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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com MACtion is back as of this week, and the Toledo Rockets are once again right there in the mix to win the conference. How did the most consistent program in the Mid-American get that way? And what challenges has it needed to overcome to stay there? There are a lot of them. Inside this episode: 4:20: The Cignettification of Toledo 6:38: Mike Jacobs and the small-college coaching pipeline 15:38: Remembering Toledo coaches, from Nick Saban to Jason Candle 20:04: Giant-killing and the Glass Bowl 24:38: The university, the city, and the challenges of MACtion 34:07: Can anybody else in the MAC do this? Producer: Anthony Vito

Become a paid subscriber today to get every SZD episode. Richard and Alex look ahead to one of the juiciest weekend schedules college football has seen in years. First, a quick discussion of the midterm elections’ effect on the college football landscape, and then dozens of games, including: - 10:34: Virginia Tech at SMU - 14:04: New Mexico at Nevada - 18:15: BYU at Utah - 23:46: Texas at Missouri - 31:38: Texas A&M at South Carolina - 34:25: Alabama at LSU - 40:14: Oregon at Ohio State - 52:39: Georgia at Ole Miss - 58:05: Miami at Notre Dame (note: recorded before we heard Malachi Toney’s status is uncertain) - 1:05:43: Oklahoma at Florida Producer: Anthony Vito THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS * Quo, a business phone service! 20% off your first six months using this link * Enter to win a set of Nokian Tyres * Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield 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

Guest host Jessica Smetana joins Alex to talk through the first College Football Playoff rankings reveal of the season. This episode first aired as a live stream on YouTube and has been spruced up lightly by our producer, Anthony Vito, to go into your podcast feeds now. In this episode: * Running through the opening 1-25 * What the committee says it’s doing differently this year * Our biggest beefs with the committee (Alabama, hello again lol) * The committee’s crush of the week * The team at risk of being dropped from the group chat * Jessica Smetana’s Notre Dame Discourse Corner * The sneaky good win (or loss) of the week. Hi, Oregon? Thanks for listening, and especially thank you if you were one of the people who joined us live and waited for us during some early technical glitching! 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Florida State is open. Richard and Alex give the whole job market an overview but focus most of this episode on the Noles, who are still (for most people) the best available gig on the market. In this episode: 3:01: Richard walks Alex through the backroom and infrastructural changes FSU has already made (and the ones fans still want) 12:50: Where exactly did Mike Norvell’s tenure go wrong? 22:59: Where will this job sit in the pecking order of available gigs? 25:24: Names who might make sense in Tallahassee 30:29: NC State’s apparent pursuit of Philip Rivers and what we see in it, plus a bit more on on Baylor and Sam Houston Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard and Alex take you through Week 9, telling you about dozens of interesting games in 30ish minutes. Including but not limited to: USC 30, Ohio State 18 Indiana 23, Minnesota 16 Washington 17, Nebraska 10 South Carolina 42, Oklahoma 25 BYU 27, Arizona State 20 Texas Tech 34, Arizona 26 Iowa State 51, Oklahoma State 49 Miami 38, North Carolina 35 Clemson 36, Florida State 24 Troy 24, James Madison 21 Johns Hopkins wins on a FAIR-CATCH KICK Producer: Anthony Vito BUY THINGS FROM OUR PARTNERS 10% off Nokian Tyres with code SPLITZONEDUO Enter to win a set of Nokian Tyres Shop at Homefield 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com The New Mexico Lobos have a long and mostly bleak football history. A former coach one said you could fit the fanbase in a few rows of bleachers. The list of UNM players the casual college football fan remembers watching is zero player long. But right now, under coach Jason Eck, UNM is one of the most exciting turnaround stories in the country and has a real chance to make the playoff. The Lobos are doing something no one else is doing, and Rodger Sherman joins Alex Kirshner to talk about it on this SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL: 0:16: New Mexico’s moment 9:51: The Jason Eck story 19:26: Remember a Lobo (Brian Urlacher edition) 25:20: Why winning at New Mexico is ultra-difficult 36:48: The defense and the turnovers 42:50: What happens after Eck? Producer: Anthony Vito

Alex and Richard break down the Week 9 of the college football season, including Lincoln Riley’s uphill climb against Ohio State, and the Cody Campbell rants that should have Texas Tech fans concerned. Florida Atlantic University at North Texas (00:02:37) Baylor at UCF (00:06:08) Arizona at Texas Tech (00:09:50) Notre Dame at Navy (00:19:32)Wisconsin at Iowa (00:24:06) Florida at Georgia (00:31:22)Miami at North Carolina (00:52:40)Ohio State at USC (01:00:28) Those are just a handful out of the dozens of games we cover this week. Produced by Anthony Vito. THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS * Quo, a business phone service! 20% off your first six months using this link * Enter to win a set of Nokian Tyres * Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Cohost emeritus Steven Godfrey joins Richard and Alex on this episode for a discussion what the player pay market has done to coach expectations. 5:07: The price of the brick (or of Jesse Legree or Kamario Taylor) goes up: What does a mid- or low-budget program do when a superstar emerges? 13:47: How much longer can coaches use NIL as an excuse? 22:01: Why different people in the same program will give you a different number for their roster spend 32:36: If coach pay isn’t going down, what does that say about what we can reasonably expect from coaches without a ton of roster cash? 43:23: Dissecting the season’s three big-budget disasters so far: Oregon, Michigan, and Texas A&M. Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner take you on a 30-ish minute journey through yet another really wild weekend in college football. This episode covers 43 games, including: 1:25: UCF 39, BYU 31 (2OT) 3:13: Cincinnati 37, Texas Tech 24 5:27: Utah 21, Houston 13 11:02: Texas 34, Ole Miss 27 13:59: South Carolina 27, Tennessee 24 19:13: Indiana 13, Michigan 6 (OT) 25:00: Wisconsin 24, USC 7 28:23: Miami 52, Pitt 23 34:46: FAU 51, Rice 49 38:33: New Mexico 21, North Dakota State 16 Producer: Anthony Vito Thank 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Coach firing season is upon us, and the first ouster of the year comes from Maryland, alma mater of SZD host Alex Kirshner. Richard joins him to talk through the first opening on the market. In this episode: The meaning of Locksley’s Maryland tenure, and why it isn’t a failure despite eight-plus years of mostly bad results 5:48: Why firing season got a late start this season 12:47: What kind of job is this, really? 21:50: A very, very early candidate wishlist from a Terp Producer: Anthony Vito

Week 8 preview! Richard and Alex start this episode with a quick football digression about Manchester City and then get into the mega-preview of this week in CFB. We cover a bunch of games, some in a lot of detail, some quickly: * 1:41: Manchester City digression * 6:10: JMU at App State * 18:21: Indiana at Michigan * 26:45: LSU at Auburn * 35:40: Rutgers at Northwestern * 39:50: West Virginia at TCU * 46:48: Oregon at Illinois * 50:22: BYU at UCF * 1:04:20: San Diego State at Colorado State * 1:07:09: Virginia Tech at Clemson * 1:10:55: Ole Miss at Texas * 1:13:19: Mike Locksley news breaks mid-show * 1:23:56: Houston at Utah Those are just a handful out of the dozens of games we cover this week. Produced by Anthony Vito. THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS * Quo, a business phone service! 20% off your first six months using this link * Enter to win a set of Nokian Tyres * Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Utah placed a big, risky bet when it nudged away Kyle Whittingham so that it could elevate a coach-in-waiting, Morgan Scalley. Rodger and Alex both thought this team would be worse this season. But instead, the Utes are undefeated contenders for both the Big 12 and the playoff, and their decision to show one of the best coaches in recent history the door is looking … pretty good? * 2:13: Why Utah has surprised both hosts * 8:18: The two-quarterback experiment at a weird time for it (but it works!) * 11:59: Remembering some Utes * 15:41: BYU’s rise and the pressure to move on from Whittingham * 26:24: The coach-in-waiting gamble and why Utah wanted Scalley * 45:41: Utah’s private equity deal and the cost of keeping up Everyone 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.

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner break down one of college football’s wildest weeks ever, in which five of the top seven teams in the country lost and another came awfully close. We start with BYU’s late escape against Notre Dame and continue through the rest of this historic Week 7 in the following order: * 1:33: Big 12 and Notre Dame, led by BYU 28, Notre Dame 24 * 12:53: SEC, led by Auburn 27, Georgia 24 * 27:58: Big Ten, led by Ohio State 19, Indiana 15 * 36:15: ACC, led by Miami 43, Florida State 35 * 42:40: American, led by Tulane 31, Memphis 17 * 46:04: Pac-12, led by Oregon State 48, Washington State 30 * 47:45: Mountain West, led by Air Force 41, UNLV 31 * 50:20: MAC, led by Western Michigan 21, Central Michigan 14 * 51:54: Sun Belt, led by App State 35, Coastal Carolina 32 * 53:36: Conference USA, led by Jacksonville State 27, FIU 24 THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS * Quo, a business phone service! 20% off your first six months using this link * 10% off a set of Nokian Tyres with code SPLITZONEDUO * Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com To get this episode, make sure you’re a paid subscriber. Richard and Alex react to the College Football Playoff’s expansion to 12 teams, starting in 2027. Let’s talk through this together: * 0:00: Why this thing we dislike is happening * 9:12: Whose lot in life just changed a whole lot * 19:30: The inevitable impact on the regular season * 30:20: The big winners here, plus a closing discussion about how Split Zone Duo is going to respond to (and be affected by) this change Produced by Alex in a pinch! Thanks for listening.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com College football forgot about Oregon State. But Jesse Legree, Braden Atkinson, and JaMarcus Shephard are forcing the Beavers back in the national CFB consciousness. Yes, there are anxieties about how to keep the band together, but there is also a beautiful story about how a team is rising from the ashes anew to apparently kick ass in the new Pac-12. Richard and Rodger discuss how the Beavers have become one of the nation’s most enjoyable teams. * 0:00: Oregon State’s revival under JaMarcus Shephard * 5:05: Jesse Legree’s unlikely rise * 17:13: Remember a Guy, and how Oregon State got left behind * 29:25: Pac-12 title hopes and a possible playoff path * 40:39: Can the Beavers keep Shephard and Legree? Produced by Anthony Vito. TEAM OF THE WEEK is a subscriber series where Rodger Sherman and SZD hosts talk about a college football team doing something no one else is doing We’ve already covered the following: * Week 1: North Dakota State * Week 2: UMass * Week 3: Oklahoma State * Week 4: Arkansas * Week 5: Mississippi State * Week 6: Charlotte This series will continue all season.