Boomo Bugg Show 010226

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9. The Score. Good afternoon and welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in. Where we say hats off to the Canes, Rebs and Hoosers.

Question now, what happens to the losers? Good afternoon. Welcome in. Brett Beaird, is it true that Ken and DeBoer spent the day at the Proctologist? How are you? Happy Friday to you and the listeners. Pardon the voice. We're still working on a cold. Yeah, it's a very interesting Final Four, isn't it, in place now? Who would have thought about that in August? We've known for a while, Harold, what Alabama's problems are. Let's see if the coaches can solve some of them beginning today with the portal.

The question, B.B., what was that game? What's that game? 15? And let's go back to August 30th. Where's the running game? Fast forward a week. Where's the running game? Let's just cut to the chase. You say the coach is trying to figure out. How is it that fans who are making nothing, spending tons of money, can seem to figure it out? But here's the coaching staff making millions that can't. Well, Harold, again, I get the frustration and the angst when you step back from this team and look at it.

And I've been hearing, well, this season was just a disaster. No, it wasn't. They won two more games, qualified for the SEC title game, won the first-round college football playoff game, and got their butt beat by a very impressive Indiana team. That is the number one issue with this team in 2026, Harold, is number one, they've got to figure out the offensive line. It just did not, again, they look great on paper, look great on film, they could not open holes, they couldn't protect Ty Simpson or whoever the quarterback was.

They've got better running backs coming back. Ryan Grubb, there's some questions, obviously, about him as far as, again, Alabama finished near the bottom as far as running the ball. That, to me, is what this team's got to begin, not just in spring, it's in the mat drills in January. They've got to get tougher, they've got to get more physical. It amazed me that this team was able to win five games on the road in the SEC when they matched team's physicality. But when it came to Florida State, Indiana, and Georgia in 2.0, that came nowhere close to it.

You need to, they need to work on that team, you've got to work on your voice there, we'll get you some lemon water and honey and all that good stuff. Maybe even throw in an extra portion, some fire water in there for you to get that rocking and rolling. But in the meantime, Jimmy Stein is ready to sit here and be locked on Bama, that's because he's co-host of Locked on Bama, part of the Locked On Network. Jimmy, welcome in. Looks like Indiana was locked on dominating Alabama last night.

How are you? Doing fine, yes. Indiana is a really good football team. I think, you know, I think even I underestimated how good they were, certainly how good they played. They're so physical. They're really good at the line of scrimmage. They're a really difficult opponent in terms of the combination of their physicality and their execution. That's difficult to deal with. I mean, they don't make errors. They don't give the game away. When Alabama fell behind 17-0 in this one, I think it was completely clear, this is going to be a much deeper hill to climb than in Norman, Oklahoma, because Indiana's not going to help you.

Oklahoma helped Alabama. You know, there was a bad decision by Mateer. They dropped a punt. And Indiana doesn't do those things. You've got to beat them. And they're tough to beat because they're so good up front, both sides of the ball. Jimmy, obviously, Indiana's good. The question is, how bad is Alabama in the second half of the season? This is not the first time they've fallen behind. What was it? Oklahoma 17-0. Georgia 20-something-nothing. This one 20-something-nothing before they finally decide to score. You go back and you look and they dig these holes.

The question is why. This is a roster that, if we believe the recruiting rankings, this should not even have been a contest. A five-star quarterback injured, I know, facing a two-star quarterback. This roster of Indiana, to me, it shows you maybe the key to the future of successful college teams. Be a great evaluator. Don't overspend. And bring in, maybe if you can, some more mature players. This is a team that, basically, if you look at their ages, they're right there with some NFL teams. They didn't overspend.

[5:22] In fact, Alabama spends about twice, about a two-to-one margin over this Indiana team. I think a lot of fans weren't surprised that Alabama lost to the number one team in the country. But by five touchdowns? Yeah. Well, it was a very poor performance. It's alarming in the sense that, you know, there's four losses, again, two years in a row. There's four losses. This year, there were bookends. There were bookend disasters. I mean, the performance in Tallahassee was disastrous to start the year. The performance at the end against Indiana was also disastrous.

You know, the two losses in the middle, the middle part of the season or earlier between them were two playoff teams. I don't think that that, I wouldn't call losing to a playoff team, you know, a disaster, you know, if the game's, you know, relatively close. But the start to the season and the end of it was terrible. The regression of the offense is pretty alarming. I think this is two years in a row. Down the stretch, the offense got worse and worse and worse. That's an alarming trend, to say the least.

But, you know, I heard Harold, you know, earlier say it's so true. There has to be a renewed emphasis on physicality. You can't run the ball this poorly. Now, they're never going to run for 180 or 200 yards a game under DeVore and Grubb because that's not who they are. That's not what they've ever done anywhere. They've never been a run-first type of offensive scheme. But it has to be better than it was this year. At some point, you were going to lose and your season was going to be over because you just simply can't run the ball.

That's right. If you exclude Louisiana Monroe and Eastern Illinois, they average just 88 yards a game on the ground. 88. That's terrible. So, the start for the 2026 Alabama begins with the first meeting, which will take place next week. You know, sometime in the middle of next week, they'll meet as a team for the first time. And I think in that meeting is where it has to start in terms of being more physical on offense running the ball. And that just has to be the number one emphasis this offseason.

Jimmy, that's what I was going to say. It begins in January in the mat drills downstairs. That's where they still do them. But, Jimmy, the offensive line was overrated. The running backs were average. Now, they've got some kids coming in, but they're still freshmen. We know the flaws. We know the problems. Let's talk about some of the solutions as far as offensive line, running backs. We've got to sort out the quarterback room. Jimmy, and also the portal, which started today. Right. Well, there are several positions you can upgrade.

You know, one we don't talk about enough in the run game is tight end. And Josh Clavis is a warrior. He's a big part of Alabama's success. He's a really good, talented pass receiver, and he's a leader. But he's also not a singular tight end that you put on the edge building a dominant run game. I mean, Josh Clavis, I mean, to me, tight ends are either a third tackle or they're an extra big receiver. You know, that's kind of what they are. And Josh Clavis is just a big receiver.

And I do think that Clavis moving on to the NFL and replacing him with a more physical presence. Now, they went someone out of the portal already. And Josh Ford from Oklahoma State, who's a huge, huge third tackle type guy. I think that's a step in the right direction with the run game. But this spring, and then the lead up to the spring, you've got to identify five offensive linemen who not only know their assignments, but can move people a little better than they could this year.

You've got some promising guys. Michael Carroll is clearly going to become a really good player. This year, he was a freshman that might have been a little over his skis at times. But Michael Carroll is going to be a really good player. You know, that's at least one piece that you can start sort of building around. But I would imagine that they're going to try to target an offensive lineman or two in the portal. You will need some immediate impact from whoever you sign from the portal at that position.

Jimmy Stein locked on Bama. Jimmy, what about assistant coaches as far as that, especially at that position, others? How much of an adjustment do you think will happen there? And back to the quarterback spot, people obviously this year and, you know, at times saying, what's wrong with Ty? Well, last night, one of the reasons, he said he had a cracked rib. It's kind of hard to play. So they had to go to the bullpen for that. We know what happened this year. How do you see the quarterback room now going into the offseason and next year?

[10:33] Yeah, both things, the assistant coaches and quarterback. I anticipate changes with the coaching staff. I don't think it will be radical. I don't think it will be loud. You're kind of in a weird time of the year to make coaching changes. You know, a lot of the other college football teams did that in early and mid-December. But the playoff teams, you know, everything gets pushed back. I'm anticipating changes. I'm guessing there's changes coming. I'll just be a little surprised if it's wholesale changes or something that's really loud that would end up on the front page of the New York Times.

I don't think it'd be anything like that. But I do think there will be some changes. As to the quarterback, super interesting. Some moving parts there. You know, Cha Simpson not only fractured a rib in the final game, that just added to the list of injuries he suffered. He was asked at the postgame to talk about what your health has been like over the second half of the season. And he didn't really want to answer the question. But, you know, I knew he was hurt. I talked about it here.

You know, he was clearly not avoiding. He clearly wasn't denying that he was hurt. I think, you know, it's a back issue. That's not the first time he hurt his ribs. He had an elbow issue. I think it just all added up. We have to remember that if you look back over the portions of the season when Ty Simpson was healthy, you know, he was being discussed as a Heisman candidate and perhaps even being the overall number one pick in the draft. The Ty Simpson we saw down the stretch was just simply not healthy.

I wonder, in retrospect, and it's so much easier to make decisions when you see how it worked out. In retrospect, maybe they should have gone to one of the other quarterbacks. Once Ty's injuries just mounted up and he just wasn't the player he was before. But he will be healthy in 2026. My guess is he returns to Alabama in part because of the health. Well, in part because of the health. I mean, to do well in the NFL draft process, you have to be able to work out, go to Indianapolis.

I'm not sure that Ty's going to be 100% healthy for spring practice at Alabama in terms of the myriad of issues. So, my guess is Ty returns if that's the case. I think the expectation is that Austin Mack would transfer. But I don't believe Keelan Russell's going anywhere. Jimmy, before we let you go, inside linebacker, Alabama loses three. Lawson, Jefferson, Hill Green. Would this be a big portal as far as bringing in maybe two guys? Well, I think you have to at least bring in one. They do like what they have.

Tate and Jones will be more ready to play. QB Reese, probably ready to play. Luke Metz looked pretty good on special teams. They have guys that they like. But having no one with appreciable experience is scary. I'll be shocked if they don't bring in at least one guy. And it has to be a guy like Hill Green a year ago. I mean, who came here as a second-team All-Big 12 player. I think you've got to go get somebody at least like Nakai Hill Green again. Absolutely. Jimmy, where can we get online to get the best coverage of Alabama sports with you and Luke Robinson?

Yeah, locked on Bama. New content every day. Obviously, we're going to be very portal-centric in the next few days because now to start next season, it's all about building the new roster. You know, who's going to be on the roster? Who's leading? Who's coming in? We'll have that for you. Locked on Bama on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Jimmy, happy 2026. Alabama football would like a mulligan right now, but assume it. Thank you so much. And stay safe out there, okay? Hey, appreciate it, guys.

Thanks. Thank you, baby. Jimmy Steincoe's locked on Bama. Quickly portal up Nate at least. That last report won. I don't think anybody's shot. Running back Richard Young looks like he's hitting a portal, BB. No surprise, Harold. What kind of surprises does Blake Lovell have in his bag? The details next on the BMO Buck Show. Stay with us. Just as successful offenses and defenses are built on teamwork, Woody Anderson Ford is powered by our people. Our sales and service teams are well-trained to save you time and money.

Because we want your business again and again. And no one will work harder to earn it. Proud to be locally family-owned and at your service for over 64 years. Woody Anderson Ford, roll tide. Hi, this is Christy with J.C. Hammond Sons. Did you know that J.C. Hammond Sons is the oldest family-owned hitting-air business in the Shows area? Over the years, we have helped thousands of customers achieve ideal home comfort. If you need help with your home comfort system, give us a call at 256-764-7386 or stop by our new location at 2536 Florence Boulevard.

[15:43] J.C. Hammond Sons, your comfort professionals. Serving the Shows since 1952. Alabama license, 83391. Sound familiar? At Mattress Firm, we understand there are many problems that can keep you up at night. Like snoring, aches and pains, or sleeping hot. Our sleep experts have the unrivaled know-how to match you with a mattress that can help. And now at Mattress Firm, save up to $500 on Tempur-Pedic, plus get a $300 instant gift. For the great sleep you deserve, visit Mattress Firm. We make sleep easy. Restrictions apply. See store or website for details.

Straight Talk presents The Math of More. Here's how it works. When you say yes to more with Straight Talk, you're left with more for all the other good stuff. So getting an unlimited plan starting at just $25 a month equals more savings for your family's weekend adventures. And with a network covered by Verizon, you can share more from wherever you go. It's simple math, really. More equals more with Straight Talk. Available at straighttalk.com and Walmart. Taxes and fees apply. The $25 plan requires a compatible unlocked device and a new line of service.

Additional terms apply. The college football playoff isn't over. Not yet. That epic run. That wild dream. Not over till the clock hits zero. Till the stadium shakes. Till the wild things are let loose. Till the trophy is lifted and the confetti falls. This is the national championship. When it's over, you'll feel it. This is the wild world of college football. The CFP National Championship. Monday, January 19th at 7.30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and the ESPN app. Empower! Tim collects bobbleheads. A lot of bobbleheads. Baseball bobbleheads.

Race car bobbleheads. Little chihuahua bobbleheads. He's got an entire room strictly for bobbleheads. Does he need them? No. Is his wife mad about it? A little. But Tim works with Empower and he got good at money. So he can be a little bad. Ooh, horse bobblehead. Classy, Tim. Empower. Invest well. Live a little. Start today at Empower.com. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama sports and it's brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Helping people get back to the life they love without their feet getting in the way.

Start your journey today at goodfeet.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. Here are some thoughts from Alabama football head coach Kalen DeBoer following Alabama's loss on Thursday to Indiana at the Rose Bowl. I just got to give a tip of the hat to, you know, Indiana and just everything that they did today in the game. And, you know, I think for us, it's a lot of emotions right now shared in the locker room. You know, we can be upset, you know, because losing doesn't sit well with us.

And, you know, we can be, you know, frustrated about it, but, and that's what our program's going to be is upset when these types of situations happen. And we've got to use it to fuel us moving forward. I think also, you know, obviously, I bet I'm going to be proud. I'm going to be proud of these guys. I'll have more in a moment. This is Christian Miller for the Good Feet Store. I know from playing football at Alabama and in the NFL that if you have foot, knee, hip, or back pain, it can be a huge challenge.

The Good Feet Store is designed to personally fit you with arc supports that alleviate and even eliminate your pain altogether. Try them before you buy them during your free, no obligation, personalized fitting, and you can wear them home the same day. So if you're looking to improve your game, the Good Feet Store has you covered. Stop in for a free, personalized fitting today. Roll to victory at goodfeet.com. That's goodfeet.com. Roll Tide. Join us this weekend for Alabama basketball. First up on Saturday, the Crimson Tide men's basketball team starts SEC play against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. Central with our coverage on the network beginning at 10. Then on Sunday, Alabama women's basketball will have its SEC home opener as the Crimson Tide will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Tip-off at 2 and our airtime at 1.45 across the network. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Very happy that you're able to kick off this brand new year with us here.

And the same can be said for Blake Lovell. He's got the entire ACC's covered at Southeastern 16. His podcast is established a past. You can pick up his yearbook. It's called The Blue Ribbon. Here at Blake Lovell, welcome in. Happy New Year to you. How are you? Yeah, happy New Year, guys. Good to talk to you as always. You too. The SEC rocking and rolling yesterday. Some of them doing more rocking than rolling. Georgia loses by five. Alabama by five touchdowns. Blake, your take on the quarters yesterday.

Yeah. Tell of two games, wasn't it? In terms of excitement level, I think, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I just probably nothing no one else has already said about Indiana-Alabama. I mean, it was just simply a game where one team was just a lot better. And that's kind of what it came down to. And I thought up front, you know, kind of the story in multiple of these SEC bowl games, honestly. I think you've seen these Big Ten teams that, you know, on the line. It's what we always say, right?

[21:02] The game starts at the line of scrimmage, and it just feels like the SEC doesn't, you know, kind of have that edge the way they used to in that area. And I think we've kind of seen that in some of these games. But, yeah, it was one where having a great quarterback, great coach doesn't hurt too much. And I think that's what Indiana has right now. And they're working at their advantage and should be the favorite to win it all. And then, you know, for Georgia and Ole Miss, I mean, I think, again, it kind of comes down to when you get the quarterback play that they've gotten from Jambliss this year, I think we kind of realize that nothing's really off limits for Ole Miss when you have a guy like that who has kind of emerged the way he has this entire season.

And, you know, it felt like a game that Ole Miss, you know, pretty much should have won. And then Georgia comes back, makes it, you know, kind of a game where you're thinking, uh-oh, this is what Georgia does. But what do you know? Ole Miss kind of pulls it out at the end. And, listen, I think we're headed towards an Ole Miss-Indiana national championship game. Just think about that, guys. If we had said that four months ago, imagine the looks we'd have gotten, right? Blake, I agree with you.

Trinidad Jambliss made five plays in the fourth quarter that an NFL defense could not have stopped. Even as good as Kirby Smart and Schumann are defensively, Trinidad Jambliss is playing on another level. Yeah, and he is, and I think it's just kind of, you know, when you look at what he's doing, and like I said, I mean, if it holds true, if it is those two teams in the national championship, I think you could very well just say, well, what's the big reason they got here?

I mean, it's the two quarterbacks. And really, you know, with Schumann, that's the level he's reached now. He's just someone where, like you said, Brad, I mean, you just look at all the big plays he makes, not just in that latter part of the game. There were some key sequences, I thought, kind of as they started to make their comeback. You know, you're thinking, look at 21-12, and you're just kind of like, all right, this is what Georgia will do. You know, they'll kind of come out.

They'll just kind of methodically, you know, grind this one away. But it was just, they kept hitting every single kind of big play, whether it was third down or whatever. Jambliss just kept hitting big play after big play. And, look, some of that obviously helped from the receivers, but he made some throws. Like you said, I mean, NFL defense is hard to stop it in terms of where he's putting the ball on some of them. So, that's been the difference. And, you know, with Lacey, we talked about him all year.

I still, for some reason, he's just not gotten enough credit. And just the combination of the two, my goodness, what a win for the Rebels. Great level of huddle with us. You mentioned the physicality. You look, and I saw some of the comments from Signetti and others last night, basically, either directly or indirectly, saying they're soft. How much of an influence is the NIL? These guys saying, man, I can't get hit. It may cost me some money. In your opinion, how much of it is that?

Is that strictly a perception? And back to Bama, I think it's safe to say that if Ken and the board doesn't know it now, he's going to find out. Four lost seasons is not the way to stay in Tuscaloosa employed. No, it's not. And, look, I think I was having this conversation with someone last night, Harold. I think it is one where soft is probably the right word to use. And I think one of the things that's maybe a little underrated in a conversation like this is I think now in this era where everyone is getting paid so much money and how much NIL is factoring into it, I don't think we can sort of discount the idea that think about how long that people, whether it's high-profile SEC programs like Alabama or Georgia or anywhere else, have just been told you are the best.

It's like you are the best of the best, but sometimes you can go out and you can just kind of get by on that. You can get by on your talent. You're a more talented player and all this other stuff. But as we're seeing, that's not the game anymore. It's not just a matter of saying, hey, I'm the best and I can go out and just beat people. No, because then you've got situations like we see in Indiana where you've got a team that isn't full of the best of the best when it comes to talent, but it's the best team.

And I think that's where the NIL stuff is separating those people who can still play the game kind of the way it's always been played and those who are not really that upset if the game doesn't go their way because they can simply go back and look at the bank account and everything's fine. It's such a different dynamic, and I think that's where we see now the Big Ten kind of eclipsing the SEC the way that they are. At this moment, for whatever reason, I think it's, you know, the SEC can tell we got all this money and all this other stuff, but that only goes so far when it comes to the results, and this season we're seeing the results.

Blake, I think one of the reasons they can beat their chance is, pardon me, the Big Ten won close games. Tennessee, Vandy, LSU, Missouri, and the SEC, again, you've got so many opt-outs, you've got coaching changes, a lot of those teams lost close games at the end. And it's been unmerciful on social media now about how the Big Ten has taken over the SEC, but when you look at it overall, four or five of these teams should have won games at the end, but for whatever reason, they just didn't make the play, and a lot of these Big Ten teams did.

[26:19] Yeah, and I think it really does to me, and, you know, some of that context is, listen, anyone who wants to tout that some of these bowl games that are not college football playoff games, that they have some grand meaning. They don't. Like, there's just, in this era, I just, I think, again, we've talked about it many times, the bowl games outside of the ones that actually matter have not ever been sort of blessed in terms of, you know, just, again, transfers, NIL, all this other stuff.

But I do think, you know, it does go back to kind of the way the game is played up front, and I think that's where, like I said, I feel like if there's one thing that I've seen the most in these kind of games, and specifically it has been the SEC versus Big Ten time matchups. It's just, for whatever reason, you're seeing SEC teams that you're not used to seeing get pushed around a lot more, and I just think, again, that's something we're just not used to, because that was kind of one of the reasons.

We could talk about star players and five stars and all this for all these years, but I still think the reason the SEC's had so much success over the decades is just they've always invested in the line play, and they've gotten the best out of it, whereas I think right now the Big Ten has clearly said, you know what, I will take that. The records, they say the facts don't lie, just look it up, and it verifies what you're saying. Quickly, if you don't mind, let's switch gears.

What they used to say in Brooklyn after another bad year was always next year. I guess in the case of a lot of SEC teams, there's basketball season. It gets rocking in earnest tomorrow. Your thoughts about one of the headliners, Alabama and Kentucky? Yeah, it's a fascinating game, guys, and I think the reason why is because these are two teams that we've just not seen at full strength this year, and I think they, you know, both teams have just had so many games without key players, and I feel like that is kind of the story here.

Who's going to play and who's not going to play? It seems like Kentucky is about as a full strength as they've been all year. Jaden Gwain is going to be the story of this game, obviously the big man up front, you know, and I think he's changed the dynamic for them the past two games and why Kentucky has gotten back on track. Meanwhile, with Alabama, it sounds like Bylon's going to play, which obviously, you know, that's a significant piece of the puzzle there. And I just, I think that's the thing for me.

I've said it. I think Alabama is still the team at full strength that has the highest potential of any team in the SEC just because I think their guard play is what it is. I think their front court's been underrated. I don't know why Aiden Shirell has not gotten a little bit more love. He's played pretty well in these big games, even once they've lost. So this is a great game, guys, to open up SEC play. I think it'll tell us a lot about Alabama, and it should tell us a lot about Kentucky because, you know, again, talent-wise, they might be the most talented team in the SEC, but it's going to be a tough one to go in and win tomorrow, I think.

Blake, you do a great job with the weekly wrap-up, your best team so far, and I can't disagree with you, an undefeated Vanderbilt team at 13-0. Tell us about Vandy and also where can we get online and get your weekly wrap-up and all the great podcasts. Yeah, I always appreciate it, guys. Yeah, I mean, Vanderbilt, you know, at this point, they've got the best resume. I think they've got the best team. They've got two first-team all-SEC guys, Tyler Tanner, Luke Miles, of course, with Oklahoma last year.

They've looked the part. They've got a tricky road game tomorrow. I'm just going to throw this one out there. South Carolina has pretty much been in every game they've played in this season, even the ones they've lost. You could see a bit of a slow start from Vanderbilt in that one, but I just think they've been too good. But, yeah, we'll have it all covered over at Southeastern 16. You can find us. We'll have all of our live shows reacting to the big games tomorrow in SEC basketball, plenty of football stuff coming up as well.

Yeah, find us at Southeastern 16 on YouTube. Blake, as always, we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. Thanks so much, and stay safe up there in the music city, okay? Thanks, guys. You too. Thank you, bud. Blake Love, a little busy there at Southeastern 16. Who else is going to be joining Alabama and Ohio State on the couch to watch the semis and finals? How about Bill Shanks and Georgia fans next? Stay with us. Get fit and fab this new year at YMCA of the Shoals with 24-7 access and no joining fee if you sign up before January 31st.

The YMCA has leading-edge fitness equipment, year-round swimming, dozens of group exercise classes per week, and a family atmosphere. Elevate your fitness journey with YMCA of the Shoals, where health meets community. Join before January 31st with no joining fee, and start 2026 off right. 256-246-9622 or YMCA Shoals.org. Hello, my name is Keith Medley, and I'm an attorney with the law firm of Johnson, Passeur, Medley & Burchill. Why call an out-of-town lawyer when you can call our law firm, which has over 100 years of combined experience in all areas of the law?

Check us out first by calling our office at 256-766-3131. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. Mugshots Grill & Bar has a winning lineup with their limited-time offers. Choose from the smoky bourbon maple stack with two kid burgers, or the pretzel basket with four pretzel sticks sprinkled with kosher salt. You must try the Chili Trio, which is a cup of cheesy chili, or the Nashville Hot Tacos, three flour tortillas with three Nashville Hot chicken tenders.

[31:40] Happy hour is two to six daily, and get $3 mimosas and $5 Bloody Marys until three on Saturdays and Sundays. Watch the game with our game day pitchers. So grab your friends and head to Mugshots for beer, burgers, and ball in historic downtown Florence. I know that hiring can be challenging. You sort through tons of resumes, and you get too many so-so applicants. You're just waiting for someone to match your role perfectly. Well, now there's a place where you can meet them fast. Zip Recruiter. Just head to ZipRecruiter.com slash free right now to try it for free, and you're on your way to meeting your match.

Four out of five employers who post on Zip Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. So try it now. Go to ZipRecruiter.com slash free. Once again, that's ZipRecruiter.com slash free. Hey, fans. Welcome back to Fansville's Cheers and Tears. Okay, so like everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival on a last-second field goal. Whatever, it's fine. I'm totally fine. But I cope with losing with an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm, those 23 flavors are like so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L.

College football. It's a pepper thing. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband, Ryan, died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage. No medical exams. And you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash game. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash game. Time spent on application may vary.

Online health questions required. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93-9. The score. In the college football playoff yesterday, Alabama couldn't find its offense. They were beaten by Indiana in the Rose Bowl, 38-3. Georgia's season came to an end. The Bulldogs tried to rally, but Ole Miss got a late field goal to take the lead and win the Sugar Bowl, 39-34. Atlanta Falcons are home Sunday afternoon. They'll wrap up. Bring the matchup. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash, presented by Progressive on 93-9, the score.

Taxes was feeling so stuck. Sitting in traffic, squeezing into a parking spot, all to squeeze in getting tax help during your lunch break. Now Taxes is a TurboTax expert who does your taxes for you, while you go about your day getting real-time notifications about their progress and the most money back guaranteed. Now this is Taxes. Intuit TurboTax. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees. Only available with TurboTax experts. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. Are you tired of high cable TV rates? Sign up for DISH today and get a $500 bonus offer while supplies last.

Plus, lock in your price for two years guaranteed. Call All-American DISH, your DISH-authorized retailer now. 800-296-1251. 800-296-1251. That's 800-296-1251. Offers require credit qualification, 24-month commitment, early termination fee, and e-autopay. Restrictions apply. Call for details. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9, The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. What would a Friday be without Mr. Bill? Bill Shanks is host of The Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM over in Macon, Georgia. Online, anytime at thesesuperstations.com and on the tube at 41NBC. Bill Shanks, on behalf of your fan club here, they want to know how your blood pressure is now compared to where it was late last night.

How are you? Well, I'm doing what all Alabama fans do. When they lose, I'm blaming the coaches. There you go. Bill, obviously, that was a crazy game in itself. You sit here, and it was the battle of the Knicks boys. You got Pete Golding over here, and you got Kirby over here. Where do you start in breaking down? From a Georgia perspective, I know this part of it's kidding, part of it's serious, but your thoughts just about the matchup overall, now that you've had a little time to think about it.

[36:46] Well, before you can complain about Georgia, and I had to sit down on our midday show and stress this, and I'll stress it again this afternoon, the credit has to go to Ole Miss. Yep. That Corbin's good, isn't he? Oh, my God. I mean, there's Stetson Bennett. You know, he came out of nowhere, and look what he's doing. But when your team loses, you only look out of your lens. Why did we lose? Why did we suck? Why did we do this? Why did we do that?

What if we had done this? But you also sometimes have to look at the other team. They were better than Georgia last night, and there's no question about it. I mean, they outplayed Georgia, outcoached Georgia. Kirby Smart said it himself, and it's true. I mean, they did. It would almost have been criminal if they had lost because of how well they played compared to Georgia. So that being said, you know, Georgia lost two games this year, and I think coaching decisions played a big part in that.

I think they really had some coaching decisions from Kirby that were mistakes. And, you know, look, I mean, he's won two national championships. That does not mean he's immune from criticism or immune from taking blame, but I think he had a bad game plan going in. I think the screw-up on the fourth down when they were pretty backed up and set the ball and gave Ole Miss a gift was ridiculous. He said it was on the coaching staff, so there you go. And then I think at the end when they were third and goal for the sixth and they decided to pass it, they made a mistake because if they'd have run the ball, even if they had fallen short and not gotten in the end zone and had to settle for a tie, they would at least have gotten the clock down more to where they would have not given Ole Miss the 51 seconds that they had.

Maybe 31 seconds or 35 seconds may have made it a little bit more difficult for Chandler to do what he did. So I think Kirby has to take the blame on this. I really do. Uh, Bill, listen, I'll say this, um, and again, I have way to defend Kirby because you had to keep moving the ball the way Ole Miss's offense is. And I know how good Kirby and Schumann are, but Trinidad Chambliss made five plays in the fourth quarter, three consecutive plays that most NFL defenses could not have defended.

He was on an elite level last night. And I know, again, I thought Ole Miss might be able to outscore Georgia, but Chambliss just played on another level last night. Well, he did. And you know what? He was the best player on the field. And sometimes, um, sometimes a team can overcome a best player on the, on the other side being the one that's the best player on the field. Sometimes they can't. And Georgia couldn't, couldn't stop him. I mean, um, we'll see how he does against Miami and within if we'll, if he gets to Indiana or Oregon, we'll see how he does.

I mean, last night he was the best player on that team and, and, and no tremendous respect for that young man. Again, he's, he's Stetson Bennett. He, he, you know, he came out of nowhere, Ferris State and, and, and, and wasn't supposed to start and look at what they're doing. I mean, it's very similar to what Stetson did five years ago. So it's, um, it was something to see and they couldn't catch him and they, they, um, could not stop him. They couldn't get to him.

You know, the pass rush was not there. Like it had been in the latter part of the year, one of the big pass rushers was out. And, and I don't think they had anybody else step up and, and help that situation, which was a problem. There's no question. So yeah, he, he, he deserves more credit than, I mean, he, you know, we don't need to bury the lead with him. He needs to be the top of the fold. Those change these few prestations.com bill, you know, it is people tend in a moment to say, this is the new trend, uh, me and that, uh, we were talking, going into the break that Georgia, Alabama and Ohio state, the blue bloods will be watching the resummies and the finals on the couch together.

Who'd have thunk that potentially in Indiana Ole Miss matchup, who'd have thunk that your thoughts of where we are, because you look at the old playbook. You went out like Nick and Kirby, when he went to Georgia, you recruit every five-star you can, you supplement with four stars, and then you just hold on and win because you got depth. Your thoughts just about where we're going after what happened last night, Alabama, unlike Georgia, just getting slaughtered at the altar. Your thoughts about the direction of this game and the blue bloods in college football with this new era.

Well, look, I mean, we, we, we knew that, that this playoff was going to, going to create the possibility for teams to be high at the right time, being the teams that could have success. There's no question with, with seven out of the eight idle by teams over the last two years, they've got to look at it. I think the schedule is ridiculous. Why they don't play on the week after the championship game is moronic to me. Why they wait two weeks is stupid. Um, I, I, I think that, you know, we, we talked about this a couple of years ago with the Braves, when they would win and get the buy in the baseball playoffs and they would have six days off and we're like, oh, you know, this is a day to day game.

[42:18] I don't know if that's a good thing. Well, it was, I mean, they didn't, they didn't look good two years in a row and they changed their style of what they did to prepare for it and it still didn't work. They look rusty and I just think you have to ride that momentum, but I think that, you know, just talk about, well, the, I saw a headline when I was Jim this morning on ESPN, that stupid a** show that employs Cam Newton, which is ridiculous because the only thing I would like to ask Cam Newton is that you or your family ever financially benefit from attending Auburn University and, you know, with your hand on the Bible for an answer.

Yeah, yeah, put his hand in his hat maybe to get the hat off the TV, but, you know, they were talking about, well, it's the SEC done. I'm like, give me a freaking break. You know, I mean, by God, I mean, yeah, first of all, Oregon didn't really show very much. I thought that was, that didn't look like two championship playoff teams with Texas Tech and Oregon, to be honest with you. Miami, Miami, I'm not surprised by Miami. My, I think the surprise is coming from that fact, well, they didn't even, their championship game, but that's the ACC's moronic stupidity, right?

Yeah. We know that. Miami's a good team. They've got a good line of scrimmage on both sides. They've got great field players, receiver and running back. They've got a quarterback who knows what the h*** he's doing. The only thing they have to overcome is their moronic coach. I mean, I think Mario's an idiot, to be honest with you, but I think they've got a good team. So, it's about teams getting high at the right time. I think it's about matchups. And, you know, look, playing teams, I always say this, playing teams, beating a team a second time is not easy.

I think that was the main reason Georgia beat Alabama, to be honest with you. I just think, you know, and now Georgia's had their way with Texas on several occasions when it comes to playing. Well, last year they did, on playing them a second time. But it's nothing I want to do, and I just feel overly confident about that game last night because of that. And, you know, Pete Golding deserves a lot of credit, too. And for them to overcome all the bull c*** they've had to deal with and to rise above that and to play hard and play their butt off and to want that game and to want to show with Lane Kiffin watching that they can win without him, they were determined to do that last night.

Absolutely. We've discussed this on your award-winning show, how difficult it's going to be moving forward with the ninth conference game. Again, Nick Saban figured out the system and utilized it to his advantage. But for teams to win back-to-back national championships, as Georgia did, and a ninth conference game, going to 16 teams in the playoff, how difficult is it going to be now just to win one national championship? Well, look, it's difficult to win any national championship. I mean, Georgia's two were tough. They were – I mean, the second one, obviously, with TCU was easy, but getting there was h*** on earth, right?

I mean, getting there to play with the Ohio State game was unbelievable. That was the two best teams in football that year. And Georgia won that game on a last-second shot or kick that didn't make it for Ohio State as the clock struck midnight at New Year's Eve. Winning national championships are tough. Alabama obviously did it and had success with it. You know, I think in the playoff era of what we have now is even more difficult. Yes, it is more difficult. I think it's even more difficult to win back-to-back.

I think it's going to be very difficult to win back-to-back for the current format and any format to come. If they move to 16, it's going to be tough. It's going to present parity. That and NIL is presenting parity in college football. And if that means the SEC is not as strong at the end, maybe that's the correct thing. But I still think that the SEC, that was a h*** of a football game last night. And that was two SEC teams duking it out. And I don't know if we've got three games left this season.

Will any of those three games match what we saw last night for those two SEC teams? I don't know if they can. So, after all that's said and done, Bill, your honest opinion, the Final Four is in the house. Who's going to survive respectively there? Who's going to play the national championship game? And who's going to be the new champion this year in the country? Well, I mean, I think Ole Miss and Miami is a true toss-up. I don't know. I don't know about that game.

A lot of scrimmage, again, like I said earlier, a lot of scrimmage skill players. You know, I mean, two different quarterbacks, the two that can definitely do damage. That's going to be a great game. I think in the end it's going to beat Oregon. I mean, I know that again, like I said, it's tough to beat Oregon. You could embarrass them again. Well, and, you know, and there's no question that if they don't beat Oregon, that it's tough to beat a team twice in one year that's going to come to play.

[47:41] But I just think with what, you know, and this spaghetti love is a little out of control, I think. But still, Mendoza's a tremendous player. He's good. He doesn't make mistakes. He's a fine young man. They've got mojo of a champion right now, and sometimes it's hard to beat that. So I think Indiana's going to be hard to beat in the end. I think they'll beat Oregon, and I think whether it's Miami or Ole Miss, it's going to be hard to beat Indiana. Let me ask you before we let you go, anything new as far as a durable, long-term starting pitcher for the Braves January, February?

Well, not yet. Obviously, January's going to be very active because there's still a ton of free agents left on the list, a lot of unsigned players. I mean, you know, we're six weeks away from spring training starting. And, you know, another thing we've got to think about is that we're in the last year before this collective bargaining thing hits the fan again. Right. It's causing some issues, I think, already with how teams are treating the potential for long-term contracts. So, you know, there are going to be rumors and so forth.

I mean, I hope Atlanta gets somebody. I do. I hope it's not someone that takes up that draft pick. It's a qualifier. I hope they'll stay away from those players. I mean, I still think Chris Bassett would be a decent addition, a third starter, someone who could eat innings for you in the middle of the rotation. But if they don't get anybody and they're going to make all these players that were hurt last year to come back, I think they're making a terrible mistake. The only thing that I believe is that J.R. Ritchie, the young rookie, is going to make an impact this year.

And I wonder if they don't do anything if they – I mean, I know they love J.R. Ritchie like I do, but it's always hard to project a rookie to help your team. And I just think, even with my affection and belief in his potential, I think that Atlanta should still go get somebody else. So – but it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the month of January. It should be very active all over the sport. Well, listen, have a great 20-26. Thank you for sharing 20-25 and about 20 others with us.

Where can we get on line and some of our guys call in? And if any Big Ten callers call you this afternoon, or you can hang up on them. Yeah, they better stay away from me. And if I hear the kind of hotty-totty bull c***, they're going to have words. That's for sure. So, anyway, thesuperstations.com will be on 3 o'clock Eastern time, 2 o'clock Central. Bill, if they open up with saying, hey, you guys, instead of y'all, you know to hang up right there. Bill, listen, man, thanks for your time today, and stay safe out there.

Okay, buddy? Thank you. All right, bye-bye. Thank you, buddy. Bill Shanks, thesuperstations.com. Coming up, what's going on down to the plains, where are things as far as the portal and transfers and all that stuff? Justin Ferguson on that, the National Perspectives, the Bill Bender and Mike Huguenet. It's all straight ahead of the Boom on Bug Show. Stay with us. Bring the flavor that wins every time. Champy's world-famous fried chicken. Tailgate like a champ with our legendary fried chicken, award-winning smoked hot wings, and don't forget those Mississippi Delta hot tamales that will light up your taste buds.

Feed your whole crew with a Champy's tailgate pack. Packed, stacked, and ready for kickoff. Champy's Chicken, East 2nd Street and Muscle Shoals, world-famous for a reason. Let the million-dollar band, including six Muscle Shoals high school grads, get you ready for Champy's Chicken and the game. Cash back is not available on gas in New Jersey and Wisconsin. Billy, your gas light's on. We need to stop and fill up. No way, Jen. Gas around here is too expensive. We can make it a little further. Billy, listen to your big sister.

You don't need to drive all over searching for the lowest gas prices. Do what I do and use Upside. Upside? Do you live under a rock, Billy? Upside is the hottest cash back app out there. It's free to download, and you get real cash back for every gallon of gas you buy. I use it all the time, and I've already made around 200 bucks. You can make that kind of cash back just for buying the gas you have to buy anyway? Yes, I'm looking at the Upside app now, and there's a gas station at the next exit offering 25 cents per gallon cash back.

Okay, I'm stopping to download Upside and fill up my tank. Download the free Upside app now to earn cash back every time you buy gas. Use promo code MATCH to get an extra 25 cents per gallon on your first tank. You can cash out any time right to your bank, to PayPal, or a gift card for Amazon and other brands. Just download the free Upside app and use promo code MATCH for a 25 cents per gallon bonus on your first tank. That's code MATCH for a 25 cents per gallon bonus.

Oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly! Trust the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts to recommend the products for your next oil change. Right now, get five quarts of Valvoline full synthetic motor oil and a Wix filter for $35.99. Plus, get a $15 gift card after rebate. Limit supply. See your O'Reilly Auto Parts store for details or shop O'ReillyAuto.com. Oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly! Auto Parts. Charge apart, stepping up! It's time to level up your game. Introducing the all-new ESPN app. All of ESPN, all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments.

[53:16] The electricity is palpable. Step up your game with no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience. Level up for more on the ESPN app or at stream.espn.com. Sign up now. Some people just know you can save money on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like you know to check the weather first. Before wearing face paint to the game. Bro, your Go Cats is dripping into your nachos. Oh, and now paint is in my eyes. Interception! Did you see that? No! Yeah, checking first is smart.

So check Allstate first and see what you can save. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, including based on how you buy. Subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate, North American Insurance Company and affiliates. Northbrook, Illinois. 1819 News. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville had some very choice words for the new mayor of New York City. Muslim socialist Zoran Mamdani took his oath of office on the Koran rather than the Bible when he was sworn in by New York State Attorney General Letitia James on New Year's Day.

Senator Tuberville has been very outspoken about Islamic ideology as well as socialist ideology that are in direct contradiction to American values, Christian values, and the U.S. Constitution. Tuberville has even offered a bill that would ban the practice of Sharia law throughout the United States. Tuberville took to social media the day that Mamdani was sworn into office, saying that the enemy is now inside the gates. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Where I was living was not a great place to live anymore.

I began to pray for a place to go, praying for all of these things that a nine-year-old would want. I wanted horses, big house with a bunch of people my age. I wanted parents. I wanted a mom and a dad. Before I even prayed it, the Lord had already answered my prayer with the Big Oak Ranch. Who would that nine-year-old be if she never came to the Big Oak Ranch? I would be trying to fight for survival instead of fighting to break a cycle. Big Oak Ranch, a Christian home for children needing a chance.

A shooting occurred in Hartzell on New Year's Day. One person is now dead, another under arrest. The fatality has been identified as 35-year-old Stephen McCulloch of Hartzell. 67-year-old Roger Clayton is now facing murder charges. Investigators say a dispute erupted between the two men. Mobile police are investigating a shooting that occurred on New Year's Eve in that city. A man was found by police with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. No suspect has been located at this time. Overall, Mobile had a very safe and celebratory New Year's Eve with the annual moon pie drop over Mobile.

About 6,000 people came out for the festivities in the downtown area with extra security, ensuring a safe experience for all. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. United Way of Northwest Alabama is thrilled to announce the return of its signature fundraising gala, Shoals Royale, on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at the Renaissance Shoals Conference Center. This black-tie optional casino-themed event brings all the glitz and excitement of Las Vegas to the Shoals, complete with live entertainment, gaming tables, prices, hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar, and all for a great cause.

Now in its fourth year, Shoals Royale has become one of Northwest Alabama's premier charity events, uniting local businesses, community leaders, and residents for a night of luxury and purpose. Proceeds directly benefit United Way of Northwest Alabama and the 12 local non-profit partners and 22 community programs and funds. Individual tickets are $125 or $200 per couple, or go in VIP style for $350 or $600 per couple. Shoals Royale, 2026, Saturday, February 21, at 7 p.m. at the Renaissance Shoals Conference Center. Tickets are available now at givebutter.com slash ShoalsRoyale2026. Hey, fans! Welcome back to Fansville's Cheers!

And tears! Oh! Okay, so like, everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival on a last-second field goal. Whatever, it's fine. I'm totally fine. But I cope with losing with an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm, those 23 flavors are, like, so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L. College football. It's a pepper thing. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband, Ryan, died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance.

The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage. No medical exams, and you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash game. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash game. Time spent on application may vary. Online health questions required. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, the Shores. Sports Radio 93.9 The Score. High school basketball season is here, and is your home for Florence Falcons athletics.

93.9 The Score is proud to bring you a select lineup of games. This Saturday, the Falcons take on the Sipsi Valley Bears in the Grind to Shine Classic. Their time is approximately 6 p.m. with a tip at 6.15 here on 93.9 The Score. Florence Falcons basketball is brought to you by Florence Utilities, Florence City Schools, the law firm of Johnson, Pasteur, Medley, and Burchill, North Alabama Bone & Joint Clinic, T&T Fireworks, Yogurt Mountain, Whataburger, Singing River Dentistry, Bank Independent, Lost Pizza, Irons Electric, Cypress Creek Range, and Hinegar Johnson & Layton Insurance.

[58:48] Florence and Sipsi Valley, this Saturday at approximately 6 p.m. on 93.9 The Score. Hey, Florence Falcons fans, can't make it to the games? Join Kevin Johnson and the rest of the Falcons radio crew streaming live on the 93.9 The Score app. Available for both Apple and Android users. Live streams are also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just ask Alexa to tune in to 93.9 The Score and go Falcons! 93.9 The Score weather. For today, an 80% chance of mostly afternoon showers, high around 60 tonight. A 90% chance of showers, low near 50 tomorrow.

Partly sunny skies, high around 60 tomorrow night. Mainly clear skies, low near 35. And Sunday, mostly sunny skies, high around 50. Your weather from 93.9 The Score. Now, get ready to roll. Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM sports voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the tie. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley.

And for Mike Kugin, taking time out of his busy schedules, National College football slash basketball analyst down in Orlando, Florida. Mike, welcome in to the day and to the new year. How are you? Doing quite well. Mike, let's talk a little bit about it. Obviously, the quarterfinals. Both Georgia and Alabama taking a seat amongst others. Let's start, if you don't mind, obviously, with Alabama. Kind of eerie how the beginning and the ending of their season had a lot of similarities, Mike. Beaten up at the line of scrimmage.

That's obviously, if you're a Tide fan, a Tide coach, a Tide player, that's alarming. The running game was not good all season. I think that's a direct reflection of the offensive line being not very good. And the defensive front, I think, yesterday, it got worn down. Indiana is a very physical team. They impose their will. And that's got to be sort of an eye-opener for Alabama fans. That, you know, for 15 years, Alabama imposed its will on everybody to play. Indiana, you know, Kurt Cignetti has built his team from the inside out.

Thank you. With guys who weren't very highly recruited. And they just pounded on the Tide yesterday. That was a physical demolition. Mike, obviously, the key to life is, I was just telling my wife this morning, I promise you, four teams remain. And you can take this to the bank. Three of them is going to go away with a loss. It's one thing to lose. It's another one to get blown out. The question is, what are you going to learn from? In the case of Alabama, if you are DeBoer, where do you start as far as the portal, as far as making quote adjustments on your staff?

It's one thing to have problems. You better have a problem solver if you're going to get better going forward. I have been under the assumption that Alabama spends heartily on its roster. They're not Oregon, or Texas. I'm not even sure they're Texas Tech level. But I think in Georgia, I think to the same extent now, I think when Saban was there and when Smart has been in Georgia, they had a built-in advantage in that, yeah, you can go place X. And this was not, you know, obviously Saban wasn't in there with the NIL full-on effect.

But, you know, I think people are being naive if they didn't think there was money involved in college football forever. But Alabama has lost its advantage. I think Georgia has lost its advantage. You're going to come here. You're going to be developed. You're going to make a ton of money in the NFL. I think that the new NIL era is come here and play. You'll make a ton of money in NIL. Not NFL, NIL. NIL. I think there are players out there in the portal from a wide variety of schools that can help Alabama up front on both sides of the ball, if nothing else, than provide depth on the defensive front.

You know, Alabama used to roll out three deep defensive lines with very rarely a drop-off in talent. Well, there was a marked drop-off yesterday. The offensive line wasn't very good all year. And I'll be honest, I watch a lot of NFL football. The idea that Caden Proctor is a first-round left tackle. I would not want my team drafting him. But Alabama's got to get better up front on both sides of the ball. And that, my assumption is, the board knows that. The staff knows that. The acquisition staff knows that.

[1:04:10] Now they've got to go out there and bring in guys, big-bodied guys who can play. Mike, it really helps when you've got a magician at quarterback. And that's what Trinidad Chambliss looked like in the fourth quarter. He made some NFL plays to keep drives going. And even as good as Schumann and Kirby are, they could not keep up with him. And Pete Golding's a pretty good coach. We'll find out in the years to come. Mike, your thoughts on an impressive win by Ole Miss? You know, I thought Gunnar Stockton played well.

And that dude took some monster hits. He did. I mean, there was that one hit where he threw the ball and got – I'm surprised he didn't get cut in half literally because he got smoked. But Chambliss, he kept plays alive. And some of his most miraculous plays didn't go for 40 yards. They went for like seven. I'm specifically thinking about the play where he dropped back about 25 yards, escaped three potential sacks, and threw it to a dude on the sideline. And I think they gained seven yards.

But he was – you know, the first time they played, Ole Miss was unstoppable for three quarters. Alabama – I'm sorry, Alabama. Georgia stopped Ole Miss a couple times early, but Ole Miss was unstoppable in the fourth quarter this time. Yeah. And I was – after Georgia tied it, I was convinced, okay, this game's going OT. But then Chambliss threw that absolute dime down the field. Just a phenomenal throw. Ole Miss won. And Ole Miss, this is another team. This isn't exactly a team made up of five-star athletes.

The guy who made the big catch is a Penn State transfer. Penn State's passing attack has been horrible for five years. Ole Miss' entire starting defensive line was high school recruits. The entire back seven was transfers. So, you know, developing players still does matter. But Ole Miss did a great job in the transfer portal. Trinidad Chambliss, to me, was the most impressive quarterback in the quarterfinals. I know Mendoza played well. He didn't really have to play well, though. I mean, that was a destruction. But if Chambliss had not played like he did, Georgia would have advanced.

But Trinidad Chambliss wins a Division II national title last year. And by God, he could win a Division I title this year, which is sort of incredible. And the idea that you could have Indiana Ole Miss playing for the national title. That's right. Welcome to 2026. Right. I mean, if you're an old-school college football fan, your head has been blown by Indiana for much of the last two years. But they looked tremendous yesterday, Indiana. Let me ask you about Ole Miss. They're going to be in Indiana.

They're going to be the darlings right now as far as the non-college football fan. But your thoughts about Lane. I thought one of the Ole Miss players summed it up best. I don't have the specific name in front of me. But to paraphrase what he says, Lane is being Lane. He's trying to take some of our shine. I think he went to ESPN and basically stomped to get on the camera just to sell and get portal entries and all that stuff. And the ESPN's credit. They said, no.

Why are you showing up at Sugar Bowl? You're not in it. Ole Miss is in it. You're not. Your thoughts about what's going on there and you look at Lane and when you put the check in his hands that he's going to have with the potential of LSU's brand, where are they going to go down the road? Yeah. I think first, I'll be honest. If Lane Kiffin's known for making bonehead decisions in big games, Golding has not made a bonehead decision. That's right. I think you could argue that the first half clock mismanagement was on the tight end more than the coaching staff.

Because you've got to think that they were told, get out of bounds after you catch the path. The bizarre coaching decision was made by Kirby Smart going forward in his own 32 or 33 or whatever. As they did Alabama. Basically. And then Kiffin is a tension monger. I'll use that word. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. But, you know, I think it's obvious that LSU is preparing to spend a bunch of money. They basically told a starting offensive line in the SEC, Lee, we don't care. So, that's going to cost a lot of money.

The quarterback's going to cost a lot of money. My presumption is they've kept Harlem Barry. He didn't stay there out of his goodness of his heart. There'll be a lot of wide receivers making money. Defensively, there'll be guys making money. And so, LSU is paying Lane a lot, and Lane will be paying his players a lot. But I think one thing you look at with Ole Miss, some of the transfers at Indiana and Ole Miss, for the most part, were not big-name guys. Blue-collar guys who worked hard.

[1:09:25] Right. You're right. Blue-collar guys who, and I think those two schools specifically show that maybe this guy can't do this. But all we want is a guy who plays 15 plays a game and is really good against the run. So, we're going to spend X amount of money on him playing 15 plays a game. It's like being a basketball coach. I've got this guy who can shoot well. He can't defend. He can't ball handle. He's going to play 15 minutes for me and score seven points. Right. I think defensively, you've got teams doing the exact same thing, offensively to an extent.

This guy can do this well, so that's what we're going to sign him for. He's a great blocking tight end. If he catches four passes on the season, all the better. So, Indiana and Ole Miss were very particular in what they got out of the portal. My assumption is that more and more schools are going to follow that blueprint. That's right. If Mike Huginnon was in charge of the college football playoff, and I wish he were, Peter Burns of the SEC Network had some interesting thoughts.

Top seeds or the teams that got by deserve a home playoff game. Having to wait 25 days to play a game is ridiculous. Portal openings before the title game is asinine. I think they're going to 16, and particularly with Notre Dame left out. What would you change for the college football playoff that we've seen in the last two days? That having the bye is a disadvantage. You know, in the old days when there were just four teams in it, everybody had the same amount of time off, and both teams were sort of finding themselves in the first quarter.

I think, yes, the last two days have shown that if you played in the first round, other than Georgia, Georgia looked pretty good early. Even Indiana, two of its first three plays, Mendoza was sacked. And I'm not sure Alabama even breathed on him the rest of the game. So, I think that having the time off is a disadvantage. I think you will see a 16-team playoff, and it will be one versus six. I think the portal calendar, I'm not sure how to fix that. I think, you know, if you want to wait until after the title game, that makes sense from a football standpoint.

It doesn't necessarily make sense from a class standpoint, but I'll take a half step back and say, I don't even think anybody cares about that anymore. Like, I have my daughter goes to the University of Florida, I have two nephews there, that they start school next Monday for the second semester. Well, you know, you've got kids, they're not going to make their decision by then. So, they're going to show up to classes two or three weeks late, and nobody cares. In the old days, they would have cared.

So, you know, if no one cares about academics, you're right, make the transfer portal the last two weeks of January. Don't be there in time for spring practice. You know, classes be d*****. Oh, we'll catch up online or whatever, which would be the answer. But the transfer portal calendar is a mess. The early recruiting signing period is a mess. A lot of stuff is a mess in football. I will say this, the day they play the games for college football is awesome. It's the other six days of the week that are so, so messed up.

I mean, the games were, the game on New York, the Miami-Ohio State game was a tremendous game. Last night's nightcap was a tremendous game. But, yeah, today all the h*** is broken loose. And it's going to be that way until the next games are played. Then we'll have two days of great stuff. And then more h*** will break loose. So, college football is a great sport. The day the games are played, the rest of the time, it's a mess that I'm not sure how they're going to fix.

So, Mike, who's going to play for all the marbles? And who's going to walk away with the top prize in college football this season? Indiana will beat Oregon again. Which is, again, Indiana playing for the national title. And I'm going to ride with Ole Miss. I guess there is a story crop up today. Will the Ole Miss assistants who are going to LSU be allowed to coach the next round? And I'm thinking, nobody is that small-minded. And I'm like, oh, well, yeah, it is. It's Lane Kippen.

Yeah, they are. But I'm going to ride with Ole Miss because I think Trinidad, Chambliss, that kid, you know, it's weird. You know, Carson Beck has played major college football for seemingly a decade now. I trust Chambliss more than I trust Carson Beck. And I still think that Mario Cristobal will make a bonehead decision. We haven't seen any in two games. That's still out there. I think that's a unanimous opinion. My great stuff, buddy. Have a great 2026. Let's do this again next Friday. Mike Kuegan with us.

[1:14:48] National College football slash basketball analyst. Coming up, we mentioned Richard Young from Alabama. The five-star running back coming out of high school has entered a portal. Another five-star coming out of high school has entered a portal in Tuscaloosa. Details on that and more straight ahead. Stay with us. Florence Utilities now offers new bill pay options. Sign up for paperless, auto pay, text pay, and more to make your life easier. When you go green and go paperless, you'll no longer have paper bills filling up your mailbox and you'll be helping the environment.

Sign up for text pay. Bill notifications go directly to your phone by text. Click the link and easily view and pay your bill. To take advantage of these convenient ways to view and pay your utility bill, visit FlorenceAL.org front slash enroll or call 760-6512 for more information. Hello, Shoals. It's Elmer Pierce from Garner Pierce Autos. Are you tired of being told that it will take two weeks to service your vehicle or even to look at it to tell you what's wrong with it? Are you tired of being told that it's going to be $200 to $300 an hour for labor?

At Garner Pierce Autos, we have four full-time certified and trained technicians that have over 75 years of automotive service experience. We service vehicles of every make and model and do anything from oil changes to engine and transmission replacements. We're your one-stop shop for servicing your entire fleet or your personal vehicle. We have every accessory for your car, truck, van, or SUV. 4.9 stars on Google and Facebook. Garner Pierce Autos on Florence Boulevard right next to Appleby's, where it's our business to earn your business. You still thinking job change in the new year?

Yeah, I need something that's in high demand and more stable in this economy. IT? Yeah, cybersecurity, maybe even AI. That's what I did. Really? How? Went to my computer career. You don't need any prior experience, and you could start your new career in a matter of months. A lot of IT pros go to school there, too, to level up. Sweet. Are classes online or on campus? Both. Wow, I'll check it out. Thanks. Make this your year. Take the free career evaluation now at mycomputercareer.edu, an Elite CompTIA certification partner.

Financial aid is available to those who qualify, including VA benefits. Are you paying too much for term life insurance? A man age 50, non-tobacco user can obtain $500,000 of coverage for as little as $110 per month level rate for 20 years. That's right, guaranteed level rate for 20 years. Call Term Busters for a quote, 1-800-908-7636. You're probably paying more than you should. Call 1-800-908-7636. Sample rate for preferred non-tobacco rate class exam required to qualify. For details, call 1-800-908-7636. Paid for by Robert Livinger, insurance agent.

Rich Eisen here. Hiring for your small business can feel like a full-time job, but LinkedIn Jobs' AI assistant takes the heavy lifting out of it. It filters applicants based on the criteria you set and suggests 25 great fit candidates daily so you can invite them to apply and keep things moving. Hire right the first time. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash Eisen, then promote it to use LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant, making it easier and faster to find top candidates. That's linkedin.com slash Eisen to post your job for free.

Terms and conditions apply. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband, Ryan, died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and get same-day coverage, no medical exams, and you can get up to $3 million worth of coverage through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash game. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash game. Time spent on application may vary.

Online health questions required. We all hear the radio ads about the IRS. They tell you to be afraid, to be scared, and they try to frighten you into calling. I'm not here to do that. Tax relief advocates is different. TRA is here to tell you that if you owe money to the IRS, whether it's $5,000, $50,000, or $500,000, we have a solution. It doesn't matter if you're sitting in your car, at work, or with your kids, no matter where you are, call now. 800-575-6759. Don't lose hope. TRA can eliminate or reduce what you owe to the IRS.

There is zero risk to you. If we can't reduce your tax debt, then you pay nothing. Our passion is taxes and helping individuals fix their IRS problems. We have a five-star rating on Google and Yelp and an A-plus with the Better Business Bureau. You don't need to be afraid of the IRS any longer. End your tax nightmare today by visiting us online at TRA.com or call 800-575-6759. That's 800-575-6759. Tax Relief Advocates. Real solutions for real people. Actual price will depend on product and subscription plan, featured products, or compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality.

Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if appropriate. See website for details, restrictions, and important safety information. Want to boost in and out of the bedroom? HIMSS has you covered. Introducing a new two-in-one approach to level up your game. Tadalafil for better bedroom performance and Zinc for testosterone support. Put it all together and you've got what you need to turn things all the way up. Getting started is simple. Just go to HIMSS.com slash joy to start your free online visit.

[1:19:53] Through HIMSS, you can access ED treatments including pills, chews, and more. 100% online. No office visits. No pharmacy lines. Just fill out a simple intake form and a licensed medical provider will determine if treatment's right for you. If prescribed, it ships free and discreetly to your door. Find affordable treatment options at up to 95% less than brand names at HIMSS.com slash joy. That's HIMSS.com slash joy. H-I-M-S dot com slash J-O-Y. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. Obviously, BB, it's been a busy day across college football.

Last night, Alabama playing a game which meant the transfer portal would probably be on delayed action for the Crimson Tide. We mentioned earlier Richard Young, five-star running back, coming out of high school. He's entered the portal. No one's surprised. Moments ago, Jalen Mamakwe making news. He has decided to say, I am also entering the portal. He has been an interesting person on that roster from day one, BB. I really don't think Alabama ever could find a fit for him. Very talented at a clay chocke. I saw him beat most of shows two years ago.

But, Harold, I'm really not surprised. And the thing is, he came in, he started out in the DB room, and then he insisted, I'm going to get out of here if you don't give me a shot at being a wide receiver. They gave him the shot, and let's just face it, it never worked out. So, it's going to be interesting to see once the dust settles how much of that was his decision, how much it was the coaching staff to clear some room in that room going forward.

In the meantime, it is an absolute pleasure for us to welcome the man who has the national seat at the table. He is Bill Bender with the Sporting News. Bill, welcome in. Happy New Year to you. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on. You're good. So, Bill, here we are in the playoffs. Let me ask you who's got the better shot now going forward. Ohio State, Alabama, or wait a minute. They're all on the couch. Bill, what happened to these blue bloods?

Well, you know, I think this feels more like the NCAA tournament in basketball now. That's what everybody wanted. And you're getting it. You know, it's three different cases. I think Georgia, Kirby panicked a little bit when Trinidad got hot there in the second half. I think Alabama just, I mean, there's no way to sugarcoat it, guys. Indiana's a real good football team. Took it to them. Yeah. I mean, and how you get up from that, we'll see. And Ohio State, that was a surprising one. You know?

Miami, it wasn't like how Indiana beat Ohio State. Miami beat Buckeyes up physically. Like, on both sides of the ball, that was a little jarring. Bill, let me ask you about that. And it's kind of been the theme of the day. It's like, you got one team that seems to be soft and another one goes, how about this for a concept? Beat them up. What was it Nick said in his opening press conference in Tuscaloosa? Make it their A quit, if you will. You look at Miami, you look at Indiana, what they got in common, the Nick Saban tree, we're going to expand on that, of course.

But if you play good defense and you run the ball and take time off the clock, you're going to be in the ball. You're not going to lose about five touchdowns. Yeah, I mean, Mario, they were physical at the point of attack. Reuben Bain, I mean, I think every team left has something compelling and all of those guys are Saban assistants, right? All four of them? Right, every one of them. That's crazy. That's amazing. And that's a tribute to how Nick Saban coached the game of football.

Now, in Miami's case, you know, they've tapped into, they're not the old you and Mario emphasized that, but the guys they have on the field now paired with a veteran quarterback like Carson Beck who didn't mess it up played really well in that game. And, I mean, they're favored against Ole Miss. They're in the 10th season. They're favored in the semifinal. That ought to tell you how wacky this tournament's been. Now, Bill, that's what I was going to mention. Carson Beck just manages the game now 19-26 for all of 138, but if Miami wins a national championship and they beat Ole Miss and then eventually beat Indiana, it's not because of Beck.

It's going to be because of Mesador and Reuben Baines Jr. Their defensive front seven is very good. 12 sacks in two games. I mean, and I haven't, like I said, I haven't seen Ohio, it's kind of probably what some Alabama fans are going through today. I haven't seen Ohio State get beat up like that. Michigan would physically beat them up front in a couple of those games the last few years, but I'm telling you, it wasn't like that. It was just unbelievable performance by that defensive line.

So yeah, Miami gets to tap into that old aura, Mike Irvin, Ray Lewis, those guys running around. It's good to college football that they're good, but they definitely deserve to be there. Bill Bender of the Sporting News. Bill, you know our zip code. Nick Saban never lost four ballgames. Now, DeBoer's done it in back-to-back years. The most he lost after his first year, after his first inaugural season, he lost three ballgames in 2010. After that, oh my gosh, Alabama fans were ready to panic he lost two, one, or went unbeaten every season outside of his opening season.

[1:25:22] Your thoughts about the future of Alabama, where do you start in fixing it? Well, I have run in the point where there was the, let's see how many timeouts we can take and not punt the ball. Just punt the ball there. And then you go from there. So, I think that's one fix. You know, Kalen is, what is he, 20-8? That's not bad, but it's not what Saban was. And I think that's part of the realization they're having in Athens, Georgia, and Columbus, Ohio, and Tuscaloosa right now is that the playing field, it's not even, I don't think it's even, but it is evening.

It's getting a little more level around all the, you've got to bring it every week. And, you know, Indiana, I was just texting with my friends about it, guys. They're legit. Yes, they are. They're a good team. Yes. No question about it. A lot of people impressed with Ole Miss last night. We've talked about Trinidad Chambliss and his magic act, in particularly Bill, in the fourth quarter. And they've got a kid, Canero, who's got a bionic leg. 55 and 56-yard field goals look like they're 30. And Ole Miss, their defensive front is good too.

Bill, your thoughts on the very impressive performance by Pete Golding and the Rebels. Yeah, you know, Chambliss is going to get most of the attention, as he should. It was like there are playoffs where a quarterback can take over, and you guys aren't going to want to hear the one that came to my mind immediately. It was like Deshaun Watson when he went in to take that remote for Clemson back in. It wasn't just the Alabama game, it was other games. That's kind of what he did last night.

He took over, and then when Kirby faked the punt, I said, okay, well, Kirby knows they're hot. When they went for it on fourth down on their own territory, that was bad. I don't wonder, you guys have been around this game a little longer than me. Maybe you can explain what's wrong with these coaches being so impressed. Speaking of coaches, did anybody arrest Kurt Signetti last night with that look? Is he trying to sit here and bring out his Nick Saban demeanor? I mean, this guy, you saw some of the, in television they call them cutaways, you saw some of those looks, it's like, we're going to have to arrest this guy.

Yeah, I mean, he's got a good team. He's got it. He is, and he's got, he's got, he's at the stage in his career where he's being adored a little bit, you know, because of what he's been able to accomplish at a place where it's really hard to accomplish those things. So that's been cool to see. You know, I do think this is a tough rematch against a very good Oregon team. Oregon played well. I mean, that was the boring, quote-unquote boring game of the day, but unless you like dominant defense and tackles for loss and Brandon Sending Jr.

getting two interceptions and a fumble recovery, they looked really good. Let me mention a couple of things. You talked about this earlier this year and last year. Bill Bender's changes to the college football playoff. Top seeds are the teams that get the buy, should have a home playoff game. It's ridiculous to wait 25 days to play a game to begin with. Expand to 16. You've seen the last two days. I know you are an advocate for these changes. Bill, talk a little bit about that. Yeah, you know, I do think it's one of those, maybe that game's a little bit different in Lubbock.

I don't think Texas Tech wins. Maybe it's a little bit different in Columbus. You know, what's the reward? I get you people who say the reward is you got to play in the game and you're one step closer to the championship, but in the NFL, the most you could go in the NFL without playing your starters would be like three weeks. If they had home field advantage, they sit in week 18, three weeks. This is more than three weeks. And these aren't professionals, they're college players. So I just think any sport in the country, if you took 25 days off and playing a game, there's going to be some rust.

And it's not just reflected in the first quarter, it's reflected in the game results. No question, buddy. Great stuff as always. Thank you for coming on the day after you normally do for obvious reasons. Where can we get online to get all your great stuff? Yeah, we have bowl winners and losers and the ranking, the playoff bowls and all that stuff. It's sportingnews.com at BillBender92. I know we'll get back on our regular schedule next week. Bill, obviously we're looking forward to that. In the meantime, we had a little bit of a cut out there.

[1:30:36] Thanks so much for your time, Dave, if you can still hear us. Thanks so much. We look forward to hooking up with you next time down the road, BB. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Thank you, buddy. That will be Bill Bender hooking up with us, the national voice with these sporting news. What about Auburn? What's the latest talk? Day one of the portal opening up down the plains. The very latest on that and more with Justin Ferguson on deck. Stay with us. Have you ever seen those halftime scholarships where you have to nail a 40-yard field goal?

Yeah, this isn't that. I didn't have to write a long essay or audition or make a half-court shot. I just had to open a bank independent account, use my debit card, sign up for online banking, and have a positive balance. That's it. A 20% scholarship to UNA. When Bank Independent invests in students like me, they're investing in all of us and the future of our community. Bank Independent, we're invested in your future. Member FDIC. At Family Credit Union, we believe every great team starts with a strong community.

We're proud to help our neighbors save, borrow, and build brighter futures together. Whether you're planning for your first home, growing your family, or supporting local dreams, we're here with personalized service and competitive rates. Stop by any of our convenient locations, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, Florence, Russellville, Cherokee, and Killen, or visit us on the web at valleycreditunion.net. Valley Credit Union, rooted in community, committed to you. Let's win together. Sound familiar? At Mattress Firm, we understand there are many problems that can keep you up at night, like snoring, aches and pains, or sleeping hot.

Our sleep experts have the unrivaled know-how to match you with a mattress that can help. And now at Mattress Firm, save up to $500 on Tempur-Pedic, plus get a $300 instant gift. For the great sleep you deserve, visit Mattress Firm. We make sleep easy. Restrictions apply. See store or website for details. Straight Talk presents The Math of More. Here's how it works. When you say yes to more with Straight Talk, you're left with more for all the other good stuff. So getting an unlimited plan starting at just $25 a month equals more savings for your family's weekend adventures.

And with a network covered by Verizon, you can share more from wherever you go. It's simple math, really. More equals more with Straight Talk. Available at straighttalk.com and Walmart. Taxes and fees apply. The $25 plan requires a compatible unlocked device and a new line of service. Additional terms apply. We all hear the radio ads about the IRS. They tell you to be afraid, to be scared, and they try to frighten you into calling. I'm not here to do that. Tax relief advocates is different. TRA is here to tell you that if you owe money to the IRS, whether it's $5,000, $50,000, or $500,000, we have a solution.

It doesn't matter if you're sitting in your car, at work, or with your kids, no matter where you are. Call now. 800-575-6759. Don't lose hope. TRA can eliminate or reduce what you owe to the IRS. There is zero risk to you. If we can't reduce your tax debt, then you pay nothing. Our passion is taxes and helping individuals fix their IRS problems. We have a five-star rating on Google and Yelp and an A-plus with the Better Business Bureau. You don't need to be afraid of the IRS any longer.

End your tax nightmare today by visiting us online at TRA.com or call 800-575-6759. That's 800-575-6759. Tax Relief Advocates. Real solutions for real people. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. Mids basketball election tomorrow. Number 14, Alabama's at home to take on Kentucky. There's Crimson Tide 10-3 on the season. Kentucky is 9-4. The game is the SEC opener for both teams. 23rd-ranked Georgia Bulldogs will host Auburn. The Auburn Tigers are 9-4. Georgia comes into the matchup 12-1. The game tomorrow is the SEC opener for both teams.

Troy will host South Alabama tomorrow afternoon. Troy is 9-5. South Alabama 11-4. Jaguars 2-1 and the Sunbelt Troy Trojans 2-0 in Sunbelt play. North Alabama yesterday fell short to Stetson 70-67. The Lions are home tomorrow against Florida Gulf Coast. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo and safe with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score. Kohl's Clearance deals are so good you might want to brace yourself before you shop because up to 70% off can do things to you. Sudden goose bumps, racing Kohl's, involuntary gasping at prices.

You may even feel the uncontrollable I'm Ed Evans, CEO of Consumer Cellular. No, we're not one of the big guys. Truth is, we don't want to be. If you're over 50, big wireless probably has you paying for more data than you might need. You could be throwing away thousands over a lifetime. Our entry-level data plans start at just 20 bucks a month. And for a limited time, switch and get your second month free. Call 1-888-FREEDOM, visit ConsumerCellular.com or a store near you and get your second month free today.

[1:36:00] Plans include $5 credit for auto pay and e-billing. See site for additional details. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back again. It is a pleasure for us to say hello. First time this year to say hello to Justin Ferguson there at the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing all right. How are you? And we're doing all right. Day one of the portal, Justin. Obviously, all this playoff talk is easy to sit here and keep your eye off the ball, so to speak.

What is the very latest putting on Auburn glasses here on day one of the portal? Yeah, it's going to be a super busy time here for Auburn, as you might expect. You know, this is a roster that's gone through a lot of overhaul over the last few weeks. A lot of key players, you know, big names going into the portal. Some, you know, yesterday, I think Auburn got a stretch of good news about six guys on their defense, good young players have all announced they're going to come back.

But, you know, obviously, big names, Cam Coleman, Deuce Knight, you know, you've got Kane Lee, Jay Crawford, Malik Bloxon, like, you know, a wide variety of names that are going into the transfer portal for Auburn. So, you're looking at an Auburn team that needs to bring in a lot through the portal. And, you know, I think it's a combination of factors. I think people need to remember that there's only one portal window this year. So, you're going to get a lot more guys in here by default.

It's a coaching change. Auburn's changing the way they're doing business, you know, with a new coaching staff coming in. So, it's a lot outgoing, and Auburn's got a lot of needs to fill, but they've hit the ground running. They've got an offensive line transfer from Oklahoma State in for a visit this weekend. They're expected to get a handful of guys from USF that Alex Golesh brought in, you know, had on his team Byron Brown, the quarterback, being Auburn's top priority there, and some other guys at wide receiver.

You know, they're in the mix for several guys right off the bat. Really good Arkansas State defensive lineman who had an all-sunbelt kind of year. Just, you know, a lot of names. I think outside of maybe linebacker and, you know, potentially safety, Auburn's got a lot of needs pretty much across the board. So, it's going to be a busy next few weeks to go for Auburn and get rolling, obviously, today. Justin, you hear some Auburn fans saying, is this going to be the University of South Florida North?

In other words, bring in, I don't think anyone's going to be shocked to see Brown wind up at Auburn, but how many other guys, in other words, is this going to be what was that South Florida last year, kind of the core of what Auburn's going to be this coming season? I think offensively, you could probably see a lot of carryover there, and why not? You know, this is the top ten offense in college football this past season. Byron Brown was one of the best quarterbacks in the country.

I think you look at wide receivers like Keyshawn Singleton, Chaz Nimrod, they've got running backs in the portal, a couple offensive linemen, guys that you'd really want to see there. Yeah, I think these guys are familiar with what Alex Golesh and Joel Gordon want to do on offense. It's kind of plug and play, so you'll try to carry as many of those guys over, and I think that's part of what is happening in this day and age. I mean, let's go to yesterday in the college football playoff, that Indiana team that took care of business in a big way against Alabama.

I mean, look at how many guys on that Indiana team played at James Madison under Kurt Signetti. So, I mean, I think there's a lot of carryover there that you might want to take, and, you know, here's the other line that I've been using on Auburn fans and be like, are we just going to get USF guys? It's like, no, you're going to get more than USF guys, but if you get USF guys, that's not the worst thing in the world. Remember, USF beat as many SEC teams last season as Auburn did.

Cornerback Jackson Arnold, Ashton Daniels, of course, hitting the transfer portal. Deuce Knight announcing that he is. I think everybody believes Byron Brown is going to be coming in. Who is plan B for Auburn at quarterback, and could they talk Deuce Knight into coming back? They could talk Deuce Knight into coming back. I think Deuce is going to try to find somewhere he could start next season. I think if Auburn brings in a guy like Byron Brown, which is the expectation at this point, it was going to be hard for him to beat him out.

Auburn made a very competitive offer to Deuce Knight to get him to stay and say, hey, you can be our guy up next. We're going to go ahead and get this guy in and we're going to give you some more time to develop. There's always going to be places I think they're going to offer him more opportunities right away. We'll see. I think it's a little bit more of a long shot there with Deuce. As for a backup plan, it's interesting. I think it's Byron Brown is the way they want to go.

And until there's some sort of pivot off of that, it'll be interesting what Auburn would do as a starter. Now, I will say Auburn needs to get more than just Byron Brown a quarterback in the portal. They probably need one or two younger guys who can come in. Can they find another Ashton Daniels type who's willing to sit on the bench? They did the same thing with Robbie Astrid, T.J. Finley in the past. They're going to have to go do that with some guys there.

[1:41:17] I'll be very interested to see who that looks like. There's an LSU quarterback, young LSU quarterback in the portal. That makes a lot of sense for this offense. Kennesaw State's quarterback, Omari Odom, is in the portal. That'd be a guy who maybe want to take a step up and be willing to be a backup or kind of get developed in the SEC. It'll be interesting to see if they pivot off that. Right now it's about as byron Brown or bust as possible for Auburn at quarterback.

If something changes there, I would expect Auburn to move to other targets because it's going to be a pretty competitive quarterback market. They're putting a lot of attention on Brown right away. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer, I think your point is well taken about Indiana and even in Ole Miss, it's not only having to me the key now is talent evaluation and knowing how to manage that budget. You look at Indiana and you look at Ole Miss, I think they did a job. if you're going to win, you've got to have a quarterback and you've got to have good strong lines.

The question is how do you supplement it? Goalish is pretty much, if I understand him right, Justin, he's already said I'm not going to go out and just spend willy-nilly to bring in a five-star and win the press conference. I'm going to be wiser with it. But how do you sit here and split that budget go to the NFL draft? Where are they going to go as far as the wide range? You mentioned some, but overall, you can have some reliability there for targets. 100%. That's why you're going to see Auburn go to USF for that.

I think they're going to try to find guys. Keyshawn Singleton, Jeremiah Coger, a number of guys. These really productive players for Gullis last year at USF. I think that's part of what you do. You can go spend big money on a wide receiver. Auburn wanted to do that with Cam Coleman. I big. Getting guys that know his system. Getting guys that can plug in budget. I don't want to know if you have a hometown discount or anything like that. You might not have to overspend for these guys who are already familiar with your scheme.

There's a ton of receivers in the portal. I'll give you another name that's really interesting to me. He's supposed to visit sometime in near future. UAB is really good lot receiver this year. He's from Pike Road, so right down the road from Auburn. Really good lot receiver. I so I think this scheme you could go find some group of guys that are productive and plug them in and turn them loose and maybe focus more of your money and more of your energy not just in getting a quarterback but reloading at the line of scrimmage on both sides of Auburn is in pretty good shape with linebacker with Ankins Riddick Melendez Deez coming back but point about running back they got Jeremiah Cobb Mabson Robinson and Alvin Anderson they're pretty set themselves do you believe they may go out and get one more yeah I think they have to and I'd be surprised if all four of those running back stayed I know they'd like to keep you know those guys and I think Jeremiah Cobb is a great kind of fit for what they want in this offense like Alvin Henderson didn't play this year Omar Mabson didn't play much this season because of the injury so you might want to go out there and get kind of another proven guy you know there's a USF running back in the portal now but there's some other really interesting ones Cam Cook led the nation in rushing to Jacksonville State this year he would be something that I last season his first two years of West Virginia was an 800 yard rusher last year he gets hurt really early in the year doesn't get to play so he doesn't have much but who was West Virginia's running backs coach last season new Auburn running backs coach Larry Porter who's back on campus so that would be something to make sense and also looks like Texas is going to go really hard I know Isaac Brown from Louisville is kind of the big one there but like the Texas lost like two or three running backs in the portal already and a couple of those guys CJ Baxter being one of them it's somebody I've heard that Auburn could be in the mix for just getting some guys with SEC experience trying to get them on a bounce back year maybe coming off an injury you've got depth there but I think they need one or two more guys who can make an impact next season just speaking of the SEC the lead comes out the basketball schedule tomorrow the border war Auburn Georgia the dogs ranked 23rd in the country your thoughts about the opening the SEC for Auburn Georgia leads the nation and scoring which is something I thought we'd never say under Mike White but they have completely changed the way they do their business on offense they play extremely fast one of the fastest faces in the country they just get to the basket over and over and over again they play defense trying to speed you up and force turnover so they've done a good job I think Georgia is a very untested team to this point only one quad game so far this season that was a loss to Clemson only a couple quad two games they've beaten a lot of bad teams to this point on the flip side Auburn as tested as you're going to find I think them and Alabama I'm really interested to see those schools get started in SEC play because they went through the grinder non-conference play and teams like Georgia while they've stacked wins and got a lot of confidence haven't so for Auburn it's a matter of going on the road and taking care of business against a team that's going to come at you with everything on defense I think Auburn has got to play a really good one on one defense try to limit Georgia just one shot as much as possible crash that defensive glass if they do that last year best team in Auburn basketball history right they beat Georgia about two on the road they lost there a couple seasons ago so this is a place that even really good Auburn teams have had to be in more afternoon you can have the absolute latest on the transfer portal and also the 6am emails the Friday mailbag the podcast where can we get online to get all the good stuff Auburn Zebra.com a ton of stuff on the site we did a whole breakdown of transfer portal targets on both sides of the ball that makes sense for Auburn we got the roster tracker going we got a preview up I'll be in Athens I'm heading out there in a few hours so getting ready for that one tomorrow and we'll have all the portal stuff these next few weeks going to be super busy time sign up Auburn Observer.com $6 a month or $60 if you're here we'll email everything out to you as soon as it drops and we'll have several newsletters and podcasts per week so great time to jump on board Justin Ferguson Ferguson Ferguson the Auburn Observer quick note if you want to get out and about this weekend check out some basketball action UNA taking the lead off their conference playing the A-Sun they take on Florida Gulf Coast at the game 2 o'clock tomorrow inside CB&S Bank Arena BB and of course Alabama and Kentucky here on 93.9 the score tomorrow BB 10 a.m. pregame 11 a.m. till parallel bug do me a favor BB get the feeling better okay thank you very much that's going to take care of this for today on behalf of the Yale and BB Greg James Blair the entire crew here parallel bug thank you so much for your time today let's do it again Monday noon to 2 with the boom on bug show back here on sports radio 93.9 the score we'll be right back we'll be right back we'll be right back