Week 2 CFB Tasting Menu: Freshman vs. Brent Venables
Alex and Richard preview Week 2 of the college football season, which is light on big-time helmet games but heavy on interesting regional matchups. This episode has notes and observations on a big bunch of games, including:* JMU at Louisville, a great Friday night opener for the weekend* Baylor at SMU, where we should learn a lot more about Baylor* Illinois at Duke, where the Illini put their playoff dark-horse status on the line* Iowa at Iowa State, a matchup that seems hard to figure out because of how mediocre the Iowa offense was in Week 1* UAB at Navy, which tends to run for a lot of yards against the Blazers* Texas State at UTSA in the I-35 Rivalry* Ole Miss at Kentucky, which prrrrrobably cannot do that again* Oklahoma State at Oregon, following a little barb-trading by the two coaches* WVU at Ohio, where Parker Navarro gets another chance to show off* Arkansas State at Arkansas, a game that has literally never happened* WKU vs. Toledo, one of the best Group of 5 meetings of the year* LAST BUT NOT LEAST: Bill Connelly joins us to talk about Michigan vs. Oklahoma, aka a five-star true freshman against Brent Venables, aka Sherrone Moore against his alma materAnd many more games. We’ll see you on on Sunday. Produced by Anthony Vito.Thank you to our subscribers and partnersBecome a paid subscriber today to get a lot more SZD, and check out www.nokiantyres.com/szd and www.homefieldapparel.comAlso, welcome our new partner, Dad Water. Code SZD for 20% off. 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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ESPN's Bill C. on His New Book, UNC's Disaster, and Post-Week 1 Risers and Fallers
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comESPN’s Bill Connelly, author of a new book on the evolution and future of CFB, joins Alex and Richard for a big post-Week 1 chat:* Bill’s new book, “Forward Progress,” is a mix of caution and optimism about the ways college football has changed. We talk with him about how sports actually die, what still works well about CFB, and what’s broken. (This portion of the episode is free for everyone to hear.)* Richard reports from his trip to Chapel Hill for Bill Belichick’s debut. Bill explains why this is probably going to be a hard slog for UNC, and Alex and Bill talk about the built-in financial inefficiency of a portaled roster.* There were very few big plays in Week 1, but there were tons of fourth-down attempts and conversions. Bill suspects these facts are related.* Which big Week 1 risers and fallers in Bill’s SP+ system have caught his eye? Plus, how has the portal changed the art and science of projections?* Has the Group of 5 playoff race completely reset?* Is Kansas State going to be OK?* What does Bill make of exciting QB debuts at Cal and Maryland?Thanks to Bill, and go read “Forward Progress.” GET IT: https://bookshop.org/p/books/forward-progress-bill-connelly/22336270?ean=9781637278703&next=t&
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Covering Alabama in the Time of a Meltdown
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comIn this subscriber special (join us!), Alabama beat writer Matt Stahl of AL.com joins Alex to talk about exactly how bad things are right now in Tuscaloosa. Coming off a 14-point loss to FSU, we had a lot of questions, like:* How seriously is the Alabama beat taking the possibility of a coach firing?* What about Kalen DeBoer’s management of the program has been so wrong?* Did Bama do anything to make this worse for itself from a PR perspective?* Was some of this slipping before Nick Saban rolled out of town?* Assuming things don’t get REALLY bad and Bama doesn’t want to pay $60 million, what intermediate changes could be made?* How is the NIL situation at the moment?* Just how low is DeBoer’s approval rating after five losses in 10 games?Thanks to Matt for joining us. Find him on Bluesky.Producer: Anthony Vito
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Week 1 CFB Hurry-Up: Florida Statement
The Split Zone Duo Sunday Hurry-Up returns for 2025, still featuring notes on dozens of games delivered in 30-ish (emphasis on “ish”) minutes and now sponsored by our partners at Dad Water. In this Week 1 rundown: * FSU doesn’t just beat Alabama, but does it with beef * Arch Manning flops at Ohio State, but we won’t engage in Arch Doomerism just yet. Meanwhile, a great start for the defending champs* LSU overcomes ref adversity and takes care of business at Clemson * Tennessee is winning the Nico Iamaleava breakup* Utah’s line play is absolutely terrifying * Tulane beats Northwestern on the field and in the PR department * The Cal Bears have a quarterback who demands your attention * Boise State more or less eliminates itself from CFP contention, already, but it is time to take USF seriously * Dylan Raiola shows encouraging signs; Brendan Sorsby does not * Auburn will eventually need a downfield passing game, but for now, it helps to have an offensive line that shoves people around * Georgia Tech does what few power-conference teams ever do * Tarleton and Austin Peay get on the board in the FCS Upset Draft * Kent State wins for the first time in 22 tries * DilferWatch remains on high alert This episode is produced by noted USF Bulls fan Anthony Vito. Want much more of this podcast? Become a paid subscriber today Our next episode is about Alabama and Kalen DeBoer. Thanks to our partners and subscribers* 20% off Dad Water: https://drinkdadwater.com/discount/SZD * Visit Homefield at https://www.homefieldapparel.com/* Enter a college football road trip at https://www.nokiantyres.com/SZD 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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The 2025 CFB Time Capsule Prediction Special
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comAfter an offseason and preseason of talking, it’s time to answer: What do we think will actually happen in this college football season? Alex, Richard, and Godfrey put their names on some picks in this subscriber episode. At the end of the season, we’ll dig up the time capsule and see how we did:* The champions of every FBS conference* The playoff field* The national champ* The Heisman finalists* The Group of 5 player of the year* The defensive player of the year* Our favorite games of the year* The first coach fired* One coach to be hired up* A ranked-to-unranked teamSome of this won’t be surprising. (Texas and Penn State receive national championship picks.) Some of it will be! (Iowa to the playoff? Hmm.) Let’s talk about it and then sit down and watch some ball.Producer: Anthony Vito
Acerca de Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast
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
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