Playoff and Bowl Take-Pocalypse + Movie Club: Wake Up Dead Man

Jessica Smetana joins to kick off 2026 by looking at some of the best, worst and most confusing takes regarding the playoff and bowls from the past month-plus, including Notre Dame's conference affiliation, the G5 autobid, bye week curses, reorganizing the playoff calendar, whether the non-playoff bowls should exist and much more. Then (1:15:00) we are contractually obligated to talk about a Catholic whodunnit, so it's a deep dive on Wake Up Dead Man and a draft of our favorite characters from the Benoit Blanc trilogy. (We shout out when spoilers start if you haven't watched yet but you should watch.) Sign up for the newsletter and/or browse the merch here:

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Playoff and Bowl Take-Pocalypse + Movie Club: Wake Up Dead Man is an episode from Rakes Report: A Notre Dame podcast by Christopher Wilson.

This episode is 01:49:53 long.

This episode was published on Jan 5, 2026.

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