Steven Godfrey joins Richard and Alex to talk about some stories we’d already planned to mark the halfway point of the season. But first, we’ve got a REALIGNMENT INTERRUPTION, brought to us by James Madison leaving the Sun Belt for the American Conference in 2028. In this episode:

0:26: JMU’s move to the American

9:44: Roster management people and coaches seem to think it’s impossible to find good backup QBs now. Do we agree? And is there a statistical way to see if anything has really changed? (It’s hard because defining a “backup” in a robust statistical way is impossible in modern college football.)

29:09: A change to punt formation rules was supposed to chaos special teams chaos this season. What actually happened?

39:48: Alex expands on FOOTSHOT, his blunt-object stat that elaborates on how often teams shoot themselves in the foot. Hello, Buffs!

Producer: Anthony Vito.

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner guide you through the best college football week yet this year, led by Georgia’s big win in Tuscaloosa and a Red River upset and then bouncing through dozens more games. Including:

* 1:33: SEC, led by Georgia 20, Alabama 17 and Oklahoma 27, Texas 24

* 14:40: Pac-12, led by Boise State 38, Fresno State 31

* 16:23: Big Ten, led by Indiana 20, Nebraska 17

* 25:59: Big 12, led by BYU 24, Iowa State 10

* 29:14: ACC and Notre Dame, led by North Carolina 21, Pitt 17

* 33:43: American, led by Army 20, Tulane 17

* 35:48: Mountain West, led by UNLV 13, North Dakota State 7

* 36:58: MAC, led by Eastern Michigan 25, Akron 23

* 38:49: Sun Belt, led by James Madison 27, Georgia Southern 24

* 43:01: Conference USA, led by FIU 22, New Mexico State 3

Producer: Anthony Vito.

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Subscriber mailbag, with questions brought to you by the listeners at www.splitzoneduo.com.

Alex Kirshner answers subscriber questions ahead of Week 6! Why does Lincoln Riley always put mediocre defenses on the field? There are three pretty good theories from people who know him well. Is there a surprising reason to think Texas’ offense will turn things around? Does Michigan have a “culture” problem or something more simple? Can Kane Wommack tell us anything much about how the coaching carousel works today? Would the Protect College Sports Act be a bad thing for portal-heavy head coaches? Are stadium renovations over? And plenty more in this mailbag, which is edited by Anthony Vito.

CATCH UP ON THIS WEEK AT SPLIT ZONE DUO

* Listen to the Week 6 Tasting Menu, our preview of the weekend. Alex and Richard Johnson cover all of the week’s most interesting games and stop along the way to talk about a few big stories and ask some questions. Such as this one: Is South Carolina actually too broke to fire Shane Beamer?

* The Charlotte 49ers are the worst team in the country. They are also Split Zone Duo’s TEAM OF THE WEEK. Rodger Sherman talks with Richard about a program whose potential remains completely theoretical, and about how an ambitious move into FBS football can go horribly awry.

* We’ll see you Sunday for the Hurry-Up, landing by early afternoon.