In one of Steven Godfrey’s favorite early-offseason traditions, the SZD crew glances ahead at the Week 1 schedule many months from now. Not just so there’s something to look forward to as the long offseason gets going, but because the story of Week 1 matchups is increasingly the story of how athletic directors are approaching scheduling. Let’s dive into:

* Why 2025’s season-opening schedule will give you more to look forward to than the equivalent slate in 2024

* The most obvious Anxiety Bowl in the history of Week 1

* Sonny Dykes’ latest season opener against a celebrity head coach

* Is USC a canary in the coal mine for the Big Ten’s retreat from marquee non-con spots? And if so …

* Could an SEC/Big Ten scheduling partnership reverse that tide?

* News analysis: Georgia Southern extends Clay Helton, for some reason

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

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Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner, Steven Godfrey

Producer: Anthony Vito

2024 was a weird (read: bad) year for a lot of college football teams in the state Alabama. Justin Ferguson, publisher of the Auburn Observer and all-purpose ball-knower in the state, joins Alex and Richard to discuss:

* How everyone’s feeling after the two Iron Bowl teams went a combined 7-9 in the SEC, tied for their worst joint record of the century

* Why this will be an offseason of hope for Auburn, and why Hugh Freeze will have to deliver a lot early in the 2025 season

* Alabama’s pivot away from in-state recruiting and Alex’s theory that the revenue-sharing era should be good to the Tide

* UAB still has Trent Dilfer, and the Blazers coach is attempting the most blatant '“portal to save his job” maneuver that we’ve ever seen

* South Alabama is at least a little interesting, if not quite “good”

* Troy, however, is none of the above at the moment

* Scott Cochran’s new Division II job makes waves

* Jacksonville State nailed its FBS transition, won Conference USA, and has a new coach who can recruit

Thanks to Ferg, whose work is at www.auburnobserver.com

Hosts: Richard Johnson, Alex Kirshner

Guest: Justin Ferguson

On January 18, SZD and our old friends at the Shutdown Fullcast combined for a live show in Atlanta, presented by Homefield. We now present the recording, featuring a whole bunch of FOOTBALL DISASTERS and a round of CFB family feud featuring friends of the program like Homefield founder Connor Hitchcock, Matt Brown, Jessica Smetana, Amanda Mull, and Joel Anderson.

Producer: Anthony Vito

Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, and Steven Godfrey discuss the stories they are most interested to watch unfold between now and September. In this show:

* Podcast update: Godfrey is becoming host emeritus and will take a lighter load as he works on other things, but you’ll still hear him on SZD regularly.

* Richard is tracking a series of potential changes to the postseason and end-of-season schedule, not just (more) playoff expansion but also all the SEC/Big Ten saber-rattling that will accompany it. Plus potential changes to the transfer portal schedule and a resolution of the ACC’s drama.

* Godfrey will follow the SEC’s attempts to keep internal order now that it’s ballooned to a huge size, some teams have missed the first 12-team playoff narrowly, and the “eight vs. nine conference games” debate remains open.

* Alex has his eye on the House settlement, which most people in college sports believe will get final approval and go into effect this year. For the first time ever, after years of toothless hearings, the federal government will have no choice but to get actively involved in college sports reforms.

* Arch Madness prepares to take full hold at Texas

* Penn State, preseason No. 1?

* USC’s crucial summer of getting its house in order

For Split Zone Duo subscribers this week

Producer: Anthony Vito

Godfrey, Richard, and Alex made a lot of preseason predictions back in August. Some of them worked out well. (Everyone had Ohio State winning the national title.) Some of them worked out terribly. (Florida State and Michigan in the playoff: Nice job, fellas!) Let’s see how everyone did, and then let’s try to learn some lessons from the ways reality matched and deviated from what we expected. Also, we dig into questions like:

* Is the key to good national awards races just to have no elite quarterbacks on the best teams?

* Why didn’t any young G5 coaches land power conference jobs?

* What can the rest of of the sport glean from FSU’s collapse?

* Did we get Conference USA’s parity all wrong?

Producer: Anthony Vito

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