Bill Connelly serves as a staff writer for ESPN and is one of the leading voices in college football analytics. Since joining ESPN in 2019, he has become known for his data-driven approach to storytelling and in-depth analysis across a variety of sports.

Connelly contributes extensively to ESPN’s digital platforms, where he writes weekly preview and review columns on ESPN+ throughout the college football season, along with a midweek column and additional features. In the offseason, he writes a popular annual season preview series.

He also covers a range of sports for ESPN, including soccer, tennis, the NFL draft, college basketball, and softball, and regularly appears on the College GameDay podcast. His reporting assignments have included international soccer events such as Copa América and Bundesliga matches.

Prior to joining ESPN, Connelly spent nearly a decade at SB Nation (2011–2019), where he served as an NCAA football, basketball and tennis contributor, analytics director, and podcast co-host for Podcast Ain’t Played Nobody. He also led the sites Rock M Nation and Football Study Hall. He began his career as a columnist for Football Outsiders (2008–2016), where he pioneered the use of play-by-play data in college football analysis.

An accomplished author, Connelly has written three books: Study Hall: College Football, Its Stats and Its Stories (2013), The 50 Best College Football Teams of All Time (2016), and the forthcoming Forward Progress: The Definitive Guide to the Future of College Football (2025).

Connelly holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri. A native of Columbia, Mo., he lives with his wife, Jamie, and their daughter, Erin. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, rowing, and traveling with his family.