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Matt Brown

@mattbrowncfb.bsky.social

College football managing editor, The Athletic

9,157 Followers  |  406 Following  |  108 Posts  |  Joined: 01.12.2023  |  2.142

Latest posts by mattbrowncfb.bsky.social on Bluesky

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What happens when college football games are only for the rich? Some faithful fans are finding out Special moments and memories attending college football games are priceless β€” until they aren't.

And here's Florida State's AD, saying something you'll hear from LOTS of people in the industry:
β€œBalancing financial sustainability and accessibility is one of the hardest challenges in college sports right now."
www.nytimes.com/athletic/679...

14.11.2025 17:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Was Omar Cooper’s catch college football’s best ever? Here are our favorites Indiana's Omar Cooper Jr. made a case for best catch ever with toe tap to beat Penn State. These are our college football staff's favorites.

What's the best college football catch you've ever seen?

www.nytimes.com/athletic/679...

09.11.2025 02:18 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3
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The Athletic spoke with 10 people who have been part of LSU football in recent years and/or have worked for Brian Kelly.

They described a coach who delegated too much authority, didn’t prioritize recruiting and failed to bond with his players: www.nytimes.com/athletic/676...

31.10.2025 11:01 β€” πŸ‘ 35    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 10
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College football is absolutely unhinged right now. It’s exactly why we love it College football has always been governed by emotion, not logic. This is what happens when you add chaos to it.

I wrote for @theathletic.com about how unhinged college football is right now. www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

28.10.2025 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Brian Kelly, LSU in standoff as disagreement over staff changes leaves future murky: Sources Kelly left the football facility, as did pretty much everyone else on the LSU staff, as they awaited resolution.

Less than 24 hours after LSU was embarrassed by Texas A&M, sources told The Athletic embattled head coach Brian Kelly might have coached his last game in Baton Rouge. Our story on what happened today at LSU, and why it’s gotten so messy there: www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

26.10.2025 23:32 β€” πŸ‘ 57    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 35
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Why does college football have most of the world's biggest stadiums?

This has always fascinated me: College football has most of the biggest stadiums in the world. Not country, the world.

How and why is that? Delving into it, including perspective from a couple foreigners who know college football:

www.nytimes.com/athletic/673...

23.10.2025 11:49 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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What are the best college football stadiums? Vote for your favorites here We ranked our favorite college football stadiums. We want to hear what you, the fans, think too.

Mad at our rankings and want to do your own? Reader voting is open! www.nytimes.com/athletic/673...

22.10.2025 14:16 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Only on 9 of 28 top-10 ballots since we were considering it as a home UCLA venue, but 5 No. 1 votes and 1 No. 2. An impossible task

22.10.2025 14:15 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ranking the 25 best college football stadiums from the Big House to Death Valley What makes a college football stadium great? We polled our staff to come up with The Athletic's Top 25 β€” with a clear No. 1.

We figured out our college football staff @theathletic.com has attended games at 123 of 136 FBS stadiums.

So we took a vote and came up with the Top 25 college football stadiums, ranked

www.nytimes.com/athletic/672...

22.10.2025 14:09 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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At Penn State, James Franklin was standing on the edge of a cliff for years. Here’s why Penn State seemed built to contend and riding recent good vibes. In reality, it was one of college football's most fragile teams.

At Penn State, James Franklin was standing on the edge of a cliff for years. Here’s why it was all so fragile and why in 15 days, everything collapsed. Reporting with @ralphdrussoath.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/672...

16.10.2025 15:14 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Athletic spoke to several sources who have worked for UNC football, the university, or had direct dealings with the team in the past year.

They described a culture of arrogance and ignoring of steep differences between college and the pros: http://dlvr.it/TNbl7Y

10.10.2025 16:21 β€” πŸ‘ 79    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 18    πŸ“Œ 5

Have come a long way from never being able to get into soccer to being captivated by Slavia Prague vs. BodΓΈ/Glimt on a Wednesday afternoon

17.09.2025 18:40 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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No matter what happens Saturday, it will not top 1900

15.09.2025 23:15 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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The AP poll the last time Indiana and Illinois met when both ranked (1950)

14.09.2025 19:40 β€” πŸ‘ 35    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 3

Welcome aboard to my old Sports on Earth pal

29.08.2025 13:01 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The worst college football game ever: 77 punts, 33 plays and the growing legend of a record-setting 0-0 tie It takes a lot for a game to truly qualify as one of the worst ever. There's a case for Centenary-Texas Tech in 1939.

Too much scoring for my liking in Farmageddon www.nytimes.com/athletic/291...

23.08.2025 17:07 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Our @theathletic.com staff college football predictions: Texas is the favorite, but 7 teams got a national title vote and 41 teams got at least 1 CFP vote.

And I'm calling my shot in the SEC

www.nytimes.com/athletic/656...

19.08.2025 15:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

Happy to hang up my cleats after 8 years and pass The Athletic voting baton to Ralph

11.08.2025 13:04 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Old Ironsides (trophy) - Wikipedia

πŸ€” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Iro...

10.08.2025 23:54 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Watching a college football game from 1998 with commercials is a reminder that before that one sudden year of endless Draft Kings vs. FanDuel daily fantasy commercials there was the 10-10-321 vs. 10-10-220 war

08.08.2025 19:36 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Not sure that anything can hit the childhood nostalgia sweet spot for me more than the 1997 Heisman race 30 for 30

06.08.2025 00:22 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Great story, Jon

28.07.2025 14:15 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Watching Pony Excess for the first time in a few years and just laughing

28.07.2025 00:18 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Part of me is going to kind of miss the hate mail β€” and anticipating where it would come from β€” after eight years

26.07.2025 21:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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What a time

23.07.2025 21:36 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Really testing a quarterback’s poise

23.07.2025 15:24 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Probably need to log off eBay for a bit. I blame the recent @bryancurtis.bsky.social physical media pod

21.07.2025 20:13 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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How much would college football teams sell for? Ranking all 68 Power 4 programs

As college sports continue to look and act more like the pros, here's a question: How much would Ohio State football sell for? What about Texas? Texas Tech?
We used real pro franchise transactions as a guideline for every P4 football team. What we came up with:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/650...

21.07.2025 13:44 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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