co-host emeritus Steven Godfrey and friends. www.splitzoneduo.com

sports football

All Episodes

34:59

Offseason Vibe Checks 2025: CUSA

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/03/17

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football senior writer Mike Craven discuss the state of the offseason in Conference USA, a league that was spicier than most of us expected in 2024:* Jacksonville State loses the braintrust behind a conference championship and will now be completely different* WKU’s run as the cradle of coordinators continues* FIU tries an ultra-Floridian approach* Sam Houston restarts with Phil Longo, who has school ties* Kennesaw State is just trying to be

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19:15

CFB Lunch Break: ACC Settlement, Eddie George, and More

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/03/12

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comAlex and Richard take subscribers’ college football questions in this live recording, conducted on the Substack app on Tuesday. We call it CFB Lunch Break, because we’re taking CFB questions at lunchtime:* How we feel about player wearing #0 and single-digits* The winner and loser from the ACC’s settlement with Clemson and FSU, which keeps the ACC together for at least a bit* What’s the real reason that spring games

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58:01

Offseason Vibe Checks 2025: The Big 12

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/03/10

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Dave Campbell’s Texas Football senior writer Mike Craven discuss how the offseason is going for every team in the Big 12 Conference: * Arizona State keeps a playoff core almost totally intact * Arizona is in the danger zone after Brent Brennan’s first year* Baylor is once again ready to contend for the league * Oklahoma State is in uncharted waters * WVU and UCF both do some fan service * Kansas swaps out coordinators and has a QB injury to monitor* Why Houston

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74:09

Offseason Vibe Checks 2025: The ACC

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/03/05

The Offseason Vibe Check series continues with the ACC, as Rodger Sherman joins Alex and Richard to talk about the state of the league. It's not a 2024 recap, and it's not a 2025 preview. It's a check-in with every team in every FBS conference about what's been happening since Thanksgiving. How was the postseason? How was the coach carousel? How was signing day? How was the transfer portal window? And is anything else going on around your program? * Pitt finished on an 0-6 run but has continuity in

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10:43

CFB Lunch Break: Michigan, LSU, Coaching Trees, and More

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/03/03

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comAlex and Richard take live and pre-submitted subscriber questions in this quick episode to start off the new month. Topics include: * Biff Poggi’s return to Michigan* The tough job ahead of Pitt’s new AD* Brian Kelly’s make-or-break year * Colorado State continually being just short of being something* The first 100 days of the Belichick UNC administration * Gary Pinkel’s underrated career * Nebraska canceling a

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25:58

Why Kent State Is Always Bad

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/26

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comThe history of the Kent State Golden Flashes is full of missed opportunities, real-life tragedies, and lots of losing—never more than in 2024, when Kent State had one of the worst teams in college football history. Why is the program perennially so bad? To answer that question, Rodger Sherman joins Alex and Richard for a deep dive into the Flashes. * A long history of great, memorable players on bad teams * Separating

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39:07

Offseason Vibe Checks 2025: The Sun Belt

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/25

Split Zone Duo’s “Offseason Vibe Check” series rolls on with the Sun Belt. It's not a 2024 recap, and it's not a 2025 preview. It's a check-in with every team in every FBS conference about what's been happening since Thanksgiving. How was the postseason? How was the coach carousel? How was signing day? How was the transfer portal window? And is anything else going on around your program? In this week’s Sun Belt episode, Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson discuss: * Louisiana’s sour ending after being

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66:01

Offseason Vibe Checks 2025: The SEC

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/20

Welcome to Split Zone Duo’s “Offseason Vibe Check” series. It's not a 2024 recap, and it's not a 2025 preview. It's a check-in with every team in every FBS conference about what's been happening since Thanksgiving. How was the postseason? How was the coach carousel? How was signing day? How was the transfer portal window? And is anything else going on around your program? We start with the Southeastern Conference and will work our way from here.* Tennessee has had a quiet few months since Columbus*

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30:14

Anatomy of a Coaching Carousel: 2001

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/18

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comThe coaching carousel before the 2001 season transformed college football. Some programs set themselves up for national championship (or even dynastic) runs. Some screwed themselves. Some set the stage for the next several decades of the top tiers of the SEC and Big Ten. In this episode, Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Steven Godfrey take a fine-toothed comb through the consequential coaching cycle at the end of

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20:21

An NIL Agent Explains How The Sausage Gets Made

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/12

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comAlex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Split Zone Duo subscribers have some questions for an NIL agent about how the business of paying college football players actually works. Justin J. Giangrande is the CEO and founder of NETWORK, a sports marketing agency that handles both collective negotiations and sponsorship agreements for players like. We wanted to know: * How does someone even become an NIL agent? * How

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43:52

Week 1 Helmet Games and the Future of Non-Con (B1G...

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/11

In one of Steven Godfrey’s favorite early-offseason traditions, the SZD crew glances ahead at the Week 1 schedule many months from now. Not just so there’s something to look forward to as the long offseason gets going, but because the story of Week 1 matchups is increasingly the story of how athletic directors are approaching scheduling. Let’s dive into: * Why 2025’s season-opening schedule will give you more to look forward to than the equivalent slate in 2024* The most obvious Anxiety Bowl in the

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15:02

The Gump Report: Angst and Opportunity in Alabama

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/06

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com2024 was a weird (read: bad) year for a lot of college football teams in the state Alabama. Justin Ferguson, publisher of the Auburn Observer and all-purpose ball-knower in the state, joins Alex and Richard to discuss:* How everyone’s feeling after the two Iron Bowl teams went a combined 7-9 in the SEC, tied for their worst joint record of the century* Why this will be an offseason of hope for Auburn, and why Hugh

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102:17

LIVE in Atlanta with the Shutdown Fullcast and Homefield

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/02/04

On January 18, SZD and our old friends at the Shutdown Fullcast combined for a live show in Atlanta, presented by Homefield. We now present the recording, featuring a whole bunch of FOOTBALL DISASTERS and a round of CFB family feud featuring friends of the program like Homefield founder Connor Hitchcock, Matt Brown, Jessica Smetana, Amanda Mull, and Joel Anderson. Producer: Anthony Vito This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,

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53:09

Your Guide to the 2025 CFB Offseason

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/29

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Steven Godfrey discuss the stories they are most interested to watch unfold between now and September. In this show: * Podcast update: Godfrey is becoming host emeritus and will take a lighter load as he works on other things, but you’ll still hear him on SZD regularly. * Richard is tracking a series of potential changes to the postseason and end-of-season schedule, not just (more) playoff expansion but also all the SEC/Big Ten saber-rattling that will accompany

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20:10

The Accountability Episode: What We Learned In 2024

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/29

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comGodfrey, Richard, and Alex made a lot of preseason predictions back in August. Some of them worked out well. (Everyone had Ohio State winning the national title.) Some of them worked out terribly. (Florida State and Michigan in the playoff: Nice job, fellas!) Let’s see how everyone did, and then let’s try to learn some lessons from the ways reality matched and deviated from what we expected. Also, we dig into questions

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37:14

Championship Hurry-Up: A Good Day

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/21

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner put a bow on the national championship game, a 34-23 win for Ohio State over Notre Dame: * How the Buckeyes did it * Notre Dame’s attempt to stop them, including that late third down * Ryan Day’s unique legacy * And more odds and ends from the title gameThanks so much for listening this season, our fifth as a podcast. We’ll be back next week with Steven Godfrey to dig up our pre-2024 time capsule and turn our attention toward the offseason. Much more soon! SUPPORT

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10:50

The Xs and Os of Ohio State-Notre Dame

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/17

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comIn this subscriber episode, Ross Fulton, Ohio State analyst for Buckeye Huddle, joins Richard to talk about the schematic chess match of OSU vs. Notre Dame for the national championship. Let’s go in depth on how these teams will approach the other and the schematic battles that will determine the champ. Also this week from Split Zone Duo!* A longer national championship preview with Shehan Jeyarajah * SZD subscribers

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52:32

National Championship Preview Show Feat. Shehan...

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/16

CBS Sports national college football reporter Shehan Jeyarajah joins Alex and Richard for a preview of Ohio State vs. Notre Dame. Shehan and Richard were at the two semifinals, and now everyone gathers to frame up the title game: * When Ohio State has the ball * When Notre Dame has the ball * Why a lot of our analysis of Notre Dame’s chances keeps coming back to “what if this was a completely different team?” * Assessing the first go-around for the 12-team playoff * Picks We’re excited to see many

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81:46

The 2024 Split Zone Duo CFB Awards Special

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/15

Richard, Godfrey, and Alex name their winners in the 2024 Split Zone Duo college football awards, aka “The Zonies” aka “The Splitty Ds.” * Team of the Year (not the best team, but the one that we most enjoyed watching or became most interested in going forward) * Moment of the Year * Proof of Concept of the Year, for coaches showing good signs * Minority Coach of the Week of the Year * Portaling of the Year * Bad Situation of the Year, aka “the Bryan Harsin Award for Forestalling the Inevitable,” an

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28:50

Single Wing: Who Let Saban Loose In Heritage Hall?

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/13

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comGodfrey's back from a variety platter of holiday family illnesses to play some hypothetical coaching games, like Fran Brown to LSU (?!) and why USC needs to clean its house like 2000s-era LSU. Also, let's talk about spoons. A lot.Producer: Anthony VitoAlso in the past few days from SZD* The post-Playoff semifinals Hurry-Up from Alex and Richard

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