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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

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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38:00

Semifinal Hurry-Up: 83 Yards Through the Heart of Texas

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/11

The College Football Playoff semifinals are in the books. Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson share notes on Ohio State over Texas and Notre Dame over Penn State, plus pay tribute to North Dakota State’s win over Montana State in the FCS Championship. 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

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39:36

So, What Is Up With Penn State?

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/07

Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for 247Sports. He joins Alex to talk about the Nittany Lions’ long road to the doorstep of the national title game, including: * How the university responded to James Franklin’s request for more investment in the football program * The relationship between the coach and the fanbase * An athletic director swap in the middle of Franklin’s tenure* What’s been different about this year’s team * Whether Franklin is on his way to being a Penn State lifer * The impact of

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41:16

The 2024 Playoff Semifinal Preview Show

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/06

Richard and Alex preview the CFP semifinals: * Notre Dame-Penn State at the Orange Bowl* Ohio State-Texas at the Cotton BowlThe matchups we’re looking at. The keys to the game. The one post-Rose Bowl thing Alex wants to walk back. And much more! SUPPORT OUR PARTNERS AND GET COOL STUFF* Enter your pick for the Nokian Tyres Road Trip of the Week and be automatically entered in a monthly drawing to win tires at www.nokiantyres.com/szd* Use code SZD20 for 20% off your first order from Homefield, at

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26:04

Your Repeat Coach Hire Probably Won't Work

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/06

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comScott Frost is back at UCF, and Rich Rodriguez is back at West Virginia. Hundreds of college football teams, at all levels, have hired head coaches back to their old jobs. There’s a whole Wikipedia list and everything, dating to the 1800s. But most of these situations are many decades old and didn't happen in FBS. What can we make, however, of 19 coaches who came around after World War II and got two head coaching

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47:50

CFP Quarterfinal Hurry-Up: Ohio State Is a War Machine

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2025/01/03

Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson share their thoughts on the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, in reverse chronological order: * Notre Dame scores the first technical upset of the playoff vs. Georgia* Ohio State runs Oregon out of Pasadena * Texas escapes Arizona State by a whisker * Penn State handles a prickly Boise State SUPPORT OUR PARTNERS AND GET COOL STUFF* Enter your pick for the Nokian Tyres Road Trip of the Week and be automatically entered in a monthly drawing to win tires

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56:25

The Playoff Quarterfinal Preview 2024, Plus Bowls

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2024/12/29

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner preview the College Football Playoff quarterfinal games in order: * Penn State vs. Boise State, where everyone is skeptical of an upset * Texas vs. Arizona State, where the Sun Devils have a path but it’s narrow against a dominant Texas defense * Ohio State vs. Oregon, which looks like CFB’s game of the year * Notre Dame vs. Georgia, where SZD picks a narrow upset Plus: Washington State hires a coach, and we’ve got notes on a big collection of December bowl games,

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30:12

The SZD 2024 Holiday Subscriber Mailbag

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2024/12/23

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comRichard, Godfrey, and Alex answer questions from SZD’s paid subscribers on a long range of football (and then non-football) topics. After discussing the first weekend of the playoff and the week’s CFB news, the Q&A covers: * Potential expectation-beating teams for 2025* Positional value in the transfer portal * The downstream effects of HBCU celebrity hires * New Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion * New ETSU

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41:02

Playoff Hurry-Up: CFB Is a Blowout Sport

Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast ·

2024/12/22

Alex and Richard discuss the first-round College Football Playoff games, which followed the playoff tradition of being very lopsided:* Ohio State crushes Tennessee in Knoxville, Ohio* Clemson is feisty but loses at Texas* Penn State obliterates SMU (something that was going to happen whether Kevin Jennings threw those pick sixes or did not)* Notre Dame is in a different weight class than Indiana, but just don’t forget: Alabama would have met the same fatePlus, NDSU gets a history-altering win over

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523 results

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