This is a subscriber episode of Split Zone Duo. Everyone can hear the first segment, which is about College GameDay and Ted Cruz. But to hear the entire thing, you can become a subscriber at this button:

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It was the College GameDay interview heard around the world, if only because it was forced down your ears. Richard and Alex talk with Extra Points publisher Matt Brown about what we think went into ESPN’s decision to have Senator Ted Cruz on College GameDay (a reasonable choice) for a barely-interrupted stump speech in support of the bill being pushed by noted GameDay panelist Nick Saban. Is this a big corporate influence operation, something simpler, or much ado about nothing? We cover that and a handful more topics on this version of the Extra Points/SZD Sports Business Hour, a recurring feature around here:

• 0:52: Why did ESPN lend its time to Cruz and decline to check any of his claims as he took up 10 of the most valuable minutes in sports TV?

• 16:53: A lot of FCS buy games feel even uglier than normal right now, and there’s probably an economic reason for that. Is this tenable?

• 28:03: Rutgers needs to split with Greg Schiano, but can they afford it? Let’s discuss a bad financial situation

• 32:36: Florida State fires its athletic director. What do we make of that?

Read more

Thanks to everyone who makes this show possible, especially our paid subscribers. You can become one here, so you’ll get our “Team of the Week” episode in a few days, along with many other subscriber specials.

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The Sunday Hurry-Up goes just a little over 30 minutes this week, as Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner take you through a stacked Week 2 in college football. We touch on all of these games in the following order:

• Texas 24, Ohio State 23

• Georgia 70, Western Kentucky 20

• Texas A&M 48, Arizona State 20

• LSU 45, Louisiana Tech 14

• Alabama 45, Kentucky 17

• Florida 52, Campbell 3

• South Carolina 45, Towson 9

• Vanderbilt 35, Delaware 26

• Michigan 17, Oklahoma 10

• USC 49, Louisiana 30

• Washington 16, Utah State 14

• Iowa 16, Iowa State 13

• Duke 31, Illinois 27

• Michigan State 35, Eastern Michigan 7

• Mississippi State 38, Minnesota 13

• Wake Forest 38, Purdue 36

• UCLA 28, San Diego State 10

• Oklahoma State 39, Oregon 31

• BYU 28, Arizona 17

• Utah 43, Arkansas 10

• Missouri 38, Kansas 21

• Kansas State 34, Washington State 7

• Miami 77, Florida A&M 7

• Tennessee 45, Georgia Tech 24

• Boston College 28, Rutgers 21

• Clemson 22, Georgia Southern 7

• Pitt 12, UCF 7

• California 21, Syracuse 18

• Virginia Tech 44, Old Dominion 21

• Penn State 27, Temple 9

• USF 28, Army 24

• App State 27, East Carolina 24

• FAU 38, Navy 30

• North Texas 44, UNLV 6

• Tulane 28, South Alabama 24

• UAB 26, UL Monroe 20

• North Dakota State 38, Air Force 32

• Montana State 20, Nevada 7

• Illinois State 28, Northern Illinois 24

• Akron 45, Robert Morris 10

• Ohio 29, Jacksonville State 27 (4 OT)

• Western Michigan 49, Monmouth 14

• James Madison 87, Wagner 3

• Georgia State 31, Kennesaw State 17

• Liberty 24, Gardner-Webb 23

• Tulsa 23, Sam Houston 17

• Texas Tech 35, Oregon State 24

• Boise State 38, Memphis 20

• Fresno State 49, Sacramento State 3

• UTSA 31, Texas State 26

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute 22, University of New England 21

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Welcome back to the College Football Newsletter, which goes down memory lane this week before turning to the future.

Richard and I started covering college football together full-time in 2016. Over the years, I have maintained an informal list of the Week 1 games that the college football internet overreacted to the most. Here are the top handful of games on that list, though frankly I could go longer if I wanted:

1. 2016: Texas 50, No. 10 Notre Dame 47 (OT): This was the “Texas is back” game. It would take the better part of a decade from there for Texas to approach being back, but Joe Tessitore remains one of the best in the business. Notre Dame went 4-8, a fact that many Gen Z’ers are likely unaware of to this day. The Longhorns finished a far superior 5-7 and fired Charlie Strong.

2. 2014: No. 21 Texas A&M 52, No. 9 South Carolina 28. This is also known as the “Kenny Trill” game. His 511 yards broke a Johnny Manziel school record, and this was still near the now-kinda-sad “Johnny Football” cultural peak. (If you were a college student during these years, maybe even if not, you get it.)

3. 2023: Colorado 45, No. 17 TCU 42. The Frogs were coming off a national title game appearance, and Deion Sanders beat them in his Colorado debut. This was the start of Buffalomania, which ran rampant through our cities for a month.

4. 2017: Texas A&M 38, UCLA 10, but the first half only. The Bruins went on to win this game 45-44 in by far the greatest moment of Josh Rosen’s football career. But if you watched the first half, you were under the impression that Kevin Sumlin was about to lead the Aggies to Valhalla.

5. 2017: No. 1 Alabama 24, No. 3 Florida State 7. At the time, this was the biggest season opener ever. The game was a nothingburger, Deondre Francois got hurt, FSU went 7-6, and Odell Haggins coached out the season when Jimbo Fisher left for Texas A&M. Bama won it all, and this did not even wind up being their most memorable game played in Atlanta, despite the SEC Championship not including Alabama that year. But in the moment, this game felt huge.

Which 2026 Week 1 game has the best shot to join that list? I can imagine a few candidates.

There are no obvious ones this year, because the sport’s biggest non-conference matchups were mostly punted to Weeks 2 and beyond. However:

• Michigan 13, Western Michigan 12. There is a world where the Wolverines go 6-6 and WMU makes the playoff as a 12-1 MAC champion. We probably don’t live in that world, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

• No. 11 LSU 51, Clemson 10. I suspect LSU is really good, but this could still be a roller coaster that makes it look a bit silly that the Tigers were getting some votes for No. 1 in the AP Poll this week. It’s also possible Clemson is something less than totally cooked as a program. We’ll see.

• UCLA 45, Cal 24. Or maybe this is just us? The Bruins are still just in the “others receiving votes” part of the AP Poll. Richard and I are both pretty bought in on this program as a riser.

Any others? I’m curious what you think. Now, to the week that was around here:

Here are some college football podcasts for you

• The Week 2 Tasting Menu is out, with looks at 43 games. I’m back on the mic with Richard here.

• TEAM OF THE WEEK: UMass. Rodger Sherman and Richard have this one.

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We intend to have two paid subscriber-only episodes for you most weeks this season, and likely more than that on occasion. This became a tricky Week 1 because of some personal business on my end. Thanks to Rodger for filling in for me, and thanks to you, the audience, for rolling with us throughout all of it.

We also like to write!

• Richard revisited bunch of other wild endings, on the heels of whatever you’d call the WMU-Michigan thing.

• I also took my crack at putting all my thoughts on Safe Harbor in Ann Arbor into one spot.

• Because they have a fun game against Washington State this week, read Richard’s story on Kansas State’s home-cooked new staff.

• This story isn’t from one of us, and it’s not even in written format. But on the 25th anniversary of September 11, it’s a good time to watch one of the best features SportsCenter has ever done: “The Man in the Red Bandana.”

Thanks for being part of what we do. See you on Sunday.

Welcome! These episodes are made possible by our subscribers, who also get about twice as many episodes during the season (and all year). Join us:

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Richard and Alex preview Week 2 on the college football schedule but take a few detours, first stopping to review the Sunday and Monday games from Week 1 and later closing the book (hopefully) on the WMU-Michigan situation. We cover dozens of games in this episode, including the ones below:

• Missouri at Kansas

• App State at East Carolina

• Arizona State at Texas A&M

• Oklahoma at Michigan

• Wazzu at Kansas State

• Alabama at Kentucky

• Arizona at BYU

• Cal at Syracuse

• Mississippi State at Minnesota

• UTSA at Texas State

• Memphis at Boise State

• Tennessee at Georgia Tech

• Iowa State at Iowa

• North Dakota State at Air Force

• Oh yeah sure we’ll talk about Ohio State at Texas

Producer: Anthony Vito

THANKS TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND PARTNERS

• 10% off a set of Nokian Tyres with code SPLITZONEDUO at: https://www.tires-easy.com/brands/nokian-tires

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This is the second installment of Split Zone Duo’s “Team of the Week” series, featuring guest host Rodger Sherman. To hear the full episode, become a paid subscriber at the link below. Everyone can hear roughly the first half:

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Not even a year ago, Rodger Sherman joined Alex for a deep dive into how the UMass Minutemen made a case as the worst team in modern history.

Now, we have a much different episode about UMass: They’re our TEAM OF THE WEEK coming out of Week 1. This is a new subscriber series in which we talk about a team in college football attempting to do something that nobody else is trying to do. Our first episode was last week about North Dakota State:

This week, Rodger and Richard cover the Minutemen, fresh off their season-opening win over Rutgers. Let’s talk about this rising team from the MAC:

• 0:18: Why UMass earned TOTW honors

• 5:49: Pop Watson! The option! What a win in Piscataway

• 11:10: The very New Englandy character of the team

• 16:06: UMass’ investment in not being terrible

• 25:37: Are we crazy, or is a bowl a possibility?

Producer: Anthony Vito

Read more

Thanks to everyone who makes this show possible, especially our paid subscribers. You can become one here, so you’ll get our “Team of the Week” episode in a few days, along with many other subscriber specials.

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The Sunday Hurry-Up makes its triumphant return. Rodger Sherman is again in the hot seat with Richard Johnson to break down a Week 1 that was anything but boring. We go through as many games as are fit to print (or podcast about).

• Michigan 13, Western Michigan 12

• Oregon 34, Boise State 27

• Ohio State 56, Ball State 3

• Indiana 52, North Texas 16

• USC 39, Fresno 0

• Penn State 45, Marshall 0

• Iowa 40, Northern Illinois 0

• Illinois 42, UAB 23

• Michigan State 30, Toledo 20

• Nebraska 49, Ohio 21

• Northwestern 34, South Dakota State 18

• UMass 37, Rutgers 21

• LSU 51, Clemson 10

• Auburn 17, Baylor 16

• Oklahoma 51, UTEP 0

• South Carolina 57, Kent State 0

• Alabama 48, ECU 10

• Florida 66, FAU 21

• Vanderbilt 28, Austin Peay 9

• Georgia 63 vs Tennessee State 3

• Texas Tech 33, Abilene Christian 10

• Houston 33, Oregon State 20

• Cincinnati 34, Boston College 15

• West Virginia 31, Coastal Carolina 24

• Miami 45, Stanford 6

• UCLA 45, Cal 24

• Duke 17, Tulane 3

• Colorado 14, Georgia Tech 13

• Pitt 59 vs Miami (OH) 14

• Wake Forest 38, Akron 16

• The Citadel 43, Charlotte 41 (3OT)

• Memphis 42, Arkansas State 24

• USF 19, FIU 9

• Temple 38, Rhode Island 14

• Tulsa 24, Oklahoma State 10

• UNLV 21, Hawaii 6

• Nevada 49, Western Kentucky 14

• New Mexico 38, Central Michigan 7

• North Dakota State 38, Fordham 0

• Tarleton State 20, Bowling Green 13

• Buffalo 21, UAlbany 17

• San Jose State 27, Eastern Michigan 21

• Sacramento State 52, Mississippi Valley State 0

• James Madison 20, Liberty 13

• Louisiana Tech 80, Northwestern State 6

• Troy 24, Sam Houston 21

• Colorado State 35, Wyoming 13

• Idaho State 29, Utah State 17

Yeah, we went big for Week 1.

Producer: Anthony Vito

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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Thanks so much to our paid subscribers for making our work possible for a seventh season of Split Zone Duo. If you’re not one yet, we’d love to have you.

Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where we are so back.

We could talk about the news of the week, because it was messy. Georgia’s attorney general suggested that the SEC should kick out LSU if it decides to roster players who were already on an NFL contracts, which it now seems like LSU will be able to do, but we’ll see. We could talk about the concept (which Dabo Swinney denies) of Lane Kiffin feeding Clemson tampering information against Ole Miss. But the offseason is meant to give us something to talk about until kickoff, not to overshadow it. So let’s get to the fun part, which is already underway and really kicks into gear on Saturday. Everything else, especially Congress, can wait.

What matters now is how we’re going to watch our favorite schools and with whom we’re sharing that privilege. Power brokers be damned, every interaction around a game itself is what college football is really about. So if you’re watching at home and posting online about it, or watching in a stadium, just know you’re part of the engine that keeps this sport going.

Keep an eye out on our social channels on Saturday morning, because we’ll want to hear from you. We want to know how you’re watching the games, so send us a photo of your view of how you’re going to experience the first full college football Saturday.

With that said, did you watch UMass-Rutgers last night? Another game?

We have new podcasts for you this week

• Justis Mosqueda, Acme Packing Co. writer, joined the show to talk with Richard about how the new rule changes will affect teams this season. They also spend half of the episode breaking down formations and coverages. You’ll learn something new.

• Remember how Alex hinted in last week’s newsletter about new Split Zone Duo projects that involve guest hosts? Well, we’re proud to introduce a new series called Team of the Week. Entering the week, Rodger Sherman will predict which team we will be talking about that upcoming Saturday. His pick for the inaugural episode: the North Dakota State Bison, who Rodger and Alex both think can win 10 games this season with what is essentially an FCS roster.

• The Tasting Menu is here! Alex is out for a few days, and Rodger sticks around to hang with Richard to examine which games demand more of your attention. They agree that Louisville and Ole Miss could be the game of the weekend. That one takes place on a Sunday, by the way. You can watch the full episode on our YouTube channel.

• New Six Zone Duo! We’ve been so happy about the early response to our national women’s volleyball show hosted by Amie Just and Erin Sorensen.

If you’re still cramming in some season prep, we made a YouTube playlist with all of our conference previews. You can also find them in your podcast app.

Some recommended reading

• You still have about 24 hours to submit your picks for our annual FCS Upset draft. You can do so here.

• Over at Slate, Alex wrote about the SEC! That’s right: he explained how AI companies like Anthropic and SpaceX are making some shocking claims to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• For CBS Sports, Richard wonders if this will be a narrative-defining season for Deion Sanders and Colorado.

• Sam Khan Jr. of The Athletic wrote about the next steps for the North Texas Mean Green, who are brand new after everyone left for Oklahoma State.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your first full slate of games this Saturday, and we’ll see you for the first Hurry Up of the season on Sunday.

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Guest host Rodger Sherman joins Richard for the first weekend preview of the season, running through dozens of games. They include: - 5:02: UMass vs. Rutgers is technically football

- 6:48: Colorado vs. Georgia Tech: What do we want the Buffs to be, exactly?

- 12:49: Fresno State vs. USC will have at least someone in attendance

- 23:43: Liberty vs. James Madison is not a gentle handshake for Billy Napier

- 36:00: Baylor vs. Auburn: Sneaky game of the weekend?

- 50:53: Clemson vs. LSU: There will be celebs, but will there be a game of any consequence?

- 1:02:56: UCLA vs. Cal: Hell yeah, brother

- 1:06:47: Louisville vs. Ole Miss: The actual game of the weekend

- 1:09:18: Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame: [Insert “play it on campus” discourse]

- 1:13:15: SMU vs. Florida State: Don’t lose big, Noles

Producer: Anthony Vito.

The Sunday Hurry-Up will arrive on Sunday as usual, despite several big games being played after that time. See you then.

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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LAST MINUTE PREVIEW CATCHUP

• Big Ten

• SEC

• Mountain West

• MAC

• Sun Belt

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

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New series! It’s the Split Zone Duo TEAM OF THE WEEK, a weekly episode in which guest host Rodger Sherman joins Alex and/or Richard to talk in detail about one college football team doing something interesting. That team can be good or bad or anything in between, as long it has a compelling story. This week, we spin off North Dakota State’s first game in FBS, a blowout win over Jacksonville State, and talk about the long arc of the Bison.

Producer: Anthony Vito

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

That wraps conference preview season here. See also:

• Big Ten

• SEC

• Mountain West

• MAC

• Sun Belt

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

• Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

• Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

The first 15 minutes of this episode are free for everyone to listen to. The back end (i.e. the director’s cut) is for paid subscribers. You can become one below. Thanks for being part of our community.

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Richard is joined by Justis Mosqueda, an Acme Packing Co. writer and Oregon fan, for a quick preview of the national championship-contending Ducks and a deep dive into how college football’s rule changes will affect the special teams plays you might typically tune out. Maybe Kirk Ferentz had a point? Maybe don’t grab that beverage or use the bathroom on fourth down this season. Also, because Richard can’t shut up about it, what does it really mean that the Rams’ use of 13 personnel might be infiltrating the rest of the NFL?

In this episode:

- 0:56: Oregon’s new coordinators, offensive line, and brutal defense

- 7:04: NFL cutdown day and the return-to-college eligibility mess. (Note: This episode was recorded last week, and this is a developing story.)

- 11:17: How college football’s new fair-catch kick will work

- 14:18: Why a new punting rule has Kirk Ferentz pissed

- 30:24: How four-strong formations break match coverages

- 36:22: What the Rams’ 13 personnel package does to a defense

Producer: Anthony Vito

Read more

Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where you’re stuck with me this week. Hector is planning for the season and supporting our new volleyball podcast.

Split Zone Duo is starting its seventh season. That’s not such a long time that I want to brag about it yet, but I was thinking about it this week for a reason. Richard, Godfrey, and I started SZD in the dead of the pandemic when we didn’t have much else to do, and then all of you gave us the gift of making it into a real business. But the circumstances of SZD’s founding were very “nothing to lose,” given the state of the world at the time. I didn’t feel like we were taking a big risk or betting on ourselves as much as trying something creative in a desperate time and seeing where it led. I feel lucky about it every day that it became a success, and we have to keep earning it every season.

This week represented the biggest risk we’ve taken, spinning up a second podcast that Richard and I will not be on. Richard has the whole backstory in this newsletter and episode. I believe in the plan, but you still don’t know how the world will receive something until you’ve given it to them. I had a few butterflies as we prepared to tell the world about it over the past few days.

Clearly, I shouldn’t have. Thanks to everyone who’s said nice things and provided early coverage of Six Zone Duo, our national volleyball show hosted by the talented Amie Just and Erin Sorensen. I’m very, very excited to watch them build this thing out. If you’re among the millions of people who are showing signs of becoming serious volleyball fans, or you are one already, it’s my pleasure to direct you to various ways to follow 6ZD:

• Subscribe to the YouTube channel

• Apple Podcasts (Listen and leave a review!)

• Spotify (Listen and leave a star rating)

• Any other podcasting app out there

• Follow on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, Twitter, and Threads.

That’s one reason I was excited this week. The other is that we still have our day jobs, and our long football winter is over.

We are not dialing back our football podcast this year. Quite the opposite. We’re planning to be better than ever this season, and we’ll fill you in on our updated podcast schedule next week. But you can expect to see as many as five SZD podcasts in a week later this season, with four in the regular rotation to start us off. Two of those will be subscriber episodes that you can get for $10 a month, and two of them will be our stalwarts: the Wednesday Tasting Menu and the Sunday Hurry-Up, previewing and then recapping the week with a lot of breadth.

I will provide these hints on some of our other shows this year: Richard and I will be on these episodes, and so will some guest hosts that you’ve told us you want to hear more. One of these will get started next week.

Meanwhile, our season preview slate is now in your podcast feeds

• The latest is our preseason time capsule prediction special, featuring our cofounder and host emeritus Steven Godfrey. He’ll continue to join us this season on the same basis as last year.

• The Big Ten and SEC previews arrived this week, too. You can find them in your podcast feeds, or you can get all 10 conference previews in this YouTube playlist.

• Still time to join the FCS Upset Draft. Paid subscribers can win a prize at the end of the season, and everyone else can join for love of the game.

See you soon. We are almost there.

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Host emeritus Steven Godfrey joins Alex and Richard for this annual special. Having previewed every FBS conference and spent months thinking about the season, we make a bunch of big predictions about college football in 2026:

- 0:00: A post-production note about Brent Venables’ new Oklahoma extension, i.e. we recorded this episode last week
- 2:30: Conference champion picks for every FBS league
- 38:02: Which consensus Playoff favorite misses the field?
- 46:30: Full CFP fields and national championship picks
- 50:18: Heisman finalists and individual awards
- 54:39: Favorite games, Oklahoma chaos, and the Lane Bowl
- 1:05:13: First firing, coaches moving up, and the best job to open
- 1:09:29: Poll risers, poll fallers, and whether Congress will (or should) do something along the lines of the Protect College Sports Act

Producer: Anthony Vito

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

• Big Ten

• SEC

• Mountain West

• MAC

• Sun Belt

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

Read more

This week, Split Zone Duo celebrates a major milestone: welcoming Six Zone Duo. This episode explains what we’re doing. Find it here:

• Subscribe to the YouTube channel

• Apple Podcasts (Listen and leave a review!)

• Spotify (Listen and leave a star rating)

• Any other podcasting app, pretty much

• Follow on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, Twitter, and Threads.

Here’s more from Richard:

How did we get here? The quick backstory.

Alex and I had wondered for a while what a second show might look like—ideally, one that would be part of our broader universe without being hosted by us. We considered all kinds of ideas: the NFL, non-sports topics, and something centered on women’s sports. But women’s sports aren’t a monolith. Would it be a generalist show? Would it cover softball, soccer, or basketball?

As we brainstormed, we kept coming back to volleyball. We began looking more closely at a sport whose viewership was exploding, and it was easy to understand why. One night last December, I couldn’t sleep and turned on highlights from the NCAA tournament. The matches were fast-paced, and the athleticism of the women on the court was remarkable.

We also started learning about the emerging professional leagues, LOVB and MLV. Pretty much everyone we spoke with in the sports business world and college athletics agreed that volleyball has all the ingredients for a boom. But one point kept coming up: Beyond the matches themselves, the sport isn’t covered in very many places. And there’s no good reason for that.

So we decided to find someone who could build a show and help fill the void. But who?

Friends of Split Zone Duo recommended Erin Sorensen, whom subscribers may remember from her appearance on the feed for a Nebraska Dead Letters episode. In February, I called our mutual friend Amie Just to get Erin’s contact information. When I explained what we were considering, Amie said, “Well, I’d be interested in that too.”

That is the origin story of the show we are proud to debut this week

Amie, a true ball knower, came up with the name. “Six Zone Duo” refers to the six positions on the volleyball court. It connects naturally to Split Zone Duo while giving the new show a visual identity all its own. We could not be more excited to support Amie and Erin as they begin this journey.

They’ll be on-site for some of the biggest matches in the professional and college games, and they’ll cover the sport nationally through a new, free weekly show. Expect analysis, interviews, and coverage that makes you a smarter volleyball fan.

Volleyball deserves to be covered in depth. We trust Amie and Erin to do exactly that from Nebraska, the epicenter of the college game.

As they get started, I have a few people to thank.

Thank you to Erin and Amie for throwing themselves wholeheartedly into this project and already bringing so much passion, commentary, chemistry, and knowledge to it.

Thank you to Alex for his continued partnership, for navigating the better part of eight months unlike anything we’ve experienced together before, and for trusting that we could make this happen even when the vision wasn’t yet clear.

Thank you to our presenting partners at Homefield for believing in us years ago, sticking with us throughout, and enthusiastically supporting this new project.

Thank you to Hector, Tyson, Anthony, Warren, Austin, and the many others throughout the Split Zone Duo ecosystem who helped us get Six Zone Duo off the ground. Your creativity and counsel made this possible.

And thank you to volleyball fans everywhere. We know you’re out there, and we know you care. This is for you.

Does this change anything for Split Zone Duo?

We get to have fun as executive producers working with Erin and Amie. But otherwise, nope! We have big plans for this college football season and will share them [checks watch] next week, which is Week 1.

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Paid subscribers (there are thousands of them!) get about twice as many episodes from us during the season, as well as Q&A and chat opportunities and other perks as they come to our minds. Thanks so much.

Our last conference preview of 2026 is one of our beefiest episodes ever: Richard and Alex preview the 18-team Big Ten, going in the following order:

- 2:12: Purdue

- 7:04: Maryland

- 14:40: Michigan State

- 20:53: Wisconsin

- 25:55: Rutgers

- 31:23: Penn State

- 38:56: UCLA

- 45:46: Northwestern

- 50:24: Nebraska

- 57:53: Minnesota

- 1:01:25: Illinois

- 1:05:59: Washington

- 1:11:26: Iowa

- 1:18:44: Michigan

- 1:24:06: USC

- 1:32:42: Oregon

- 1:35:18: Ohio State

- 1:42:31: Preseason honors

- 1:47:29: Indiana

Zach Osterman and Mike Niziolek’s new book is Unthinkable to Undstoppable: How Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers Stunned College Football. It comes out September 22, and you can learn more and preorder here.

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

That wraps conference preview season here. See also:

• SEC

• Mountain West

• MAC

• Sun Belt

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

• Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

• Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

Hi! This episode is free for everyone, but to get our full catalog of shows this season and beyond, we’d love it if you became a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

Paid subscribers (there are thousands of them!) get about twice as many episodes from us during the season, as well as Q&A and chat opportunities and other perks as they come to our minds. Thanks so much.

Richard and Alex go into detail on all 16 teams in the SEC, as we wind toward the end of conference previews. In order:

- 6:00: Ole Miss

- 10:35: Georgia

- 21:13: Texas A&M

- 27:18: Alabama

- 35:01: Texas

- 41:00: Oklahoma

- 50:24: Vanderbilt

- 53:26: Missouri

- 1:00:47: Tennessee

- 1:06:05: LSU

- 1:17:19: Kentucky

- 1:21:26: Florida

- 1:27:29: Auburn

- 1:34:04: Mississippi State

- 1:36:48: South Carolina

- 1:40:30: Arkansas

- 1:45:38: Preseason honors

Producer: Anthony Vito

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

• Big Ten

• SEC

• Mountain West

• MAC

• Sun Belt

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

• Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

• Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

The season is almost here, and Alabama and Tennessee put some icing on the almost-baked cake to get me even more excited. The Vols and Crimson Tide announced that they will both wear their home jerseys in their 2026 and 2027 games. We need more of these color matchups, and not just in college football. In the NBA, seeing the Lakers gold jerseys next to the Celtics green just works.

But it has to be the right matchup. I asked Richard for his thoughts on the uniforms and which teams should follow suit:

So, Bama and Tennessee are doing this because they used to play the game in Birmingham, a not-really “neutral” site. Florida and Georgia did the color-on-color thing for a few years in the 2010s, and it was really cool. Then they just stopped and didn’t really explain why. I’ve been crashing out over the fact that they stopped doing it ever since, honestly. It was a great idea.

USC and UCLA also do the color-on-color thing, which makes sense because they’re literally playing in their hometowns when they get together. Texas and Oklahoma could do this too in Red River. It would be a cool look. There are so few durable college neutral-site games in this day and age that I think highlighting the couple we have left with a color-on-color matchup is just a neat aesthetic nod.

I don’t love the fact that the NBA has bastardized what a home jersey really is, especially in the Finals and the playoffs. Home jerseys should be home jerseys, and road jerseys should be road jerseys. Enough of the statement, icon, whatever the hell they call it, business. The NFL is getting this way too. I am a very old man yelling at clouds when it comes to traditional uniform aesthetics.

One of the dumbest things in college football is how everybody just says, “Well, the recruits like it,” as a way to hand-wave away traditional schools going to alternate uniforms. I’m sorry, but Ohio State should not ever wear black. Notre Dame’s Shamrock Series jerseys are universally awful. Nebraska’s new stock set this year is terrible too, and I could go on and on.

Richard even made a video about how Florida should wear its home jerseys against Georgia. You can check it out here.

Which other college football rivalries do you think deserve the home jersey treatment?

Here’s what Alex and Richard dropped into your podcast feeds this week:

• Are you ready for MACtion? We are, which is why we previewed the Mid-American Conference this week. Miami University has an influx of money this season, but that doesn’t necessarily make the RedHawks the favorites in the conference. Take a listen to learn why.

• Which FCS teams will knock down an FBS opponent this season? That’s what Richard, Alex, and host emeritus Godfrey are trying to figure out in this year’s FCS Upset Draft episode. If you’d like to play along this season, submit your own picks right here.

• Three episodes in one week means the season is inching closer and closer. Our Thursday episode is the Mountain West preview, where Alex and Richard talk about the newest conference members in UTEP, Hawaii, and NIU. Alex also specifically calls his shot on the next FCS-to-FBS transfer we might be talking about on Sunday mornings.

Some recommended reading and watching:

• For Slate, Alex wrote about how AI detectors might be making our writing worse.

• For more battles between Alex and computers, check out his Opta Analyst piece where he sets his predictions against their prediction model.

• Over at CBS Sports, Richard surveyed anonymous front office employees to give their predictions on the upcoming season.

• Richard is also asking the important questions this week: is John Mateer so swole now that it might mess up his throwing motion?

• Speaking of John Mateer, he is also one of the topics discussed in the College Football Happy Hour with friends of the show Lucy Rohden and Jessica Smetana. Subscribe to their YouTube channels for more.

• The Protect College Sports Act went from positive momentum to essentially DOA, at least until the midterms. Over at Extra Points, Matt Brown offered an alternative — at least in the interim.

• Turfman’s College Foot-ball Almanac is available for purchase, and it includes articles from a lot of your favorite people in college football. It is a different kind of college football preview magazine, and the designer worked very hard on it. (It was me.)

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk to you next week, possibly with a surprise.

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The Mountain West looks very new in 2026. The guts of the league left for the Pac-12, and then the MWC brought in reinforcements. North Dakota State brings FCS’ greatest dynasty up a level. NIU is here from the MAC, and UTEP comes aboard from Conference USA. Richard and Alex have a rose, bud, and thorn for all 10 teams:

- 4:35: New Mexico

- 8:17: UNLV

- 14:29: Hawaii

- 19:48: Air Force

- 23:35: Nevada

- 26:56: Wyoming

- 32:04: San José State

- 37:19: Northern Illinois

- 44:29: UTEP

- 46:57: North Dakota State

- 51:53: Preseason honors

Producer: Anthony Vito

This season, FBS teams will play 127 games against FCS opponents. Most years, FBS teams will lose a small handful of those games. The purpose of the Split Zone Duo FCS Upset Draft is to identify those teams, engage in some friendly competition, and use the process as a look ahead to the season. Everyone picks four FCS winners, but there’s a catch: Some FCS upsets are barely upsets at all, and they may only be worth three points. Others could be worth 100.

Compete in our 2026 FCS Upset Draft

It’s a Split Zone Duo pastime, and it’s easy to join. Anyone can play, but only paid subscribers are eligible to win a prize. Not signed up for SZD? You can join us right here. And here is the game form where you can make your picks:

2026 FCS Upset Draft

Here are the rules. Read carefully!

These are similar to the rules in past years, but pay close attention:

• A nonpartisan committee made of up one member (me, Alex Kirshner) puts every FCS-versus-FBS game on the schedule into a spreadsheet.

• Each game gets a point value of 3, 5, 10, or 100, with higher point values awarded to games where an FCS team is a bigger underdog.

• You may pick FOUR games. The form should stop you at that point.

• You can pick non-upset "upsets" in which great FCS teams beat bad FBS teams, but you'll likely only get three or five points if it pans out.

• Or you can take some bigger swings for 10- and 100-point values and go for the fences. Getting a 10-pointer right has long been an ingredient for victory.

• At the end of the season, five top points-scorers will be celebrated on an episode of SZD. Most of all, you’re fighting for eternal glory here, but in case that’s not enough, you’ll also get something cool from Homefield.

• You must enter your picks by 12 p.m. ET on Week 1 Saturday. You can resubmit as many times as you like before then and we'll count your most recent entry. Just use the same email address each time. One catch: any game that has already kicked off is locked in as you had it. You can't drop a Thursday or Friday game after you've seen how it went.

Here's a big ol’ list of previous FCS-on-FBS wins.

We'll track the results throughout the season, and if we can set one up cleanly, we’ll give people a public leaderboard option to view.

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

This episode is made possible by our paid subscribers, who also get tons of bonus content all year long, and even more during the season. Join us!

Conference previews continue with a (mostly) business-free preview of the MAC, focused on the actual football. We’ve got something good, something bad, and something curious about every team in the league, in this order:

- 2:41: Western Michigan

- 5:41: Ohio

- 8:59: Toledo

- 15:02: Miami (OH)

- 19:10: Central Michigan

- 22:27: Akron

- 25:37: Buffalo

- 28:59: Kent State

- 33:00: Ball State

- 34:39: Eastern Michigan

- 38:08: Bowling Green

- 42:31: UMass

- 46:39: Sacramento State

- 53:15: Preseason honors

CATCH UP ON CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

• Sun Belt

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

• Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

• Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Hello! This is a free episode of Split Zone Duo. Our show exists thanks to our subscribers. We’d love for you to become one by following this link. By subscribing, you’ll get roughly twice as many podcasts from us this season, and you’ll also help ensure this independent show continues to exist.

Our conference preview series rolls on with the Sun Belt. Alex and Richard have something to be excited about, something to be worried about, and a point of curiosity for every team in the league. We go in reverse standings order from last year:

- 2:43: James Madison

- 10:14: Old Dominion

- 13:32: Coastal Carolina

- 16:35: Georgia Southern

- 28:01: Marshall

- 31:50: Appalachian State

- 38:48: Georgia State

- 40:56: Troy

- 46:00: Southern Miss

- 48:32: Louisiana

- 53:03: Arkansas State

- 54:21: South Alabama

- 58:03: ULM

- 1:00:50: Louisiana Tech

Producer: Anthony Vito

THE CONFERENCE PREVIEW INDEX

You can catch up on all of our season preview dives by scrolling down on your podcast app of choice. You can also find our published previews here:

• Conference USA

• American

• Big 12

• Independents and Pac-12

• ACC

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

• Ask your tire dealer about Nokian Tyres

• Shop for college sports apparel at Homefield