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 game

Thanks 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 OUR PARTNERS AND GET COOL STUFF

* Use code SZD20 for 20% off your first order from Homefield, at www.homefieldapparel.com. Thanks

* Enter your favorite college football road trip from the 2024 season and be automatically entered in a monthly drawing to win tires at www.nokiantyres.com/szd

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner

Producer: Anthony Vito

In 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 can listen now to our coach carousel wrap show, with conclusions and reporting on a quiet but telling few months hires and fires.

* Everyone can hear our 2024 season awards special, which we do our own way. Let us know what you think of our picks for awards like Team of the Year and the Bryan Harsin Award for Forestalling the Inevitable.

Producer: Anthony Vito

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 of you this weekend for our sold-out live show in Atlanta, a combo event with the Shutdown Fullcast. Thanks to Homefield for presenting that show. Use code SZD20 on your first order at Homefield and get 20% off.

Also this week from Split Zone Duo!

* SZD subscribers can listen now to our coach carousel wrap show, with conclusions and reporting on a quiet but telling few months hires and fires.

* Everyone can hear our 2024 season awards special, which we do our own way. Let us know what you think of our picks for awards like Team of the Year and the Bryan Harsin Award for Forestalling the Inevitable.

Hosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson

Guest: Shehan Jeyarajah

Producer: Anthony Vito

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 honor with many nominees

Stay tuned this week for national championship game preview content. Meanwhile, www.splitzoneduo.com subscribers will get our 2024-25 coaching carousel wrap show, and we’ll have more to come.

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 www.homefieldapparel.com

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner, Steven Godfrey

Producer: Anthony Vito

Godfrey'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 Vito

Also in the past few days from SZD

* The post-Playoff semifinals Hurry-Up from Alex and Richard

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.

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 this year’s coordinator hires

* Fiesta Bowl hospitality

And more. With Penn State on the verge of something big, we thought it was time to talk more in depth about how they got here. Penn State plays Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl semifinal this week.

Find Daniel’s work: https://247sports.com/college/penn-state/

Read Audrey Snyder’s story about Penn State’s resources: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3738241/2022/10/28/penn-state-james-franklin-facilities-football/

Host: Alex Kirshner

Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard and Alex preview the CFP semifinals:

* Notre Dame-Penn State at the Orange Bowl

* Ohio State-Texas at the Cotton Bowl

The 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 www.homefieldapparel.com

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner

Producer: Anthony Vito

Scott 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 opportunities at the same school? The list ranges from big successes like Bill Snyder to extreme failures like Randy Edsall, and there are lots of lessons to learn.

See the data at www.splitzoneduo.com

Producer: Anthony Vito

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Steven Godfrey, Alex Kirshner

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 at www.nokiantyres.com/szd

* Use code SZD20 for 20% off your first order from Homefield, at www.homefieldapparel.com

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner

Producer: Anthony Vito