Bill Connelly Oct 30, 2026, 06:00 AM ET

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Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

On Halloween night in 2015, Miami beat No. 22 Duke with one of the greatest (and most gloriously illegal) plays in college football history. On a cold Halloween night in 1998, unranked Texas ended Nebraska's 47-game home winning streak, prevailing 20-16. In 1981, unranked Miami upended No. 1 Penn State 17-14 in a rainy and windy Orange Bowl.

In 2009, Chip Kelly's Oregon rushed for 391 yards on No. 4 USC and sent Pete Carroll scurrying to the pros. In 1959, LSU's Billy Cannon ripped off the greatest punt return in college football history against a damn-near untouchable Ole Miss team. In 1936, Northwestern ended Minnesota's nearly four-year unbeaten streak and replaced the Golden Gophers at No. 1.

Halloween can produce some SPOOOOooooOOOOky developments. And now it arrives at the end of one of the spookiest Octobers on record.…