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

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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.

The Week 4 college football schedule is loaded with big games that wouldn’t have felt this big in any other year, like Texas Tech-Utah and Illinois-Indiana. Alex and Richard break down what’s interesting this weekend. A non-exhaustive list of games covered:

* Iowa-Rutgers

* Texas Tech-Utah

* SMU-TCU (for the last time for a while)

* North Texas-Army

* Arkansas-Memphis

* The Civil War

* The Apple Cup

* Tulane-Ole Miss

* Michigan-Nebraska

* Auburn-Oklahoma

* Boise State-Air Force

* Florida-Miami

* ASU-Baylor

* Michigan State-USC, verrrrry late at night

* The Main Course, presented by Modelo: A detailed look at Illinois ahead of a huge game at Indiana, featuring Andy Johnson of The Shotgun Start

More this week at Split Zone Duo

Co-founder and co-host emeritus Steven Godfrey is here to break down five teams that are playing very badly: How doomed are they, and how doomed are their coaches? We discuss Florida, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, and Liberty in this episode.

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

One quarter of the way through the season, Godfrey, Richard, and Alex discuss five teams that are off to terrible starts and haven’t fired their coaches yet. They all look doomed to at least a bad season and maybe more than that, but can we find reasons for hope? In this episode:

* How Billy Napier’s staff management at Florida has made him an easy target for criticism as DJ Lagway has gone backward in his second year

* Oklahoma State has fallen behind not just the blue-bloods of the sport, but most of the Big 12. Mike Gundy no longer looks like the guy to fix it

* Wisconsin built its roster expecting that it could still act like the Wisconsin of the 2010s, putting a moneyball QB into a good support system. But the Badgers might not be able to operate that way anymore.

* Northwestern is going in the wrong direction under David Braun. That doesn’t look like his fault, but he also probably isn’t the man to fix it. (Also, Pat Fitzgerald is probably getting back into coaching soon. Just saying.)

* Liberty has so much more money than its peers but has now lost six of its last 10 games going back to last October. Maybe Jamey Chadwell’s trick at Coastal Carolina wasn’t as portable as once thought.

After going through each of this situations, we wonder: Which of these programs has the best chance to get back on an upward path soon?

Producer: Anthony Vito

This episode is for paid subscribers, but everyone can hear a free preview

To get the whole thing, join us as a paid subscriber. Great time of year for it!

Richard and Alex break down an excellent Week 3 in college football, with a spotlight on more than three dozen games. We go in this order:

Georgia 44, Tennessee 41

Texas A&M 41, Notre Dame 40

Georgia Tech 24, Clemson 21

WVU 31, Pitt 24

LSU 20, Florida 10

Alabama 38, Wisconsin 14

Miami 49, USF 12

Oregon 34, Northwestern 14

USC 33, Purdue 17

Ole Miss 41, Arkansas 35

Vandy 31, South Carolina 7

Cal 27, Minnesota 14

Stanford 30, Boston College 20

NC State 34, Wake Forest 24

Arizona 23, Kansas State 17

New Mexico 35, UCLA 10

Houston 36, Colorado 20

Indiana 73, Indiana State 0

ODU 45, Virginia Tech 26

Tulane 34, Duke 27

Iowa State 24, Arkansas State 16

Oklahoma 42, Temple 3

SMU 28, Missouri State 10

Delaware 44, UConn 41

Texas 27, UTEP 10

Missouri 52, Louisiana 10

Texas Tech 45, Oregon State 10

Utah 31, Wyoming 6

ASU 34, Texas State 15

North Texas 59, Wazzu 10

Southern Miss 38, App State 22

UTSA 48, UIW 20

BGSU 23, Liberty 13

Memphis 28, Troy 7

Buffalo 31, Kent State 28

FIU 38, FAU 28

UAB 31, Akron 28

Thanks to our partners and subscribers

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Producer: Anthony Vito

Subscriber show! Realignment killed off a lot of college football rivalries. Then the schools involved brought some of them back … only to let them wither again. Why does this happen, and are some of the ongoing changes to the sport encouraging or discouraging teams to schedule more of these games? Now that the Border War is back and the Backyard Brawl is about to play what might be its last game in a while (after a previous long pause), it’s a good time to try to figure it out. Rodger Sherman joins Alex and Richard for a discussion about it.

Producer: Anthony Vito

The Week 3 Tasting Menu discusses many, many college football games. Here are just a few of them:

* Colorado vs. Houston: Deion Sanders makes a QB change, probably, but he’s being cagey about it

* Oregon vs. Northwestern: This game will not be interesting, but recent events surrounding Northwestern and its football program were

* Clemson vs. Georgia Tech: This is a dangerous spot for Clemson, again

* The Backyard Brawl: Other than the fact that anything can happen in a rivalry game, is there any reason to believe in West Virginia?

* USF vs. Miami: The Bulls probably won’t do it again, but we don’t think they’re about to get blown out of the stadium, either

* ODU vs. Virginia Tech: Careful, Brent Pry

* Florida vs. LSU: More trouble on the horizon for the Gators?

* Vandy at South Carolina: Is the Nyck Harbor thing going to happen?

* A&M at Notre Dame: Have the Aggies fished their rush defense?

* Georgia vs. Tennessee, for this week’s Main Course: Graham Coffey of Dawgs Central joins us to explain how things are going for the Dawgs

And many more games. We’ll see you on on Sunday. Produced by Anthony Vito.

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.