Boomo Bugg Show 012626

[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 into the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where it was a super weekend for the Patriots, Seahawks, Auburn and Tennessee. Not so much for Alabama.

Good afternoon. Welcome in. How are you? A lot to get to today, including a lot shaking between Mars Hill and Russellville. And more importantly, our thoughts and prayers. You, your family, affected by all the bad weather over the weekend, particularly over in North Mississippi and Tennessee. Brett Beaird, welcome in and how are you? Happy Monday to you and the listeners. Yes, it was quite a weekend for a lot of people in the South, northern Mississippi and the Nashville area, southern Tennessee. Hit very hard, snow, ice, the entire gamut the entire weekend.

And again, freezing temperatures in nearly close to zero the next couple of nights. Hard to believe this, but today, January the 26th, is the 43rd anniversary of Paul Bear Bryant's death. Wow. We'll talk about that during the show. As you mentioned with the Super Bowl, Seattle and New England are matched up in it. We'll talk about it during the course of the week. But right now, Adam is here to talk about some SEC basketball and football. And that's not all when you talk with Adam Spencer.

He's got it all covered there at Saturday Down South. Adam, welcome in. Hopefully, you and your family were able to dodge all the ice monsters over the weekend. How are you? I'm doing great, guys. We just got snow up here, so we've managed to avoid the ice, which is good. Take the snow and a player to be named later, I guarantee you, Adam. Obviously, the show does go on getting into the heart of SEC basketball season. Adam, obviously, one of the more intriguing matchups. Over the weekend, Alabama taking on Tennessee.

And the big story that was off the court, on the court, and elsewhere, Betty Yaco, obviously, even within Tennessee, says defense still beats offense. Where do you start breaking down that game and the performance of Alabama doing something they hadn't done in a while? And that's lose back-to-back games at home. Yeah, I thought that that was a really fun game to watch. You know, the Stars really came out to play. I mean, Nate Amon had one of his best games of the year. Jacoby Gillespie continues to provide some spark offensively.

I thought it was impressive. You know, you look at the box score, and you see LeBaron Phylon had 26 points. But you look deeper, and, you know, he was only 7 for 20 shooting. He was 2 for 9 from 3. So, I mean, even though he had 26 points, like, I thought that Tennessee did a good job on him, you know, forcing him into taking tough shots, making him, you know, pass up some shots that he would have liked to take. You know, he still had 7 assists, which is pretty impressive. But, you know, he played an impressive game, but that Tennessee defense just made him uncomfortable enough to make it, you know, inefficient enough to pull out the win.

So, I was really impressed by Tennessee. Nate Amon continues to improve, just like Rick Barnes has said he's going to during the second half of the season. So, you know, they're staying the course with him, and he's starting to look like the top five pick everybody expected. Yeah, Rick Barnes does, has gone to Nate Oates' number. He does an amazing job of getting mismatches with the men. In fact, Alabama, defensively, the players were five to six inches shorter than the men. Boy, he took advantage of that.

Adam, the big surprise of the weekend, Auburn going to Gainesville to face a red-hot Florida Gators team and did a masterful job of defending them in the post, ended up beating the Gators for the first time in Gainesville in 30 years. Yeah, I was really impressed by Auburn. You know, that's a tough place to go and win. Florida seemed to be hitting its stride. You know, I had moved them, I'd moved the Gators up to number one in my power rankings last week, and now I've got to reassess that.

So, yeah, I mean, Auburn, this is the kind of talent that we've expected to see from Auburn. You know, going into Florida and winning, you know, that's a nice surprise. But the consistency that hasn't been there to start SEC play was there. And, you know, you saw them frustrate. Like, you said, the frontcourt guys, Condon, Hawk, you know, those guys were struggling all game. And when you can throw sides at them the way that Auburn can, I mean, it was an impressive win. And, you know, I'm not by no means pressing the panic button on Florida at all.

[5:13] But, yeah, that was a very nice win for Auburn and something that hopefully Stephen Pearl can use to build some momentum. Adam Spencer, Saturday down, Seth. Adam, your thoughts overall about the SEC? Everybody had Alabama penciled in at the top of the heap. Right now they're basically in the middle of it, three and three behind Auburn. Your thoughts overall? Is it safe to say this league on any given night, just what we talked about, plus the old saying, anything can in this season has happened? Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, this thing is still wide open.

You know, Texas A&M is at the top right now. And you've got to give Bucky McMillan a ton of credit because Bucky Ball has worked right away. You know, right now it's a two-horse race between him and Mark Byington for the SEC coach of the year. And, I mean, I think McMillan's pulled ahead by a few lengths here because Vanderbilt's kind of coming back down to earth. But, yeah, Bucky McMillan, that's been a huge story. Texas A&M looks great. Yeah. You've come on. Florida still looks strong despite the loss to Auburn.

Can't count Auburn out. You know, Vanderbilt could figure out some things. But this league is, it's, they don't have the elite teams like they did last year. But this is still the deepest league in the country. And, yeah, like you said, anything can happen on any given night. And so far this season, it has been. Adam, about three weeks ago, Kentucky fans were calling head basketball coach Mark Pope anything but his name. Five wins. Texas A&M has made his two wins. Things are, they're getting a little healthier.

Aberdeen is playing well. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you've got to give credit for them to, you know, overcome some early adversity. You know, they lost Jalen Lowe, the guard transfer from Pitt to an injury. So, they didn't have Jaden Quaintance back yet. So, you know, they've had to kind of figure out who they were. Otega Owe, you know, yeah, he got off to a slow start. But he seems to be figuring out, you know, his role a little bit. Malachi Moreno has been a revelation for them since he hit that shot against LSU.

He's really caught on here, you know, and then, yeah, Denzel Aberdeen, same thing, just, like, needing to figure out where he fits in this new system, how to, you know, take on. When you were, like, the sixth option at Florida last year, I mean, you just face a completely different level of defensive intensity when you're the number one or number two guy on any given night. And so, he's had to raise his level of play, and that took a little bit, but he's there now. And, yeah, you know, you've got to give credit to Mark Pope and the Wildcats for not caving when the fire was the hottest here back in early January.

All right, Adam, we're not going to let you get away without giving you a chance to brag about your Tigers from Como. Yeah, I mean, that was, you know, not going to brag too much. Those were fun buzzer beaters in regulation and then in overtime. But, yeah, I mean, you know, preview for tomorrow's SEC power, I have Oklahoma at 16th. So, you know, at home against the worst team in the league, you don't really want to be needing two buzzer beaters, let alone one buzzer beater.

But it's always better to win and be on the right side of the buzzer beater than it is to be on the wrong side of the buzzer beater. So, I'll take it and, you know, we'll see if this team can figure out an identity because Mizzou is the most baffling team in the conference right now. You know, losing at LSU, losing to Georgia, you know, but they have wins over Kentucky and Florida. It's just, and Auburn, you know, they've beaten everybody on top. And it's just, you never know what you're going to get from Mizzou on any given night.

And that's kind of fun. And it's pretty frustrating at times, too. Is Kellen DeBoer the head coach there of the Missouri basketball team? Yeah, right? Him and Dennis Gates have been sharing notes, apparently. In fact, that game has been moved to, moved back to 7 o'clock. It was originally scheduled tip-off at 8 because of the weather, all the weather impacts. They moved it back to 7. Adam, not exactly a big shock here. A lot of people were anticipating the college football playoff committee last Friday to announce, Well, we're going to 16, but about a week ago, everybody began to get word that, what a surprise, too.

The Big Ten and the SEC could not agree on 16 or 24, so they punted, and they're going to stay at 12 for another year. And now that we've got that decided, could they figure out the calendar and all of the other issues that we have with college football? Yeah, I mean, you think that now that they've punted for a year here, we can kind of regroup, get all on the same page for 2027, and make sure that that goes smoothly because, I mean, you've got to figure out, you know, the 16-24 thing, we've got to get it decided soon, like in the next few months here before, you know, you can't wait until this time next year and then have these same discussions.

[10:53] So hopefully they can figure this out and we can move some things around. I know people want to protect, you know, Rivalry Week on the week of Thanksgiving, but something's going to get lost in the shuffle here. And if it's Rivalry Week being on Thanksgiving, then, you know, that's just what we're going to have to deal with. But, you know, we'll see what happens. But, you know, hopefully we can get something going for 2027 before the 2026 season even kicks off. In the meantime, if you look at the paper game right now, is it Lane's world?

We're just living in it. He's gone out. They gave him a checkbook. And what he's done, he's pretty much inked the number one dude in the portal at every position. The latest, the big lineman coming down. Your thoughts about Lane, is there any reason why Lane Kiffin can't win, given the fact that they just basically said, Yo, play the NFL model and buy us a team? I mean, yeah, that's the way to do it. I mean, you know, you see these NIL teams, you know, Kurt Signetti said that his NIL wasn't where people thought it was.

But, you know, we don't need to act like he did. It's good enough. I mean, the portal, you know, when you have a coach that, you know, that offensive staff that he's got coming in, you know, himself, Charlie Weiss Jr., keeping Blake Baker, the coaching staff is set, and that's a big boost. So I think that this team's going to hit the ground running. I think that they're, yeah, like you said, they're loaded at every position. There's a ton of talent. I mean, you know, you look at the two teams that are playing in the Super Bowl, Seattle and New England, those teams spent some of the most money in free agency this offseason, and it made immediate dividends.

So, I mean, that's basically the model that we're looking at right now. You know, Lane Kiffin came into Baton Rouge. He looked around, saw what they needed, and then went out and spent to get the best players at those positions. So, I mean, I trust him. You know, even with all the drama surrounding him, what you can't question is that he wins ballgames. So, you know, I think that, yeah, they'll be, I've said it before, I think 10 wins is the floor for that team, and 10 wins will get them into the playoff.

And a great way to begin the week, as always, now that we're transitioning to basketball, but still some transfer portal stuff, we'll see if they do anything as far as trying to help the calendar for college football. We look forward to your power rankings for SEC basketball coming out later today, or tomorrow, but where can we get online to get yours and the team's good stuff? Yeah, SaturdayDownSouth.com, and we've got you covered with basketball heating up, and we'll keep on the portal stuff until everybody's figured out where they're playing next year.

And make some snow cream in the meantime. Adam, stay warm up there, and thanks so much for your time today. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. Stay safe. Thank you, bud. Adam Spencer hooking up with us Saturday Down South. You mentioned a poll. The latest one's out. Auburn's still unable to crack the top 25 despite that big win over Florida. Alabama sliding all the way down to number 23, BB. They're heading in the wrong direction, but still plenty of time if I turn this train around. In the meantime, what do you say we bring some sunshine into the conversation to the Sunshine State and John Ferrari next.

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From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama sports and it's brought to you by Guthrie's, America's original chicken finger restaurant and a proud partner of the Crimson Tide. Order online at Guthrie's Chicken dot com. Hello again everybody, I'm Roger Hoover. Here are thoughts from Alabama women's basketball head coach Chrissy Curry following Sunday's win against Mississippi State. I just couldn't be more proud of our kids. It was gritty and gutsy. I thought our kids got a little frustrated. We're trying to just tell them to play the next play, you know, and I just think that this is just a big win.

They're going to look at this at the end of the day and go, man, that's a big win. Especially, we had some adversity last week and I love the way our kids, I mean, we needed this win today. I'm so happy for them. It's pretty cool. So, at first I was a little worried, but man, they were a little late getting here. But it was incredible. Like, I just can't thank our crowd because this team deserves for folks to be in here and we pack the rafters.

And we're going to continue to need it as we head into February. Home court advantage is huge in this league. We need to pack our bags, get ready to go take it on the road. Same gritty, gutsy effort and we'll give ourselves a chance. I'll have more in a moment. This year we honor the most important anniversary ever. An event that reshapes civilization as we know it. A day that would lead to something so flawless that nothing could ever really compare. People have tried to match it, but have failed.

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Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Guthrie's. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Here's the deal. We're going to go to John Frawley down to the Sunshine State and try to make a deal. John's visiting there at CBS Sports Radio 1420 WAOC and 1240 WFOI in St. Augustine, Florida. The Sunshine State and online at 965sports.com. John, welcome in. And before we get started, can we trade you two inches of ice just for two hours of warm sunshine and a player to be named later?

How are you? I'm doing well, Harold. And I was telling your producer, I was wondering how you guys were doing. Because yesterday, not that the folks listening are going to want to hear this, but it was 80 degrees. Oh, my God. In Jacksonville, Florida. I'm watching TV and seeing this. This is like a movie for us down here. Now, it's going to get cold by our standards, 29 and 30 in the morning the rest of the week. But nothing like what you folks have endured. So, my prayers and wishes are with the Tennessee Valley.

Hopefully, everybody stayed safe. Well, I appreciate that, John. And listen, we will gladly trade if you change your mind. In the meantime, I would imagine Florida was as warm as the thermometer until Auburn came to town. And it looks like Auburn brought some of that chill from Alabama to the Gators basketball team over the weekend. Your thoughts, John? Auburn was the better team, basically, from almost start to finish Saturday. And Todd Golden admitted that in the postgame, that normally Florida comes out and throws the first punch or two.

That was not the case Saturday afternoon. Auburn did. Hall had 24 points for the Tigers. Florida made a run in the second half, got the game tied with a little bit over seven minutes to go. And you started thinking, okay, Florida's going to take control of this. And like Lee Corso would say, not so fast. Auburn just took off again. And hats off to Stephen Pearl and the Tigers. They were the better team. First time in 30 years, by the way. They won in Gainesville, 1996. And to put that in, I guess, fashion or whatever, Steve Spurrier won a national title that year.

[21:53] Florida's first in football. That's how far back that was. But I think this next week or two is going to be critical for Florida. And, of course, we're going to be playing a team you guys are familiar with next Sunday. Alabama, in between, we've got South Carolina Wednesday night, Florida. So, I think this is going to be a bounce-back week, or Todd Golden's hoping it is. It looked like Florida was starting to take control of this conference. But this is up for grabs right now in the SEC.

John, according to what we're told, that Florida's going to win that ball game. Because I thought it was interesting, Todd just came out after the Betty Yaco news and said, let them have them. We're going to beat them anyway. So, it looks like they've thrown down the gut and there's some extra spice for that matchup this weekend. We were talking about that Saturday in the media room before the game. And, yeah, you know, that's a good time, guys, to have a game on a Sunday afternoon at 1, which, as you know, normally the men don't play Sunday.

The ladies do. But with football off this week until next week for the Super Bowl, that's going to kind of have a football mentality. I know Coach Golden said that in a coach's show with Sean Kelly. And I don't necessarily know if he's alone in those thoughts, though. You guys may differ with the young man, you know, nothing against him, but just the way that went down, if that's allowed to stay, that's opened up a Pandora box, I think, as far as guys declaring to go to the NBA, signing a contract, and then being able to come back.

We were joking that we might bring Mike Miller back for the game. But, you know, we'll see how that plays out. But that aside, it's going to be a pretty important game for both teams. I know Alabama lost to Tennessee Saturday. Florida lost to Auburn. So, it's a big week for both teams, I think. And that game's going to be huge next Sunday. Yeah, I agree with you. It's going to be a critical two-week stretch for a lot of teams. There's not the elite team this year, but there literally are 10 or 11 teams who are buying for bids in the NCAA.

Auburn just out-defensed. They out-muscled Florida in the paint, which surprised me. Shinaloo got off to a good start, and then, I don't know if I'd use the word disappear, but he wasn't nearly as effective. Alex Condon did disappear, John. He had all of one point. They completely shut him down in the game. And I'm like you. I thought Florida, when they made a run, they were going to take control of the game, but they never did, and Condon never even got started. Condon only attempted four shots on Saturday, which is just unacceptable.

He's got to get more than that. And the other thing with Condon, he's got to stop shooting three-pointers. It's a low-percentage play. He tried two on Saturday, didn't make either. And, honestly, he's been a little bit of a disappointment this year. He's been good at times, but not as consistent as I thought he would be. And, overall, as you brought up, Brett, Auburn was the more physical team, which surprised me. Chin Yulu has been gigantic throughout the season, but on Saturday, Auburn had answers for him as well as Thomas Houck.

Though Houck did have 27, but still, they were the better team in the paint, and as far as the SEC overall, don't look now, but Kentucky's starting to creep back in there, too. With a former Florida Gator named Denzel Aberdeen. So, they're not out of this either. John, 4965sports.com. John, the class pretty much, at least on papers in the house, your thoughts about how Florida did with the football portal class? Well, that was the highlight of Saturday, Harold. We actually got to meet with John Summerall, which was a surprise to me.

He was at the game, and at halftime, it was an impromptu, kind of mini-press conference, down where the Florida basketball opposing team normally comes in after the game. He seemed pretty pleased by the class. Now, he did say he would have hoped this would have been the one year. They did away with the second portal, as we know, the second after the spring. He said, being a new guy, he kind of joked, but he said, naturally, they'd have to do away with that this year. He would have liked to have that for one more year, being his first year in Florida.

But, overall, he said he's going to put this team through some stuff they haven't been through before. He talked about coming out at 5.50 on Wednesday morning behind a practice field. Now, I'm not going to get up and do that, guys, but let's see what's going on, and that these guys were going to have to earn their logos on the jerseys, and that's something one Urban Meyer did back in the mid-2000s, the last time the Florida football program was honestly really nationally relevant. They haven't been since then, and so this will be interesting.

[27:12] I had a good initial feel with Coach Summerall. It doesn't mean he's going to win a lot of games on the field, but it was a different tone than we got with Billy Napier the last four years, and that wasn't working, as we all know. So, he mentioned Aaron Filo and that Buster Faulkner was huge in getting him, the quarterback from Georgia Tech, and he was pleased with Trammell Jones, too, but I'm getting the feeling that Aaron Filo's going to go in with the lead. Now, it doesn't mean Trammell Jones can't beat him out, but because of Filo's familiarity with the system, and also he brought up that he had never recruited a player on Christmas Eve on his team, and that was one Jaden Baugh.

He said that might have been his biggest recruitment was just keeping him, which we talked about, and Jaden Wood, the young defensive end as well. He brought him up, and Dallas Wilson, Vernell Brown III, and Miles Graham as keys to keeping guys that were vital from last year's roster. So, April 11th is going to be the spring game, Saturday at 1 o'clock, and let me just throw this in, not that it matters, but thank goodness this isn't a Thursday or Friday night. We were told from Coach Napier for years, that would help your recruiting.

Well, they were 4-8 on the field last year. I don't know how much it helped Coach Napier, but it didn't really help. So, anyway, it's going to be Saturday at 1, and without that second transfer portal period, I think you're going to see these games start being on TV again, guys, because coaches were worried about being poached, their roster, from other teams looking at these games on TV, and that's why they started not having them on there. I think that fear is going to be gone and subsided now because there's only the one window for the transfer portal, another benefit, I think, of only having one because I don't know about you guys, but I love those spring games.

A lot of times you don't get anything out of them, but I'm just pining for some football by April, so I love those games. So I was happy to hear that, too. I agree with you. We'll get into this more with you as you go throughout the year, but now that the college football playoff committee did absolutely nothing to advance and move college football forward, now that we've got that out of the way for a while, John, maybe somebody, I don't know who, could try to solve the other 20 issues.

The product on the field is great, but there are about 20 issues that need to be solved in college football, and I don't know who's going to be able to do it. Well, touching on that college football playoff, guys, I was amazed. Nobody voted for 12 on that committee, but the Big Ten was sticking at 24. They didn't want to give an inch, and so we wound up back at 12, and if that playoff was next year, Miami would not be in the field from last year, meaning Notre Dame, if they're in the top 12, they're guaranteed a spot, and Duke, with five losses, would be in now.

James Madison would not. All the power four champions are getting in, and I just thought that was crazy that the committee didn't do anything to address any of the problems. In fact, in my opinion, they might have made it worse, because we might have another Notre Dame-Miami situation moving forward, and to me, that'd be a shame if, not that I'm rooting for Miami, but anybody in that spot that beat Notre Dame might not get in, because Notre Dame's guaranteed a spot if they're in the top 12.

I just think it's ridiculous what's going on. No question about it. I think you get a lot of amens throughout the congregation. John, where can we get online and listen to your great show this afternoon, bud? Well, thanks, Brett. You can get online at 1240news.com. You can follow me on x slash Twitter at jf underscore sports now, and we'll talk a lot about Florida Gators sports, a Super Bowl that's not very popular in Duval County without the Jaguars, and college basketball, so there's a lot going on.

And one, Brent Beard will be on the show today. I think you're familiar with him, so we're getting a celebrity today, too. Mr. Sunshine himself. John, listen, man, thanks for your time today. Keep up the temperatures, and let's do it again soon, okay? Thanks, guys. Always a privilege to be on. Thanks, man. John, Florida, 965sports.com. Well, we heard the perspective of the Florida Gators. What about the perspective of the Auburn Tigers? Brian Matthews, that and more straight ahead of the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us.

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And the always dangerous Dan Hooker throws down with dynamic finisher Benoit Saint-Denis in a high-action lightweight showdown. UFC fans, pay-per-view just got knocked out. Catch UFC 325 on Saturday, January 31st. Only on Paramount Plus. Stream every fight live with one subscription. Visit ParamountPlus.com slash UFC to get started. My name is Whitney Allen. I am a widow. My husband Ryan died. We never thought in a million years we'd have to use life insurance. The unexpected happened. With Ethos, it is so fast and easy. It's 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds.

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Alabama fell at home, losing to Tennessee 79-73. Crimson Tide had three players in double-digit scoring in the loss. Alabama is 13-6 on the year and 3-3 in conference play. Troy a winner at Georgia Southern, 83-78. Trojans are 15-6 on the year, 8-1 in the Sun Belt. 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. Refresh your bathroom with big savings at Lowe's. Reimagine your bathroom with up to 40% off select faucets during our bath savings event.

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Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at VaxAssist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. Really appreciate free ride around the Tennessee Valley. And for Brian Matthews, taking time out of his busy schedule. Follow the Auburn Tigers at AuburnSports.com. Brian is a senior editor again at AuburnSports.com. Brian, welcome in. Hopefully, you're in a better situation than a lot of our neighbors up in this end of the state.

How are you? Doing fine down here. Cold, certainly, but got a lot of rain. But we were really fortunate, I guess, as part of the state not to get hit with the ice or the snow or, you know, have those issues that some people are having out there. Brian, a double bonus. Auburn basketball team, they got it right. Just leave the state and go to Florida, where we've been talking to some of our friends' attempts down in the 80s. And did Auburn bring some of that heat to the Sunshine State over the weekend, to the hardwoods?

How about that game? Incredible performance by Auburn, I thought. Just so, just really got after Florida from the tip, right? Just played so hard, so physical. You know, took it right at all those Florida big men. You know, that's one of the best big men in the country. And Auburn just took it right at them. And just really, really played physical and tough and gritty, as we like to say now. And just really an impressive performance. The first win in Gainesville for Auburn in 30 years. So, won't be riding that anymore.

But, yeah, that was a really nice win for the Tigers. Auburn matched their physicality and then some. I know Steve and Pearl said or told the team earlier before the game, either you rebound or you can come sit on the bench next to me. I think they got the message. Shindlew, who had had 21 rebounds twice this season, got off to a good start. They held a human check. Alex Condon scored a whopping one point. Auburn won the post. They did. And they held their own rebounding, right?

They had an edge in rebounding for a lot of the game. I think Florida pulled away there in the second half. They were just plus seven from Florida. But points in the paint, Auburn, I believe, was plus ten, which is incredible against that team. If you think about it. And, you know, I thought free throw shooting was also a big difference in that game. Auburn made 19 at 21. I think Florida was around 60%, 16 and 27, I think it was, like that. So, yeah, that was a big difference. And I just thought the intensity that Auburn brought, you know, they built that 18-point lead early in the second half.

You thought it was going to make a run. But when they did make a run, I think this team, and Stephen Pearl said afterwards that, you know, three weeks ago they probably would have lost that game. But I think you said 20, I don't remember that quote. Wow. But he's referring to, you know, Florida making that run and Auburn not panicking, not falling apart, you know, digging in. And being able to finish that game over the last seven minutes and making their own run there to pull out that, I guess it was a nine-point win.

Yeah, 76-67. Ryan Matthews, senior editor of AuburnSports.com. Did Stephen go to his dad and say, Dad, this is how you do it. Your thoughts about any time you get a brand-new coach in, especially after a legend like Bruce, there's always going to be that, well, there's going to be some growing pains. If you look at where he is right now, is it safe to say that maybe he's ahead of where a lot of folks thought he might be at this point in his tenure there?

I think that's probably fair to say. I think he was left with an interesting situation with the 10 newcomers and just a hot cut back. I think this coaching staff has had to coach really hard this season to get this team to play like it's playing right now, right? I don't think it was an easy task they've been through. I think this team is a little short on leadership and a little short on depth in certain areas, but they're finding a way to go out there and play like this, and it's really making a difference.

[42:28] I don't think they can have the sustained effort for 40 minutes for the next 11 games. I think there's going to be some ups and downs, but I think they've found their identity. They know that they can go anywhere and beat any team when they play like that. I think that gives them a lot of confidence now going into the next two-thirds or so of the schedule. Troy running back, Tay Meadows, was Auburn's 37th transfer. Michael Matthew Canty was the 38th, the linebacker from Hampton. Arliss Bordingham was the 39th from Florida in Bowling Green.

Now, look, I took a nap yesterday afternoon. Did I miss two transfers that Auburn brought in? Are they at 39 or 44 right now? They are sitting pretty at 39. That could be it for them, but we'll see. There's still thousands, I guess, of players in the portal. You never know when Auburn may evaluate a guy and decide if he's a good fit here or there. Who knows what's going to happen this spring. I know there's not supposed to be a portal period, but there's a court of law that could change that, so we'll see.

But I think Auburn is about done with the major moves they're making. Tay Meadows, you mentioned, is one of those changing pace guys. I think he's a guy that can use in certain positions in certain areas. So I just think he was a nice little piece to add to that offense. And, you know, it's incredible how much the tight end room has changed, right? I think they've got seven tight ends now, if I'm counting correctly, which is incredible. They only returned, I guess it was one from last year, and they had a freshman coming in.

But that's it. So they've really worked hard to improve that room. You know, they've got some, you know, Jake Johnson, Arliss Bordingham, who you mentioned, Hunter Herring, another late addition. All three of those guys are seniors. Hunter has placed some other positions, but he's even concentrated on tight end. They've got Jonathan Echols from South Florida, who knows the system well, a junior. Of course, they've got Ryan Gaya back, Barring Xavier Newsome from a, I think that was from Howard, maybe, or from a smaller school. And then they've got a freshman come in, I think, from Dynamobile.

So they've got a great mix there of older guys, veterans, younger guys coming in. You know, it's going to be interesting to see how they use all those guys. Ryan Matthews, senior editor of AuburnSports.com. You mentioned Howard. What do you say to Auburn fans? We're here in a situation where we hear from a lot of fans and almost across the board, just say, what are these coaches doing? You've got somebody from Howard. You've got somebody from Slippery Rock. You've got somebody from the Colorado School of Mines, from Timbuktu U.

Well, what do you say to fans who say, where are the four and five stars? Well, I mean, I think it's important that you just evaluate players, right, and not what they did and how to go for what they're doing in college. It's because players get bigger, stronger, they get overlooked when they get a chance to play. And budget-friendly, too. That's true. That's also true. So we'll see how this works out for Auburn. This is the direction they're going. You know, I think they're certainly improved in areas.

I don't think you could deny they're better at quarterback or running back or tied in. We'll see about offensive line. It's another position where they're going to have, like, 17, 18 scholarship guys now. So that's more than usual. So they're going to have a lot of competition there. We'll see if they're better or not there. Probably came up a little short on the defensive line, in my opinion, as far as adding, you know, impact players there. So we'll see how that affects them going forward. And I think they've improved themselves at safety nickel, and we'll see how it works out at cornerback.

So they have done some good work, I feel like, and I do think this team has a chance to be competitive. I think the offense should be better, and if the defense can sustain what it did a year ago, I'm not sure it can, but if it can, this team should have a chance to win more games. Yeah, isn't it amazing? This time next year will be the national championship game. To show you how out of whack the college football playoff schedule is, I always enjoy Monday musings, and you address this.

They had a year, the college football playoff committee had a year to work this out, and the Big Ten and the SEC had a you-know-what contest, and they could not do it and decided to stay at 12. And once again, now that we've got that selected, what about the calendar, as you mentioned? The only thing we know is Notre Dame's going to be guaranteed a spot if they're right number 12 or higher. And as you mentioned, one of the really, really bad things about this is it was a collective shrug from a lot of fans and officials.

[47:32] There was no pushback. There's a major problem with the calendar. Unfortunately, the championship games may have to be deleted at some point soon. But, B, Matt, you know, once again, it's just a lot of frustration with anybody who loves the game. We just don't have any solutions to a lot of this. Yeah, and, you know, the other thing about it is, you know, they tweaked the formula as you mentioned with Notre Dame, and now the four power four conferences, their champions guaranteed to get in. So if you apply that formula last year, Miami does not get in, and Miami came within a drive of winning the national championship.

So I just find that ridiculous that this is okay with everybody, right? It's just not good, I don't think. And you mentioned Notre Dame, and no, I don't like the area where four-twelfth will guarantee the spot. Like, why isn't every other independent get that? You know, maybe they don't need it, but why aren't they? So it's just I find it pretty outlandish that this is going on, and nobody's really raising much of a stink about it. You know, it was an interesting and entertaining playoff, I thought, this round.

But, you know, that doesn't guarantee it's going to be this next time, you know. So we'll see. It's amazing. Well, listen, you've got the transfer portal, basketball, hard to believe baseball is going to start next time we turn around and think of the ice out of the dugout. You've got everything covered from A to Z. Where can we get online to get all the good stuff from you and the team? I appreciate that. Yeah, big win in basketball, plenty of coverage of that, and more coming up as Auburn hosts Texas Wednesday night.

We'll talk to Stephen again Tuesday, and, of course, plenty of coverage of baseball practice going on, and Auburn wrapping up their portal work for the most part here. And getting ready for spring practice. So we'll have plenty of coverage of all that and more at auburnsports.com. Follow me on Twitter. I wish you'd be met at you. I'm sorry. And I hope you answered the question, when are the powers that be to stop kissing Notre Dame's ring? If you don't mind, if you can answer that, we'd appreciate it.

So, listen, Brian, it's always good to hook up with you. Thanks so much. Let's do it again soon, okay? All right, y'all. Take care. Appreciate it. Thank you, bud. Brian Matthews, senior editor, Auburnsports.com. Baby, we mentioned it. Interesting times out of Mark Hill and Russellville over the last few days, Brett Beaird. Yeah, Daryl Higgins, we're going to talk to Ben Thomas about this very subject in the next hour. But Daryl Higgins, 10-year run at Mars Hill is over after four blue mounts. He is moving on to Russellville, and we will discuss that at the top of the next hour.

And the deck's shuffling big time when it comes to high school sports from one end of the state to the other. Ben's on that. Vince Perrault are talking big orange, and William Redfish Barger talking Alabama. All that and more is straight ahead. Stay with us. Just as successful offenses and defenses are built on teamwork, Woody Anderson Ford is powered by our people. Our sales and service teams are well-trained to save you time and money. Because we want your business again and again. And no one will work harder to earn it.

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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, affiliates, and other insurers. Not available in all states or situations. 1819 News. An announcement from the mayor of Birmingham has brought out a reaction from U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville. Mayor Randall Woodfin has declared January as Muslim American Heritage Month. Woodfin made the announcement at the city council meeting last week, in which he promoted two Muslim holidays that occur within January. Tuberville pushed back at this move while he was addressing the Alabama Hospital Association in Hoover. Tuberville said he's not opposed to anyone seeking to assimilate into the U.S.

who also agrees to go by the laws and constitution. But he said trying to change the culture here in America will put our country in huge trouble. Tuberville says that the laws that we have, as well as the U.S. Constitution, is what puts our people on the same page. And he said those laws stem from this country accepting Christian and biblical beliefs. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Are you enjoying 1819 News? If so, consider joining 1819 News as a member. As a non-profit news organization, we depend on the support of Alabamians like you.

Memberships start out as little as $5 a month and you'll get access to exclusive content only offered to our members. You'll be supporting independent journalism done by people who cherish Alabama values. Become a member today by visiting 1819news.com and clicking Become a member. That's 1819news.com and click Become a member today. A Limestone County man has been arrested over the weekend and charged with kidnapping. 41-year-old Jason Hargrove of Athens is accused of dragging a female victim from her home and violently forcing her into a car this past Saturday.

The victim was able to escape from Hargrove on Sunday and contact police. Hargrove resisted arrest and had to be tasered. A cold weather advisory has been put into place for the northern parts of Alabama as cold air remains in the state until Tuesday. The cold air from the Arctic will put temperatures down to freezing and below in central and northern parts of Alabama. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. At Straight Talk, we get it.

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This life-changing medical care helps them do the things they've always dreamed of. Go to loveshriners.org. The new era of UFC on Paramount Plus continues with UFC 325 live from Australia. Catch featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovsky in a rematch of his epic title fight against Diego Lopez and the always dangerous Dan Hooker throws down with dynamic finisher Benoit Saint-Denis in a high-action lightweight showdown. UFC fans, pay-per-view just got knocked out. Catch UFC 325 on Saturday, January 31st, only on Paramount Plus. Stream every fight live with one subscription. Visit ParamountPlus.com slash UFC to get started.

[58:02] Get five quarts of Valvoline full synthetic motor oil, a Wix filter, and a $15 gift card after rebate at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly. Auto Parts. Ow! Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores. Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Tide fans. Here comes the tide. Let's roll. At one for the win. Ball game, ball game, ball game. Grab your hard hats and tune in for blue collar basketball with the Crimson Tide all season long on your home for Alabama basketball. This Tuesday, Alabama welcomes the Missouri Tigers to Coleman Coliseum.

Airtime is 6 p.m. with a tip at 7 here on 93.9 The Score. Brought to you locally in part by the law firm of Johnson, Pesher, Medley, and Virtual, Page Borden Insurance, and MJ Carter and Company Insurance, J.C. Hammond Sons, Lost Pizza, First Metro Bank, Alabama Health Guidance, Story and Lee Furniture, Valley Credit Union, Cypress Creek Indoor Rains, Ray Miller GMC, Hittiger Johnson & Layton Insurance, and Mugshots Grill & Bar, Alabama, and Missouri. This Tuesday night at 6 on 93.9 The Score. 93.9 The Score weather. Today, mostly sunny and cold with a high around 25.

Tonight, mostly clear with a low near zero. Tomorrow, sunny with a high around 35. Tomorrow night, partly cloudy with a low near 15. And for your Wednesday, mostly sunny with a high around 35. 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 Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in.

How are you here to the Boomo Bugg Show? I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Baby, what a weekend weather-wise. A lot of us affected by ice storms on this end of the state. They had a tornado on the other end of the state. We'll be taking you now with Ben Thomas. He's on that other end of the state. Get it all covered there at AL.com. Ben, welcome in. Ice Tornadoes. Welcome to Alabama 2026.

How are you? Staying warm down here. You guys all right? I didn't know if y'all would be able to get to work all right this morning. Oh, man. Rain, sleet, or snow, we still got to do a show, Ben. And thanks for being a part of it. Ben, have we ever talked to you about this school up here called Mars Hill? And they had some news over the weekend with Coach Daryl Higgins. When you saw the news, what was your reaction? Why is this happening today when the AHSAA is announcing reclassification?

That was my reaction. We had a couple of big stories statewide that kind of got dwarfed by the AHSAA news. But, yeah, Coach Higgins leaving Mars Hill, what a run he had there, and taking over at Russellville. I think a good hire there at Russellville. Tim Carter, his retirement as the Fairhope head coach. And Phillip Rivers was interviewing for the head coaching job at the Buffalo Bills. So, all of that going on when Heath Harmon and that association decided to make a landmark decision on Friday.

BT, that's exactly what it was to split the public and private schools. It would have been enough of a story to basically delete Class 7A and then go down to Class 5A, 4A. That would have been enough story, much less the public and private. Let's talk about the private first. And you told us leading up to this that you had a little bit of a foresight that there might be some major changes. And, boy, there were private divided into two groups now, Class AA with 17 schools, larger ones, Class Single A with 43 schools.

The biggest complaint that I've heard is travel. For some of the, Westminster, for example, they would have four trips this fall of 150 to 200 miles. BT, what have you heard, first of all, with public and private? I know you've heard a lot of constructive criticism. Yeah, I don't even know if it's been constructive, but there's definitely been a lot of criticism. And, you know, I think the two arguments, the two big arguments against it are the travel. Like you said, Brett, you know, you've got a team like Glenwood, which is located in central Phoenix, or in the Phoenix City area, that's going to have to travel to Mobile two or three times a football.

[1:03:30] And that's just football. I mean, I'm talking football, you know, not to mention the other smaller sports. But in the smaller private schools, the school of Region 1 or whatever they call it, where my son's school, Bayshore, is located, has two wiregrass schools in it. And they're going to have to be traveled back. I mean, you have to, from where I am right now to Dothan, it's about three and a half hours. You have to go through the school almost to get there. Jeez. So travel is a big concern.

And the other concern, I think, is it just dilutes the championships. I mean, if you get a bigger private school, you've got 17 teams, only 16. Indian Springs doesn't play football. So in football, you only got 16 teams in that larger school. So, you know, one of those 16 is going to be your state championship. And, you know, is winning that state championship going to be as meaningful as winning the class 5A or 6A state championship? We'll have to see. But I think those are the two big complaints. I mean, obviously, if you want to try and see the positives in it, you know, the private schools have talked, a lot of them for a long time, about, you know, that they have been too heavily assessed with the multiplier and the competitive balance.

Now that's gone, at least for the next two years. Apparently, they've now decided to count the CHOOSE Act not as financial aid. So that's kind of, that situation is gone as well. And the larger classifications of public school were pretty similar, especially the largest, which is now Class 6A. I mean, the teams are pretty much the same there. But it's, there's certainly, it's been a heavily, heavily debated topic online all weekend. Obviously, the Lieutenant Governor, I think we see which way he feels. And he's gotten, I don't know if you guys read it, but it looks like to me he's getting considerable backlash from a lot of the fans across the state.

So I think, I don't want to speak for everybody, but most of the coaches I've talked to, the football coaches and other sports, did not want to separate whether they were public or private. Some did. I'm sure some were out there. Most of them, I don't think, wanted to. And we'll see, you know, if we get to the fall. Who knows what could happen? I mean, the private schools are having a meeting on Friday. We'll see if anything comes out of that. I would guess that they would, we'll get to the fall and we'll have this alignment.

We'll just see if it works or not. But nothing's going to surprise me from here on out, I don't think. I was going to ask you about that, Ben, because any time you get a subject like this, the one group that loves it, it's called attorneys. Will they get involved? And will, is there, what would be the possibility of the private saying, you know what, have it your way, Burger King. We're just going to go off and do our own thing here and form our own group here.

What's the likelihood of that is, because I know right now there's a lot of frustration, little heads hopefully will prevail. But in your opinion, what's the likelihood that the privates meet and say, why are we putting up with this? We don't have to do this. Well, I think, I think there might be some that push it that way. I think the legitimate governor may be one of those. I don't think it will happen this time around. Again, I'm not discounting any possibilities. But I just don't think, I mean, there's still, you know, there's still some, even though they're separated for championship, play, there's still some big advantages for them to be a member of the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

One of them being that they can still play the public schools. If they decide to go out on their own, have a separate organization, say they join up with the remaining schools in the AISA or whatever, you're not going to be, you're not going to be allowed to play the public schools. And that's not just, we think, you know, our mind goes back to football naturally. But, you know, think about softball, the tournaments, and volleyball, and all that stuff. I just don't think they want to go down that road.

And certainly, you talk about the Bryant Jordan Awards and the revenue sharing program and everything else that's associated with that. So there's still, what I'm saying is there's still large benefits for being in the association. I was not, as I told you guys, I think multiple times, I was not for this decision. I wanted them to stay together. But I understand where it's coming from. And if we get to August, I think there'll be some excitement in me as far as, boy, this is going to be a new rivalry between UMS and McGill.

And we get to talk about this. I think there'll be some of that. As a parent, honestly, I'm concerned about my 14-year-old eighth grader at a school that has just started football the last couple of years, playing against schools like Mobile Christian and Bayside, longstanding and very good football programs. So I'm as split, as you can tell, I'm as split on the decision as anybody else is. VT, I'll tell you one thing. If you wanted to, if you thought a lot of these regions were competitive before, just look at it now.

And several people mentioned to me over the weekend, Class 5A, Region 7 is jokingly being referred to as the region of doom. Athens, Austin, Decatur, East Limestone, Florence, Hartzell, Muscle Shoals, Russellville. That is incredible. And I know you've seen others across the state, and particularly in the Birmingham area, Class 4A, Region 7, with Ardmore, Brooks, Deserah, Hamilton joining now, Priceville coming in, Lawrence County, West Morgan, West Point. Man, I'll tell you one thing. If you want to see some, I mean, these are nearly playoff games every Friday night.

[1:09:06] There's some tough regions. I mean, obviously, you know, in Class 6A, which we've done away with 7A now, at least for now, those regions look about the same. You've still got all the, Spain Park moves back up. That's one of the major changes into that region with Hoover and Thompson and all those schools. You know, I think our Huntsville and Mobile regions are largely the same. I think Gadsden City moved up into the Huntsville region. And so, yeah, there's still, now look, there's still very competitive regions.

There's going to be very competitive football, even in the private school league. It's just going to take an adjustment. And we're not out on a cliff by ourselves in this. There are other states that have separated, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana. We're looking at a story now to try and kind of see, all right, how'd that work out for you? And what's your plan, you know, how does that differ from what the plan we're going to? But I did find it very interesting, and I was there in Montgomery on Friday, that Terry Curtis, the board president, was one of the, there's only, there's only two people who voted no against this plan that Heath Farman recommended.

And I think it, as I understand it, it was the only plan recommended. I'm not even sure they talked about another plan. Terry Curtis voted no, and Jerome Woods, the principal of Blunt High School, voted no. And everybody else, the other 13 members of the central board, voted for this change. I hope we're, as everybody else said, I hope we're considering what's best for all student-athletes in the state, public or private. And I'm sure, you know, the central board is trying to do what's best. This was, as I wrote my column, I think this was a lose-lose decision for Heath Farman, the lose-lose recommendation, because they were going to get heavily criticized either way they went.

And I'm not even sure the politicians agree. I mean, you know, obviously we know where Mr. Angelo stands, but we haven't heard from the governor or the Speaker of the House. I mean, I think they may be in the other camp. So a lot of people disagree on this, no matter where you are in the state. I imagine politicians disagree with each other. Let me ask you this, Ben. The only time is going to tell. But in your opinion, from right now, as it stands right now, in your opinion, what schools are, in your opinion, the biggest winners and maybe the biggest losers from this realignment?

I know up here we've got Florence Monster Shoals, the host of schools, and that the deck's been reshuffled. In your opinion, who are the winners and who are the losers? We know time's going to tell, but as things stand right now. Yeah, it kind of depends on what you base that on, I think. I mean, like in 6A Region 1, you take out St. Paul's and McGill, and Sierra Leone has dominated that region the last three or four years. It looks like, you know, they're going to just continue to do that.

You look at volleyball, you've got McGill, too, who's won about the last four 7A state titles, playing against just 15 other teams, 16 other teams, I guess. And Bayside Academy, who was competitive balanced up to 7A, is now in the lower division, and they won 21 straight before they moved up to 7A. So, you know, I guess you would declare them winners because it looks like they're going to be champions for a while, but I don't know that they would declare themselves winners. Like, I don't think they want it that way.

I think they want to play against the toughest competition. So, I'm not sure. I mean, I guess some of the smaller public schools maybe feel like they have won, they have a better chance with Cousin, Mars Hill, and some of those schools not competing. I'm sure some of them think that maybe they're winners in this situation, but it's kind of hard to dissect at this point. Right. BT, I know one thing. There are a lot of coaches in North Alabama off today. They may be doing a honeydew list, but I know one thing they're probably doing is they're sitting down and looking at a new schedule, in particularly in Class 5A, 4A, and it goes down for a lot of them.

For some of these guys, again, Bob Gotts, he said, I may not like it in Madison Academy. I may not like this, but we've got to work with it. Well, there can be a lot of coaches the next two or three weeks having to put these schedules together. Right, right. So that's one of my major questions. Even though the HSAA has said private schools can play public schools during the regular season, Terry Curtis, for one, was a little skeptical that maybe the public schools wouldn't play private schools.

And if they don't, well, then you really have an excuse for them to leave if they're not going to play. But early indications are that that's not going to happen. I mean, I'm sure some will probably try that. But I think I saw Wes Morgan's schedule already out yesterday. I believe it had Madison Academy. I believe it was Wes Morgan. Yeah, it did. It had Madison Academy on there. So hopefully that's going to be the way it works. They're still going to play each other because there's a lot of robberies in the state we don't want to see go away.

I'll be very interested to see. So the private schools are meeting Friday in Montgomery. That's the school administrators and ADs just to talk about where they go going forward. I was told this morning that there's been no formal talk of any lawsuit or any leaving the HSAA at this point. You know, maybe even they get in that room, things change. But I would hope that this is what we got now. Let's try it for a couple years. And if not, if you want to do something else, then, you know, go ahead and give it a try.

[1:14:30] But I just don't think they want to leave the association, most of them. Before you jump off, how shot were you at Mr. Football in Alabama for 2025-2026? Blown away. No, I wasn't. Yeah, I think we talked about that. I mean, EJ Crowell was, you know, was the clear winner. He was humbled by the award. He said he deserved it, but he was definitely happy to win it. Trent Seaborn, I think, probably was second in that, and he certainly could have been deserving as well. But he's got another year.

So maybe he gets his crack at it next year. But we had a good banquet in Montgomery, and I appreciate the coaches and athletes turning out for that. And congratulations to all the finalists, really, not just the winner of the year, but all the finalists. You've had nothing to do now for the last couple of weeks. You know, the Power 10 boys and girls basketball is up. At least I saw the girls this morning. What else have you got going on this week on the agenda, and where can we get online to get all of it?

Yeah, so we're actually working on a bunch of different angles of this story today. Thomas Ashworth had a good story, kind of just a refresher this morning on what you need to know about everything. We've got a bunch of links to our other coverage of that. A little bit later this afternoon, Dennis Victory is doing a good volleyball reaction story, how those coaches, public and private, feel about it. And like I said, this meeting at the end of the week is going to be big. So just go to AL.com, and we'll have our normal basketball coverage and all that stuff going on this week.

But this story is ongoing. We're going to be talking about it for a while to come, I think. Stay tuned, as they say, Ben. Keep up the good work, and thank you so much. Stay warm down there, okay? I'm trying. You guys do the same. It might be colder up there. Yes, it is. If zero is cold, then by golly, it is cold. Ben Thomas, hooking up with us from AL.com. Let's go even farther north than this, all the way to East Tennessee and Top Big Orange with Vince Ferraro on deck.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back here. Come say hello to Vince Ferraro, the big B-man. He's host up in Knoxville, Tennessee on 99.1. The Sports Animal on your way to work. Where I hope tomorrow morning he's not out in zero degrees like we were planning on having here according to the forecast. Vince Ferraro, welcome in. How are you and have you thawed out yet? No. And my dog, Daphne, keeps wanting to go outside on the deck. So, I'm like, you get your way like 99% of the time.

But we just came from a walk. So, I think I'll stay inside in the warm. Yeah. She's probably looking at you like, why are you trying to tell me what to do now? Normally, she runs a show. So, all of a sudden, you're the boss, right? She has a thick coat. Her dad is soft. So, he's from Florida. He's not about all this stuff. Hey, man. According to Nato, Tennessee's got a pretty good basketball team. Would you agree? Yeah, they showed what the upside is. They haven't played that way for a good part of the year.

But they showed the potential they have in playing closer to what Rick Barnes wants in terms of urgency on the defensive end. And as you guys know, Rick Barnes has been giving Nato's problems now for a couple of years. So, five straight in the series and to keep the old Alabama to 73 as good as they are offensively in just six made threes. Although, you know, I understand Alabama was playing a different way early. They weren't jacking up a bunch of shots. But then when they needed to, once the inside play wasn't what it was, they weren't able to make those because Tennessee was playing with more urgency and intensity.

And as Rick Barnes tries to tell them, the offense will come when you play with that kind of urgency and intensity. And they were confident and obviously wrote an unbelievable performance by Nate Amen, who was named, as you guys know, the co-player of the week in the SEC now. Rick Barnes is very good at slowing down Nato's offense. And one of the other things he does really well is he creates mismatches. A 6'3 guard cannot guard a 6'9", 6'10", 8'9", mint, who took advantage of it, repeatedly driving in the basket or just shooting shots.

[1:24:48] I'm sitting there thinking, watching this game Saturday night, how in the world was this Tennessee team only two and three on the season when they played that well? And again, I know that Rick Barnes has been trying a lot of fire under this team for a while. Well, he got a big match out Saturday night. Yeah, you're with the Tennessee fan base wondering where has this been and why don't they play this way all the time? Honestly, you can join Rick Barnes in that thought too because he tried to figure out that.

Because, you know, they have some veteran players. They have a lot of new players. So, them adapting to the standard that Barnes and the staff has, that is still an adjustment for them. And they're starting to figure it out. But it's not like they don't have experienced players. They do. In fact, some of the most inconsistent play has come from their transfers. And that's part of what he has lamented about. But, you know, when you get that kind of play from, you know, a freshman in Nate Amen.

And you mentioned the mismatches there. Betty Aco would come out on him and he would drive past him. So, you know, Phylon would come, would step to him and he'd just drop him and shoot over him. And he couldn't check him either. And we had Amaro Morgan, the Tennessee basketball assistant coach, who joins us weekly. And he was talking about what a gym rat Nate Amen is. So, yeah, Barnes does that. And they got, you know, J.P. Estrella made his first career start. He's a veteran guy, but he's another guy that has been injured so much.

He hasn't really played that much in SEC games. But he, I think, had his best all-around performance beyond what the box score said with six points and five rebounds. He did a lot more from them. They had really good big-to-big passing. They just played the right way. They didn't turn the ball over a bunch where they've had live ball turnovers that lead to easy runouts. You know, they cut a lot of that down. And they didn't panic when they were down 10 in the first half. They just chipped away, and their guys were engaged and confident, and they adjusted during the game.

And that has been something else that, you know, when Betty Aco and Alabama are scoring all those points in the paint, Tennessee didn't panic. They made the adjustments to where it was tougher for Alabama to get those looks inside. And they haven't always adjusted well in games. There's been times when it goes south, and it just continues to go south. But they were locked in. I think having that midweek day off really helped them. Clearly it helped them more than it did Alabama, even though they added Betty Aco.

You know, we'll see if it continues. It's one game, and this team typically does have a good bounce-back ability to it under Barnes. But we'll see if this is a build-up or if it's a one-game versus an opponent. But don't get it twisted. They absolutely had to have a road game at some point when you drop the Kentucky game at home like you did. Tennessee was the only team in the NCAA net top 59 that was without at least one true road win. That's how much that was a sore on their resume.

They had to get on the board from that standpoint, and they needed that win against a quad one because it moves their record to just three and five in that area. So they got more work to do there as well. Talk to us about the league. Obviously, what you just mentioned there is pretty much the same script. You look at Kentucky. It's been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You look at Florida the weekend losing to Auburn at home, too. Your thoughts just about the league now.

It's safe to say it's a box of chocolate, says Forrest Gump. It is. You know, I think when you end up looking at the numbers and getting in the NCAA tournament, they're not going to have what they had last year, but they're still going to be at or near the top in terms of number of teams in the NCAA tournament. But is there anyone there that you think could win the national championship? I think that's where it can hold them back. I mean, in the rankings, everybody's in the team.

I mean, Vanderbilt was up there, and then they hit the skids with three straight losses before. You know, they went on Saturday. But everybody else is in the team. I mean, Tennessee played that way, and they weren't even ranked last week. So, yeah, there's maybe not an elite team. And the jury's still out, I think, for people nationally on Texas A&M. They have that kind of record, and they're at the top of the SEC standings. But clearly, everybody else, coaches, writers, are taking a wait-and-see on them.

And even their net and their Ken Palm isn't too stellar yet for their record. So, I also think these teams are going to look differently as the year goes on. So, there could be some teams emerge. But I just think it is deep, but it may not be top-heavy enough to where it'll pay off in the NCAA tournament. Yeah, we'll see about that. But you're right. It's about 10 or 11 teams deep. Some of the bottom feeders now are beginning to separate themselves. Tennessee gets a commitment from Ian Duarte, who Alabama looked at, receiver.

[1:30:17] In fact, I believe he was going to visit Alabama. I don't know if that ever happened. But Tennessee was able to scoop him up. V-Man, great stuff, as always. Where can we get online and get all of these great, great information? Yeah, I appreciate it. And he actually picked Tennessee over Illinois, who beat Tennessee in the bowl game, the New York City Bowl in Nashville. Tennessee had three portal additions and signed another kid to the 2026 class. It's kind of a newer thing. With his expanded rosters, instead of walk-ons, they're announcing them as additions to the 2026 class.

Because when you get to the fall, that's when walk-ons, and that's when you're going to get to a 105. So it'll be walk-ons that will turn into scholarship players. But they can still carry more than the 85 until you get to that. So it's kind of you're seeing everybody out, a whole bunch of players, more so than the typical. But we'll talk more about that on the show and on the SportsSource digital network. Check that out, SportsSource, on YouTube and on the website for some of the TV work as well.

Well, according to Daphne, V-Man, you're not a walk-on. You're a five-star. Keep up the good work, and let's do it again soon, okay? It's a fluid situation in terms of the title. But, no, I appreciate you guys. I always enjoy it. We'll see you outside with Daphne as soon as the weather breaks. So, V-Man, checking in from 99.1, the Sports Animal Inn, Knoxville. What up? Down in Tuscaloosa, the Redfish, William Barger, on deck on the Boomo Bugg Show. Stay with us. Hello, my name is Keith Medley, and I'm an attorney with a law firm of Johnson, Passeur, Medley & Burchill.

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Mornings are a little bit brighter with the Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit and Simply Orange Juice. Available on the Chick-fil-A app. Real guests paid for their testimonials. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. Men's basketball action this weekend. Auburn Tigers knocked out the Gators in Florida Saturday 76-67. Keyshawn Hall scored 24 points. He grabbed seven rebounds. Auburn is 4-3 in the SEC and 13-7 on the season. Alabama fell at home losing to Tennessee 79-73. Crimson Tide had three players in double-digit scoring in the loss. Alabama is 13-6 on the year and 3-3.

In conference play. Troy a winner at Georgia Southern 83-78. Trojans are 15-6 on the year. 8-1 in the Sun Belt. 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. When it comes to game day, you play to win. And when it's go time, it's Total Wine time. With the lowest prices on your go-to lineup of beers, seltzers, and wines that'll turn your kitchen counter into the ultimate home tailgate. Total Wine is your home field advantage.

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Ten bucks, eight pieces, one big deal with KFC $10 Tuesdays. Prices and participation may vary. Taxes, tips, and fees extra. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. It is an absolute pleasure for us to welcome in the man, William Redfish Barger, former Alabama offensive lineman. William, welcome in. Hopefully, the weather cooperated with you over the weekend. How are you? Oh, we didn't get nothing but a bunch of rain here, fellas. Y'all got all the ice up north. We got all the rain and the tornadoes hit south Alabama.

This is just a crazy place to live, is it not, William? I mean, where else can you get ice storms on one end and tornadoes on the other? Basically, on the same day, we'll let the weather folks take care of that. This is one of those days where people, it's amazing. You look up and you keep saying, no, that was not 43 years ago. If you're a certain age, this is one of those days you know where you were 43 years ago, the day that Coach Paul Bear Bryant passed away.

William, my, oh, my, how things have changed in 43 years. Well, I know exactly where I was because my sixth-grade teacher, Ms. Minton, wheeled the television in so we could watch the news in our classroom. You know, that was back before you could watch stuff on a tablet or a phone. And, you know, we did the space shuttle launches back then, and I think they even did it a couple years earlier when President Reagan got shot. But, no, I remember exactly where I was. William, it's amazing.

I remember it like it was yesterday. And when I ran into people, and during the course of a conversation, his name comes up. They tell me, I remember two days when somebody passed away was when President Kennedy got shot and when Bear passed away. It's amazing. I hear that all the time. Yeah, you know, and like I said, it's probably different for, you know, people that didn't grow up in the state during that time or if people were already adults living in the state at that time.

But certainly a well-remembered day in college football. Let me just say on behalf of Brett, we weren't in the sixth grade back then. That's bad, fellas, because I'm pretty long in the face myself. You're telling me. Let me ask you this, just a fun question. Where do you think Coach Paul Bear Bryant would be in today's game, given the fact that basically coaches are no longer, how can you be a disciplinarian in this day and era when, in some cases, they're making more than some of the coaches on the staff.

[1:40:34] They've got total control. They're living in high-rent districts. Your thoughts, just a fun question of how Coach Bryant would have adjusted to this era. Well, I mean, I think you just hit the nail on the head. I mean, all really good leaders in whatever walk of life that they're, you know, participating in, whether it's in the private sector or government or the sports world, you know, and that's what Coach Bryant really was known for. You know, he went from three yards in a cloud of dust to, you know, when he had passing quarterbacks like Nathan and Sabler.

He went a little bit more, you know, heavy-handed with the passing game. And, you know, there was, you know, Alabama fans that were ready to run him out of town. And, you know, he was working with taking the Miami Dolphins head coaching job. But, you know, he had several, you know, transitory periods in his coaching career, and he always came out smelling like a rose on the other side of it. Well, I know that the transfer portal is beginning to wind down a little bit. I know Alabama fans, I've been asked about this, and I know you get asked about it a lot.

When is Kalen DeBoer going to make any, quote, potential coaching changes? Well, he made one at the end of last week with Coach Kemp, decided to move on from him. And I've heard quite a few names. One that's come up that even that has been mentioned nationally is Adrian Clem, K-L-E-M-E-M, who's on the USC staff as coach with Oregon, UCLA, SMU, has got some previous relationships with Courtney Morgan, Alabama's general manager. You know, and people ask me, well, will there be a change at special teams and at other positions?

You know, we'll see where this goes. William, what have you heard about any potential names as far as the offensive line coach replacement? And do you envision more changes on the staff? Well, you know, I think on the offensive end of stuff, you know, there's probably been three names, I think, that have been bannied around the most. And that's, you know, the one you just mentioned, Brandon Jones from Missouri. Yeah. And obviously Scott Huff. Right. And so, you know, I think that the, regardless of who it ends up being, I think you're going to see a, you know, renewed emphasis on the running game.

You know, I don't think it really matters with the, if there is a change made in the special teams department, because those guys are all already on campus, you know, via the portal. I mean, I think they got a snapper, a kicker, and a punter all out of the portal. That's not as paramount. Let's just say if you were trying to have, you know, a coach to put in front of all the juniors at the junior day that's coming up this weekend. So I think at a minimum, you know, you're going to see whoever the replacement is, is the offensive line coach will be there this weekend to meet with people.

And, you know, I really haven't heard any other serious conversations about, you know, other position groupings. I think if there is a change to be made, you would see the same thing, that I would think they would want to have somebody there to go face-to-face with the recruits and their parents, because they've got a pretty healthy group of elite high school players, you know, real heavy-handed, again, from the state of Mississippi coming in this weekend. Another name that we've heard, Redfish, is a guy named Adrian Clem.

He's now an analyst for USC. He played three years with the Patriots, got three Super Bowl rings. He was at Oregon. He was a Pac-12 recruiter of the year. So it's going to be interesting to see, keep it close. Again, his name is Adrian Clem. The other thing, too, that we've heard and see what your thoughts are on this, that you're going to go more to an NFL model. Instead of just having one coach come in, they're going to have two. One's going to concentrate on passing.

One's going to concentrate on running. My old mind, talking about Coach Brighton, how things have changed in 43 years. Your thoughts about bringing in basically something that I can't remember ever happening, having two guys do the job of one. Well, actually, here we go with the past always repeating itself. We had two offensive line coaches the whole time I was at Alabama. Okay. Now, back then, it was divided up between the centers and guards coach and the offensive tackles coaches. And, you know, the urban legend then was, you know, it was easier for one coach to focus his eyes on, you know, three guys in the middle.

And, you know, you could go back and watch or play twice to see what the left tackle and the right tackle did. But, you know, that used to be kind of the recipe in the college game is to have. And, you know, sometimes they split it up where the offensive tackles guy coached the tight ends as well. You know, that's kind of a seamless transition there. And it's also a career path. You see a lot of guys that come into college coaching, you know, one of the entry-level positions is the tight end position.

[1:46:01] And you end up seeing them graduate up to being a full-blown offensive line coach. But, you know, I think it's good, you know, to have two different sets of eyes. You know, especially when you look at how complex the offense has become in today's game. But, you know, I'm sorry. I got lost in my own thoughts when you all asked that the first go around. Yeah, Clem, I think, might be the leader in the clubhouse now. And, you know, seems to have a pretty deep resume and an emphasis on the running game.

You know, I like the fact that he, you know, played the position in the NFL and obviously, you know, was at the Patriots during their run. What a week. Yeah, so, you know, and, you know, if in fact that's the direction that they're going in, as far as having it split with two different guys, I mean, I think that's a plus. Speaking of the offensive line, we discussed the transfer portal guys. Again, it's a combination of production versus potential. Alabama did add one more. Javon James from Mississippi State.

It was started a significant number of games. I know you like Rachel Delgati out of Cal Poly. Nick Brooks from Texas certainly has got some experience. The other guys have certainly got potential. William, your thoughts, again, on the offensive line. Most of this stuff's now coming to a close. We'll have some other guys come in, I'm sure, before February the 2nd. Your thoughts on this offensive line class now that they've added one more? Well, I mean, I think you kind of, you know, gave it a great intro.

I think you have to look at it in two different groupings. You know, you have to look at it in the guys that you think are coming in that can compete for, you know, a starting job. And so, you know, I think that James certainly starting 12 or 13 games in the SEC last year at left tackle gives them some flexibility at the tackle spots. You know, I think Delgati and also I think his last name is Sehorne. It's coming from Michigan. You know, that that might be a deal where, you know, whoever wins the center's job, the other guy could be the second-team center but also put for a starting offensive guard job.

And I also find probably the most intriguing guy is Brooks from Texas. You know, the fact that he's got three starts against SEC teams, you know, he signed as an offensive tackle prospect, but because they got decimated at Texas last year on the inside, he ended up playing offensive guard for them and played it pretty well, especially for a true freshman. And so then you kind of have to put, you know, albeit he was a five-star recruit, you know, I think Ty Haywood, you know, do they let him compete for one of the, you know, for the left tackle spot?

Obviously, nobody thinks that he's going to beat out Michael Carroll. Or, you know, in a conspiratory manner, in a perfect world, you know, do they offer Michael Carroll a raise to slide inside and let one of these other guys play right tackle, you know, if they show that they can, you know, play it as well, if not better than Carroll. So, I mean, I think the way to sum up this, you know, O-line-Poral stuff is I think they've certainly helped the depth situation, but I think they've really got three guys, maybe even four, you know, in Delgati, Seahorn, James, and the big boy from Texas that can possibly push for starting jobs.

So, you know, I think you've got to give the staff, you know, an A for, you know, what they've attempted to try and do to the O-line, you know, room from a starter depth combo there. What are you hearing? Auburn has got a spring game set. We found out today Florida's got one on April the 11th. What have you heard about Alabama? That's been awfully quiet. And, again, I know they're trying to take care of a lot of things. William, do you anticipate, have you heard from any of your running buddies or anyone else, will Alabama have a spring game?

I have not heard anything one way or the other. You know, and to be honest with you, I don't know. I think it might even be more enjoyable to a fan if they could find, you know, TV coverage and do, you know, half of a real practice and then maybe with, you know, situational scrimmaging at the end of it. That's how they, you know, do a lot of their stuff anyway. You know, just so, you know, fans that have never had the opportunity to see how a practice is constructed and executed where, you know, you get to see the group drills and then, you know, O-line, D-line, pass pro drill, maybe an inside run drill.

[1:51:22] Sadly, you don't get to see that kind of watered-down version of the Oklahoma drill anymore because that's basically what it is. But, you know, I would certainly enjoy seeing that versus watching, you know, the threes on threes at the end of an A-day game. Absolutely. Listen, we always enjoy the conversation. Now, if Kalen DeBoer pulls a rabbit out of the hand and lets somebody know later this week that William Barger is going to be the new offensive line coach, you let us know, you let us know if any of that happens.

Well, you know what, guys, I've said this before publicly and I don't mind saying it again. Man, I think there is like a seminar type continuing education that these guys have to do that involve player and parent sensitivity training. And I would get kicked out of that with an F right off the bat. So, I'm old enough now. I'm maybe not as old as you guys, but I'm old enough now to know my strengths and my weaknesses, and I would flunk that right out of the gate.

So, let's just don't get any unfounded rumors going. Man, let's just add to that. You don't care which way the wind blows either. Oh, man. If you don't know it now, you will, William. I guarantee you. Listen, man, as always, good to go with you. Good to see you get through all this bad weather over the weekend. And thanks so much for your time today. Enjoy it, guys. Talk to you soon. Thank you, buddy. The Redfish, William Redfish Barger. BB, obviously, basketball, Alabama, bounce back time, 23rd in the latest poll, taking on the Missouri Tigers tomorrow night, and the Auburn Tigers will be taking on Texas Wednesday night.

Your thoughts about the Tide and Tigers at this point in the schedule? Well, Auburn certainly had a very impressive win over Florida. Again, as Brian Matthews said, we'll see if that continues. Alabama's got to get healthy again. Amit just took advantage of two guys being out. Hopefully, they can get healthier for the Missouri game. And, Harold, they have rescheduled about five SEC games. That tells you how bad the weather's been and will be this week when you start rescheduling SEC basketball games in the middle of the week.

I'm still getting off that Blair forecast zero. If you don't think the weather's serious, I like zero calories. I don't like zero temperatures. That's going to take care of business for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Bogg, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow on noon to two for the Bimble Bug Show back here on Sports Radio from 93.9 to score.