The Spreadsheets & Tailgates newsletter's Michael Bryan joins to run through some news: Marcus Freeman is officially staying at Notre Dame despite NFL interest, Southern Cal is officially taking the coward's path, updates on the roster and transfer portal guesswork.

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We were going to do this Friday afternoon as a recap of Everything but decided to let things settle a bit first, so: Jessica Smetana joins to talk Jeremiyah Love awards circuit, All-American tracking, Remembering Some Guys via trivia, the USC series, strength of schedule debates, which reports from last week matter and which don't, basketball injury updates and much more.

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Closing the week with a few complaints to cleanse the soul, starting with an SEC TikToker's foray into Notre Dame country. Also: Merch availability, bowl discourse and much, much more.

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Holiday shirts (with all proceeds going to the CFH) available here: https://rakesreport.dashery.com/

Grievance airers:

Paul Coletti

Jesse Dang

Alex Herrmann

Bridget Reynolds

Jessica Smetana

Andrew Smith

Nina Steigerwald

Sam Werner

Blue and Gold's Eric Hansen joins to talk about what steps Pete Bevacqua and Marcus Freeman should take next, the ACC and SEC relationships, how the decision to skip a bowl came about, key players the Irish will try to sway to return and much more.

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Holiday shirts (with all proceeds going to the CFH) available here: https://rakesreport.dashery.com/

NBC Sports' Nicole Auerbach joins to talk about the committee being very bad at their job, being tasked with too many things by the sport as a whole, what changes might come, the Elphaba Chris Ash graphic, improving Heisman discourse and much more.

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Holiday shirts (with all proceeds going to the CFH) available here: https://rakesreport.dashery.com/

Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily joins to talk some more about Notre Dame being left out of the playoff before pivoting to discussing how good this 2025 team was and how the program is set to get even better in the aftermath of the snub.

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Holiday shirts (with all proceeds going to the CFH) available here: https://rakesreport.dashery.com/

Jessica Smetana joins to kick off our annual fundraising for the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rakes-report-christmas-giving-2025

An extended therapy session where we respect conspiracy theories being true and discuss Notre Dame's decision to eschew a bowl.

Holiday shirts (with all proceeds going to the CFH) available here: https://rakesreport.dashery.com/

Feel free to skip this and keep living your life but there are a lot of questions and confusion out there so the Spreadsheets & Tailgates newsletter's Michael Bryan stopped in for a concise look at the process, metrics, odds and conspiracy theories that could or could not affect the Fighting Irish's playoff fate on Sunday. Guns up.

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