Bill Connelly
@ESPN_BillC
ESPN writer, professional nerd. SP+. Author of two books (Study Hall and 50 Best*). College football, soccer, tennis. Puma addiction.
Had fun. Talked about ‘97 Mizzou-Nebraska, showed them the magic spreadsheets…
On this Inside @MizzouAthletics Podcast, @ESPN_BillC talks about his Mid-Mo roots, developing CFP's most well-known predictive metric (SP+), and outlooks for @MizzouFootball and the SEC this season. Plus a little-known fact about @BradTregnago! Listen: art19.com/shows/inside-m…
NEW "Phantom Island" with @ESPN_BillC: It's sort of an ACC preview but heavy on the Virginia Tech kvetching. Also Bill has a book you should buy rss.com/podcasts/phant…
UMass moved from FCS to FBS in 2012. They've played 148 FBS games. They've won 26. JMU moved up in 2022. They've played 37 FBS games. They've won 28.
Expectations are high in the SEC this college football season, but who’s actually built to deliver? 👀 @ESPN_BillC with the full breakdown ⤵️ spr.ly/6014fz5Lr
* Ceilings (Bama) vs. floors (UGA, Texas) * LSU looks good on paper (again)! * Arch, Sellers, Reed, Lagway ... LOTS of fun young QBs * Ahmad Hardy, YAC KING * OU's Palouse dependence * DIEGO DAMN PAVIA * Roll Tide, apparently 2025 SEC PREVIEW: espn.com/college-footba…
Went on the @billbarnwell pod to talk about my new book (Forward Progress! Preorder on Amazon!), how no one's ever been loyal, how sharing $$ is always the answer, how Iowa State & ECU are the sport's bellwethers and how Australia & Germany get it right. open.spotify.com/episode/5016Em…
In terms of lower quality among the very best teams and a high number of shocking upsets, 2024 was the most competitively balanced season we've had in at LEAST a decade. And yet, the number of public complaints about competitive balance has suddenly and significantly increased.
This framing continues to bother me. A lot. Competitive balance in college sports has always been distorted by resources and revenue. The richest schools have always had an advantage by paying coaches,building facilities. But now, when it’s about paying athletes, it’s a problem.
The way to save Notre Dame-USC is by removing all the risk and reward that comes with playing it?
Lincoln Riley said there are “a million reasons why we should adopt the automatic qualifier” model and he cited the continuation of the rivalry with Notre Dame as a reason why. He spoke passionately about the meaning of the rivalry but also said it’s tied into the CFP decision.
They literally just changed the CFP to a seeding format that would've given byes to both B1G title game participants last year, devaluing the conference championship. I agree, I don't want to devaluate conference titles. But they just did it.
Petitti told me he doesn’t want a playoff format to devalue or eliminate the conference championship game.
How many "ifs" stand between these college football teams and the championship? 🤔 @ESPN_BillC ranks the top 14 contenders by how many questions each must answer to win it all 👇 spr.ly/6011fHOVN
No. 2 best based on a formula I tried to make clear I was still fiddling with, BUT if we're going to overdo it, I want to overdo it with awesome graphics.
That's our coach. @ESPN_BillC | #GBO 🍊
* Can Penn State make it 3 completed quests in a row? * OSU: spectacularly uninspiring coordinator hires (and it might not matter) * Michigan at No. 10 is *aggressive* * Oregon is replacing a LOT * BIGGEST. INDIANA-ILLINOIS GAME. EVER. 2025 B1G PREVIEW: espn.com/college-footba…
