Michael Bryan

Thoughts on Marcus Freeman's track record of hiring assistant coaches, on Notre Dame having 3 skill players who could be selected in the top-50 of the NFL Draft for the 1st time since 1993, and the law firm of Flanagan and Flanigan at tight end irishsportsdaily.com/s/26967/6-thou…

will never forgive the committee for not letting us see Malachi Fields in a playoff game

New newsletter: a January wrap-up of the ND transfer portal haul, "lessons" from the CFP, and quick reaction to the official 2026 schedule / Mike Mickens departure: open.substack.com/pub/spreadsh...

Some names highlighted in the WR section here (Ian Strong, Reed Harris) are now officially in the portal along with the recruitment of Nick Marsh 👀

USC hasn't cracked the top 20 in Defensive F+ since 2013. Lincoln Riley's average defense ranking in his nine years as a head coach: 56th straight up baby!

A quick holiday potpourri newsletter today: USC’s cowardice, BYU as a replacement, roster losses, and Marcus confirming he’s back open.substack.com/pub/spreadshee…

Without going deep into bad faith arguments (we wish the ACC didn’t suck too!) - if ND was trying to rig a CFP schedule they’d be ditching more P4 programs and instead schedule more Boise / UNLV / Toledo / James Madison’s of the world that the committee SOS formula rewards

Using “late in the season” in your defense after Notre Dame was left out despite reeling off 10 straight is a lazy smokescreen. Same with “what about Week 0”. Looking at who each program schedules to replace the other will make it really transparent

Everything you need to know about the state of rivalry said here - SC can’t imagine a late season win that could jump them into the CFP, only a loss that would keep them out (they are going 8-4 next year even without ND on the schedule)

It should be a rule that reporting on transfer portal entires should only include 2025 stats, NOT career stats

Players are starting to declare their transfer plans in preparation for the portal opening in early January - what's on Notre Dame's Christmas list this year to fill out the 2026 roster? open.substack.com/pub/spreadshee…

Closing the book on Notre Dame's wild week, from processing the CFB snub, bowl game opt-out reactions, and what the Irish should do about it open.substack.com/pub/spreadshee…

“Finish out the season”? the CFP determined they’d finished the season. The same clowns bemoaning that bowl games are a charade now are acting like this game was going to change anything about Notre Dames 2025 or 2026

🎄 Christmas Giving 2025 is live 🎄 Please consider donating to the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, links and info will be below. If you have any questions/comments about the fundraiser, please reach out. We'll have fun stuff all week.

Seeing a lot of this lazy idea which sounds good in theory except 1) if you bother to look, clearly not how ND is approaching future schedules, and 2) yesterday shows the committee won’t hesitate to slide 10-2 Irish out for any number of reasons

@CFF_Jared you’re better than this, take a look at Notre Dame’s future home and homes and you’ll see it’s obvious that’s not the scheduling plan. Flip to 2026 instead of playing a meaningless exhibition with opt outs all over

Notre Dame thought they had the whole system figured out. Create your own schedule. Play 1-2 good teams a year (probably lose), and then play 10-11 bottom of the barrel teams. Free playoff spot every year. But because the sport wouldn’t let them get away with that, they do this. Losers.

you know this is really bad because I can’t even get excited for the Pop Tarts Bowl

An absurd argument when Tulane beat the ACC champ. You can blame bloat but the ACC’s inability to have decent teams that could keep a 56th ranked team in F+ from going 6-2 in league play is just as much to blame. Sit in the bed you made.

🏈 Thoughts: A lot of college sports leaders are up in their feelings this morning. None of this is “bad” or broken. The committee's job was always to sort out the final spot or two in a sport where that is impossible due to disparate schedules. They’ll take two from ND, Bama, Miami. Is what it is. Will always be a debate. If you don’t win your conference (or aren’t in one) then you risk losing the at-large street fight. Having two teams outside the top 12 (Tulane, JMU) is an ACC tie-breaker screw-up (as would the league being left out altogether). It’s not a playoff format problem. The leagues are too big, but don’t let the mistake of 18 and 17 team leagues lead to the mistake of a 24 or 28 team playoff that all but end the value of regular season results. Improvements(?): End weekly rankings that undermine credibility and box in the committee. Go back to divisions inside conferences and/or fix tie breakers. End conference championship weekend, possibly with expansion to 16, and start the playoff earlier so it doesn’t end in late January. Home games first two rounds (prioritize seeding, the fans experience and local economies over bowl directors). College football chases its tail in panic which is what has led to so many short-sighted mistakes. You can see them doing it again today. The sport is in terrific shape. Remember, this is the same leadership that said NIL would kill competitive balance (opposite has happened), decrease fan interest (opposite has happened) and Congress would save them (not happening). Be wary of their cries and solutions this time. A fun/wide open playoff is about to begin. Everyone exhale.

“In the field” doesn’t really exist when the committee says they re evaluate every week and teams idle can move. If Bama could jump teams to hosting (or more) with a win, why can’t they fall with a gross loss? Every data point matters