Welcome to The College Football Newsletter
A roundup of the week at Split Zone Duo, plus media days notes and links to some college football stories.
For all those of you who like to speculate about super podcasts, welcome to one.
Welcome to The College Football Newsletter, a newsletter from your favorite whole-hog podcast. I’m Hector Diaz and you might know me as the social media producer for the crew. All those videos on your preferred video platform? That’s me! Every week, I’ll send you a friendly email about all the goings on at Split Zone Duo headquarters and in the larger college football world.
You can customize which emails you receive from us (episodes, newsletters, etc.) in your settings.
Media days are in full swing, which means we’re getting a bevy of new coach quotes. Some are pretty standard (Did you hear about how your favorite coach and his staff are more focused than ever before? Me too.) but we’ve gotten some wild soundbites as well. Greg Sankey is channeling his inner heel and boasted about the SEC already being the superconference (or “that other conference,” as Big Ten coaches would say), Pat Narduzzi is penciling Bill Belichick into the ACC championship game, and Eli Drinkwitz is distancing himself from questions about the JFK assasination, the Epstein files, and the radiation belt.
That is a hodgepodge of topics that any coach would not mention unless they had a stable future at their current gig. Luckily for Drinkwitz, he just signed an extension with Mizzou that runs through 2029. And speaking of extensions, Georgia Tech OC Buster Faulkner agreed to a 2-year, $3 million extension with the Yellow Jackets, a huge deal for Tech.
Just because it’s the offseason doesn’t mean SZD is taking breaks. In fact, we have four episodes out this week:
We previewed the MAC.
We answered your questions and talked realignment in a CFB Lunch Break.
Shehan Jeyarajah joined us to preview the Big 12.
Alex interviewed Front Office Sports reporter Amanda Christovich about the latest fight between collectives and the NCAA. Collectives won.
Our hosts also write stories about college football and non-CFB subjects:
DJ Lagway told Richard over at CBS Sports that his girlfriend and fellow Gator Ava Brown is the superior baseball/softball player in the relationship.
Richard found some interesting quirks and clauses in coaching contracts as well, and wrote about a key Tennessee player in limbo.
Alex wrote about how dominant (but boring) Scottie Scheffler is over at Slate.
You should check out Matt Brown on toucans and identity through sports in a really touching piece over at Extra Points.
SZD social media fun of the week: Bubba Thompson is on South Alabama’s football roster at 27 after a career in Major League Baseball. I know Richard and Alex will shout “LinkedIn” at this, but I also appreciate the athletic sidequesting happening here:
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Have a great weekend and be on the lookout for some fun surprises from us next week. And in the meantime, let us know in the comments on the website: What kinds of things are you interested in seeing in this newsletter?
Last but not least : We’re writing an audio love letter to college football, and we want your submissions! The question is simple: Why do you love college football? It could be what got you into the game, who got you into the game, or what keeps you around.
Here’s how to submit an entry one of two ways:
Here’s our Voicecast page if you want to submit via desktop
Our Google Voice line is +1 201-429-5147 if you want to submit via phone
Submit it by the end of Tuesday, July 29 to possibly be included in the show. We’ll try to include as many as we can.
Thank you for links to everyone's work! I was just thinking about how I don't know what the crew is up to. Please link to Godfrey's work as well when he's around