Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

EA Sports College Football principal game designer Ben Haumiller joins Richard and Alex to answer their questions (and many of our subscribers’ questions) about the new CFB video game that comes out July 9. This episode covers new features and gameplay changes, why EA decided to implement an NIL system in dynasty mode, what interactions with schools have been like, which new FBS teams and stadiums made it into the game, and whether Ben is willing to apologize to Alex for all the clock-saving injuries that cost him games last year.
* 0:27: Alex’s shameful record in last year’s game
* 5:47: NIL comes to the EA CFB franchise. Why and how?
* 15:16: Mascot Mode back, plus other new features and how the video game has become a very real part of the college football economy
* 27:04: New team and stadium additions, and what didn’t make it in time
* 32:05: Road to Glory changes, “generational recruits,” ratings logic, and “dynamic weather” as new parts of the game
* 51:38: Tweaks to the coach carousel and player decisions, plus the aesthetic changes that Ben says will make the game feel more real. Plus: How does a professional game developer feel about all of those AI mockups?
For $10 a month (or you can get a free month with an annual subscription), www.splitzoneduo.com 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.
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Alex, Richard, and Godfrey spend this subscriber episode reopening some of college football’s ugliest firing files: the decisions that looked reckless in the moment, the ones that aged like bad cheese, and the cases where the process was the bad before the next hire even got started. The trip runs from Nebraska and Washington through FIU, East Carolina, Maryland, and Ole Miss, with athletic directors getting at least as much scrutiny as the fired coaches.
In this episode:
* 2:23: The honorable-mention bucket, including Bo Pelini, Larry Coker, Jeff Jagodzinski, Rick Neuheisel, and Mike Price.
* 17:24: Nebraska actually gets its own division, with Frank Solich tagging in
* 22:13: Mario Cristobal at FIU, an incomprehensible mistake
* 32:38: Ruffin McNeill at East Carolina, which becomes a real AD disaster tale
* 41:27: Ralph Friedgen at Maryland is arguably the worst of all, feat. a James Franklin “coach in waiting” mess
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.
Producer: Anthony Vito

Mike Goodman, cohost of soccer podcast The Double Pivot, joins Richard and Alex to talk about a subject that’s been on our minds a lot lately: tournament expansion. The World Cup expanded from 32 teams to 48, and we’ve already seen some of the benefits (and perhaps some of the drawbacks) of that move. What can the recent experiences of the world’s biggest sporting event tell us about college football’s potential playoff expansion to 16 or 24 teams?
* 0:17: Should the World Cup’s expansion prompt a rethink of the CFP’s?
* 3:21: Mike Goodman joins and explains FIFA’s weird (read: corrupt) politics
* 27:39: Why this has worked fairly well in soccer but probably isn’t translatable to college football
* 45:21: What college football could learn from FIFA’s situation
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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Alex, Richard, and host emeritus Steven Godfrey identify 10-ish head coaches whose tenures are not going well heading into 2026. Is it possible to find hope in any of these situations? On this show, we’re trying to figure out what a turnaround might look like. In this subscriber episode:
0:01: Michigan’s hoops coach goes to the Mavericks, and it’s time for another news cycle about college coaching lifestyles
9:22: Explaining the assignment for this episode
12:23: Mike Norvell and Florida State
19:35: Mike Locksley and Maryland
26:25: Luke Fickell and Wisconsin
34:16: Dave Doeren and NC State
42:02: Dave Aranda and Baylor
47:21: Dabo Swinney and Clemson
57:36: Speed round: Shane Beamer, Scott Satterfield, and Pat Narduzzi
1:01:31: Sure, let’s talk about Bill Belichick and Deion Sanders
Producer: Anthony Vito

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Richard takes a solo show journey to wrap up the Brendan Sorsby saga now that the Texas Tech quarterback has announced his intention to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft and effectively end a sports betting saga that included dueling lawsuits, seething administrators/coaches, and state politicians getting into a tit-for-tat.
-What does the whole affair tell us about the status of Cody Campbell’s team ownership?
-Did Tech author its own demise?
-How Brett Yormark comes out looking the best out of every admin.
-What’s the recourse if you’re just over following lawsuits?
-Also … Sorsby’s gonna get taken by a team, right?
Producer: Anthony Vito