Podcast
Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast
Hosted by Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner · EN
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
www.splitzoneduo.com
44episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Should Black Athletes Boycott SEC Schools?
6d ago00:46:05Tap to summarizeRichard is joined by Joel Anderson, host of The Ringer Tailgate and The Press Box podcasts, for a conversation about the NAACP’s Out of Bounds campaign and the bigger question underneath it: What is fair to ask of Black college athletes and recruits at a moment when lawmakers and the courts are attacking Black voting power? They start with HBCUs and PWIs, move through the campaign’s specifics asks, and cover lots of topics from there: political education, NIL incentives, the transfer portal, the limits and power of boycotts, and why college football keeps becoming the platform for this kind of discussion. In this episode:* 0:00: The roles of HBCUs and PWIs in Black college life, and how generational experiences shape Richard’s and Joel’s views.* 12:01: The NAACP’s campaign and its asks of recruits, current athletes, fans, donors, and consumers.* 16:16: What is fair to expect of college athlete activism now* 26:55: Whether the idea of a “boycott” has lost force* 37:53: The role of the NAACP in 2026 Producer: Anthony VitoMore on the story covered in this episode: * NAACP press statement: Black athletes and fans should withhold support from public schools in states attacking Black voting rights* NAACP: Out of Bounds * CBS Sports on the NAACP campaignIf you like this episode, you’ll love a paid subscription. 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. 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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Hot Seats and Hot Grills: CFB Holiday Mailbag
2w ago01:01:28Tap to summarizeAlex, Richard, and host emeritus Steven Godfrey turn a Memorial Day subscriber mailbag into a holiday-travel episode, starting with an either/or question about Steve Sarkisian and Lincoln Riley. From there, they get into G.J. Kinne’s future, Arkansas cutting and then quiickly reinstating a sport, what a 24-team Playoff might do to scheduling, how to talk about Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Dan Lanning, and Eli Drinkwitz in 2026, and then the important holiday matters: message boards, soccer pain, cookout tips and tricks, Alex’s recent discovery of beans, and Spotify deep diving.In this episode:* 2:08: Who is under more pressure in 2026: Lincoln Riley or Steve Sarkisian? Plus: Will Muschamp’s role at Texas and USC’s politics around Notre Dame* 13:46: Where G.J. Kinne could go next, and which coaches might make sense for future Texas G5 openings.* 19:51: Arkansas reinstates tennis, then the conversation turns to Hunter Yurachek and athletic department accountability.* 26:44: Would a 24-team Playoff make schools schedule better non-conference games, or just change the incentive to chase automatic bids?* 33:57: Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Dan Lanning, and Eli Drinkwitz as case studies in how we talk about portal usage, title ceilings, and carousel smoke.* 44:52: Memorial Day light fare: Eastside LA food, message board culture, Tottenham and Valencia, cookout rules, beans, and all-time Spotify listening history. Producer: Anthony VitoIf you like this episode, you’ll love a paid subscription. 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.Thank you to our partners* Shop at Homefield* Learn more about Nokian TyresSubscribe to our YouTube channels Yes, we now have two! * Original short docs and fun CFB explainer vids* Our new channel just for video episodes 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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Should UCLA Have Your Attention?
2w ago00:19:54Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comSUBSCRIBER EPISODE: Alex and Richard start with the surprise of UCLA becoming one of the offseason’s best recruiting stories, then Alex brings on Ira Gorawara fromThe Athletic for a campus-level look at Bob Chesney’s first few months in Westwood. This subscriber episode is about whether UCLA’s current burst of money, attention, and salesmanship is the first sign that a program long trapped between Los Angeles indifference and its own underinvestment might finally be changing its shape. In this episode:* 0:00: Richard and Alex set up UCLA’s recruiting surge, the money behind it, and why Los Angeles is a hard place to matter unless you are winning or selling.* 10:49: Ira Gorawara joins to explain why Bob Chesney’s arrival has given the program a different feel than it had under recent coaches* 17:02: Chesney’s contrast with Chip Kelly and DeShaun Foster* 22:45: Whether UCLA’s donor alignment and roster spending are real enough to change the program’s ceiling.* 29:17: How durable the Bruins’ recruiting bump might be, and what counts as success over the long term* 34:29: The Rose Bowl vs. SoFi StadiumProducer: Anthony VitoEveryone 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.
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Lane Kiffin's Insincerity and 24-Team Playoff Game Theory
3w ago01:02:53Tap to summarizeAlex and Richard use Richard’s trip to ACC meetings as a window into the big college sports fight of the hour: how many teams will be in the College Football Playoff going forward. Then they sort through the Big Ten/SEC split over 24 teams, Ole Miss’ strange week as a national punching bag in the middle of May, and Nebraska’s first run-in with the new NIL enforcement system, which might be less the end of creative player payments than the start of better paperwork.In this episode:* 3:22: What Richard learned at ACC meetings, including the coming ACC tiebreaker puzzle* 7:24: Why 16 vs. 24 teams is the next Playoff fight, and how conference title games, ESPN, and FOX fit into it* 17:47: Why the Big Ten and SEC are on opposite sides of the 24-team debate* 37:25: Ole Miss catches strays from Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian* 47:22: Nebraska’s rejected NIL deals, the College Sports Commission’s first big test, and the future of athletic department creativityProducer: Anthony VitoIf you like this episode, you’ll love a paid subscription at www.splitzoneduo.com/subscribeFor $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. 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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Revisiting "Is Bama Doomed?" Two Years Post-Nick Saban
3w ago00:20:58Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comSubscriber episode: Steven Godfrey joins Alex and Richard to do a two-year checkup on Alabama under Kalen DeBoer. When Nick Saban retired in January 2024, Godfrey thought the Crimson Tide were due for a major reality check, while Alex thought one of Saban’s gifts to Bama was a durable and higher floor. Two seasons into the DeBoer era, Godfrey’s view looks like it’s carrying the day. But does Alabama see it that way, given a new contract extension for DeBoer? In this episode:0:00: Why Alex and Godfrey disagreed two years ago 5:14: What DeBoer’s extension says about Greg Byrne’s bet and Alabama’s appetite for patience after an uneven first two years.10:28: Alabama’s roster-building question: Is high school recruiting just going really well, or are they poor, or is it a bit of both? 20:38: Godfrey on the psychology of SEC donors spending money on football players, and why it’s better for Ole Miss than Alabama 52:23: The archival add-on: Alex’s special episode from 2021 on what “gameday home” condo purchases do to SEC towns Producer: Anthony Vito
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Does the Big 12 Even Want This Sack of Cash?
4w ago00:15:22Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comExtra Points publisher Matt Brown joins Alex and Richard for this subscriber edition of the Sports Business Hour, starting with the Big 12’s RedBird Capital deal and why a lot of schools that need money might still say no to expensive outside cash. From there, the group gets into what “revenue generation” can mean for a conference office, how Utah’s private-equity idea differs from a loan, why winning alone is a shaky athletic department business plan, and what Duke’s new Amazon arrangement does and does not reveal about the future of conference s media rights. The episode closes with Brendan Sorsby’s unsettled gambling case, where NCAA enforcement, Texas Tech, the NFL, and some (actually) serious lawyers could all wind up in the same big story.In this subscriber episode:* 0:16: RedBird, private capital, and why many Big 12 schools may pass on the league’s new borrowing option.* 5:00: Why the conference office, specifically, is taking the money* 15:02: The latest in “winning is not a business model,” with case studies from Indiana and South Carolina* 23:02: ACC meetings primer: Uneven schedules, tiebreakers, revenue-sharing stakes, and a looming (but still quiet) realignment problem* 30:35: Duke’s Amazon games, ESPN’s role, Big Ten objections, and why this is not a template for big football brands peeling off TV rights.* 49:36: New developments in the Brendan Sorsby caseThanks to Matt. Read and subscribe to Extra Points!Producer: Anthony Vito
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What Returning Production Says about 2026, Feat. Bill Connelly
4w ago00:59:13Tap to summarizeESPN’s Bill Connelly joins Alex and Richard to talk about his returning production rankings for the 2026 college football season. The power leagues are retaining more of last year’s snaps and yards, while the G6 is increasingly forced into annual rebuilds. Bill explains how the formula for returning talent has evolved, how the transfer portal has made it messy, and which 2026 teams look interesting based on who’s coming back. In this episode:* 0:55: Exactly how dire is the returning production picture in the Group of 6?* 4:10: How the returning-production formula has changed in the portal era, from FCS/FBS translation to incoming-transfer weight.* 12:58: Why the weights look the way they do, including offensive line snaps, pass catchers, quarterbacks, and defensive stickiness.* 15:02: What we can learn from last year’s big returning production flop, the No. 1-ranked (sort of) Clemson Tigers* 20:18: The new grind of roster evaluation, why G6 previews can become transfer lists, and 2026 FAU as a returning production test case.* 27:13: AI in roster work and recruiting operations, and why Bill still prefers doing his own spreadsheeting* 35:55: 2026 case studies near the top: Notre Dame, Maryland, South Carolina, and Texas.* 49:10: Rebuilds at Tulane, North Texas, and James Madison, a packed American race, and … a little curiosity at Ohio State?Producer: Anthony VitoThank you to our partners!* Shop at Homefield* Learn more about Nokian Tyres 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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Brendan Sorsby's Gambling Has Texas Tech In Crisis
Apr 2900:55:52Tap to summarizeWant a video version of this episode? Find it on YouTube right here. Subscribe to our new @collegefootballpodcast channel to get video versions of all our free episodes, and subscribe to our main channel for our occasional history short docs and other fun YouTube exclusives. Richard and Alex go deep on this week’s biggest story: Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby is under investigation for sports betting, including wagers reportedly placed on his own team while he was at Indiana. Inside: * 2:05: The Sorsby betting story and why it’s such an uphill fight for him to ever play college football again* 25:37: What this makes us think about the state of sports gambling in the United States and our own sports media history with it * 38:08: Thanks to our great sponsors, Homefield and Nokian Tyres* 40:05: NFL Draft postmortem: Diego Pavia, Cade Klubnik, UNC and Colorado coming up empty, and interesting late-round CFB finds * 52:42: The NCAA’s potential move to a “five in five” eligibility standard 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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Five Offseason CFB Stories Ranging from Weird to Transformative
Apr 2800:19:38Tap to summarizeThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.comSUBSCRIBER EPISODE: Richard, Alex, and host emeritus Steven Godfrey bounce around to a handful of college football news stories that demand more discussion: * 1:46: Kentucky’s attempt to set up a sketchy $1 million job for outgoing athletic director Mitch Barnhart, which came apart under political pressure* 12:02: Virginia Tech’s disempowered AD finally stepping away * 19:18: The unusual amount of post-job change animosity flowing toward Auburn coach Alex Golesh from USF * 30:40: Jeremy Pruitt’s tangled mess of an attempt to get out of his NCAA show cause, and what it tells us about the current state of enforcement * 38:42: The NCAA seems poised to move up Week 1 to the current Week 0 slot in late August. Why is this happening? Well, the NFL. Does college football have any chance of hanging on to a prime calendar spot? And what other sacred spots on the schedule might be under attack? Producer: Anthony Vito. This is a subscriber episode, but everyone can hear a nice big free previewTo get this episode and many, many more (as well as a whole back catalog of evergreen college football history shows, reporting on the coach carousel, and more), become a paid subscriber today.
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Bill Barnwell on the NFL's Lack of Improvement in Drafting College Football Players
Apr 2301:12:31Tap to summarizeNFL teams have more data and scouting resources than ever. Yet they haven’t gotten better at picking the best college football players. Why not? ESPN senior writer Bill Barnwell joins Richard and Alex to dive into a complicated topic:* 0:20: Welcoming our guest, Bill Barnwell* 9:24: The NFL Draft is the biggest deal in the city of Pittsburgh* 16:31: Why NFL teams haven’t gotten better at drafting over the decadesDuring this episode, Alex mentions a few statistical studies that researchers have done on pro sports teams’ draft performance over time. You can find those here and here. 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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