The Big Ten’s commissioner, Tony Petitti, spent much of this season trying to do two things: 1) Expand the Playoff to his liking, and 2) Get his member schools to sign a big private capital deal. Neither happened, and the conference now appears to have wasted a lot of time off the field even as it was winning a third-straight national championship on it. Matt Brown of the tremendous Extra Points newsletter and document library joins Alex and Richard to talk about these misadventures, in particular:

* How Petitti has made himself the sport’s main bureaucratic villain, taking a role that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey may have seen as his birthright

* Why a lot of the Big Ten wanted this private capital deal

* Why it didn’t ultimately come together, despite those wishes

* The one actual good reason for wanting the deal, explained by Matt

* Why Rutgers’ finances are so bad

You can read Matt several times every week by subscribing to his Extra Points newsletter. We are both happy subscribers, along with most conference commissioners, countless athletic directors, and anyone else who cares about being informed on the off-field movements shaping college football.

SZD paying subscribers will hear a lot more from Matt later this week

He’ll join us on a subscriber episode to discuss Playoff non-expansion, the state of the football calendar, the NCAA’s stalled (?) efforts to get an antitrust exemption from Congress, the eligibility crisis in multiple sports, the race to fund excess NIL money on top of the House settlement, and the topic that’s always on all of our minds: basketball video game licensing.

Before the season, Godfrey, Richard, and Alex made a bunch of predictions and buried them in a time capsule. Time to dig it up! What did everyone learn over the course of the season? How were our prior opinions challenged? Where we got things wildly wrong, was that bad luck (Penn State) or the sign of missing something much deeper (arguably Clemson)? Let’s review in detail:

* How each FBS conference met or didn’t meet our expectations

* Conference USA and the MAC will just never make sense

* The shocking collapses of Penn State and Clemson and the still-pretty-surprising three-loss season that Texas had

* Godfrey’s almost legendary spotting of a North Texas QB

* What will we think about in a different way heading into 2026?

Producer: Anthony Vito.

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

You can become a paid subscriber here.

Interested in hearing more about how our podcast is doing? We’ve got a “state of the union for you

The short answer: Things are good.

The longer answer: Read this letter from us to the audience.

It’s time to review the 2025 college football season, with our annual awards special, the Zonies. Rodger Sherman joins Alex and Richard to dole out some important CFB honors for this past season, including:

* Power conference team of the year

* Non-power team of the year

* Moment of the year

* Proof of concept of the year

* Minority Coach of the Week of the Year

* Bryan Harsin Award for Forestalling the Inevitable

* The Podcaster’s Player Award

It’s an awards show, but it’s mainly a walk down memory lane of the things we enjoyed most about the season. Thanks for listening. Producer: Anthony Vito

Also, we briefly discuss the Olympics at the end of the episode. You’ll be able to read all kinds of Rodger stories on the Olympics at his newsletter.

SZD doesn’t stop in the offseason

The opposite, if anything. We use these months for all sorts of creative projects that are designed to appeal to people who love college football and want to learn more about it while having a good time. History projects! Sports business! Roster moves! We’ll do all of it. (Alex would even say that his favorite subscriber shows are the ones we have time to do out of football season.) We’d love to have you:

Support Split Zone Duo’s sponsors

* nokiantyres.com/szd

* homefieldapparel.com

Welcome to the rest of the college football calendar, the part when games aren’t actually being played. In this quick subscriber episode, Alex and Richard debrief on the state of their CFB fandom and talk about what’s both good and not good right now. Producer: Anthony Vito.

This show is for paid subscribers

Thanks so much to the thousands of people (!) who subscribe to support Split Zone Duo. One thing you get is the knowledge that you are making this independent college football podcast possible.

Another thing you get is a lot of bonus episodes, including weekly dispatches all offseason long. The football season is our busiest time, but we like to think the offseason is our most creative time, and there’s still a lot of news to talk about. Thanks so much and here’s the subscribe link.

Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel!

That one’s free, though:

The best turnaround in the history of college football concludes with a 16-0 season and a national championship. Richard and Alex talk about Indiana’s 27-21 win over Miami, what led up to it, and where these programs go next.

SZD doesn’t stop in the offseason

The opposite, if anything. We use these months for all sorts of creative projects that are designed to appeal to people who love college football and want to learn more about it while having a good time. History projects! Sports business! Roster moves! We’ll do all of it. (Alex would even say that his favorite subscriber shows are the ones we have time to do out of football season.) We’d love to have you:

Thanks to our sponsors, and congrats to the ones that are based in Indiana

* 20% off Dad Water: https://drinkdadwater.com/discount/SZD

* Shop Indiana title gear at Homefield

* Nokian Tyres: https://www.nokiantyres.com/szd

* Modelo: Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL

Producer: Anthony Vito

THIS IS A SUBSCRIBER EPISODE: Thanks so much to the thousands of people (!) who subscribe to support Split Zone Duo. One thing you get is the knowledge that you are making this independent college football podcast possible. Another thing you get is a lot of bonus episodes, including weekly dispatches all offseason long. The football season is our busiest time, but we like to think the offseason is our most creative time, and there’s still a lot of news to talk about. Thanks so much and here’s the subscribe link.

The great Michael Felder joins Richard for a “Scheme School” episode, diving deeper into the Xs and Os of the Miami-Indiana national title game.

* How Indiana avoids having any bad concepts, ever

* Indiana’s tight end is the most important person in the world

* The familiarity between Miami’s DC and Curt Cignetti

* Are we sure Indiana can block those dudes up front?

* Why everyone here feels pretty good about the Hoosiers, whose defensive identity involves stopping scrambles like the one Carson Beck used to beat Ole Miss in the semifinal

And more! Producer: Anthony Vito

Richard and Alex look ahead to the College Football Playoff National Championship, with some thoughts on the schematics and then the unique circumstances surrounding Miami and Indiana. In this episode:

* 1:32: Our thoughts on the city of Miami

* 9:55: Brief Xs and Os preview of Indiana vs. Miami: Could Miami sack Fernando Mendoza a bunch and still lose? What about the big challenge in front of Indiana’s secondary, facing Malachi Toney?

* 30:17: Narrative preview and the significance of the title game: The U is back! Except we’re not supposed to talk about that! Also, Indiana (rat poison alert) is on the verge of a best-team-ever argument.

* 43:17: Why the playoff should not be expanded further and why the Big Ten Conference’s malignant behavior must be stopped

Further reading: CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello on the current negotiations about Playoff expansion, pitting the Big Ten against the SEC.

More listening for paid subscribers!

* Alex and Rodger Sherman’s deep dive into the lessons of Curt Cignetti’s rise, drawing on research from a 40-year coaching career, is out now

* Coming Friday, a special episode of SCHEME SCHOOL, featuring Richard and guest Michael Felder going deeper on the scheme of this game. Subscribe.

Producer: Anthony Vito

Full details here on the festivities around the game.

* 20% off Dad Water: https://drinkdadwater.com/discount/SZD

* Nokian Tyres: https://www.nokiantyres.com/szd

* Modelo: Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL

Every athletic director and search firm in college sports would love to find their own version of Indiana coach Curt Cignetti. Great idea, but easier in theory than in practice. Cignetti once said to Google him, so we did, taking a deep dive into all of the stops in a 40-year coaching career and trying to identify what about Cignetti is identifiable in real time, what isn’t, and what from his Indiana success other schools could reasonably hope to replicate. In this episode:

* 13:22: Early signs of a resourceful coach while he’s leading the QBs for an 0-11 Rice program in the 1980s

* 20:08: A move to NC State, where he worked with two future Hall of Fame QBs and seemed to internalize some lessons about managing stress

* 26:20: Taking part in the Nick Saban Alabama dynasty

* 32:00: Making a legit shocking move to Division II IUP, which turned out to provide ideal training for Cignetti’s future job at another Indiana

* 45:00: A pivot to James Madison, where he didn't turn around a struggling program but continued a nice run, lost the FCS national championship to North Dakota State, then executed the smoothest FCS-to-FBS transition ever

* 58:15: Indiana, where Cignetti was brilliant and also got very lucky

Can you find your own Cignetti? If it’s possible, this episode should help you.

Producer: Anthony Vito