Our subscriber series on open FBS coaching jobs visits Fayetteville. Arkansas fired Sam Pittman and then admitted outright that the school did not put him in the financial position to succeed. The school has unique challenges stemming from its commitment to being good in basketball and baseball. Arkansas has a handful of rich, famous boosters, who own things like Walmart and the Dallas Cowboys. But how much money is earmarked for football is always a point of uncertainty. Let’s also talk about the Bobby Petrino in the room.

Episodes of “The Job” are for paid subscribers

Everyone can hear a free preview, and you can catch up on other episodes here:

* Oklahoma State

* Virginia Tech

* UCLA

Producer: Anthony Vito

The Week 6 college football schedule is light on blockbusters, but that only makes the Split Zone Duo Tasting Menu’s job more important. Lets’ talk about what’s interesting to us this week, jumping from game to game, starting with the lone Thursday nighter and continuing through last call on Saturday:

* WKU at Delaware, providing real intrigue in CUSA

* Army at UAB, where Trent Dilfer continues to fight for his job

* Kansas State at Baylor, where someone will remain a Big 12 contender

* Wisconsin at Michigan, which could get very ugly for the Badgers

* Kentucky at Georgia, which should take things from bad to worse for the Wildcats as their season risks getting out of hand

* Iowa State at Cincinnati, maybe the game of the early window

* Virginia at Louisville, a meeting of stealth ACC contenders

* Vanderbilt at Alabama, which wouldn’t be that big of an upset

* Boise State at Notre Dame, which would be

* Washington at Maryland, which has Alex feeling … hope?

* Texas Tech at Houston, as the Red Raiders keep marching

* The Main Course, presented by Modelo: Ahead of a game at Florida State, Omaha Productions ball-knower and general Miami historian/superfan Kevin Clark joins the program to talk about the Canes’ apparent breakthrough. But is he worried about a Mario Cristobal Game Management Moment? We will discuss it.

Thank you to our subscribers and partners

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Modelo: Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL

Producer: Anthony Vito

Despite a busy few weeks in 2025, college football teams fire fewer coaches at midseason than you might expect. But when they do, there are usually some through lines: The firing after the death knell loss, or the guy who gets canned in September instead of on “Black Sunday” after Thanksgiving. Richard and host emeritus Steven Godfrey roll through the past five years of coach carousels to find out just what went into each case when a coach got fired extremely early.

Producer: Anthony Vito

In THE SUNDAY HURRY-UP PRESENTED BY DAD WATER, Richard and Alex discuss Week 5 of the college football season:

Oregon 30, Penn State 24

Ohio State 24, Washington 6

Indiana 20, Iowa 15

Illinois 34, USC 32

Northwestern 17, UCLA 14

Alabama 24, Georgia 21

Texas A&M 16, Auburn 10

Tennessee 41, Mississippi State 34

Vanderbilt 55, Utah State 35

Ole Miss 24, LSU 19

UVA 46, FSU 38

Notre Dame 56, Arkansas 13

Louisville 34, Pitt 27

Georgia Tech 30, Wake Forest 29

Duke 38, Syracuse 3

Cal 28, BC 24

Virginia Tech 23, NC State 21

Stanford 30, San Jose State 29

Iowa State 39, Arizona 14

Utah 48, WVU 14

BYU 24, Colorado 21

Cincinnati 37, Kansas 34

Kansas State 34, UCF 20

Arizona State 27, TCU 24

Houston 27, Oregon State 24

North Texas 36, South Bama 22

Memphis 55, FAU 26

Navy 21, Rice 13

ECU 28, Army 6

Boise 47, App State 14

JMU 35, Georgia Southern 10

Louisiana 54, Marshall 51

Southern Miss 42, Jacksonville State 25

ODU 21, Liberty 7

Louisiana Tech 30, UTEP 11

ULM 28, Arkansas State 16

Ohio 35, Bowling Green 20

Central Michigan 24, EMU 13

San Diego State 6, NIU 3

Hawaii 44, AFA 35

Wazzu 20, Colorado State 3

New Mexico 38, NMSU 20

Montana 41, Idaho 30

Want much more? Become a paid subscriber

We’re planning our usual two-subscriber-show load for you this week.

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Producer: Anthony Vito

The interim head coach is a feature of every college football season. As of publication of this episode, there are more interim coaches (five) than there have been weeks in the season (four). How do schools decide who should take over when a head coach gets fired? What patterns can we detect in how they make these choices? What are the many archetypes of interim coach, and what do they suggest about schools’ goals? Most importantly: How do interim coaches do when they get the “interim” label removed and take the permanent job? Should we be taking more of them more seriously as long-term candidates? Rodger Sherman leads Alex and Richard on a journey into the world of the interim. Meet the seven different types, including:

* The Special Teams Coach

* The Interim Who Used To Be A Head Coach

* The Please Don’t Decommit Interim

* The Frequent Flyer Interim

* The Lifetime Achievement Interim

* The Remember Some Guys Interim

* And most important: The Interim Who Actually Gets The Job

Producer: Anthony Vito

Our overview of the Week 5 college football schedule, with notes, questions, and some predictions on dozens of games. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of games:

* Army at ECU

* FSU at Virginia (upset??)

* TCU at Arizona State

* USC at Illinois

* UCF at Kansas State

* Louisville at Pitt

* Notre Dame at Arkansas

* Auburn at Texas A&M

* LSU at Ole Miss (Kiffin vs. Kiffin?)

* Ohio State at Washington

* UCLA at Northwestern (don’t watch this)

* NMSU at New Mexico

* Tennessee at Mississippi State

* Appalachian State at Boise State

* Montana at Idaho (FCS top-10 showdown)

* Alabama at Georgia

* BYU at Colorado

* And, of course, Oregon at Penn State: THE MAIN COURSE, featuring Audrey Snyder of Inside the Lions. If you haven’t paid much attention to Penn State in its three warmup games, you’re not alone. Audrey tells us how the Nittany Lions are looking, where the trouble spots might be, and what she makes of this marquee rematch of last year’s Big Ten Championship.

Thank you to our subscribers and partners

Become a paid subscriber today to get a lot more SZD, and check out www.nokiantyres.com/szd and www.homefieldapparel.com

Also, welcome our new partner, Dad Water. Code SZD for 20% off.

Producer: Anthony Vito

SUBSCRIBER SERIES: Oklahoma State finally cut ties with Mike Gundy. That wasn’t a surprise, but the timing was. Now the Pokes look forward. Alex and Richard discuss the Oklahoma State job post-Gundy:

* Why did the program rot over the past two seasons?

* What is unique about Oklahoma State’s financial challenges?

* How did money problems materialize on the field?

* Who’s actually in charge? Recent events make that a fair question

* What does “fit” look like for a job that one guy has had for 20 years?

* Verdict time: Good job, bad job, or circumstantial?

Episodes of “The Job” are for paid subscribers

Everyone can hear a free preview, and you can catch up on other episodes here:

* Virginia Tech

* UCLA

Virginia Tech has an incredible fanbase and a history, in this century, as one of the best programs in the country. But those things only count for so much, and the Hokies are now facing an existential moment: Catch up in the financial arms race, or fade further from relevance. In this episode, Alex and Richard discuss:

* Why Brent Pry failed

* Why the concept of “fit” in this job is extremely hard to figure out, unless you are literally Frank Beamer’s son. (And in that case, you have a conventionally better job.)

* Tech’s place in the ACC and why TV viewership is everything

* The bells and whistles the Hokies have lacked

* The questions any candidate will want answered

* How much does an amazing game day atmosphere still matter?

* “I do not think Michael Vick is going to get this job”

* Verdict time: Good job, bad job, or circumstantial?

Producer: Anthony Vito

That was a heck of a week. Richard and Alex break down a busy Week 4 in college football, highlighting dozens of games of interest. In this order:

Oklahoma 24, Auburn 17

Ole Miss 45, Tulane 10

Texas 55, Sam Houston 0

Tennessee 56, UAB 24

Missouri 29, South Carolina 20

Miami 26, Florida 7

Syracuse 34, Clemson 21

Duke 45, NC State 33

UCF 34, North Carolina 9

San Diego State 34, Cal 0

Virginia Tech 38, Wofford 6

Indiana 63, Illinois 10

Michigan 30, Nebraska 27

Maryland 27, Wisconsin 10

Oregon 41, Oregon State 7

Washington 59, Washington State 24

Iowa 38, Rutgers 28

Texas Tech 34, Utah 10

TCU 35, SMU 24

Arizona State 27, Baylor 24

Kansas 41, West Virginia 10

Colorado 37, Wyoming 20

BYU 34, East Carolina 13

Tulsa 19, Oklahoma State 12

Notre Dame 56, Purdue 30

James Madison 31, Liberty 13

Memphis 32, Arkansas 31

North Texas 45, Army 38 (OT)

UTSA 17, Colorado State 16

Rice 28, Charlotte 17

UNLV 41, Miami (OH) 38

Eastern Michigan 34, Louisiana 31

Boise State 49, Air Force 37

Fresno State 23, Hawaii 21

Louisiana Tech 30, Southern Miss 20

Kennesaw State 28, Arkansas State 21

Delaware 38, FIU 16

Coast Guard 92, Nichols 60

Thanks to our partners and subscribers

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Enter a college football road trip at https://www.nokiantyres.com/SZD

Producer: Anthony Vito

Welcome to “The Job,” a new recurring series from Split Zone Duo in which Richard and Alex go through the ins and outs of open college football coaching job. UCLA fired DeShaun Foster, which means the Bruins are once again looking for a coach to take advantage of the good parts of this gig without succumbing to the bad parts of it. But it’s been a while since anything has worked. In this episode, Richard and Alex discuss:

* Why Foster became the latest UCLA coach to flop

* The financial challenges, and non-financial challenges, of the job

* What UCLA still has going for it, despite all of that

* What “fit” looks like at a school that’s tried a lot of late-career retreads but just fell flat with a beloved son getting his first HC job

* Verdict time: Good job, bad job, or circumstantial job?

This episode is for paid subscriber. Everyone can hear a free preview. Paid subscribers will get many more of these bonus episodes—and others—as the coaching carousel continues to spin.