Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast

An information-packed rundown of Week 10 in college football, including:

* Ohio State-Penn State goes how it always goes

* Indiana is still Indiana (that’s a compliment now)

* South Carolina shows up big against A&M

* SMU has its biggest night in 40 years

* Army stays on course, but Navy doesn’t

* Memphis falls apart in a key spot

* Virginia Tech can’t win close games

* The Big 12 contenders converge on each other

* Tahj Brooks, Ashton Jeanty, and more great running

* Baylor might be back

* A Florida recruiting fight gets testy

* The Libs get owned against Jacksonville State

And a lot more!

* Get 20% off your first order at Homefield using code SZD20 at homefieldapparel.com

* 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

Hosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard JohnsonProducer: Anthony Vito

Since UAB hired Trent Dilfer before the 2023 season, a once-solid program has become one of college football’s worst teams. Rodger Sherman, who wrote an excellent feature about the flawed ideology behind the hire, joins Richard, Godfrey, and Alex to discuss how UAB set itself up to fail with a hire that made no strategic or cultural sense. Then, Rodger and the SZD hosts hold a three-round draft of the worst coaching hires of the past 15 years. It’s a walk down memory lane not just of hires who didn’t win, but of hires that were unwise at the time they were made. Let’s see what lessons we can learn.

Read Rodger's Dilfer story and more at Read Rodge: https://rodgersherman.substack.com/p/the-dilfer-debacle-or-a-case-study

Producer: Anthony Vito

Listen to the Week 10 Tasting Menu and pair it with Godfrey’s Q&A for subscribers. He’s on one this week. We start our journey with a repeat format of Question Randomization, but this time around we end up smack dab in the middle of a big mess with the coming 12-team bracket weekly rankings and a series of inconvenient results clogging the at-large field. Could all of this magically work itself out? Maybe, but that hasn't been the vibe in this sport the last few years.

Host: Steven GodfreyProducer: Anthony Vito

A preview of the Week 10 college football season, including:

* Penn State’s latest chance to level up in the sport, this one against Ohio State in Happy Valley in what should be one of 2024’s best games

* Marquee QB matchups have been duds. Why?

* Army’s latest offensive evolution, and why this season has been such a bleak one for Air Force

* What kind of Florida-Georgia will this one be?

* Indiana keeps chugging and may get its QB back

* A&M and the potential for a two-QB system

* A marquee matchup (that’s right) between Pitt and SMU

* Late life in the TCU-Baylor Revivalry

And more.

HOMEFIELD’S SWEATER PROJECT: A 48-hour reservation window for a one-of-a-kind product, the Indiana Football 1979 Tri-Stripe Crewneck. Use code SZD20 for 20 percent off your first order at www.homefieldapparel.com

NOKIAN TYRES ROAD TRIP OF THE WEEK: This week, it’s State College, PA. Enter your pick and be automatically entered in a monthly drawing to win tires, and congrats to listener Noble on winning this month’s drawing. Enter at www.nokiantyres.com/szd

Hosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard JohnsonProducer: Anthony Vito

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner recap Week 9 in college football, including:

* Texas A&M beats LSU, and Mike Elko makes a point

* Texas survives an odd game against Vanderbilt

* Miami gets a breakthrough, and FSU flirts with history

* BYU, Pitt, and Indiana all remain unbeaten

* Kansas still can’t beat Kansas State

* A classic MSU-UM game

* UNLV misses an opportunity

* The MAC and Sun Belt races are WIDE open

* UTSA’s nightmare year

* How to lose a game with a 6-0 turnover margin

And much more.

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex KirshnerProducer: Anthony Vito

A Week 9 subscriber Q&A with Steven Godfrey. He takes questions about James Madison, Florida State, BYU, Cincinnati, Georgia and a buncha other schools and things in the fun and never-sane world of CFB. Also, yes, the smoker is assembled. Finally.

Host: Steven GodfreyProducer: Anthony Vito

Welcome back to another year of "The Eyes List,” where Split Zone Duo discusses coaching situations that we’ve got our eyes on. Richard, Godfrey, and Alex discuss the first two in-season head coach firings of 2024: ECU’s Mike Houston and Southern Miss’ Will Hall. Plus, Oklahoma fires Seth Littrell and puts the first blue-blood coordinator opening on the board.

In this episode for paid subscribers, SZD discusses:

* The specific challenges faced by ECU and Southern Miss

* Why it’s not really time yet for candidate lists, and why the firing cycle has not heated up in earnest as November approaches

* Why one hot ECU name seems like a long shot

* How ECU is still cleaning up an AD’s mess from 10 years ago

* Whether Southern Miss is a better situation than it was in 2021

* The critical nature of Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator search after firing Seth Littrell

Producer: Anthony VitoHosts: Richard Johnson, Steven Godfrey, Alex Kirshner

Richard, Alex, and Godfrey preview Week 9 of the college football season, with looks ahead at two dozen of the weekend’s games. Including:

* Notre Dame-Navy

* A&M-LSU

* Mizzou-Alabama

* Boise State-UNLV

* Tulane-North Texas

* Illinois-Oregon

* Washington-Indiana

* Syracuse-Pitt

* Oklahoma-Ole Miss

* FSU-Miami

* Wazzu-San Diego State

And a lot more.

SPLIT ZONE DUO GOES TO NASHVILLE WITH NOKIAN TYRES: On Friday, 10/25 and Saturday, 10/26, we’ll join our friends for two events: a 5 p.m. Friday meetup at Bearded Iris Brewing in Sylvan Supply and a tailgate starting at 11 a.m. Saturday in Lot 4 on Vanderbilt’s campus. RSVP for the Friday event by going to www.nokiantyres.com/szd and entering Vanderbilt vs. Texas as your desired college football road trip. On Saturday, just show up. We’ll have pizza.

HOMEFIELD: CODE SZD20 FOR 20% OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER: Meanwhile, all Split Zone Duo shirts this season are for a good cause. Our shirt collection, in partnership with Homefield, is at homefieldapparel.com/szd.This season, 100 percent of the profits from SZD shirt sales at Homefield will go toward a fund to help a close friend of our show and his family as they deal with a medical crisis. Further information is here: https://tinyurl.com/wesboling

Producer: Anthony VitoHosts: Steven Godfrey, Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner

A 30-ish-minute recap of Week 8 in college football, including:

* Georgia asserts itself against Texas, but exactly how big is the gap between these teams if they meet again? We still don’t know

* Tennessee wins a slog against a Bama offense that has one thing

* NDSU finally takes back the Dakota Marker

* Indiana is Good with a capital G

* Mario Cristobal makes a good game management move

* BYU continues a magical season

* ECU opens up coach firing season

* At least the weather is nice in Morgantown

* Maryland fans rush the field

And a lot more contained within the episode.

Producer: Anthony Vito.

SPLIT ZONE DUO GOES TO NASHVILLE WITH NOKIAN TYRES: On Friday, 10/25 and Saturday, 10/26, we’ll join our friends for two events: a 5 p.m. Friday meetup at Bearded Iris Brewing in Sylvan Supply and a tailgate starting at 11 a.m. Saturday in Lot 4 on Vanderbilt’s campus. RSVP for the Friday event now by going to www.nokiantyres.com/szd and entering Vanderbilt vs. Texas as your desired college football road trip. On Saturday, just show up. We’ll have drinks.

HOMEFIELD: CODE SZD20 FOR 20% OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER: Meanwhile, all Split Zone Duo shirts this season are for a good cause. Our shirt collection, in partnership with Homefield, is at homefieldapparel.com/szd.This season, 100 percent of the profits from SZD shirt sales at Homefield will go toward a fund to help a close friend of our show and his family as they deal with a medical crisis. Further information is here: https://tinyurl.com/wesboling

Cody Alexander of Match Quarters is a defensive coordinator by trade. He joins Richard and Alex for a discussion of five of the best players and offenses in college football right now. What can a defense do to stop them? Sometimes the answer is nothing, but here are some ideas, as well as explanations of why these guys have been so effective:

* Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

* The Army and Navy flexbone

* Penn State TE Tyler Warren

* Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith

* Texas QB Quinn Ewers (and friends)

If you liked this show, you’ll like Match Quarters.

Also this week at Split Zone Duo …

Producer: Anthony Vito.