Bill Connelly

SEC showdowns! The Jeweled Shillelagh! Toss-ups everywhere! Week 8 is loaded! Ole Miss-Georgia, Bama-Tennessee, LSU-Vandy, plus USC-Notre Dame and more make for a jam-packed weekend.

* The tripleheader of Greg Sankey's dreams
* We deserve a dynamite Notre Dame-USC game
* High-stakes Holy War!
* GT vs. Duke for ACC No. 2
* An MWC CFP eliminator!
* Chaos superfecta! Playlist! NORTH DAKOTA-SIU!

SO MANY POTENTIAL CLOSE GAMES. WEEK 8 PREVIEW: www.espn.com/college-foot...

Every Premier League team reranked: Man United find footing; Spurs on unsustainable path It's time to rank all 20 teams in the Premier League again: Man United might be on the right track, Spurs should worry, and Arsenal are easily the best.

Two months into the season, @rwohan.bsky.social and I did our first PREMIER LEAGUE RE-RANK.

📉 Liverpool, Brighton, Villa, Forest (duh)

📈 Bournemouth, Palace, Man Utd???, Everton!, the idea of promoted teams surviving (a couple, anyway)

www.espn.com/soccer/story...

DeBoer's Alabama is looking more like DeBoer's Washington every week, which is both great (clutchitude!) and not great (the magic could run out before you want it to). And if the Tide lose to Tennessee this week, the SEC goes from messy to SPECTACULARLY messy.

SEC showdowns! The Jeweled Shillelagh! Toss-ups everywhere! Week 8 is loaded! Ole Miss-Georgia, Bama-Tennessee, LSU-Vandy, plus USC-Notre Dame and more make for a jam-packed weekend.

* The tripleheader of Greg Sankey's dreams
* We deserve a dynamite Notre Dame-USC game
* High-stakes Holy War!
* GT vs. Duke for ACC No. 2
* An MWC CFP eliminator!
* Chaos superfecta! Playlist! NORTH DAKOTA-SIU!

SO MANY POTENTIAL CLOSE GAMES. WEEK 8 PREVIEW: www.espn.com/college-foot...

because they're right

I'm vaguely familiar with the way rugby split itself (and has kinda done it again recently with game play?). Not the best way to promote a sport, I think!

(Though as someone who was in England during the '95 World Cup, I will always enjoy the hell out THAT version of it...)

And tennis’ until the 1970s, and college football’s until like last week. Fun watching every sport drive over the same potholes…

Reading an old soccer book from the 1950s ("Soccer Revolution" by Willy Meisl), and ... haha ... can you imagine a sport leaning on an obsolete and fictional definition of amateurism that was kept artificially alive for too long? Can you *imagine* what that might be like??

Looking forward to the Harvard-Tarleton semifinal….

SP+ has always been relatively kind to the Ivy League, too — we’ll soon see if it’s been right to do that!

Who’s the next Curt Cignetti? Candidates, plus Week 8’s perilous kickoff times Until Saturday is The Athletic's free CFB newsletter.

So your team is looking to hire a coach who actually wins games, even if he isn't currently all that famous

With @brucefeldmancfb.bsky.social, @chrisvannini.com, @espnbillc.bsky.social, and Richard Johnson of @splitzoneduo.com renown:

I guess part of being a team based entirely on explosive plays is they sometimes explode in your hand…

This is cool: Hawaii is set to stream three upcoming college football games live in Japan.

Kent State and UNC together at last

Special thanks to Bill C for helping us put together a way of looking at teams and tempo and success where we could finally put together the most damning evidence against Bill Belichick yet channel-6.ghost.io/axes-fast-sl...

From train rides to Reggie Bush: The best games in the USC-Notre Dame rivalry After more than a century, this rivalry is in danger. It would be a shame because it has had some great games.

We might lose Notre Dame-USC soon for embarrassingly silly reasons. What better time to look back at train rides, Heisman winners, The Comeback, green jerseys, Joe Montana, 1 vs. 2 and, of course, the Bush Push?

10 games that define Notre Dame-USC: www.espn.com/college-foot...

YouTube video by Bucknuts 247Sports Bucknuts Morning 5: Author Bill Connelly from ESPN on future of CFB | Thoughts on 2025 OSU, Sayin

Here's a quick chat I had with BUCKNUTS, in which I talk about Forward Progress and declare that Ohio State annoys the hell out of me (complimentary) (mostly):

youtu.be/baKpynXTXmQ?...

From train rides to Reggie Bush: The best games in the USC-Notre Dame rivalry After more than a century, this rivalry is in danger. It would be a shame because it has had some great games.

We might lose Notre Dame-USC soon for embarrassingly silly reasons. What better time to look back at train rides, Heisman winners, The Comeback, green jerseys, Joe Montana, 1 vs. 2 and, of course, the Bush Push?

10 games that define Notre Dame-USC: www.espn.com/college-foot...

First absolute WTF game of the week, and it’s not even Wednesday yet.

Yeah I was confused by that.

Friday Preview sneak preview:

What’s the worst FCS program James Franklin could walk into and genuinely have a shot at taking to the title game within his first 2 years?

And follow-up, why does it seem like it might *still* be Youngstown State?

(Still comfortably the best overall average)

No preseason projections, yes.

Notable teams near the bottom of the No Priors SP+ rankings...

129. Oklahoma State (just behind 2-5 EMU and 1-5 Nevada)
121. Oregon State
115. North Carolina (just behind ULM)
113. Stanford (just behind Tulsa and Mo St)
110. Boston College
101. West Virginia
99. Virginia Tech
97. Wisconsin

Me too, apparently! But hey, when you've only lost to By Far The Best Team In The Country...

The SP+ top 40 if there were no priors involved. All hail our Red Raider and Hoosier overlords (and LSU's top-ranked defense)!

It would be the most incredibly on-brand thing I could possibly do if the only time I left town all season was for THAT.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL SP+ TOP 766, WEEK 8

* Lehigh PK BC!
* Slippery Rock -1 UMass!
* The MAC's avg rating is only 2.6 pts higher than the MVFC's

We're *12 DAYS* from No. 765 vs. No. 766. Will I mention that in my Friday preview? I think you know the answer.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...