The Luckiest Teams & the Future of College Football with Bill Connelly
The Solid Verbal College Football
College Football
4.8 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this college football podcast episode, Dan is joined by ESPN’s Bill Connelly to dive into the mysterious world of college football luck—turnovers, close games, and injuries—that shaped 2024 and could define 2025. From Clemson’s run to Auburn’s bad breaks, Bill talks through the numbers and what they mean for teams ranging from Alabama to UCF. Plus, a deep dive into Clemson’s top-five potential, the chaotic state of the sport, and Bill’s upcoming book, Forward Progress. Plus, Bill’s Japan travel tips, from Kit Kats to Kyoto.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:05 - Luck in 2024 College Football: Clemson, Auburn, Alabama, and More
25:29 - Clemson’s 2025 Outlook: Top-Five Hype or Bust?
30:40 - Predictive Metrics and the Chaos of Modern CFB
31:47 - Bill’s Book: Forward Progress and CFB’s Future
42:29 - Is CFB Too Far Gone for Unity?
50:28 - Bill’s Japan Trip: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kit Kats
Key Topics Discussed
- Defining Luck in College Football: Explore Bill’s methodology for quantifying turnover luck, close-game outcomes, and injury luck in 2024.
- Clemson’s Fortunate 2024: Discuss Clemson’s extreme turnover luck, returning production, and why Bill hesitates on their top-five hype for 2025.
- Auburn and Alabama’s Bad Breaks: Analyze Auburn’s catastrophic close-game losses and Alabama’s unlucky 2024, with potential for 2025 rebounds.
- UCF and Washington’s Turnaround Potential: Highlight UCF and Washington as teams that underperformed statistically but could surge in 2025.
- Injury Luck and Lineup Stability: Examine how teams like Penn State and Purdue’s roster stability (or lack thereof) impacted their seasons.
- The Future of College Football: Dive into Bill’s book, Forward Progress, and the structural issues—realignment, TV contracts, and no commissioner—driving CFB’s chaos.
- Jim Delany’s Role in Modern CFB: Debate whether Delany, as Big Ten commissioner, set the stage for today’s superconferences and realignment.
- Bill’s Japanese Adventure: Get Bill’s tips for Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, plus weird Kit Kats.
A fan of our college football podcast? Leave us a rating and review, and don't forget to subscribe or follow so you don't miss any of our podcast episodes:
Apple Podcasts: https://play.solidverbal.com/apple-podcasts
Spotify: https://play.solidverbal.com/spotify
Amazon Music: https://play.solidverbal.com/amazon-music
Overcast: https://play.solidverbal.com/overcast
Pocket Casts: https://play.solidverbal.com/pocketcasts
Podcast Addict: https://play.solidverbal.com/podcast-addict
CastBox: https://play.solidverbal.com/castbox
Our college football show is also available on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@solidverbal
Learn more about the show on our website: https://www.solidverbal.com/about
Want to get in touch? Give us a holler on Twitter: @solidverbal, @tyhildenbrandt, @danrubenstein, on Instagram, or on Facebook. You can also find our college football podcast out on TikTok and Threads. Stay up to date with our free weekly college football newsletter: https://quickslants.solidverbal.com/subscribe.
College football has been our passion since we started The Solid Verbal College Football Podcast back in 2008. We don't just love college football, we live it!
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch |
| 0:05.8 | of a button. |
| 0:07.0 | Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths |
| 0:11.8 | solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville. |
| 0:17.1 | Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural |
| 0:22.6 | chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration. |
| 0:28.5 | Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers |
| 0:34.4 | that transport you from the very first word, because the next great |
| 0:38.2 | adventure is just a listener way. Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash |
| 0:43.9 | Wondery, UK. That's audible.com slash Wondery, UK. |
| 0:51.5 | Welcome to the solid verbalbal The Solid Verbal |
| 0:54.3 | Come after me! |
| 0:56.2 | I'm a man! I'm 40! |
| 0:57.9 | I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. |
| 1:00.4 | You want to be happy for a day? |
| 1:02.0 | Eat a steak. |
| 1:03.0 | It's that woo-woo. |
| 1:04.5 | And now, Dan, and Ty. |
| 1:08.0 | Welcome, everybody, to The Solid Verbal. |
| 1:10.7 | My name is Dan. I'm doing this intro because tie has happily |
| 1:14.4 | accepted a new position handling crisis PR for the university of north carolina and we're all |
| 1:19.5 | rooting for tie with his background and communications everything is going to go so smoothly for |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from College Football, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of College Football and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.