Latest news with #BillConnelly
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Big 12 football title projections: Kansas State, Arizona State, Texas Tech favorites
The Big 12 conference is probably the most difficult Power Four football conference to predict. Want proof? Arizona State was picked to finish last in the conference last season and ended up winning the Big 12 title and going to the College Football Playoff. If that's not enough proof for you, here's another nugget: Eight Big 12 teams are given at least a 6% chance to win the conference in ESPN's latest Big 12 projections for the upcoming season. That's half of the conference (yes, the Big 12 has 16 teams). Kansas State tops ESPN's projections for the conference, with a 17.1% chance to win the Big 12. Arizona State is second, at 10.1%, followed by BYU (9.7%), Texas Tech (9.7%), Utah (9%), Iowa State (8.5%), TCU (8.4%) and Baylor (6%). ESPN's Bill Connelly recently wrote of each team's conference title chances: "Eight teams have at least a 6% chance at the Big 12 title, and no one has better than a 1-in-6 chance. And everyone has at least a 1-in-50 chance. Yes. Bring it on." College football: Big 12 football coaches pick conference champion Big 12 football championship projections 2025 Here's each Big 12 football team's chances to win the conference title this season, according to ESPN's projections: Kansas State: 17.1% Arizona State: 10.1% BYU: 9.7% Texas Tech: 9.7% Utah: 9% Iowa State: 8.5% TCU: 8.4% Baylor: 6% Kansas: 3.6% Arizona: 2.9% Colorado: 2.9% Oklahoma State: 2.8% Houston: 2.7% UCF: 2.4% West Virginia: 2.4% Cincinnati: 2.1% Big 12 football win total odds: Arizona | Arizona State | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Colorado | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | Utah | West Virginia | Big 12 rankings Who will win the Big 12 football championship in 2025? ESPN's projections were done before QB Jake Retzlaff left BYU, but the site said that BYU wouldn't drop as drastically as it thought with his departure (Retzlaff has since reportedly enrolled at Tulane). Who will end up winning the Big 12 conference in the upcoming season? The 2025 Big 12 Football Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6, so we don't have to wait that long to find out. Big 12 football game picks: Arizona | Arizona State | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Colorado | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | Utah | West Virginia | Projected Big 12 standings, records Reach Jeremy Cluff at Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff. Support local journalism: Subscribe to today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football not favored in Big 12 championship projections
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
College Football Fans Want ESPN Writer Fired After 'Arrest-Worthy' Marcus Freeman Ranking
College Football Fans Want ESPN Writer Fired After 'Arrest-Worthy' Marcus Freeman Ranking originally appeared on The Spun. A recent ranking of college football coaches by an ESPN analyst has some fans so outraged that they're ready to bring out the pitchforks. In a recent post on X, the College Football Alerts (@CFBAlerts_) account shared a recent ranking of college football coaches by ESPN's Bill Connelly. That ranking failed to include Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman anywhere in the top 30, and fans quickly started giving Connelly hell for it: "Bill, can you provide why coach Marcus Freeman wasn't placed in your top 30? Perhaps the criterion used explains? Genuinely interested, thank you," one user wrote. "Bill Connelly of ESPN is a Hack! You've got Purdue coach at number 11 and Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame not even on that list. Tell me you don't know college football without telling me you don't know college football!" wrote another. "Not having Marcus Freeman on this list is criminal work! Bill should be arrested!" a third wrote. "I'd change my name so that I wouldn't be linked to this joke." There was only one problem: The post was completely misconstrued. In Connelly's original post, he actually made it a post of the top coaches of the past 20 years and even had Freeman as his No. 6 coach among active coaches. He shared CFBAlert's post and admonished them for framing it in a way to "generate the most toxic possible responses." "It's a shame you guys forgot to link to the piece in question and decided to frame it in the way that would generate the most toxic possible responses," Connelly wrote in response. Unfortunately, fans still took serious issue with Connelly's ranking even after his clarifying statement: "This is really great, now I know when your name is attached to an article I can skip it," one user declared. "Your rankings are crap. No matter how you try to explain it away. Kirby is #1 on every other persons list but yours," wrote another. "It doesn't matter how you got there. This list is (expletive) garbage and shows how stupid you are. Defend it however you need to, it's an embarrassing list." It doesn't seem like ESPN will be canning Connelly over this one though. On to the next inevitable, insane Football Fans Want ESPN Writer Fired After 'Arrest-Worthy' Marcus Freeman Ranking first appeared on The Spun on Jul 27, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
ESPN's Bill Connelly gives detailed outlook for USC football in 2025
Believe it or not, the start of the 2025 college football season is just around the corner. This past week, Big Ten media days unfolded in Las Vegas, kicking off the year for the sport's biggest conference. In a recent story, ESPN's Bill Connelly gave a detailed 2025 outlook for every Big Ten team. Here is what he had to say about USC. "When you've gone just 15-13 in your last 28 games at USC, as Riley has since an 11-1 start, your name is going to automatically show up on "hot seat" lists. That's just the way it works. But damned if Riley isn't building his team like a guy with the best job security in the world. His Trojans' win total has fallen for two straight years, but he signed only 16 transfers, an average number in 2025, and less than half of them are seniors. He elected to stick with junior Jayden Maiava at quarterback after four solid but unspectacular starts. And despite losing quite a bit of depth from his first semi-competent defense in four years -- only 10 of 13 players with 300-plus snaps return -- he definitely didn't overdo it with portal guys. "Riley reportedly has a pretty prohibitive buyout at the moment, and he's acting like it. Though this team does have a handful of pretty good seniors -- linebacker Eric Gentry and incoming transfers in running back Eli Sanders (New Mexico), cornerback DJ Harvey (San José State) and safety Bishop Fitzgerald (NC State) -- most of this team's best players are guys who will still have eligibility left in 2026, when members of what is currently a spectacular recruiting class come to town. Steel yourself for some serious USC hype this time next year, I guess. "D'Anton Lynn did a nice job in his first season as defensive coordinator; the Trojans improved from 105th to 48th in defensive SP+, thanks mostly to big-play prevention and outstanding third-down defense. Safety Kamari Ramsey is the only returning starter in the secondary, but he's great, and Harvey and Fitzgerald should help. Gentry is a good playmaker at linebacker, and the addition of 330-pounder Keeshawn Silver (Kentucky) and 350-pounder Jamaal Jarrett (Georgia) up front should certainly provide some, uh, immovability. I don't expect an elite defense, but further improvement is likely. "On offense, Maiava is a decent scrambler, Sanders and juco transfer Waymond Jordan are exciting and explosive additions, and slot receiver Makai Lemon averaged a whopping 3.0 yards per route, second in the conference. "The line is more experienced, especially with the additions of senior transfers J'Onre Reed (Syracuse) and DJ Wingfield (Purdue), but I'm not sure about the upside there. Regardless, Riley should have enough to field another top-20 offense, develop further, win another seven or eight games and buy time for the cavalry to arrive in 2026." While USC fans are certainly not expecting a national championship this season, another year of winning seven or eight games is certainly not what anyone is looking for. Riley and the Trojans will look to prove Connelly's projections wrong on the field this fall.
NBC Sports
7 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Clemson returns most experienced team in football in search of third national title in 10 years
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Clemson Tigers have all of the pieces in place to win another national championship. Now it's just a matter of executing. The Tigers return the most experienced team in college football, and will be heavy favorites to win their ninth Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the past 11 years. They return eight starters on both sides of the ball with a combined 309 starts. ESPN's Bill Connelly has Clemson's return production rate at 80%, the highest in Division I football. That includes a Heisman Trophy hopeful at quarterback in Cade Klubnik, who is 19-9 as Clemson's starter and is coming off a season in which he threw for 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns with only six interceptions. The Tigers are particularly stacked at wide receiver with any of six players capable of starting for most teams around the country. Combine that with a certain future College Football Hall of Fame head coach in Dabo Swinney and you have a recipe for success. But Swinney said that while having so much returning experience is 'awesome,' it comes with a cautionary tale. 'Experience, as they say, doesn't come at a discount,' said Swinney, who led Clemson to national titles in 2016 and 2018. What the 55-year-old head coach means is there are no shortcuts to success — and nothing is guaranteed. 'The guys have put the work in,' Swinney said. 'We've been around a lot of good teams, and this team has the ingredients to be a really good team, but we've got to go do the work. We can't talk about it or predict our way into it.' The Tigers will be tested right off the bat, opening the season at home against Southeastern Conference power LSU. A year ago, Clemson lost to Georgia 34-3 in Week 1, leading some to question whether the Tigers would embark on a fast, downward spiral. Instead, the Tigers bounced back with six straight wins and went on to beat SMU 34-31 in the ACC championship game at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, earning a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff. 'We've got a bunch of great young men,' Swinney said. 'Our quarterback, especially, that's had to manage success well, and he's had to manage some failure well, too. He's grown into a great leader of our team.' Clemson's experience speaks to its retention rate. In an age where players are transferring from school to school on an almost daily basis, Clemson has been able to keep the vast majority of its players in Death Valley. Swinney attributes much of that to a program at the school called the P.A.W. Journey, where players are taught everything from how to tie a tie and write a resume, to financial literacy and the means of secure internships across the world. 'These guys can leave any time they want,' Swinney said. 'They have to choose, first of all, to come, and then they have to stay. I just think that says a lot about kind of how we put it together on the front end in recruiting guys that really align with our purpose, guys that really value education and want structure and family and accountability.' Klubnik is a perfect example. He could have left Clemson at any point during his 3 1/2-year career when times got tough, but chose to stay and was rewarded last year with being named MVP of last year's ACC championship game. The Tigers lost 38-24 to Texas in the first round of the playoffs, but Swinney said his players have used that as motivation. 'Certainly last year and getting a chance to maybe get a little glimpse at the top of the mountain, that's certainly given them a little fuel as they've gotten back to work since January,' Swinney said. No one wants it more than Klubnik. He feels the Tigers have the talent and experience to win it all. 'We've been a young team, I feel like, every year I've been here,' Klubnik said. 'We're a veteran team and very experienced, got a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball. That's really exciting, but we've got to go do it. We've got to go do it and take advantage of every opportunity we get.' It appeared not long ago that Clemson's success might taper off after the NCAA relaxed rules about players transferring from school to school. But the Tigers, despite not being big players in the transfer portal, have remained consistent. This past season they joined Alabama, Florida State and Oklahoma as the only teams in college football history to win at least nine games in 14 straight seasons. It's a streak Swinney hopes to maintain. 'That's really for us what it's always been about, just being incredibly consistent. We're not perfect, but we're incredibly consistent. That's because we're purpose driven and we're relationship driven. I think our program reflects that purpose in everything, in every aspect.'
San Francisco Chronicle
7 days ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Clemson returns most experienced team in football in search of 3rd national title in 10 years
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Clemson Tigers have all of the pieces in place to win another national championship. Now it's just a matter of executing. The Tigers return the most experienced team in college football, and will be heavy favorites to win their ninth Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the past 11 years. They return eight starters on both sides of the ball with a combined 309 starts. ESPN's Bill Connelly has Clemson's return production rate at 80%, the highest in Division I football. That includes a Heisman Trophy hopeful at quarterback in Cade Klubnik, who is 19-9 as Clemson's starter and is coming off a season in which he threw for 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns with only six interceptions. The Tigers are particularly stacked at wide receiver with any of six players capable of starting for most teams around the country. Combine that with a certain future College Football Hall of Fame head coach in Dabo Swinney and you have a recipe for success. But Swinney said that while having so much returning experience is 'awesome,' it comes with a cautionary tale. 'Experience, as they say, doesn't come at a discount,' said Swinney, who led Clemson to national titles in 2016 and 2018. What the 55-year-old head coach means is there are no shortcuts to success — and nothing is guaranteed. 'The guys have put the work in," Swinney said. 'We've been around a lot of good teams, and this team has the ingredients to be a really good team, but we've got to go do the work. We can't talk about it or predict our way into it." The Tigers will be tested right off the bat, opening the season at home against Southeastern Conference power LSU. A year ago, Clemson lost to Georgia 34-3 in Week 1, leading some to question whether the Tigers would embark on a fast, downward spiral. Instead, the Tigers bounced back with six straight wins and went on to beat SMU 34-31 in the ACC championship game at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium, earning a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff. 'We've got a bunch of great young men,' Swinney said. 'Our quarterback, especially, that's had to manage success well, and he's had to manage some failure well, too. He's grown into a great leader of our team.' In an age where players are transferring from school to school on an almost daily basis, Clemson has been able to keep the vast majority of its players in Death Valley. Swinney attributes much of that to a program at the school called the P.A.W. Journey, where players are taught everything from how to tie a tie and write a resume, to financial literacy and the means of secure internships across the world. 'These guys can leave any time they want,' Swinney said. 'They have to choose, first of all, to come, and then they have to stay. I just think that says a lot about kind of how we put it together on the front end in recruiting guys that really align with our purpose, guys that really value education and want structure and family and accountability.' Klubnik is a perfect example. He could have left Clemson at any point during his 3 1/2-year career when times got tough, but chose to stay and was rewarded last year with being named MVP of last year's ACC championship game. The Tigers lost 38-24 to Texas in the first round of the playoffs, but Swinney said his players have used that as motivation. 'Certainly last year and getting a chance to maybe get a little glimpse at the top of the mountain, that's certainly given them a little fuel as they've gotten back to work since January,' Swinney said. No one wants it more than Klubnik. He feels the Tigers have the talent and experience to win it all. 'We've been a young team, I feel like, every year I've been here,' Klubnik said. 'We're a veteran team and very experienced, got a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball. That's really exciting, but we've got to go do it. We've got to go do it and take advantage of every opportunity we get.' It appeared not long ago that Clemson's success might taper off after the NCAA relaxed rules about players transferring from school to school. But the Tigers, despite not being big players in the transfer portal, have remained consistent. This past season they joined Alabama, Florida State and Oklahoma as the only teams in college football history to win at least nine games in 14 straight seasons. It's a streak Swinney hopes to maintain. 'That's really for us what it's always been about, just being incredibly consistent. We're not perfect, but we're incredibly consistent. That's because we're purpose driven and we're relationship driven. I think our program reflects that purpose in everything, in every aspect.' ___
