Boomo Bugg Show 012026

[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 tie, 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. And who says miracles still don't happen?

Indiana says, who's your new national champion college football? Good afternoon. Welcome in and how are you? Hey, Pete, Tuesday to you and the listeners. We'll be talking about that tremendous win by Indiana throughout the show. Las Vegas insider Bruce Marshall is going to recount that game and also previews the NFL's Final Four. Alabama finishes number nine in the final Associated Press poll for 2026 season. ESPN announces a new six-part series entitled Saban. Now, my question is, will Roger Hoover's iconic interviews with Nick Saban be featured in the series?

But Roger is here right now to answer that question and look at 2026 Alabama and talk some Alabama basketball. What a coincidence is that, Roger Hoover? He is all over the place when it comes to Alabama sports, basketball, football, you name it. He's got it on the Alabama Crimson Tide Network, but you know that if you listen here on 93.9, the score just about every day. Roger, welcome in. How are you? Boom, oh, bug. I'm doing really well. Great to be with you guys this week. Hey, buddy.

You know, people have been looking for professions since the Garden of Eden, and they found it last night. Indiana shows you how to put a cap on it. Before we talk Alabama red, what about the red story from Indiana? College football, I don't know that they'll ever be able to mimic this one, Roger. Your thoughts before we move on to Crimson Tide talk. No, it's remarkable, and I think for a lot of Alabama fans, it probably felt like me. You know, if you are going to root for somebody in this game, it might as well be the team that knocked you out.

You know, I know that's common logic among a lot of fans, and I probably fell right into that with what Kurt Cignetti has done with Indiana is remarkable in the fact that you're able to. Essentially, it feels like almost like they didn't put this program in the oven and bake it. They microwaved it as quickly as possible, and it came out extremely hot, and it burned everybody as a result of what they've done in two years. So, a remarkable achievement that I think is going to be something that all college football programs are going to look at and say, how did we miss out on whatever formula they have?

Because, again, yes, you've been able to use the transfer portal extremely well, but you've been getting guys that a lot of programs in the SEC, elsewhere in the Big Ten, looked past. So, they have really been able to find some good talent, older talent for sure, but it has paid off in a remarkable turnaround and one of the best stories, as you mentioned, in college football history. Roger, let's talk about how that might influence not only college football, but in particular here, Alabama. The class now, the portal window is closed, and something that you never saw back in the day, you have a sprinkling of three stars.

Nick, it was almost sacrilegious, but I thought he brought up a good point on the set of ESPN. Everybody's sitting here hawking about the five stars, and knowing Nick, he just brought two names up. He said Damian Harris is a five-star. He's no longer playing in the NFL. Josh Jacobs was basically a no-star, and he's going to be playing in the Super Bowl. So, it comes down to evaluation, but your thoughts how that might influence things, and particularly in trying to sit here and take a pile of money and deviate up and squeeze the most juice out of it to put a championship-caliber team on the field with a 105-person roster.

Yeah, I think it goes to looking at ability, and especially what you see on tape, more than what you maybe see in the recruiting rankings or by stats or anything like that. I think Kurt Cignetti kind of honed his eye, it seemed like, while he was recruiting for Nick Saban at Alabama from 07 to 2010, and even though he worked at lower levels after that prior to getting this job, he used that same philosophy really well. So, I just hope that programs like Alabama can do the same thing as they're evaluating talent from the transfer portal, and we've seen that with some of the additions that Kaelin Bore and his staff have brought in over the last few weeks.

There are some names that may be familiar to some SEC fans, especially some players that are joining Alabama from inside the conference, but there are probably some names that you're saying, wait, who is this? And then later in the fall, you're going to be buying their jersey. That's just how these things go. So, I look forward to seeing this staff that they bring together and the kind of players they're able to put together to make a really good team, but especially on the defensive side of the ball, I think Alabama's been very smart with some of the additions and getting much more size, much more strength, especially on that line of scrimmage.

[5:09] Roger, last night at midnight, the 2026 season officially started with the end of 2025 with a great game, Alabama has lost 21 players in the transfer portal, but they've added 18, and I'm like you, I'm particularly on the defensive front. They've added a lot of guys there, I think, and particularly with size. We'll see how it pans out, and we've talked about this. You should put a bow on the season. The bookend losses were not great by any means, but everything in between really was. Alabama wins eight consecutive games.

They win four consecutive games against ranked teams. Again, they were able to work through injuries, a lot of other adversity. Roger, your thoughts again as we put a bow on the 2025 season. Yeah, I think you summed it up well. Tough start, tough finish, but in between some good moments, and especially when this group was doubted by the rest of the college football world after week one. If you go back to a lot of the conversations that were had about Alabama against Vanderbilt, everyone's saying, oh, Vanderbilt's really the more physical team, the better team.

Alabama's got no chance. They're not going to be able to get revenge on them. For what happened last year in Nashville, and then Alabama played probably its best game all year in that one ball game against Vanderbilt, the team that was just outside the mix for the college football playoff, and then people kept out against, you know, the likes of Tennessee. And later on down the road, no one gave Alabama a chance against Oklahoma after they had lost, of course, to the Sooners in the regular season and then lost to Georgia in the SEC championship game.

But they came back and found a way to win that game when everything was going wrong when you're down 17-0. So I think it was a very resilient team, and I think now that we get into the third year for Coach DeBoer, we're going to see him roll out a quarterback that he recruited to specifically come and play in this offense and has already been around Ryan Grubb and kind of understands what it's going to be like once we get into next season. I think that's exciting.

I think just some more of the roster turnover can be a really good thing. Again, that's not necessarily a negative anymore in college football as Indiana has shown. Miami certainly shows that as well, along with Ole Miss and Oregon. All the teams that were in the Final Four this past year all had very transferable portal-heavy rosters, and Alabama's going to be in that mix coming up this season, adding a lot of players who have some experience and ability. So I think this season was a necessary one to get Alabama, again, back to where it wants to be, and that's the college football playoff.

Getting to the Rose Bowl was certainly a good accomplishment in the SEC championship game. Now it's about finishing the right way, not just getting there, but running the ball all the way to the end zone and getting this program where it wants to be, and that's competing for championships. Roger Hoover, if that voice sounds familiar, if you're on the Crimson Tide Network. Obviously, it would be interesting to see how many folks are still on this roster from Knicks days. In other words, the percentage of divorced guys versus Knicks still leftovers.

To me, that means I would say they'd be overwhelming that they're gone. But here's the deal. You bring up a good point, Roger. People are already looking ahead to next year, and this is the way too early top 25s. They always come out the day after the championship game. This is from, I won't mention them all, On3, ESPN, CBS, on and on, Sports Illustrated. In Alabama, the highest ranking they've got, I believe, is USA's got them at 11. ESPN's got them at 21. And all these other services have got them somewhere in between.

So, obviously, the so-called smart people say that Alabama's got some work to do to start the season. I don't think anybody's shot with a brand-new quarterback. But your thoughts about how motivated this makes this team to sit here and see where this program has not been in a long, long time. Starting the season, in some cases, outside the top 20. Yeah, I think it only helps, honestly, with the motivation to work hard all offseason to get ready for what's coming up in the fall. And then, for the Crimson Tide, you're playing for the first time a nine-game SEC schedule.

And kind of similar to this year, if you're able to get wins in conference play, you're going to be in the mix. You're going to be very high up in college football. I mean, I was one of the people that was kind of stunned and thought maybe the college football media would hold the Florida State loss against Alabama, regardless of how well they played in SEC play. And then, it seems like most of the pundits around the country forgot all about that game. After Alabama defeated Georgia, Georgia wins the game against Vanderbilt.

Beats Tennessee, beats LSU. You know, Alabama back in the top five after a disastrous loss that started the year. So, I think a Crimson Tide team that maybe in non-conference play won't be as difficult this year. You get East Carolina and Florida State to begin the season both at home. That'll make a big difference. And then, if you can just get downhill in SEC play and just racking up the wins, you're going to be in the mix no matter what. So, I think it's exciting for this group.

[10:09] And, I think Kalen DeBoer is going to definitely use that to his advantage, making sure that he lets his players know, hey, they're all doubting you. Are you really Alabama football players? Coach Saban's no longer here, but I'm here and I'm ready to lead you to what's next. Let's finish with basketball. The Alabama men go on the road twice. They get behind twice, but they come back twice. They were behind by 11 points at halftime and then outscore Oklahoma 12 to nothing to get back in the game.

And it's back and forth to the end. Phylon scores 23 points. Maury Allen is the SEC Freshman of the Week. Again. For his performance. Yeah. They're going to be naming that after him soon. Ayn Sherrell, and you talked to Richard Hendricks on Crimson Drive, one of your guests for this week. And I agree with him. He's going to be such an integral part of this team. He has improved so much offensively, blocking shots now, a rim protector, Bama with a bye week, which I think has helped.

They're going to have Tennessee hosting, weather permitting, Saturday night at 730 at Coleman Coliseum. Your thoughts on the men and, unfortunately, the women with a tough week, losing a very close game to Auburn and to Tennessee. Roger, your thoughts on Bama basketball? Yeah, starting with the men's side, really good resiliency shown, especially with the shortened roster Alabama had last week for Mississippi State. Taylor Boboen unable to go. And then you get off to a tough start. It kind of felt like the Oklahoma football game. You're just like, it could not be starting any worse.

And then it could not have finished any better with what Alabama did, dismantling the Bulldogs over the final 28 minutes of that game. And then you pay it forward against Oklahoma, ironically enough. So you go there and you win in the building you haven't won since Nate Oates has been the head coach after losing a couple tough SEC Big 12 challenges in that place. To find a way to get a win on the road in the SEC is tough, and Alabama was able to do that twice this past week.

So I know they're going to use the open date to their full advantage, finally try and get this team as healthy as it can be. It has been just a walking move at times for Alabama this season. But if they can get healthy and get somebody like Latrell Reifel Jr. back this week, I think Alabama is going to be in really good shape. And you get to take on a Tennessee team that really needs a win. As Richard talked about in our interview today on Crimson Drive, they lost one they feel like they shouldn't have a week ago against Kentucky.

Got blown out a couple weeks ago by Florida. So you know it's a Rick Barnes team with talent, but they are playing for their postseason fate in a lot of ways. Still probably an NCAA tournament team, but they are in danger of falling to that eight or nine seed category if they don't turn things around. So if you're Alabama, who's hopefully going to stay in that three, four, number two seed conversation, you've got to start picking up some wins. And your margin for error is really small now trying to pick up an SEC championship.

And Nate owes to somebody that preaches that he wants to win the regular season and the tournament title every single year. It's like Coach Saban trying to win the West and the SEC in football. Yes, you can do great things. You can win national championships without that, but it better start with that. So with two losses already in conference play, Nate knows that there's really no margin for error for this group. I look forward to seeing how motivated they're going to be, especially in that game coming up Saturday against Tennessee.

On the women's side, things were going really well. You pick up three straight wins after the loss against South Carolina. You upset number six, Kentucky. But unfortunately in that game, forward Essence Cody has to go out with a foot injury, and she's just been unable to return in the last three ballgames. You won at Missouri last week. And then the losses to Auburn in Tennessee, you could feel that Cody was not there. You really missed her presence on the inside. The Auburn game, just too many turnovers, just didn't play like themselves.

Turned the ball over a lot. Had a poor shooting night, and you know how it is down in Lee County. Anytime they see Crimson come in the building, it is the greatest event, the greatest home court advantage in sports history. It's kind of one of those nights. Unfortunately, last Thursday, as I had the mascot, Aubie, dancing behind me the whole game, it felt like I was in the student section. Anyway, Tennessee did some good things, but ran out of gas just a little bit. Again, the depth really was shown in the final five or six minutes of that game when Alabama just said defensively got a few stops, but not what you need, and then offensively went cold as well to close out the game.

So I think the open date, just like for the men, comes at a really good time for the women's team. Hopefully you get Essence Cody back, and hopefully you're ready to go against a talented but not near the top of the SEC Mississippi State team coming up this week. This could be a really good opportunity on Sunday to kind of get everything trending back in the right direction before you get some really tough games after that against Georgia and against LSU to close out the month.

Absolutely. Well, listen, great stuff. As always, hopefully the bye week for both men and women will allow Rondra Hoover a little bit of downtime. Where can we get online and get Crimson Drive and your great interviews and all the other stuff as far as Crimson Tide Sports? Yeah, just follow the Crimson Tide Sports Network on social media platforms, especially on YouTube, especially if you have the YouTube app on your television. It's now very easy to watch us from the comfort of your television. We stream that show at 2 o'clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[15:32] It's always available on demand with our interviews, too. So, look forward to hearing from Richard Hendricks, as you mentioned, and some men's basketball players later in the week on our Thursday show, plus Christy Curry. And before long, we'll be talking with Patrick Murphy, Rob Vaughn, about softball and baseball and everything that's coming up here at the Capstone. But, yeah, a little bit of downtime. I just hate the weather forecast. I'm not able to work my golf game this time of the year. Exactly. We're going to get off to a little bit of a rough spring around the greens, it seems like.

But I wish it was a little bit warmer to help out with that. Yeah. Yeah, we're looking at a forecast in North Alabama this weekend between zero and 100 inches. So, Roger, we'll let you know how that turns out. So, in the meantime, milk and bread and Bama basketballs, stay safe, and thanks so much for your time today, buddy. All right, you guys are the best. Thanks for having me on. Thank you, bud. The Roger, Roger Hoover, Crimson Tide Sports Network. What's going on down to the plains?

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The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The score. Welcome back again. Time to head on down south to Brian Matthews' neighborhood. He's a senior editor for AuburnSports.com. Brian, welcome in. Have you dug out from the blizzard of 26 yet? So far, it hasn't hit Auburn-Alabama, although there could be another one coming through this weekend, so we'll see. We'll share. If we get more than you, we'll be happy to share. Brian, let's talk a little football here. The portal is now done. Professor Matthews, what kind of grade would you put on this class for the Tigers?

I would not say Auburn's completely done yet. I still think they're in the market for a receiver and maybe a defensive lineman or two. But so far, I think they've done well. I'd probably give it a B and maybe look it upwards from that for the incoming guys. I think they've filled every need. I think Auburn's clearly better at quarterback, running back. They're better at safety nickel, even though it was already a strong position. They're better at tight end. So they've definitely helped themselves, especially on offense.

And I think cornerbacks, they've more than held their own after losing two returning starters from last year. They certainly have more depth there with the guys they've added. And they've done a good job rebuilding the offensive line. We'll see how it turns out. But they've signed seven offensive linemen. Six of them are seniors. So that's a lot of experience they're bringing to that group. So, you know, I think they've done their, you know, they've done a pretty bang-up job of going out this roster and giving Auburn a chance to be a competitive team next fall.

Getting amazing. People sit here, and it's modern era of social media, and they sit here at the panic. But because to get a B after what they got hit initially is pretty amazing, it's not bright. Because, I mean, a lot of teams lose numbers. But you look at the potential for star rankings, especially at the wide receiver spot and some of these other positions. To come from that to getting the B is pretty amazing. Your thoughts just overall as far as replacing what was, let's face it, the only time is going to tell if they live up to the potential.

But I think Cal Coleman, he'd already earned his strikes. But your thoughts just about that angle? Well, they lost some, of course, they lost their three best receivers. They lost a really talented young quarterback. We don't know how good Deuce Knight's going to be yet. I mean, Auburn went out and got Byron Brown, who we know is a pretty good quarterback and could be a great quarterback. We'll see, you know, how that, you know, looks within SEC schedule, but certainly has that potential. And, you know, Auburn lost some really talented guys that have been in the program two or three years.

Malik blocked in the defensive lineman, was a tough loss there. You know, some other guys, I think, you know, back up offensive linemen. I think they let some of those guys go. But certainly in some key areas like wide receiver, they were hit really hard. But I think they have done a really good job of, you know, filling out a lot of those rooms. Even wide receiver, you know, they signed, I guess it was, for the top five USF receivers from last season, plus another guy.

You know, they're still looking for maybe another quality guy that could, you know, compete for one of those top two spots. But, you know, having your starting quarterback come over, having his center come over, having, you know, his top receivers come over, his top running back, along with the running backs they got. I just think the offense should really hit the ground running when spring practice gets underway here in another month and a half or so. I always enjoyed reading Monday musings. And as only you could put it, quote, no position has held Auburn back more over the last five seasons than quarterback.

[25:42] And adding Byron Brown is a game changer. They've got one of the best running back rooms now in the SEC. They can stay healthy. Jeremiah Cobb. Bryson Washington may have been the biggest surprise in the portal. Devinport will help. Four new tight ends. Fred Gaskin. Luttrell. And we've talked about the offensive line now what seems like 20 years. Cole Best coming in at center. I think he's going to be a big, it may spearhead that entire group. Again, time will tell. And I know you've seen this, you've heard it, and it's the same thing you say a lot.

Show me. It's the Missouri anthem. But once again, when you look at the transfers coming in, is it 33 or 34 now? Up to some of that. But no, Monday musings I thought was a very good one this week. Appreciate it. It's 33 in and 34 out by my count. I think other people have a couple more out. I'm not necessarily counting. Maybe they're walk-ons or I don't know. Yeah, right. Yeah, so you're talking about basically with 20, you know, signees. You're talking about close to 55 newcomers, you know. So I don't think it's necessarily going to be that big of a turnover every year.

But certainly in transition here it is. And that's just a lot of new names to learn about and new numbers on the roster you got to get to know and stuff. But that is how college football is certainly. That is the world of college football in this era, right? And I think you're going to see Auburn, under this staff at least, put more emphasis on the portal than the previous staff did. Brian Matthews, AuburnSports.com. I was going to ask you about that, Brian. Going back to last night and the lessons learned, not only last night, but this season from Indiana.

People say how that might influence Auburn. Well, hello. They're not going to. They already have, basically, from James Madison to Indiana, from South Florida to Auburn. But your thoughts about how Indiana might influence programs across the country where, let's face it, these coaches, they've been in love with all these five stars and signing these big fat contracts like Carson Beck. No, I mean, if Carson Beck's got the money in front of him, he's going to do what most people are going to do. They're going to take it.

But how is Indiana's strategy going to influence these coaches of trying to get more bang for the buck? Yeah, I think people are going to try to copycat Indiana for sure. Yep. But, you know, I don't know how well that's going to work. I just feel like Indiana's a bit of an outlier, but I also feel like, you know, when you think about filling up a roster with a bunch of experienced guys that also have talent, you can see where it can do what Indiana did and really manhandle, you know, some of these more talented, but maybe younger, less experienced rosters.

But, you know, it's still a tough thing. It's still a tough thing to do in my eye because you've got to do it every year. Yeah. Yeah. And you've got to be able to out, you know, out choose, you know, be able to, you know, be, be more adept at picking those good players, you know, that are three stars or coming out of a D2 or, you know, a group of four, group of five schools than other schools. That's not easy to do. So we'll see.

I think Auburn's built to try to do that and along with to continue to recruit better. They didn't recruit well the last class, but I think the staff wants to maybe not sign the big classes, but at least go after some of the top guys still in high school while really working hard in the portal to keep the talent level high. Yeah. And a lot of these, it's across the board. When you look at Auburn's last seven or eight, Kamari Ton, the defensive back from Chattanooga, I think was the last one.

Stanford, Jack Luttrell, safety from Arizona, Oregon State, LSU, two Ole Miss dudes. And then Scruff, that's a great football name, Richardson, the cornerback from Notre Dame. Again, when you get in the transfer portal, Bud, I mean, it's just all across the board. Yeah. And, you know, you look at a guy like Kamari Todd, I think that gives you an idea of what Auburn's thinking here. You're getting a guy from the state of Alabama that spent, I think, a year at Chattanooga. So he's going back here.

He's probably not going to be expected to start. May earn a spot in the playing rotation. We'll see. But even if not, you feel like if he's good enough, and I do, that he's going to stick around for a couple of years. You know, he's an insane kid getting a shot at a bigger school now. So you can keep him here and maybe develop him and turn him into a really good player if he's not already ready to be that guy yet. So you've seen Auburn sign a lot of kids from closer to home, bringing them back from smaller schools.

You've seen Auburn, of course, sign a lot of kids from USF that are familiar with his staff and especially this offense. So, you know, and you've seen Auburn sign a lot of kids with multiple years of eligibility left, too. Really some good players. I think Walter Mathis or Buddy Mathis from LSU, I think, played in just about every game as a true freshman last year on the defensive line. When you do that LSU, that means you're a really good player. So Auburn may have a two or three year starter there, you know, going forward.

[31:00] TJ Hedrick, Ole Miss, similar deal there. You're a really talented young offensive lineman who may need some more development, but could end up being a really good starter. So a great mix of guys that got out. One or two of your guys are going to contribute right away. And then a bunch of guys with multiple years of eligibility. Auburn basketball with a big week. Two games on the road tonight at Ole Miss at eight o'clock tip-off. I think that game's on ESPNU. And then they've got the Florida Gators, which may be the best team in the SEC.

They're beginning to play like the defending national champions. Keyshawn Murphy had a tough game against South Carolina, but I know we had some foul trouble. But you've got that and everything else covered on Auburn Sports, continuing when the additions for the transfer portal, basketball, the whole nine yards, B-Man, and Monday Musings. Where can we get online to get all the great stuff? And I put up a notebook for baseball getting started with their practice here this week. So all that and more at auburnsports.com. You can follow me on Twitter and X at B-Man-A-U.

I think we're still running a really nice deal, 50% off. So you can sign up online, check that out. But, yeah, plenty of coverage of the portal. I think there's still some information to come out there as far as incoming folks. You know, Miami, Indiana players, they can start hitting the portal now. So we'll see what happens with that group. Maybe there's some Miami kids that Auburn might target in the near future. So stay tuned for that. You're a busy boy, Brian. But remember the most important three words this week, milk and bread, okay?

There you go. Gotcha. We will vote up. Brian Matthews, senior editor, auburnsports.com. Does it ever snow out in the desert of Vegas? We'll find out on that and more with Bruce Marshall straight ahead of the Bumult Bug Show. Prohibition is over, and the good times will flow once again at the Florence Wine Fest, February 20th and 21st. Friday night sets its own with coupes, cocktails, and velvet smooth live music. Saturday afternoon, taste your way through an unforgettable wine experience. Then Saturday night, the city comes alive with the Florence Wine Fest Free Block Party and Concert, featuring Atlanta's great grand finale band.

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[36:01] Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9. The score. The Auburn Tigers are set to play tonight at Ole Miss. Both teams are 11-7 on the season. Auburn is currently 2-3 in the SEC, while Ole Miss is 3-2 in conference play. Men's Hoops tomorrow. Troy is on the road. They'll play at Old Dominion. The Trojans are 13-6 on the year, 6-1 in the Sun Belt. Old Dominion is 3-5 in league play. North Alabama will play tomorrow at Queens. The Lions are 1-5 in the A-Sun. Queens is 6-0 in conference play.

Indiana Hoosiers won the college football championship last night. The Hoosiers beat the Miami Hurricanes 27-21. Indiana finishes the season perfect 16-0. 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. It's game day. Are your moderate to severe Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms keeping you from the action? Skyrizi, Risenkizumab RZA, could help you get back to the game. Skyrizi is proven to help people feel significant symptom relief, achieve remission, and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining.

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The score. Welcome back in. Vegas said, Indiana was going to win by about a touchdown. Indiana won by about a touchdown. Bruce Marshall, by the way, is right on top of it out in a place called Las Vegas. He's visited there with a Las Vegas insider. Bam, sports.net. Winners and whiners, picks and parlays, CBS Sportsline. He is all over the place. Bruce Marshall, welcome in the day after. How are you? Yeah, I guess, you know, we're living without college football for a while. It feels kind of funny, but, you know.

That has played on for a long time, didn't it? In Alabama, it's now the season of darkness, Bruce. There's only 365 days a year, unless it's a leap year, and then they add one. But, Bruce, your thoughts about this magical season for Indiana, and how ironic is you had a pair of your neighbors there last night, this Martin Davis guy and Tom Brady. I don't think they're identical twins, but they were at the game last night for more than just being a fan. Bruce, first of all, your thoughts about this season, perfect season for the Hoosiers, and then, of course, why those two guys might have been there last night at the game.

Well, yeah, for sure. Sure, and I wonder if, you know, Kurt Signetti and Indiana just didn't sort of change the paradigm here for how to, you know, turn this thing around for a team and how he coached it and using the portal properly. Yes. I think we'll get a little idea next year how much staying power with Indiana. I think they will be a competitor and a contender again next year, I would think. I got Josh Hoover coming in from TCU to replace Mendoza, assuming he goes to the NFL like we all think he is.

Right. But it's interesting, you go back to look, you know, before this past season, and Indiana was, you know, picked fifth or sixth in the Big Ten, and I think their season win total was maybe seven and a half, so this was still sort of a surprise, but if you pull under the hood a little bit, I mean, this was a veteran team, and he had those 13 guys from James Madison joining him. It was an older team. And a lot of guys, you know, 23, 24 on the team, they do have a pretty big nil budget there, although Mendoza was a pretty good bargain, $2 million, I think.

But if you, you know, the way they played, too, and it was just very smart, they were able to minimize, I still think they had a little speed deficit against most of these teams in the playoffs, but they managed to minimize that really heady play there in the secondary. And we did, though, get a good championship game, and I think that was the first time since that Georgia-Alabama game where two have bailed out Bama eight years ago now, where we actually had a good, exciting finish there, and I think, you know, we're probably going to see Carson Beck's going to be reliving that last interception for a long time, because they had a shot there.

[41:10] I mean, they were, you know, they were right there and doing it. I would say one other unsung hero in this game, you know, for Indiana, Becker, that wide receiver, those are back shoulder throws on those third downs. They took some big-time catches by Becker. He really emerged in the second half of the season. Now about Mendoza and the Raiders. I think they better think really hard about this, and this seems to be the consensus that this is who the Raiders are going to go for.

They're going to go for Mendoza, and they want to start. You know, they've got Bowers, and they've got Ashton Jenny, and they've got, they're going to hope this will be able to allure a top-notch coach in there who can do something. They thought that would be Pete Carroll last year, and it did not be a good fit. Robert Salah thought they'd have him. Now he's in Tennessee. That's not there. I think they had better ask themselves really hard, are we better off trading down, and if we can go into free agency and get some guy like Malik Willis, who I think is ready, and I think he's going to get pretty good starter's money, maybe not top-flight starter, but we saw what Seattle has been able to do with a guy like Darnold this year, and I maintain they might be better the next few years with Willis than Mendoza.

We will see, but this is not a big quarterback draft. Next year would be a better draft from what it looks like, but that's a question that I know that's what Brady and Davis were doing there last night. They wanted to see if Mendoza was up close, so I think it's probably about 75% chance that's what they will do is take him, but we'll see. Bruce, I thought this would be a more competitive game, and if you'd have told me before the game that Fletcher would run for 112 yards and two touchdowns, Malachi Tony would have 110 in the touchdown, Miami would have three sacks and six tackles for loss, Mendoza would throw for under 200 yards and zero passing touchdowns, and Miami would have had, I mean, Indiana would have had an atrocious five penalties for 38 yards after having 13 the entire season.

I may have told you Miami would have won the game to 10 points. I think I would have, too, and you look back, I mean, Shannon Dawson, I think, is going to be a little bit a miff, too, that he didn't open up the offense a bit more in the first half because they really didn't do much at all, and it's funny, the game this reminded me of a little bit was that 22 years ago, the Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl really was a slow first half, and then it really became a corker in the second half.

That's what this game sort of reminded me of, and Miami opened up the offense, and all of a sudden, they were finding some room downfield for Beck to throw, and the running game got going, but yeah, you're right. I wouldn't have thought that. That block punt, though, turned out to be a really big play because Indiana was on the ropes there in the second half because once Miami started moving, they had a chance, and I think they're going to regret that for a long time. You don't get many opportunities to win this thing, and that was right there on the platter for Miami in their home stadium.

Couldn't quite do it. Bruce Marshall, Vegas Insider. Bruce says that the Big Ten's world, we're just living in it. Three teams. It's not like one team's dominating and spreading the wealth. I'm looking at the way too early top 25 next year, and it looks like Alabama, if they're going to do it themselves, they've got some work to do. The preseason got them anywhere from 11th to 21st. Your thoughts here are way too early, but it's always a fun topic of trying to get back to level pegging with the Big Ten.

Yeah, and that's true, and they are rated a little bit down. We're not quite done with the portal here yet. By the way, speaking of not done with the portal, we saw Duke Darian Mensah threw his name back in the hat at the end of last week. That big money deal he got from Duke, I guess Miami might offer him more money, so we'll see how that goes. But yeah, we're back in there looking. It'll be a, you know, there will be similar names up there again next year, but there's always room for somebody, you know, to break through.

Who might the breakthrough team be next year? Hard to, you know, hard to say. The Big Ten thing here, this is what I've been maintaining for a while about the Big Ten, that yes, the upper tier of the Big Ten is now the power base in college football, and also you've got Matt Campbell coming into Penn State, too, and Michigan, Shetel, Whittingham, so they might be back in the mix again next year, too. But with the strength the SEC has had, I still maintain this over the Big Ten and the others is downstream.

The bottom half of the SEC is probably, is better than the bottom half of the Big Ten, no question about that. But it's that middle and top rung, not really, and Greg Sankey's got a lot to answer, or he's got a lot of comment upon when we get together at the media days, I guess we'll be in Tampa in July, and it's three years now, no SEC team has been in the championship game, and they had a very poor bowl season. In fact, only two wins for the SEC versus outside the SEC.

[46:31] Two of those wins were Ole Miss and Alabama over other SEC entries. So, yeah, I mean, I think it has shifted a bit, and, you know, like I said, if you told me if three years ago we'd have three straight years with no SEC team in the final, I'd say that's crazy, but that's what happened. Bruce, my comeback to that has been three years ago, Alabama got beaten overtime to Michigan. Two years ago, Texas lost on a scoop and score, and this year Ole Miss loses to Miami with 18 seconds remaining in the game.

Now, if one or two plays happen in those games, you've got SEC teams there. Then you had six coaching changes in the SEC this year. Again, give the Big Ten their view. They've been able to come on in the last three years, and then the bowl record to me is ludicrous when you look at coaching changes, opt-outs, and injuries, and four of those losses the SEC incurred in bowl season this year happened in the last minute. I would take that with a little bit of grain of salt.

Yeah, probably so. I mean, the bowls in general are, you know, unless you get to the playoffs, I'm not sure how much we can put stock in that. The difference is, though, in previous years, I mean, this has been a while for the bowls like this, and the SEC had been doing, you know, pretty well, and I think the concern is it's, yeah, I know Tennessee lost in the last play to Illinois, and, you know, there's a couple other ones, but they're all, you know, Tennessee and Vanderbilt and all them, South Carolina last year lost to Illinois.

I mean, these sorts of teams are losing to the Big Ten and Bulls the last couple years. That didn't used to happen. So, there's something in there. And, like I said, the strongest teams over the last few years, it's been Michigan, it's been Ohio State, it's been Indiana. So, there's a good chance we'll see the SEC back in there. We'll start hearing about Texas right about now again. We'll start expanding again. It's going to start right now, so we'll see. But the gap's not as big as it seems, but it is different, though, from a few years ago.

The folks out in Teos country, but they want an ROI on all that money. All right, Bruce, talk to us about your thoughts. So far, we're getting now starting to turn the corner in ACC basketball play. Your thoughts about ACC basketball play. Interesting here. Keeping an eye on Florida, which looks like it's sort of turning some things around a little bit, and they've got some wins in a row here now. And tonight, they get LSU, which also had a good win. I thought this was really going bad, and Matt McMahon might be in trouble and all that, but nice win the other day for LSU against Missouri, so they're at least on the board, you know, on conference play now.

But Florida is the interesting one to me. A couple of the transfer guards now are all of a sudden starting to make an impact. Boogie Fland has had some big games here in the last two weeks. Xavion Lee makes the rare transfer from the Ivy League to the SEC from Princeton. A big 20 points in that win over Vanderbilt on Saturday. So, you know, Florida looks like they are certainly back, you know, back in the mix. I guess the game of tonight, though, now they're playing LSU, but they're a pretty big favorite at home.

That's a pretty big slug of points, but I might be inclined to ride Florida here for a while. Vanderbilt, Arkansas. This is the other one tonight that I'm kind of interested in. Vanderbilt had a long win streak, and it finally ended last week with a thud, and they lost twice close to Florida on the weekend. They lost to Texas kind of substantially before that, so you wonder if they are starting to lose a little bit of altitude here. I mean, they were up as high as projected as a two-seed into last week.

All of a sudden, John Calipari's got Arkansas poised here. Tough loss to Georgia the other day, but they are back home at Bud Walton tonight where they put 108 on South Carolina last week. And Darius Acuff, this freshman, has been scoring 20-plus points like every night. So, something tells me Arkansas might bounce back here tonight, and Vanderbilt might be in a little bit of a tiny tailspin at the moment. We'll see. Let me ask you in a couple of minutes, the final four for the NFL, the Rams and the Seahawks.

Seahawks are 2.5-point favorite the third time they played this season. Patriots, 5.5-point favorite over the Denver Broncos, minus Bo Nix and Jarrett Stenham in there now. Will the favorites win and cover? No. I think both underdogs can win. At least, I think. I mean, we will see. It's going on a limit with Denver, but that'll be the first game on Sunday. Keep in mind a couple of things about Sean Payton. In his years at New Orleans, he generally had some competent and capable backup quarterbacks there, whether it be Chase Daniel, whether it be Teddy Bridgewater, whether it be Taysom Hill.

[51:43] They usually held their own when they had to come in there when Drew Brees went down. He has… Now, what do we know about Jarrett Stenham? I actually saw him in one of his few starts for the Raiders when McDaniels was coaching him, who, by the way, is now at New England. As the coordinator. Didn't look all that great. And then he had, when they benched Eric Carr at the end of 22, and then he started two for Sean at the end of 23, after Russell Wilson was benched.

He did look very good in the preseason this August, whatever that means. But if they did have a preseason MVP in the NFL this year, it probably would have been Stenham. But that's about it. That's what we've got to go on. And Peyton, though, he is… I do shows in Denver, too, and people there have been telling me all year, he's seen… And they don't think Peyton is making this up, but he thinks he can win with Stenham. And it sort of reminds me of what Dan Reeves used to say about Gary Kubiak.

You know, if he only went down, he said, I think we can win with Kubiak. Well, a couple times, Kubiak had to step in, but darn if he didn't do well. So I wouldn't rate Denver out. He can't do some of the things Knicks can do, obviously, in the running in particular. Stenham is not immobile, but he doesn't run like Knicks. And that saved Denver a lot this year. So they're going to have to do some things. But they all thought all year that they didn't match up too badly with New England.

Buffalo was a matchup that scared them because of Allen. You know, I don't think Drake Mays looked all that great the last, except for a couple passes the last two weeks in his pocket presence. I think Denver can get them, and you're getting a bonus at the point. The other one is a great game. We've been waiting for this all year. They split in the regular season. If you look back at it, I thought, you know, Seattle maybe should have won that first game. And the Rams maybe should have won the second game.

And then the results were different. And that was that wild overtime game and the two-point conversion and all that. If you look at the stats, though, Sam Darnold, six picks in those two games. And I think I still maintain he's a concern for me in a game like this, especially against a guy like Stafford. Last week, because of the Rashid Shaheed kickoff return and the first quarter developments that put Seattle up so comfortably early, changed that whole game. And Darnold didn't have to do much last week.

And that was a break for Seattle. 23-17 passes. Very, you know, it was everything else worked for Seattle. That's not going to happen this week. I think the Rams can go. They're the only team that can go up there to Seattle and win. I think they can do it. And it's mainly because of Stafford over Darnold for me. So I think we're going to get a Rams-Denver Super Bowl. We will see. Well, listen, great stuff as always. The 15 platforms, Jerome, where can we get online to get the gold standard?

Well, thanks. I checked me out online at the old standbys, VegasInsider.com. Also, we're at CBS Sportsline, Sportsline.com. Picks with a different twist up there. WinnersAndWiners.com. PicksAndParlays.com. Bruce Marshall, busy boy. Listen, man, thanks so much. You got a buffet going on there. Basketball, football, you name it. Thanks so much for your time and stay safe, okay? Have a good week, boys. Thank you. You too, bud. Thank you so much. Bruce Marshall, VegasInsider. And who hosted Bo Nix on his visit to Auburn when he was a kid in high school?

Mr. Stidham. My, oh, my, how things come and go. Coming up the next hour, we're going to be taking you all over the place, down to hopefully warmer Climes of Florida. My neighbor's going to be checking in, Joe Cox, all over the SEC. And Alabama fans, what's up here, ladies? Brett Greenberg on that and more straight ahead. Stay with us. Hey, Falcon fans, this is Keith at Cypress Creek Indoor Range. At Cypress Creek Indoor Range, we prepare you to provide your own safety. Cypress Creek Indoor Range team provides you with the knowledge and the right equipment to defend yourself and family.

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I'm running to be a warrior for Alabama, to deport criminal illegals, to lower your cost of living, and to put Alabama first. Steve Marshall and Barry Moore, let's have a debate. Face to face, no script, no handlers, no dodging. Let the people of Alabama see who the real fighter is and who actually has the guts to take on the swamp in D.C. Morgan Murphy, Rodney Walker, and Dale Shelton Dees Jr. are also running in this Republican primary. The primary election will be this coming May 19th.

I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Some of the greatest blessings is just having the people that care about you. To have someone that's just going to love you and make you feel important. They encourage you to be in church. They encourage you to be in prayer. They encourage you to be in your Bible. Now it's a part of my day every day. My house parents planted seeds in me that you can see where those seeds have sprouted in my life and helped change my life.

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I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores, Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. High School basketball season is here. And as your home for Florence Falcons athletics, 93.9, The Score is proud to bring you a select lineup of games. This Tuesday, the Falcons go on the road to take on the Russellville Golden Tigers. Airtime is approximately 7.15 with a tip at 7.30 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.

Florence and Russellville. This Tuesday night at approximately 7.15 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. Today's sunny with a high around 45 and wind chill values between 20 and 30. Tonight mostly clear with wind gusts up to 15 miles an hour and a low around 25.

[1:02:33] Tomorrow mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of afternoon showers and a high around 50. Tomorrow night cloudy with a 70% chance of showers overnight and a low near 40. And for your Thursday mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers and a 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 Tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.

Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Hi, Ken. How are you from the Boomo Bugg Show? I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Maybe if you're a regular on the show, you know we try to have as much fun as possible here. But you got to know when things kind of get serious. And one of the nice things about having a show that comes out of your backyard, in other words, we originate in North Alabama.

So, it's not like being piped in from Timbuk too. And that is, the weather this weekend can be very, very serious. We don't usually sit here and talk a whole lot about weather. That's not our bailiwick. But for those that we trust who are not in the clickbait, even they are saying, keep a close eye on the sky, the combination of ice and snow. Well, the reason we're bringing, we're already telling you this. We're just reminding you to make sure that you are as prepared as possible with batteries, with backup food.

And, of course, maybe some propane containers if you have something that can use that. But, B.B., the bottom line is, coming at you from where we are, it's just a nice way to sit here and remind all of us that this weather could get serious this weekend. Well, I vividly remember the ice storm of 1982 that basically paralyzed half the state for nearly a week. You need to have another alternate source of heat, stock up a little bit on food, and just get prepared in advance.

And use common sense as much as possible. It's a pleasure for us to welcome in Brett Greenberg. I wonder if he does weather. We know he does a knockout job cover recruiting for the place called Alabama there, Bama 24-7, part of the 24-7 sports family. Brett, welcome in. How's your forecast going? How are you? I'm good. I'm good, guys. I appreciate you guys having me on. I'm not a weather expert, I will say. I think my biggest take is that it's cold, and it looks like it's going to get colder down in the south as much as you'll get from me.

I guarantee you. Let's stay with our bailiwick here, Brett. Your thoughts as far as this class? We know it's kind of confusing for a lot of folks who don't follow this today. I thought you guys said the portal was over. Yeah, but still there's some unfinished business that could take place. Brett, your thoughts about Alabama coming out of the closing of the window and where things are right now going forward. Yeah, it's a good point you brought up, and I think I talked about this last week, but I'll just say it again just for your listeners.

The window closed on January 16th. That's for guys to enter the transfer portal, but now they have until I believe it's February 2nd to take visits elsewhere, so it's going to continue to roll right along. Obviously, Alabama had a much, much better weekend than the weekend prior, I would say, with the Crimson Tide, adding five through the portal and also adding a high school addition at the wide receiver position. But all in all, you're sitting at 17 incoming transfers as of now. Continuing to hear some more names are popping up as the staff continues to evaluate guys, whether it's a power four level.

There's the Miami and Indiana rosters that are probably going to open up. Yeah. I've seen a couple departures already as they have a five-day window that, I believe, started as soon as the clock hit zero last night in Miami. So those rosters are rich with talent. There could be some guys that pop up as well. The staff is looking through the JUCO ranks and also the high school level as well for some guys that maybe slip through the tracks, through the tracks. And certainly one of those is Maurice Mathis, who's a 6'1", 190-pounder, who got to campus last week, picked up an offer and quickly joined with Crimson Tide.

He's going to be an early enroll. He had 1,200-plus yards and 16 touchdowns for Houston County down in South Georgia, who played some really good competition. So it's continuing to go, roll right along, maybe not as busy as when the window was open, but the staff is continuing to evaluate and try to get some more guys in the fold. As you guys know, the roster went from 85 to 105, so there's still some spots to be filled. Let me ask you about a couple of receivers that one's already been in, Nico Brown from Yale.

And I know some people have a tendency to snicker about the Ivy League, where this guy's got 71 receptions for over 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 108 yards of receiving per game was one of the best in the nation. And then Ian Duarte, and I'll let you correct me on that, 95 for over 1,000, he's from Idaho State. Again, those two schools may not be at the top of your list in recruiting, but their production, they've shown they can play. Your thoughts on both players? Yeah, absolutely. You kind of hit it right on the head right there.

[1:08:06] And, you know, talk about you're going to have to add more guys with this 105 roster limit now, getting, you know, obviously expanding from 20, from 85. You're not going to convince, you know, starting talent and other, you know, powerful programs to come in and be your wide receiver six, for example. Your offensive line eight, you know, offensive tackle eight. So these are the type of guys that Alabama is going to continue to be going after. You mentioned Nico Brown had visited Washington, Michigan State, Northwestern, UCLA, was at Alabama over the weekend, confirmed he left and went to visit Stanford as well, where his older brother, I believe his younger brother, excuse me.

And you're dealing with a Yale kid. He's got probably a very, very nice brain on that shoulder and a smart guy. Everything I was told, you know, he's going to continue to take those visits, was going to take all of his visits before a decision is made. So continuing to monitor the latest of Brown, which you can find on Bama 247. And then Ian Duarte, who confirmed with me, Alabama's been in contact with visit, seems likely at this point. Now, when that does happen, I'm not sure.

I was talking with him. He doesn't want to get down there soon. No official offer yet. And that's one thing to note with this staff, both at the high school ranks and for the most part in the high school recruiting and this portal. They want to get you on campus. They want to get your measurables. They want to put you in front of Courtney Morgan, Kalen DeBoer, whatever respective position coach that may be. So just because an offer hasn't been extended yet doesn't mean there won't be once you get on campus.

But those are the two guys, I think, at receiver that I'm definitely monitoring. Check it out with Brett Greenberg there, Bama 247. Brett, obviously, they come and they go. The bottom line is you look at the balance. And everybody last year who followed this program said Alabama's got to get better, shock, shock, on the respective lines. They lost a lot. They've gotten a lot. Brett, how does the line coming in compare with the line going out at Alabama? Yeah, I think you start with the offensive line.

And offense and defensive line, I've said over and over, were the two main points of focus, I think, pretty much all year. Anyone who watched Alabama wasn't up to Alabama's standard, if you will. And, yeah, they lost a lot on both sides. But I think what you're bringing in with, for example, Cal Poly Center and Rayson Delgatti with extreme, extreme experience over, I believe, 1,300-plus career snaps has allowed, I think, three pressures. Three or four, I can't exactly remember the exact number. He's a guy who can probably plug and play immediately at the center position.

And you look at who they lost to the NFL draft. And a Parker Brailser, who came in from Washington and was kind of one of the more reliable offensive linemen for the Crimson Tide over the last two years. And you bring in a Caden Strayhorn. You have Maul Waldrop in the build. Well, you wanted to bring a guy with maybe a little bit more experience. You can see him plugging and playing at the center position. And you look at it as a whole, I think the one mainstay is Michael Carroll at right tackle.

And then beyond that, it was all up in the air. You added Nick Brooks, the 6'6", 350-pounder out of Texas, who projected it as an offensive tackle coming out of Grayson High School here in Georgia. Was played for Longhorns three games against, started three games against SEC opponents last year at the left guard position. And everybody I've talked to near the Texas program kind of told me it was kind of similar to Alabama. There was, that offensive line wasn't what it needed to be. There was a lot of positions, guys playing out of position.

What I think bodes well for Alabama receiving his commitment and ultimate signing is, yes, he projects the left tackle, but has shown his ability to play the guard spot. And it's that positional versatility that this staff has gone after at the high school rinks. They're doing that in the portal as well. You had an Ethan Fields, an interior lineman from Ole Miss, who didn't have, I think, was under 100 total snaps last fall for the Rebels, but more experienced. Guys that, and one of my buddies brought up a good point.

You see that most of these portal additions have two or three years of eligibility. So you're getting guys in the fold that aren't just going to be leaving after one year. And now there's the portal that's going to happen next year, and it's crazy, and who knows who's going to be there. And they could leave after one year, whatever that may be. We'll attack that a year from now. But you're getting guys in the building that have multiple years of experience. And then flipping over the defensive line, obviously you've lost a lot of production, James Smith, Wade Roussard, Jordan Renaud, and so on and so forth.

But you bring in who arguably, I believe, you know, in my opinion, one of the bigger pickups for the Crimson Tide throughout this entire cycle, Terrence Green, Oregon defensive lineman, going to be probably your nose tackle for the Crimson Tide. After losing Tim Keenan, 6'5", 330-plus pounds, and not one of your typical, I think, nose tackle type of body makes, if you will. He's long. He's athletic. It goes along with what this staff's looking for. He's disruptive. He started the third most snaps of any interior defensive lineman in Oregon.

I believe the Ducks brought back most of their starters at that position. So he was looking elsewhere. Alabama got that done very quickly. And I've been practicing this name. I haven't nailed it yet. I'm just going to tell you to master that going into the spring and the fall. But Alabama then had, you know, kind of cap out the very good weekend in South Carolina edge. Desmond Umuzulu, who's 6'6", 255 pounds. I think those measurables kind of just jump at you right off the page. And, again, it was another similar situation.

[1:13:36] It was productive for the Gamecocks, but they brought back most of their starters. So he was looking for a home elsewhere. He's got a great – he had a great relationship with Alabama as director of recruiting. Katavis Sanders, I think that went a long way in ultimately securing a visit pretty quickly since entering the portal and ultimately signing – or committing and signing, excuse me. And you look at it kind of as a roster as a whole. You retain to Yonse Pierre. Him, Yonse Pierre on one side and Desmond Umuzulu on the other side can kind of wreak havoc on those third downs.

So there's a lot to like. I think Alabama certainly got better on both sides of the ball in the trenches, and that was a big, big focus. Absolutely. Listen, you've got another obligation at 120. We're going to let you go. Tell us where we can get online and get the absolute latest. I know Jacoby Clinton might be another one from West Florida to be looking at. He is Clinton Dix's younger brother. That should be interesting. Where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Yeah, absolutely.

As always, appreciate you guys having me on. Sorry I had to be a little bit cut short, but I owe you a couple more minutes next time I'm on here. But you do a great job of kind of support and promoting all of our good work over at Bama247 and at Brett Greenberg underscore over on Twitter. And like I said, Alabama, you know, sitting at 17 incoming transfers, don't think it's done. Could see potentially some more addition along the offensive line, maybe a wide receiver as well, or edge, Wolf-like as well, just kind of looking at this roster.

So, yeah, Bama247 and at brettgreenberg.com underscore or brettgreenberg underscore over on Twitter. Brett, always appreciate your time. Good luck. Thanks so much for your time today. Absolutely, guys. You have a great day. Brett Greenberg is going to win this Bama247. Everybody knows Miles Stutz just got a message from Miles. He has a proud pop of both coaches at Freed Harmon's son, Drew's team's ranked number two in the latest NAIA poll. Her daughter, Abby, is ranked fifth on Beaton. David Weathers' daughter is on that team.

So, congratulations. You're talking about a proud papa in Miles Stutz and the crew up at Freed Harmon in Henderson, Tennessee. Coming up all over the NCC with Joe Cox next. Stay with us. Good call or bad call, officials have the final say in sports. And at Alpha Insurance, we know it's important for you to have the final say in the insurance plan we build for you. You will have peace of mind knowing that we will work hard to get you the best rates and best discounts available.

Alpha Insurance. Always a good call. In the Shoals area, call Mike Mitchell at 256-383-0678. Or stop by his office at 211 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. Or in Killen, call Matt Henry at 256-757-5006. Or stop by his office at 1717 Highway 72. Hello, folks. Mark Humphrey, new car sales manager at Ray Miller GMC, where we treat you like family. We understand that buying an automobile is the second largest purchase you'll do in your lifetime. And just like all the Alabama athletic programs, we take pride in what we do.

So, if you're looking for a new or pre-owned automobile, we have you covered. Also, don't forget to schedule your next oil change or any of your mechanical issues with our award-winning service and parts department. So, remember, folks, we're at 246 Cox Creek Parkway, Florence, Alabama, right underneath that big American flag. We hope to see you real soon. Presented by Robinhood. He crosses. Spins. Pulls up. The Robinhood Prediction Markets buy or sell your predictions all game long. No house odds. Just you versus the market. Put your sports IQ to work.

Trade every shot, block, steal, run, and moment that shifts the game. With Robinhood Prediction Markets, trade every play. Visit Robinhood.com slash predict to start trading. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. This is the story of the one. As an HVAC technician, he and his digital multimeter are in high demand. So, when a noisy office HVAC turns out to be a failing blower motor, he doesn't break a sweat.

With Grainger's easy-to-use website and product information, he selects the product he needs to keep everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Ask yourself this question. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama Sports News, brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane, the best pregame fan fest in college football. For more information, visit championslane.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. Here are thoughts from Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oates following Saturday's win at Oklahoma.

I did think in certain Houston in the starting lineup. And I didn't think it was as much about who came out of the lineup as just putting Houston in there for any one of pretty much any of them outside Aiden Sherell. Just to get our energy where it needed to be. And he got it where it needed to be to start that second half. So huge run to start the second half. You know, I thought if we could play that hard the first 20 minutes, we wouldn't have been down 11.

[1:18:52] But I got to figure out what we got to do to get us playing harder for 40 minutes. You know, not wait until we get down. We did it. We stayed on the road. We wait until we get down 14 and then we turn it up and go on a run. So we got to do a better job. I got to do a better job as a coach. Getting these guys motivated to give us better effort. I'll have more in a moment. Tide fans, are you ready for game day in Tuscaloosa?

Don't miss the ultimate pregame experience this season at Vector Security Champions Lane. Opening four hours before each home game. This FanFest has everything you need to get pumps for kickoff. Located next to the Walk of Champions, you'll enjoy live music, player autographs, the best food trucks from all over Alabama, and ice cold beer in our Legends Lounge Beer Garden, where there's never a cover charge. Check out ChampionsLane.com each week for the latest updates. Roll Tide. Join us this afternoon for Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, streaming live at 2 p.m. Central on all CTSN social media platforms at UA underscore CTSN.

Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is always a pleasure for us to open the door and say hello to Joe Cox. He's got it all covered there. His columnist for Saturday Down South. Joe, welcome in. How are you? Doing okay. Trying to thaw out a little bit up here, but other than that, I can't complain.

Joe, are they going to come out with a sports movie and call it Hoosiers Part 2 after this season? You know, they'd be justified. 100 to 1 preseason pick for the title. And, you know, they checked every box. It's the rare season where you go away and you say, no, it really had to be them. They did everything they were supposed to do. You know, you're right there on the border with Indiana. You're in Kentucky country. It's basketball. What's going on over the state line as far as those football fans?

Are they sitting here pinching themselves saying, we never thought we'd live to see this day? There really is a big element of that. I've got a good friend who's an IU alum, and he actually lives in Texas now. So he's down in what now passes for SBC country. And, yeah, I think it's just like, don't wake me up before this thing ends, you know? Oh, my. Joe, where are we going in sports? It was the product on the field continues to be wonderful. We enjoy the games every week.

Very competitive national championship game last night. And now, as far as looking at the future, Friday is the deadline for the commissioners to get together and say, we're either staying at 12 or we're going to 16. Tony Petetti is probably beside himself, the Big Ten commissioner, wants to go to 24, which would cause quite a ripple effect as far as probably eliminating the conference championship games beginning the season earlier. And, Joe, they've got to do something about this calendar. We would be nearly a week away from the national championship next year.

It's six days later than it was last night. There are so many questions that, to me, are even more important than are we going to expand to 16. Joe, your thoughts on where we're going in the next couple of years. Yeah, I think the concern here is who is the visionary? Who is the person who comes up with the plan that makes sense, that takes care of the players, that takes care of the coaches, that takes care of the schools? And their calendar, the fear here is that there is nobody, because there hasn't been anybody.

I see more than ever that push to say, we need a commissioner or whatever you want to call him, a head man, basically. And not coincidentally, Nick Saban's name is one I always hear batted about, because I think he would have the combination of a finger in enough pies and enough horse sense to kind of get the thing to a workable place. But, yeah, there's a lot going right at this point, but we're really teetering on the verge of being able to possibly upset the whole card if we're not careful about all of these things.

And, yeah, do you make it bigger? Do you keep it the same? I think the conference championship games are outmoded at this point. We kind of talked around that over the course of the year. But I almost think whatever you do, even if you've kept it at 12, I think it's time to pull those. 16 games is too long for a college season, and the games don't mean anything at this point. I'd rather be in the playoff and out of the championship game than vice versa any day.

[1:23:55] So that's one thing I've kind of got circled, is let's just figure out a way to cut that part out altogether. But, yeah, it would be lovely to finish this up two or three weeks earlier, figure out a way to make the portal window make sense so the kids aren't transferring in the middle of the semester. I don't know. If the headhunters come to you guys looking for a college football boss, throw my name in there. I'll take the salary anyway. Absolutely. We consider it done.

Joe Cox meets it there. Right now it's Saturday down south. Joe, we need more of Greg's thinking, less of ESPN's influence on that side of things. But let's talk something that's very near and dear to you. SEC basketball, it's hard to believe. January is passing right before our very eyes. Before you know it, March Madness will be here. Joe, your thoughts to date around the SEC hardwoods? My thought still is I think the best point I've heard made was made by my 13-year-old son who said, let's get tickets for that first day of the SEC tournament because whoever's number nine, number 10, number 11 in the SEC, is going to be some darn good teams.

I can promise you that much. It's always up and down throughout the league. But this year, more than ever, man, you could take those 16 slots, take magnetic strips, and throw them at a board with your eyes shut, and you'd end up with something probably pretty close to where we are. Joe, the Gators are the defending national champion, and they got off to a 5-4 start. A lot of people were saying, well, what in the world is wrong with this team? I believe they're 7-1 or 8-1.

They've won four consecutive SEC games, and they're beginning to look like a defending national champion. Auburn has got them Saturday, and then Alabama is going down there the following Saturday. Good luck to both teams. Gators are rolling right now, aren't they, Joe? Yeah, they really are, and they're doing it with offense. I think everybody liked their roster coming into the season, and they had some trouble getting everybody on the same page. But the other thing I noticed, I'm looking at the record right now, and the wins stand out.

But the other thing that stands out is the point total in that period, 98, 96, 91, 92, 94. You get the team. If you score 90-plus points, unless you're a miserable defensive team, you're going to do pretty well. And that's going to be the challenge for the Alabama schools there is can you guard them? If you can hold them to 80 or so, you've got a shot. But if they're going to put up 90, good luck. Buckle your seatbelts, and you better get hot from three-point range. You know what they say, Joe.

Coaches never want to look ahead. First things first, Auburn, Ole Miss, and then next up for Alabama, Tennessee. Your thoughts about those respective matchups. Well, you know, Ole Miss is one of those teams. They're 3-2. Could they be better? Sure, they could. But they've got three in a row. They've won a couple of close games in a row. So you certainly can't afford to overlook them. And, you know, that's the story of the league this year. Tennessee, on the other hand, they're kind of on the disappointing side of things.

They're 2-3. But you look at their last two games. They won one in double overtime, and then they lost one to Kentucky that they led for 39 and a half minutes or something like that. And, you know, it just didn't hold up at the end. So, you know, anybody at any point right now in this league can do anything. You could win by 20. You could lose by 20. But I expect close games. Basically, that would be my short answer. These are pretty evenly matched teams. And it's just going to be fun to kind of see them slug it out over the next month or six weeks or so.

What's the biggest surprise to you? I may have asked you this last week or a couple weeks. Georgia at 15-3 and 3-2. They got beat by Ole Miss and then turned around and whip Arkansas by 14 points. And Bucky Ball is doing really well. 14-4, 4-1 in the SEC. And I know we talked last week about the controversial win over Auburn, their first loss to Tennessee in double overtime. Bucky McMillan's been successful everywhere he's going. And I knew once he got settled at A&M, they would start playing better.

Who's the biggest surprise to you so far in the SEC? I'd probably go with A&M right now. And if we did talk about it before, Vanderbilt probably came up and they're settling back to earth a little bit. But, yeah, I didn't expect A&M to be this good this quick just because they've always been a program that would defend you very well. But they've struggled over the years with scoring. They usually have had one or two key players who had to kind of do everything themselves.

And they're spreading the wealth around a lot better this year. That's the biggest thing that I think has been a kind of hidden key to them. It's not just one guy anymore. It's not just, you know, gee, if we can get that guy shooting the ball poorly, we're going to take care of A&M. But they've really adapted well to the new coach. And they're a team to look out for. I mean, they're 4-1 in the league. Only two teams can say that. And they've certainly earned their spot up there.

[1:29:10] I agree with you. The SEC may not have four or five teams in the top ten right now. But they've got more depth. And that's going to be a fascinating tournament in Nashville the next time we turn around. Great stuff, as always. Joe, where can we get online and get your stuff and the teams? Keep up with us. It's Saturday down south. And it'll be a long run to the finish line. And, yeah, like you, I'm kind of – I'm always circling my calendar a little bit for Nashville.

But particularly if I get those first-day tickets, we might have a grand time. And we'll have to look you up, BB. I know you'll probably be there again. In the meantime, Joe, look out for that four-letter word, S-N-O-W, this weekend. Thanks so much for your time. Stay and stay safe up there, okay, buddy? I'll do it. You guys take care. You too, Joe. Joe Cox is going to put this vision there at Saturday down south. Why don't we head way down south to hopefully where it's warmer, the state of Florida, and Mike Neighbors next.

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That's 800-575-6759. Tax Relief Advocates. Real solutions for real people. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9. The score. Indiana Hoosiers won the college football championship last night. The Hoosiers beat the Miami Hurricanes 27-21. Indiana finishes the season perfect 16-0. The Auburn Tigers are set to play tonight at Ole Miss. Both teams are 11-7 on the season. Auburn is currently 2-3 in the SEC, while Ole Miss is 3-2 in conference play. Men's Hoops tomorrow. Troy is on the road. They'll play at Old Dominion. The Trojans are 13-6 on the year.

6-1 in the Sun Belt. Old Dominion is 3-5 in league play. North Alabama will play tomorrow at Queens. The Lions are 1-5 in the A-sun. Queens is 6-0 in conference play. 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. Lowe's knows how to turn big plans into real results. Whether it's new appliances or a home refresh, get started with 12-month special financing on purchases of $299 or more with a MyLowe's Rewards Credit Card, January 15th through the 30th.

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When you're in Progressive's Protection Zone. Get a quote at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. Welcome back in. You know, baby, it's very rare that we are able to talk to a real professor, but we are today, Mike Neighbors, Florida Southern College professor, does NFL broadcasting, cover the thing called the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay books. He's a fine author of several books, including his newest book, Don't Quit Pivot. Mike Neighbors, welcome in. How are you? And by the way, did the Indiana Hoosers read your book, Don't Quit Pivot?

After all, after a story of losing history, they finally put a cherry on top. How are you? Happy New Year, guys. If they made it, I want Kurt Signetti to endorse his job. What a story. We're a prisoner of the moment of sports. It's part of our story in college football. At least in memory, maybe ever in this. This is insane. You know, to me, it's the greatest story, probably in sports, as far as just, it's a Hollywood script, is it not? It's ironic, but the 1976 Indiana basketball team, correct me if I'm wrong, you're the professor here, the smart one in the room, the last college basketball team to wind up unbeaten.

And now, guess who's the first team, at least in the modern era, to wind up unbeaten in a 16-team season? We may as well go ahead and get the Hoosiers sequel ready, should we not, out in Hollywood. It's, boy, it's really amazing. And, you know, I know we have the transfer portal and the NIL and all the issues, but I can't help to think, guys, which is college football playoffs the last couple of years, how we, frankly, have been deprived of so many great games. Think about the playoff matchups we could put together over the last 30 years that they've had.

I know we need to get a lot of things organized, but, boy, this playoff is just tremendous. I know the ratings are good for this game because so many surprises. But, boy, it's a great game. Often these games are hyped, but that was an exceptional game. Just so many twists and turns and unexpected aspects of it. Great stuff, all right? Yeah, and, boy, you're talking about Mendoza. It's so efficient. It was an amazing team. They had one fumble the entire season, the first game of the year.

They had 13 penalties. And those clutch back shoulder throws on fourth and five. He did it twice. Runs a quarterback draw. Breaks about five tackles. Again, you know, it's cohesion, leadership, delivering the clutch. I know you talk about this a good bit in the book in various and sundry ways, but they're worthy of winning a national championship. Yeah, you know what? I know Alabama fans and your audience and Auburn fans don't like hearing this, but it's interesting. We haven't had a lot of new blood win national titles.

This is the team that won its first national title since the Gators won it in the mid-'90s, which is pretty remarkable. We used to think of Alabama, the Ohio State, all the blue bloods, SEC schools competing. So it just shows you with all the changes in college football that we need to fix, it has created an opening. And I know we're trying to keep track of where these players go every year, but it'll be interesting to me if Danny can do this already. I mean, I think he's been available for a while, guys.

It'll be interesting to see if he can add to this. I'm looking at Mark Cuban in the pregame. It's nice to have his account maybe help in the NIL fund, but it'll be interesting to see where they're moving forward because it's such a landscape of college football that it's been for a while. It's always good to have a buddy who's a billionaire to kind of track those things for you. Mike, let me ask you this. Obviously, you know Alabama. We go back. You worked there in Tide Town back in the day.

That's where we kind of got to go know each other. And, of course, I think you now have checks going to Tuscaloosa via a daughter there. So you know it from a business standpoint. You know it from an emotional standpoint. You know it as a historian. I'm looking at the preseason polls, and you know this. Alabama is anywhere from 11th to 21st in the way too early polls. Translated, that's not going to cut it going forward. No excuses, please. But your thoughts just about what does your gut tell you about Alabama post-Nick Saban?

[1:39:54] Well, I think, Kalen, to me, I was a big supporter of his. I know they're just, again, excuses. It's just impossible to fully support him based on missing Nick Saban. I was disappointed with the way they played Indiana. I think they could have been better prepared for that game. I was encouraged by the way he played this year, but then kind of discouraged how he didn't seem to get better. At the second half of the game, it took place. And, of course, that was for him to have another transfer portal, but he turned that down.

I think the jury's still out on Kalen. I mean, he's won everywhere he's been, but there's a reason Nick Saban is in football and basketball or not coaching anymore because it's so tough right now. Now, they're getting good paychecks, there's no doubt about it. But year to year, it's really tough, a lot tougher than it was, you know, five to ten years ago when it wasn't easy then either. So, I think it'll be interesting to see how he keeps recruiting, how he does with the transfer portal.

Can he keep that quarterback position in a spot where they don't miss him like they did in the previous year? Or they would have got by him like H.J. McCarron or Greg McIlroy years ago. Even a Ty Simpson, how unusual he didn't transfer. Can he keep the train rolling with recruiting in the transfer portal? I think the jury's still out on that. Mike, you are a goldmine. What we're going to try to do here is have a little bit of a connection issue. Why don't we try to reconnect with you?

Stand by. We're going to try to reconnect with you. Got a bit of an issue there. We apologize for that. But we're going to try to get back online with you because you're a goldmine and stuff. Mike, neighbors hooking up with us down in the Sunshine State. BB, to me, no one had a tougher job than DeBoer coming in. And these polls, to me, I would rather have a poll that says I am 15th than number three. Because what's the definition of disappointment is when the expectations are high and you don't meet them.

You look at Indiana this year, and even if they had been ranked in the top five, they end up winning a national championship. It would have been nice, but isn't it always nice when you have absolutely zero expectations and your team wins. Alabama's always going to have them. But to me, all these way too early polls, it just tells you that they really don't know what the c*** they're talking about. Because how can they be 11-1 and 21-1 in another? So they're all over the place.

It's kind of like what Nick Saban said about the recruiting rankings. As he pointed out, he said a lot of these people are sitting on their A's and they've never evaluated talent themselves because he brought up Damian Harris, a five-star. He's no longer drawing NFL checks. Josh Jacobs, he was a nobody. Look, he's going to be playing for a national championship, BB. Well, yeah, Mike's rejoined. The reason Alabama's 11-21 in the preseason polls, it's pretty simple to me. They don't have a returning veteran quarterback. That's the reason Arch Manning and Texas are going to be in the top five of all of these preseason polls.

And so many people do it the old way as far as preseason is they look at the returning starters, et cetera. And with the transfer portal, that he has turned that logic upside down. But Mike's back with us again. Mike does it both ways, the old way and the new way. Mike Neighbors again hooking up with us. Mike, are you back with us, my friend? Yeah, my office is kind of here in the middle, so I apologize for that. I think I'm in a better spot now.

Can you hear me? Yeah, you are. You are, Mike. You mentioned Arch Manning, brother. You mentioned Arch Manning. How about the perception of him now compared to what it was in October? Just insane. And then I saw that Dan Orlovsky was asked recently, you know, where is Arch Manning? And he just interrupted the question and just held out the number one finger, the good one. He's the number one overall pick next year, and there's no doubt about it. And I just think that Arch Manning, even just a few weeks ago, if he's a bowl game and down the stretch compared to Ty Simpson, you wonder if Ty Simpson's going because, A, he doesn't want to get hurt anymore, but also his quarterback draft will be more advantageous for him compared to what it could be next year.

Yes, the advantage of having a dad who knows this game inside and out as well. Your thoughts about the upcoming, you've got a great eye for the NFL, and we want to parallel it with, of all things, Alabama. Seattle is going to sit here and be rocking and doing their thing, and they don't have Ryan Grubb. How did Seattle get there without Ryan Grubb, Mike? It's crazy. Are you talking about the NFL playoffs now? Yeah, I mean, you know, the thing is, he was criticized with Seattle because he couldn't establish a running game, so they ran him out of town.

He winds up to Alabama. What's a knock this year? He's not able to develop a running game. Your thoughts just about what is it with Ryan Grubb? We saw it last night. The reason Miami hung in there, they had a strong running game, something that, you know, Oregon included. They had to go to the bench. But if you're going to win, it ain't rocket science. You've got to have the line, but you've also got to have a good running game as well. Yeah, it just amazes me at Alabama.

[1:45:15] First of all, that Mark Ingram was the first running back or first Alabama player to win a Heisman, and then they just go on this role where they have a lot of Heisman winners. But Alabama's always had that. It's always had the strong running game. And I'm sure that frustrated Ty Simpson, even though he's not going to say it. But how much better would he have been this year with a strong running game? Because we saw it earlier in the year how great he was with the balance on offense.

So it was just weird, wasn't it? It was just a weird year for Alabama because they lose to Florida State. Everybody counts them out. And then they come back and they win so many games in a row. And then they just can't put it together at the end. Just a weird year with the running game and a weird year from start to finish. Something we really haven't seen in terms of things Alabama normally has that they didn't have this year. I've got to ask you about the NFL Final Four, and particularly a coach you know well, and that's Sean Payton.

They're hosting New England. And everybody's saying, well, Bo Nix went down. He really had a very good season. He's out. Jared Stenum, the former Auburn quarterback. So New England's going to win in the cakewalk. I really – I would wait on that. You know Sean Payton very well. He wrote a book about his former quarterback. Your thoughts on that game, the Patriots, who have really done well with Mike Vrabel coming in from the Titans. I know they won 10 consecutive games at one point. Your thoughts on New England and Denver and what Sean Payton may have in store with them.

And then it's the Rams, Seahawks, 3.0. Absolutely. And, you know, Sean Payton just can't win in the postseason after the Saints won the Super Bowl. I mean, you look at the Minnesota Miracle, you look at the no-call, and then he grooms Bo Nix, and then Bo Nix has the injury. But if anybody loves any kind of nugget for motivation, it's Sean Payton. And with Jared Stenum being kind of the guy that everyone's going to count out, I remember when Drew Brees went down, and Drew Brees was never hurt, and he missed five games.

And Teddy Bridgewater came in, and he was 5-0 with Sean Payton. I mean, before Jameis Winston got hurt, he had a 6-1 record. He knows how to take quarterbacks and turn things around really quick. I think Bo Nix is an example of that. You know, as good as Drake May's been, he hasn't been that great in the postseason. I mean, look at C.J. Stroud. He lost a lot of money in that game against the Patriots, and it kind of overshadowed how pedestrian Drake May's looks.

So, Sean Payton loves this challenge. He doesn't love the fact that Bo Nix isn't playing. That's going to be a very intriguing game because I think it benefits the Broncos as well because there's not a lot of tape on Stenum at all. So, I can't wait to watch that game. And to me, the other one, you have the Matt Stafford factor, the fact that he's probably the best quarterback left. Now, probably he is. If Sam Darnold just doesn't make mistakes and plays average football, Seattle's so good, I think they can go the distance.

And you can't say that a lot in this quarterback-driven league, but they're so well-rounded and their defense is so good. I think both games are intriguing with all those subplots. You know, Mike, whether it's radio or professors or football, it's having smart people who know how to move people around. You look at Matt Stafford, he couldn't do anything with the Lions. He goes to the Rams and look how much money he's made them and all the winning. And then you go the other way, he wasn't good enough to be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, but Mike Vrabel's doing a pretty good job with the Patriots.

Is it the coach? Is it the team? Or sometimes it's just management not knowing what they're doing. I think it's everything. I think, you know, if you look at different jobs, I think, you know, the New Orleans Saints, I actually had Jim Morris Sr. as a guest speaker. And when he left the USFL, nobody wanted that Saints job, but he liked the general manager, Jim Finks, who's in the Hall of Fame now. I think you've got to have a good ownership. You've got to have a good GM.

And often, you know, look at Jacksonville this year. You know, Shad Khan had a lot of criticism. He's always been a pretty good owner, though. He's spent money. He's tried to make things work. He's took chances with guys like Urban Meyer. But Liam Cohen's turned it around. I think it's been an interesting effect because he leaves the Bucs. I think he really helped Baker Mayfield a year ago. He leaves. Baker Mayfield doesn't have the same season, but he goes to Jacksonville and really shows that he can help a Trevor Lawrence and turn a team around.

But to answer your question, you know, they brought in a whole new front office there, too. And they brought in James Gladstone, who's kind of a rising star. So, I think it's not just the coach. You've got to have all three. You've got to have a solid owner who's going to commit, unlike what they have with the Jets and the Browns. But you have to have someone who's committed with a good GM and a good coach. Tell us about your great book. I've read it from cover to cover, and we've talked about it.

Thank you. And I remember at the SEC basketball tournament last year, I was in Nashville. We talked about it. It's never too late to pivot. I know you're a great example of it. At the ripe old age of 50, you got a master's degree, became a full-time professor. All right. After being in broadcasting. But you've got great stories in there. Steve Allen, the actor and the comedian, played the banjo when he was younger, went back to a band. Sharon Stone, the actress, really, one of her hobbies was painting.

[1:50:30] And you've got one example after another of famous and not famous people who went back to passions that they had years ago to fulfill and change their lives. Yeah, your audience, this is for all ages, and there's all kinds of degrees of happiness at work. Some people hate their jobs. Some people just lack passion. And some people, frankly, like what they're doing. They just need new challenge. And that's where I was. I'll always be a sportscaster. But I really thought I would enjoy teaching, but it exceeded all my expectations.

And never thought I would write a book and never thought I would have a production company, all these things. But I think the key is, you know, you can make those changes, but we all have skills we take for granted. And I put together my lectures just like I put together my sportscast. I had a student today because I had a lot of Indiana topics at the front end of my lecture. He said, he said, how do you, do you change your PowerPoints up? And I said, absolutely.

So I put them together just like I would. Harold remembers this, you know, back in our days when we're doing three sportscasts a week and we would feel good about our shows. But you know what? We had to do it the next day. And that's how I approach teaching the same way. You know, you can't rest on your laurels. And I think the main message, though, and I have examples of all kinds of people, but also five sportscasters who are doing completely different things now. One's a personal trainer.

One's a chef. One has started an auctioneering company. One's a financial advisor. They're using all the skills they have as a sportscaster to do different things. And for those listening now, you may take those skills for granted, but maybe write down five things you think you do well and how you can take those skills and do something else. And that's really the theme of my book. Great point. I always say anybody might be able to do one good show, maybe two. I want to say they do 365 times 20.

That's when you separate them. Exactly. And it's not easy, man. It's not easy at all. Absolutely. The key is to make it look easy. Listen, you always do that and in space. Mike, listen, man, thank you so much. If you don't mind, send us some of that Florida weather, okay? Hey, will you guys be here for SEC media days? We're going to be in Tampa this year. Yes, it is. We're staying a month. So come on down. I can't wait to see you in person. Listen, thank you so much.

Have a great week, okay? All right. Anytime, guys. Happy New Year. Thank you, buddy. All right, neighbors again. Don't quit. Pivot. As we mentioned, the season is now over. And amongst those entering the portal, Mendoza from Indiana. Little brother, Alberto Mendoza enters the portal today. It's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out with Indiana-Miami's roster now on the block and how that may influence the Tide Tigers and Tennessee B, amongst others. Yeah, in fact, if you remember Brian Matthews mentioned specifically about Miami, I'm guessing they've got a play or two in mind.

Yeah, stay tuned. It's going to take care of us for now. On behalf of B.B., Greg James Blair, the entire crew here. Peril Dyke, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow at noon to two with a bit more Buck Show back here on Sports Radio 93.9 The Score.