Boomo Bugg Show 090826

[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 free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where? Something that hasn't happened since wannabe by the Spice Girls from the SEC. And speaking of the SEC, the message to LSU, here come the judge again. Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?

And the listeners, I think you were alluding to the first weekend, Harold Bugg of the SEC. They go 16-0. Uh-huh. The opening weekend of college football, and we'll recap a lot of the highlights. Las Vegas insider Bruce Marshall recalms the one-second debacle at Michigan and previews the top games for week two. But Roger is here right now to talk about an impressive opening win by the Alabama Crimson Tide. Absolutely. I wonder if Roger says when you enter the state of Michigan, you can add one second to your watches and your clocks.

Roger Hoover is the man of the Alabama Crimson Tide network. It doesn't matter what kind of ball you have in football, baseball, basketball, you name it. Roger's got game, and he's also with us today to help kick things off. Roger, welcome in. How are you? Doing no bug. I'm doing really well. Hope you guys are. Hey, buddy. Man, we're doing all right. Roger, obviously much anticipated. Alabama doing their part to make a little history. I'm sure you got your Spice Girls music collection there. Wannabe, 1997, the last time the league went 16-0 in the opening weekend.

Alabama doing their part. Roger, much anticipated, brand-new era for a quarterback. Where do you start in breaking it down, Professor? Yeah, a really good performance. I think two words come to mind. First of all, explosive. We saw some big plays from the Alabama offense. We saw running backs all have kind of double-digit yard runs, when that was really hard to come by for Alabama last year. Ryan Coleman-Williams, 58-yard catch, and just so dangerous when he gets the ball in space. First of all, makes the catch, and then he's able to move downfield.

And Keelan Russell looks explosive. Then the other word that comes to mind, sloppy. Alabama was sloppy at times. You get a penalty on the very first play of the season. You only get a field goal that first drive. And then coming out of the locker room, didn't have much juice offensively in the third quarter. So, a few procedural things, you know, a holding penalty takes away what would have been a great touchdown run for Treshaun Brown. You know, Ryan Coleman-Williams on a jet sweep, just not seeing the snap properly.

So, that led to a fumble. Just little things like that. I think this coaching staff kind of enjoys the opportunity to clean up. Thank you. Leading into week two, because all coaches kind of love for things to kind of harp on. It's nice when you have a comfortable win. There are clearly things to clean up. And you really felt that with Kane Lomack, Ryan Grubb, Kalen DeBoer at the podium yesterday. It's almost like they were coming off a five-point win as opposed to, you know, 38 points like it actually was.

So, I think explosive and sloppy were kind of the two things that take away from it. And I'm pretty – if I'm an Alabama fan, I'm pretty encouraged that the first word is explosive and this offense really looked like what we hoped it would look like at times on Saturday. Roger, careful. You're reading my mind. That's exactly how it summed it up, too. And to your point, I was going to add, too, that I think the coaches were absolutely pleased to have something – to have a win, convincing win, but also have something to chew on.

The question is, are these things that can be corrected or is it just first game roughness, take the sandpaper and polishing, or is it deeper than that? To me, that's the question. Drop balls, we know that that's one thing Alabama fans said, oh, no, here we go again. But then you look. He is an enigma in many ways. Obviously, he turns around, goes triple digits with a total, makes some hard catches. In traffic. But then that's something Alabama fans are going to be focusing on. But your thoughts about just that, are they correctable mistakes is the question.

Yeah, I believe so. Especially everything with Keelan Russell, kind of getting the team organized. He talked about that postgame. He didn't feel like he did a great enough job. Kind of getting everything organized pre-snap and then getting Alabama into successful winning plays. You know, a couple times that he had that one pro where he was over the line of scrimmage. Just kind of little things like that. But I think he knows he can clean up. But anything pre-snap, I do feel pretty good will be able to be cleaned up by this team.

I've still got to execute. You know, Ryan Colton Williams can't have the drops, can't have a fumble. You've got to be careful about things like that. But I would say I'm pretty confident Alabama can clean things up. Because for Keelan, until he got in that environment with 100,000 people in the stands and an actual opponent on the field, he had never done this before. So, now he's got four quarters worth of experience leading into this game against Kentucky. I think things are only going to get better from here in that regard.

[5:22] I like your description of the offense. Explosive and sloppy. I would use kind of clean for the defense. Three sacks, five tackles for loss, a peak six, forced ECU to go three and out, four drives, forced eight punts, held ECU to 162 yards. That included that 68-yard bust in the secondary. Again, encouraging for the defense, Roger. Yeah, and really just one explosive play for the Pirates in the game on some busted coverage by an Alabama young guy in Carmelo O'Neal. He was rotating in, spelling D. John Lee as well as Xavier Brown.

So, you know, otherwise, Alabama likely wouldn't have given up a field goal in that ball or a touchdown at all and just limited the Pirates to three points. But they looked physical, especially against the run. That was really encouraging to see. Petrick Bingley-Jones, Terrence Green, as well as Devin Tompkins. Living up to their billing and even players that rotated in later in the game. I thought Edrick Hill looked the best. We've seen him throughout his entire Alabama career, and he's played some meaningful football here. So, getting to see him rotate in and make some key stops.

Janze, like you mentioned, getting in the backfield like we want, getting interceptions like we want, really encouraging signs. So, I think this defense is in really good shape. And I know we didn't call the name Caleb Woodson. Luke met the lot, the inside linebackers on Saturday. But that is also a sign that they're doing their job getting everybody else positioned the right way in the secondary or in the B line to make plays. Roger Hoover, check him out, Crimson Tide Network. Obviously, Roger, the opening game is in the house, and Alabama feeling much better after the opening game this year compared to last year.

But now you go on the road to Kentucky, and who knows? It's the Forrest Gump special who's like a box of chocolates, brand-new coach. We know he's cocky going back to the media days. A new playbook from where Kentucky's been over the past few years. And you're coming in with a quarterback. This is his first true road trip, and it's against an SEC opponent. Your thoughts, Alabama said, according to Vegas, they should win by double digits, 10-and-a-half. That's what Vegas say. What does Roger Hoover say?

I think it's going to be a tight ballgame. I think Kentucky is going to throw absolutely everything they have at Alabama. And, you know, they were explosive in their own right the last week against Youngstown State. Granted, that's the F school, but a program that has been near the top of that level. But kind of all over the place, throwing the football with Kenny Minchie, running the football, and a lot of different options, they looked really good. And they also used a tight end in a really explosive way downfield.

So, I mean, Alabama defensively is going to have a team full. And then for the offense, for the Crimson Tide, it's going to really, to me, come down to execution by this offense. Can they play some clean football? Keelan Russell is going to make three great plays. Don't have one play that's going to take away from the greatness that he just did on a drive. And I felt like Alabama did a really good job running with the football and just extending drives. You know, if you have a six-yard gain on second and four, just hand the ball off to E.J. Crowell, Daniel Hill.

Get those five yards to move the chance. You know, it doesn't have to be. You know, Alabama just seemed like last year in third down and long constantly throughout August. I didn't see that as much this past week. And we know with the competition, it's going to get tougher in the next few weeks. So, that would be something to keep an eye on. Can Alabama still be getting into second and manageable downs and just avoiding those dreaded third and long? Because that's what kills drive. So, that's what I'm really looking for on the opposite side of the ball.

And then just it's a loud place to play when Kentucky fans are bought in. And right now, the Kentucky fans are bought in. Yep. Yeah, because, you know, he's a son of a former player there. There's going to be a lot of enthusiasm. And Kentucky fans really care about football in September and October. Not as much in November once basketball starts a rough arena. They start running to the arena as fast as they can from football games. So, this is the time that Kentucky football is kind of alive and well.

And Alabama's got to bring its own energy to make sure they're able to match what will be a great atmosphere on Saturday. Roger, let me add special teams. I thought they had a very solid day. Connor Talti, two field goals from 41 and 21. Two punts for 51 yards per punt. Coleman Williams, 23-yard return. Quinn kicked three. I know three went out of the end zone. One of them went out of the end zone. The other two were deep in the end zone. Pretty good day for special teams.

I think so. You know, there was kind of that only one moment that John Lee, Rico Scott, weren't sure who were going to take it. And then Rico kind of took it away from John. You don't like that miscommunication. But otherwise, very solid. Especially Ryan was calling for fair catches on punts pretty much all the second half. So, he wouldn't lose a football or get injured. So, that was good. But, yeah, looking very impressed by Lorcan Quinn on the kickoff. Connor Talti on the field goals.

[10:23] And, man, it's great to see what competition can do for a spot like that. And you have to feel good if there's an injury at either one of those spots. Alabama's got somebody good to come in. And, you know, Alex Burujov just finished off the unit. He only had two punts. But one of them is for 54 yards. The average is 52 on the day. So, that's a solid start to the season from that group. Obviously, all offseason, a couple of questions. We kind of touched on it at this point.

That is, what about the running back room? I thought E.J. Crowell had flashes of his billing coming out of high school. And then the offensive line. If we focus a little bit more on that, your thoughts as far as grading the line in game one? I'm probably getting a B-minus, B-plus kind of in that area. Obviously, the penalties were tough, either Brayson Delgatti or the one that was obviously called back. I can't remember, I'll stop my head, who had that penalty, the holding call that took away the Trashon Brown touchdown.

But, you know, little things like that can certainly hurt this team. But otherwise, that's awesome. Good push and physical play against some really good dives for East Carolina. Maybe their talent isn't quite there to turn to the SEC, but their size is. And we looked at those guys on paper. So, I thought Alabama's line moved the ball really well all throughout that ball game. It's just cleaning up some of the little mistakes, kind of part of the larger issue for Alabama this past Saturday. And I'm encouraged.

After one game, now we just got to see it against an SEC defensive line. Rayson Delgatti was the offensive lineman that got called on a very questionable holding penalty, Roger. Again, even the broadcaster said, Matt Austin said, that's not a penalty. Oh, my goodness gracious. Crimson Drive, Levi Wallace, the great Bama and NFL great guest on your show, Jackson Lloyd. Last night was Crimson Tide Rewind with you and Tyler Watts. Hey, coach, coming up tomorrow night. Then a trip to Bluegrass Country on Saturday. Tell us about your week.

Yeah, we've got all those shows coming up. Just follow us at UA underscore TPSN for the latest. It's going to be a really busy week of content that you mentioned. From the Crimson Tide football team, I've talked with Jackson Boyd. And then Justin Hill is from the Cincinnati area. He'll be joining me on Thursday. So, really good conversations with those guys that are learning more about preseason camp and the start to the season for Alabama. But, otherwise, yeah, looking forward to making the trip to Kentucky.

Again, nice to go up there when it's not, you know, 15 degrees it always feels like. Yes. When Alabama's got a game at Kentucky in football, it's going to be nice. But this is a huge game for Alabama. This is something where I think everybody's a little hesitant based on how that first road trip went last year against Florida State. You know, Alabama's got the talent advantage. He's got to go out and execute. I think this is a really good challenge and something this team needs early in the season.

So, can't wait to see how it shakes out on Saturday. Hey, man. Roger, you're tough. You survived record heat in Tuscaloosa. Anything will be cooler on your road show in Kentucky. Safe travels to and from, buddy. And thanks for your time today. You guys are the best. Thanks for having me on. Thank you, Boone. The Roger, Roger Hoover of Crimson Tide Sports Network. What about Auburn? Do tiger fans have any fingernails left? Cold pinks on that and more. Straight ahead. Stay with us. It's summertime in the Shoals, which means sunshine, hot weather, and a lot more bugs.

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You can learn more at 1-800-633-9110. Before your appointment, visit creoninfo.com. That's C-R-E-O-N-info.com. Listen to the Crimson Tide Sports Network for Crimson Tide Rewind. Live from Baumhauer's Victory Grill in the Stavie Hills, Monday nights at 6 p.m. Tune in and roll Tide. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. Cole Pinkson says, what's all this talk about a game in hot temperatures, the first week of playing the SEC? He says it was about 72 in perfect conditions where he was.

Cole Pinkson all over the Auburn Tigers there at AuburnSports.com, part of the Yon3.com family. Cole, welcome in. How are you? Yes, sir. Doing good. Man, I'm just happy to cover an Auburn win. Tell you what. Yes. Oh, man. The question is, Cole, do you or any Auburn fans have any fingernails left after that game? Yeah, no, it was a nail-biter, wasn't it? I mean, it came down to the last play. Honestly, it really did. There were so many back and forth. I thought both teams, you really don't know where they both stand as far as how good they'll be this year based off of that game.

But you do know that Auburn. But you do know that Auburn found a way to win where they have it so many, many times in the last couple years. And that's, I think, if you're, you know, irritated by the game or whatever as an Auburn fan, you should probably take that away first and then work from there. Yeah, Cole, talk to us because everybody, every fan base across the country has a certain level of expectations and thoughts and, if you will, questions about a team before the season.

Some are high, some are low, some are in between. Now that we have game one in the books, how does what we have seen with live bullets, if you will, flying over the heads, meet what you expected from this team coming into game one? Honestly, I feel as though I had a lot of things pegged. I do. I think that I was right about the offensive line and the struggles that they might have, especially running the football. I felt like they would do that a little better against the Stadler defensive line.

[20:58] And I'm telling you, the defensive lines only get better from here. So that's a concern. You know, pass rush was my other big concern. I think we talked about on this show when y'all had me. And it wasn't terrible. They didn't get, they only got to the quarterback once, but the ball was coming out fast on purpose. And they, you know, mixed up the blitz and zone looks and dropped into max zones and did that. But just, you know, they got to get home a little bit better on the pass rush.

They need to find the guy. They need to get Jared Smith more pinning his ears back and less dropping in coverage all the time and get out of a game like that where you're playing against this air raid offense. So at the end of the day, you get out, you escape a game like that with a win. It's such a big deal for me because of what it is when you really look at the game within the game. But the run blocking by the offensive line and the pass rush on defense, those are the two things I had big concerns about.

And they showed up a little bit in this game. Five sacks, 11 tackles, four loss. The Auburn running game average, 3.2 yards rush, three interceptions. You can't sugarcoat that, but nobody knows offensive line performance better than you. You played it. You've coached it. And we've talked about this throughout the summer. There are going to be some bumps in the road and they will continue to be. I'll say this, the Baylor defensive line to me is much improved over what it was last year. And they caused some havoc.

Jacob Strand did not play well. Cole Skinner, but they only had 16 career starts. Ellis Jack Lyre came in. Lyre, particularly on Byron Brown's game-winning touchdown, had a very good block. Will there be any changes going into Southern Miss? I don't think so. I think they're going to continue to put Strand out there first. Now, we might see Lyre more. I think if you do see another guard, it's probably Lyre. Jack Lyre from Stanford. Trenton first there. He did have a very nice block on that last play.

So did Jake Johnson. So did Jeremiah Cobb. I mean, it was a well-blocked play. That's the thing. I thought that they got stronger as the game went on. They started executing much better. The offensive line did. Yes, there were five sacks. I think at least one or two of those was maybe on your quarterback or potentially the play call and having one or two reads where you don't have much of an outlet. I thought pass protection was a little better than I expected, even though those numbers say maybe it wasn't, but they gave him time.

I felt like Bob and Brown had time to deliberate more than a few times, which I couldn't say that for the last year's group, which had two NFL draft picks on it, by the way. I'm not so sure this one does, but as a unit, they're playing better together. Cole Payson got the Auburn Tigers covered there at auburnsports.com. Cole, we talked earlier about breaking it down with some of our friends from Alabama's coaches dream you win the game, but there's plenty to chew on after game one, and you know that's the case here with Auburn.

What will they learn this week? Because, I mean, there's no way of putting it, except just telling it like it is. This is not a formidable opponent in Southern Miss. They lost their team to Memphis. Everything is brand new coming in from Hattiesburg. I think Auburn's favored by 30-plus. That's on paper. So, after last week's performance and a chance to sit here and break out the polishing rag, it's a great game for Auburn to do that. But your thoughts as far as heading into this game with the Golden Eagles?

Yeah, it's a game that I think should look on the scoreboard probably like Alabama's did against East Carolina. You want it to look like that, lopsided. You know, clean up the run game, get to where you're averaging a lot more than 3.2 a carry in a game like this. Lean on that a little bit. I'd say you work on some of these progressions that Auburn Brown was maybe a little late on, give him some more game reps than that. But, you know, score early and often. I think you run your game.

You don't pull back on the reins just because it's a lesser opponent. I'd like to see them start a lot faster in this game. Let me ask you, who called you, Ryan? We could ask you about 20 players, but you have targeted a lot of these guys. We talked about it during the summer. Who actually, as far as very positive performances, called your eye? I would start, just to start on the offensive side, I think Keyshawn Singleton really impressed me. He's physically well put together. They had a hard time tackling him.

He got open. He caught the football well. He had a really important catch going down on the ground that was low and made a very impressive catch on there to keep the chains moving. Start with him. I thought Jake Johnson did some good things. The tight end, he blocked well and caught the ball and thrown to all of that's good. Really, Omar Mabson, I thought, was a spark on offense when he got a few carries. I'd love to see more Bryce from Washington, but Mabson stood out to me.

[26:01] And Cobb, you kind of know what to expect from him at this point. And Stanton Ramil on offense, I thought, had a great game. I didn't see much wrong with his game when watching it back. Defensively, I'd go Chris Murray first. Chris Murray had a great game against the run. I think he was Auburn's best run defender. By what I saw, I really liked Elijah Melendez. I really liked Eric Winters. So, Cole, obviously you listen to a lot of Auburn fans. What are they saying about this team now as far as getting a feel for a win-loss total for the season?

We know maybe outside of a few fan bases, most fans are going to say, well, they didn't live up to my expectations, regardless of the score, unless you're maybe LSU. What are, in general, Auburn fans saying about this team now? Well, it's not a unanimous either way. I wouldn't say it's unanimous, hey, this was terrible, and I wouldn't say it was a unanimous, wow, it was really good. Wait and see. Right, right. I think it's somewhere down the middle. You have some optimism from a lot of things that you saw.

And then you have, you know, you're worried about moving forward and playing better opponents, because there are better opponents on Auburn's schedule than Baylor. And I think that's the biggest takeaway. What is this team going to look like against an LSU, against a Florida, against an Alabama, Georgia? And they've got to play them all. And do they have enough talent to make it through those games is the question. Absolutely. We've got to run to a U.S. Open tennis update, but always enjoy the conversation. Where can we go?

You know, you do a very good job of analyzing the positions. Do you have any specials on Auburn sports? And where can we get on to get Brian Matthews, Cole Pinkston, in the game? Yeah, our actual 75% special just ran up, so you missed that one. But you can join for a dollar for a week and get you a trial run. I think you'll enjoy it, AuburnSports.com, part of the on-three-rivals umbrella. Sounds great, Cole. Listen, have a good week, and thanks so much for your time today.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Ben. Cole Pinkston, AuburnSports.com. Coming up, time to go courting at the U.S. Open here on Sports Radio 93.9, the score. Westwood One Sports presents this special tennis update. Quarterfinals are underway at the U.S. Open. Two-time defending champ Rita Sabalenka getting pushed to a third set by Wimbledon champ Linda Noskova at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sabalenka won the first set in a tiebreaker after blowing a 4-1 lead. Noskova answered back in the second set 6-3. They are on serve early in the third.

After that, it'll be the first of two All-American matchups today, 11-seat Francis Tiafoe and Alex Mickelson. Mickelson hasn't lost a set on the way to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, but he's lost both career matches against Tiafoe, who's been a crowd-pleaser so far in this tournament. Then a star-studded night session starts off with Americans Jessica Pagula and Emma Navarro. Pagula has won all four meetings, and then defending champ Carlos Alcaraz takes on Ben Shelton. Sheldon has lost all three meetings to Alcaraz, including at this year's French Open.

With this tennis update, Brad Heller, Westwood One Sports. And Doug. What a horrible call. Hey, Ref, open your eyes! Ref, you're really not going to call that? Come on! Hey, Ref, why don't you customize your car insurance with Liberty Mutual and save money? I don't think you get what we're doing. Sure I do. We're all just giving him advice. You guys on sports? Me? On saving money. Nope, that's not it. Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Just take one bite, you're going to love it.

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What's happening this week in college football? The Lindy's Football Report has the answers. 30 minutes of college football discussion on the biggest matchups of the week. Concise. Engaging. Accurate. With opinions thrown in from some of the most knowledgeable reporters in the business. The Lindy's Football Report. Check it out. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Speaking of knowledgeable about Vegas, check him out. Bet you don't have to wait that long because you've got him right now. Bruce Marshall is busy there. Las Vegas Insider for the goal sheet.

Wagers, winners, and whiners, picks and parlays, and more. Bruce Marshall, welcome in. Have you added one second to your clock this weekend? How are you? Well, I did, except eight of the clocks said no time added, but one of my clocks said I had a second to go, so I did that. Obviously, that was one of the storylines from the first big weekend. Bruce, where do you start breaking down as far as what met your expectations, what was the biggest surprise, and who exceeded your expectations after the opening, first big, anyway, opening act?

[36:44] Yeah, to the last part first, a little rant I'll go in here, but LSU and Miami were the two teams that really stuck out to me, that really impressed me last week, especially LSU. The rant part of it, back to that Michigan thing, you know, the Big Ten, the optics of that are so bad, and they didn't even realize they contradicted themselves when they came out with that eventual statement and that other supposed video they had that showed one second left when they're talking about how all the clocks in the stadium are synced, the TV clock, the stadium clock, the play clock, the Big Ten clock, they're all supposed to be saying the same thing.

So then how come there's one clock out there that supposedly has, you know, still a second left on the clock? If everything's supposed to be synced, well, obviously they weren't. So, I mean, the optic is bad now. Western Michigan, blame itself for letting that Hail Mary get completed. There's no reason a Hail Mary should ever be completed in college football. You can, if you think it's going to be caught, interference will cost you 15 yards. Then Michigan's bottoming from the 30. I mean, it's still very remote. But they should not have had that.

And I'm a little disappointed that Western Michigan and the MAAC just sort of rolled over here and said, okay, that's okay, Big Ten. You know, it's just the optics of that are very bad. Watching these games, though, I thought, you know, last night, it was very refreshing almost watching SMU and Florida State. Yes. Even though they didn't have all the lights working there, but there was no replay. And you think about it. Now, how much time that is wasting now with the referees, what these challenges and the referees have to go over.

Maybe I'm spoiled watching Major League Baseball get these strike calls within like 10 seconds. But it's worse than what FIFA has with its VAR, the way college football is doing it, with the refs always having to go over. They've got to get set up to look at the play over again. College football made a decision several years ago to speed up the games, and this is what they've done with the play clock and all that, all for the TV window. But this stuff with the referees goes back.

You are adding so much extra time. They have defeated the whole purpose of getting into that TV window by all these challenges. A couple other thoughts. The analytics stuff is driving me nuts now. It's always ESPN analytics, fourth and three, you go. I mean, in what lifetime if you're in your own half of the field in the first half and it's fourth and three and you're going for it, you know, the whole analytics model, I think, is just based on a faulty set. This is my interpretation of it.

And it's got to be more than, is there better than a 50% chance you will succeed on the play? That seems to be the whole analytic rationale. But what happens if you, the outcome of the game, how it changes if you miss? You're turning the ball over in your own half of the field. And it's also on these two-point conversion things. I mean, now when you're down 15, you score late to get within nine. In the fourth quarter, you go for two. Well, if you miss it, it's still a two-score game.

You know, it's like that doesn't figure into the equation. And lastly, the short yardage offenses, I watched an SMU last night, you know, for several times. And Florida State, I mean, third and one, third and two feet. You're doing a seven-foot snap, a seven-yard snap. Yes. Back to your quarterback. Thank you. With one back in the backfield. Yep. I wanted to show these guys, let's go back, let's watch Ohio State when Woody Hayes was there, running the full house backfield in short yardage. You know, Jim Otis, his great fullback, never lost a yard.

Never lost a yard in a college football carry. Because they blocked for him. And they put guys in the backfield to block. It is so maddening to watch some of this stuff. And that, you know, maybe because I'm so old now, I remember the way I used to be, but a lot of the stuff I don't like. Here's the thing, I mean, Bruce, if they're going to go by analytics, why don't I pay a coach $10 million? Just have a GA over there with a laptop say that, well, guys, here's what the computer says, do it.

Save the money for head coach. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I mean, that's all he's doing, is parenting. Yeah, I mean, he's just looking at the analytics chart. I mean, it's all so skewed there. One other thought, I mean, I saw more egregious penalties this weekend. I mean, in clutch spots. I mean, changes of possession, fourth downs. They're asking you at an offside in a field goal try last night. And the way the refs are throwing some of these flags now, I mean, all the quarterbacks have to do, run to the sidelines, stand there, one little touch by a defensive back, and they're going to call a penalty.

I saw more just, you know, maybe the refs would get into it, too, but just too much, the inanity of the refereeing is starting to bother me now, too. The SEC goes 16-0, first time the league's gone undefeated since 1997. Of course, they've got more teams in there now. Pretty much the other 14 games were routes, which we had guessed that. Ole Miss kicks a field goal against Louisville to win the game. Auburn stops Baylor literally on the goal line with a two-point conversion. I thought Baylor, their defensive line was much better.

[42:17] Alabama looks impressive. Certainly looks sloppy at times, but explosive. The freshman quarterbacks, quite impressive at Alabama and Tennessee. Your thoughts on the weekend for the SEC? Yeah, a lot of positives there, and they ended up winning all these games, and Ole Miss, that was sure a thriller on a Sunday night. But, yeah, some of these, the freshman quarterbacks really, you know, I think we have to make a note on the new quarterbacks there, and we talked about Keelan Russell, but I'll tell you what, I'll give Josh Heupel credit, too, because for much of the summer, nobody was really talking about Faison Brandon being the guy, but he certainly is.

And, you know, McIntyre got a few snaps late, but this is Brandon's team, and that was a bold move by Heupel, and this kid looks absolutely dynamite. So they're going to be in the mix, I think, too. Oklahoma, you know, sometimes they get shuffled to the back, and here they go out, and they look at 51-0. McIntyre looks really good. Even, you know, teams that we sort of forgot about last year, like Shane Beamer at South Carolina. This time last year, everybody was talking about South Carolina, and it became sort of an afterthought.

But they opened up their season really impressively, too, and not the beating Kent State is that much, but the way they did it was very impressive. Lenora Sellers had a great game. So, I mean, there's a lot of things positive coming out of the league this week. Bruce Marshall again. Check him out. Goals cheat out in a place called Las Vegas. Bruce, the SEC says, Lane, here's the deal, man. Here comes the judge again threatening to throw him out of the league, divorce LSU. How much of this is just posturing?

How much of this is a real deal? The powers that be supposed to get together Thursday with a judge and find out the latest round. Your thoughts about that, and has Lane just basically said, you know what, screw it. I'm just going to go out there and just, I'm going to shut down if I can, the air conditioning in the busy room, make life miserable. I'm going to go on, flash my dimples, get people to feel sorry for me, and win at all costs. Your thoughts, where do you start breaking down on the field and off the field with a Lane game?

Yeah, you know, the interesting thing is, and I said to the show and Baton Rouge guys last week a couple of things, this is not a hill for LSU to die on. It's not that impactful. And we saw, you know, Saturday night, they don't need any of those couple of guys from the NFL. And they're good enough to win it all the way up. My gosh, no. Yeah, and I think this whole situation there cried out the whole way for somebody down there to grab the wheel, whether it be the AD who's been very quiet, Jim Dalton, the chancellor, he's been very quiet.

The governor's been a little bit more outspoken. But, you know, to grab the wheel and just stop this thing. You know, the guys in Baton Rouge, when I did on the radio with them last week, you know, took umbrage. They thought, no, no, we have grabbed the wheel. This is what we're doing. And I said, no, we're talking about a different grabbed wheel. I'm saying, grab the wheel away from Lane and say, no, they're not doing it. So they're still treating him like a child. They're letting him like a spoiled child.

Lane cannot make policy. That's like my daughter letting my grandson go shopping, and it would be all cookies and ice cream, you know. You just can't let him make decisions like that. LSU eventually will relent on this and just drop it, the whole thing, I believe, because the rest of the league, they've become such a pariah for the rest of the league, and maybe Lane sort of wants to create this siege mentality. You're getting to the point now where it's, when you get, you know, expelling LSU in the league and stuff.

I hardly believe that is happening, but it's going to happen. But, you know, LSU, you've crossed the line here. Just pull it back. Lane, just somebody at LSU down there, somebody told Lane, no, you can't do this, and this is what we're doing. Somebody's got to be a bigger voice down there than him. You can't let him make policy on this stuff. Well, wouldn't that be the first time someone's told Lane no, maybe outside of when he was with the Raiders? I mean, let's face it.

He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and people put up with him because he's good. But Lane knows he's good, and he takes full ombrage with that and takes full advantage. So it seems that's his track record. Look what he did at Tennessee. See you. Alabama, see you in the national championship. I mean, Ole Miss. Golly gee, you've been good for me, but I'm going to leave you and make up stories about people coming after me. I mean, this is, well, nothing's really new about Lane, is it?

No, I mean, the series of burned bridges in the background. Yeah, we didn't care. I can't relate to that, too. This is like European soccer. This is like Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid now. If you look at his career, it's sort of like Kiffin's. He's only placed for a couple years. It's about me. But he always gets another job, and there's always another job waiting for Lane. Let me ask you about the two premier games this weekend. Ohio State-Texas, Longhorns a one-and-a-half-point favorite Saturday at 6.30 on ABC, showcasing Arch and Julian Sange, Jeremiah Smith, Kim Coleman.

[47:28] Real opportunity for Texas to make a statement. Can Oklahoma put Michigan out of its misery for a while? They are a five-and-a-half-point favorite, which tells you what people think about Michigan. I have never been a Bryce Underwood fan. Last year in this game, he went nine for 24. Ohio State-Texas, Oklahoma-Michigan. Does the SEC win both games? Maybe. They won't win Michigan-Oklahoma. I highly doubt. I mean, Michigan did not look good at all last week. And Underwood, I mean, he's a very tepid endorsement from Kyle Whittingham. It's almost like he's considering switching quarterbacks.

I mean, the pressure on this kid, I mean, he would have been better off going somewhere else, you know, not with all this enormous pressure, I think, on him, which he hasn't really lived up to. Oklahoma looks really good. Mateo is back. He's healthy. We talked about this before. He really wasn't after the first couple weeks last year after he had the hand surgery. They could have scored 80 points on UTEP if they wanted last week. And that defense, Brent Venables is just licking his chops to go after Michigan.

And that stodgy Wolverine offense and get after Underwood. Oklahoma wins that one. Not so sure about Texas and Ohio State. Although I wonder, you know, how good Julian Sand has had such an advantage in his career. He's had time to throw. He's had the best receivers in the country. They're all open. I mean, it's easy to play quarterback like that. One team that really messed up with Oklahoma, Ohio State last year was Miami in the playoff. And the first game, I mean, Ohio State played very conservative against Texas.

They didn't do much, but they still won. I think this is a big game for Sark. Now, he did win that game at Alabama a few years ago before the Horns joined the SEC. But big games, Georgia in particular, the last couple years, the big SEC games, he has not been winning the last couple years. This is intersectional. But I think there's more pressure on Sark. And watching Texas last year in some of these spots, I am not convinced they're going to get over the hump here.

Something tells me Ohio State might have their number. And I back the Buckeyes here. Check out Bruce again. There's the gold sheet. Bruce, Alabama, first road game with a brand-new quarterback. They're at Kentucky. If you've ever been to a game there, don't mistake it. As someone said earlier in September, there's a lot of football fans in Lexington and they've got a brand-new coach. He's cocky. You don't know what he's going to throw at this team. Ten-and-a-half, I'm looking. Maybe you've got a different line. But, Alabama, at the last look I had, anyway, favored by ten-and-a-half.

How do you see it? Yeah, and I have been to Kentucky game last year. The Ole Miss game. It was a pretty good game. And we'll see. But we'll die. I mean, they opened up, as they expected last week, against Youngstown. Not too much trouble. Get a better test for Kenny Minchie this week. But he threw four TD passes in the opener. The offense, over 500 yards. It was only an FCS team. But I think they're kind of an X factor here. And in the case of Kentucky, before I jump on board, I need a little bit more evidence.

Alabama looks like it hasn't skipped a beat. And Russell looks like he could be very good. And that was awfully, awfully impressive against East Carolina, which might not be all that bad. So, I would probably only look at Alabama here. That doesn't look – if the price gets up around two touchdowns, I might back off. But lean a little bit to Alabama. But Kentucky's one of these teams, I think we need to get a little bit more info on them and how Minchie performs against a quality team before jumping on the Kentucky bandwagon.

Not ready to do it quite yet. We always want to ask you about your under-the-radar game. But let me ask you about two SEC games. There are some fascinating SEC games this week. Arizona State at Texas A&M. The Aggies are 14-and-a-point favorite. This is the morning game. Aggies look really good routing Missouri State. Cutter Boley, of all people, a Kentucky transfer went wild against Morgan State, throwing for nearly 400 yards. And then Tennessee at Georgia Tech. You mentioned Brandon, very impressive in his freshman debut, five touchdowns, 300 total yards.

Georgia Tech kind of collapsed against Colorado to lose that game. Both A&M and Tennessee double-digit favorites, do they win and cover? I think they both will. We'll talk about Tennessee first. We talked about Brandon and the difference that he seems to be making for them. I was completely unimpressed with Georgia Tech the other night. Yeah. And the new coordinator came in, George Godsey, I don't care if he's got NFL background, just way too timid. I mean, you've got a chance to put that game away four minutes or so to go score a touchdown there.

[52:34] They played so timid and they left the door open. And then Colorado, which I didn't think looked that good at all, was a bad game. Mendoza, very disappointing at quarterback. I think Georgia Tech's got some problems. And Tennessee, my gut feels a lot better than Colorado. And if Brandon's a real deal, I will lay the points. You're right, Cutter Bowley. And, yeah, he ain't going to play in Oregon State here. That's the deal. And he might feel like he's back at Kentucky this week against A&M.

Mike Elko wins the Nice Guy of the Year award last week. The last couple minutes of the game kicks a long field goal to get to 50 points against Missouri State. Nice guy. What was impressive about A&M was that, you know, all that talk last week, Marcel Reed talking about how much he hates Texas and all. You thought they might be distracted by the Texas stuff. Well, they kept their minds on business last week, very workmanlike. And it's such a big step up here for Arizona State to play this Elko defense.

And Marcel Reed looks in the top form. I think, you know, A&M probably gets there. I'm inclined to look at the SEC in most of these spots this week, save perhaps the Texas game. But these two, definitely I'll look at A&M and definitely look at Tennessee. Bruce, again, can't let you go without that under-the-radar game. And where can we get the latest with you? Yeah, one quick one. I mean, out on the West Coast, watch this UCLA. Watch what's going on. I think Bob Chesney's a winner.

That was very impressive in the 40s. It was. They had had six touchdowns rushing since Pepper Rogers was running the wishbone there in the early 70s. So they got something going. San Diego State Saturday night, lay the points with the Bruins at the Rose Bowl. For me, we call it $5 Tuesday, up at Wager Talk. All the picks up there, $5 today, including a NFL pick for tomorrow night, Patriots and the Seahawks. And that starts up this week with the NFL. So go online, check out all my picks at wagertalk.com.

The gold sheet will be ready later this afternoon for this week. Up at Wager Talk, too. Also picks and parlays. Winnersandwiners.com. Sounds great. It's the season to be jolly. Thanks so much for your time today, Bruce. Have a good week, boys. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. You too. Bruce Marshall again, amongst other places. The gold sheet. Coming up in the next hour, speaking of the colors, the red fish, William Barger and more. Straight ahead, stay with us. Craving authentic Mexican flavor? Dive into delicious at Hugo's Mexican Restaurant, 4164th Boulevard at the entrance to Kendall Garden.

Start off with fresh tortilla chips and Hugo's famous cheese dip. Then enjoy mouth-watering tacos, enchiladas, and, of course, Hugo's famous fajitas and more, all in a vibrant atmosphere. We're open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday until 9 p.m. and until 9.30 on Friday and Saturday. Hugo's Mexican Restaurant, where every meal is a fiesta. See you soon at 4164th Boulevard at the entrance to Kendall Gardens. This is Miranda Haddock with the Florence Education Foundation. We would like to extend an invitation to our ninth annual Salsa Showdown on Saturday, October 3rd, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Singing River Brewery.

Restaurants and individuals from around the shows will compete to see who has the best salsa and queso. Enjoy live music and a fun-filled day. For tickets and more information, visit our website at FlorenceEducationFoundation.org. I would like to thank our Silver and Gold sponsors, Forsyth & Long, Bank Independent, Chick-fil-A, Cutter Construction, Essity, ES Robbins, First Southern Bank, Grigsby Properties, Johnson & Mayhand Vental, Long Lewis Florence, River Bank & Trust, and United Community Bank. And a special thank you to our title sponsor this year, TNT Fireworks. It doesn't matter if you're running grills at the park, playing pickup on a Saturday, or sinking the final putt.

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[58:11] They also offer a variety of therapeutic benefits that may help soothe your aching muscles and joints, increasing your mobility, boosting your energy, and improving your sleep. Safe Step walk-in tubs are designed to easily fit your existing tub space and are often installed in as little as one day. Just dial 1-800-731-4558 today to save $1,600 and receive a free shower package. That's 1-800-731-4558 for a free no-obligation consultation and to save $1,600. Safe Step walk-in tubs. Safety never felt so good. 18-19 News. U.S. Senator Katie Britt is supporting the Trump administration and its recent proposal of the Rate Payer Protection Pledge when it comes to new data centers being placed in cities and communities.

Companies who take this pledge would agree to protect the American consumer from price hikes on energy and infrastructure needs. Britt was recently on Semaphore where the topic of data centers was brought up. Britt says that data centers are being used as a wedge issue that will put the U.S. behind in this technology race with China. Britt says the conversation must continue with how to best address this growing industry. Britt maintains that communities should assess thoroughly if this is right for them, with some places ultimately deciding that they want to bring in another type of development.

Britt is opposed to any type of national moratorium on building data centers, but she also says that we do not need data centers on every corner in America. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Are you enjoying 18-19 News? If so, consider joining 18-19 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. Authorities have caught up with the suspect behind a series of threats made through videos to schools in Alabama. A juvenile from Andalusia has now been arrested for the cat in the hat video threats made online. The video uses artificial intelligence and the character from the Dr. Seuss book. The investigators tracked down the Snapchat account used to make the video threat and then the IP address.

The juvenile was confronted by police this past weekend. I'm Andrea Tyson. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Tide fans, join the Crimson Tide Sports Network this fall on Wednesday nights for Hey Coach and the Kalen DeVore Show presented by Alpha Insurance, live from Baumhauer's Victory Grill in Tuscaloosa. The show starts at 6 p.m. and you don't want to miss it. Roll Tide! Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores. Sports Radio 93.9, The Score.

This past Friday night, the Florence Falcons fought hard to come away with their first region victory of the year. Look and found the step. It's loose to the 45, to the 40, to the 30, to the 20. Keyon to the house. Touchdown, Florence. The sophomore electrifies the blue crowd. Join me, Kevin Johnson, along with Mike Albertson, Jeffrey Jones, and John McDaniel as we bring you Florence at Russellville. The TNT fireworks pregame at 6, kickoff at 7 on your home for Florence Falcons football, 93.9, The Score. Florence Falcons football is brought to you by Florence Utilities, Florence City Schools, the law firm of Johnson Pesher, Medley, and Burchill, the North Alabama Boney Joint Clinic, TNT Fireworks, Yogurt Mountain, Water Burger, Singing River Dentistry, Village Discount Drugs, Hugo's Mexican Restaurant, Irons Electric, Cypress Creek Indoor Range, Lost Pizza, Hennigar Johnson and Leighton Insurance, Carbine Construction, First Southern Bank, and Warehouse Tackle.

93.9, The Score of Weather. For today, a 20% chance of afternoon showers, high around 95, heat index around 100. Tonight, mainly clear skies, low near 70. Tomorrow, sunny skies, high around 95, heat index around 100. Tomorrow night, mainly clear skies, low near 70. And Wednesday, a 20% chance of afternoon showers, high around 95. 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. Welcome back in our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. BB, the paint, I just touched it. It's wet. The AP Top 25 is in the house. No surprise. Ohio State, the Ohio State still number one, BB. Bama Rose in at 12. Tennessee at 18. Well, I didn't think there were going to be many jumps, Harold, because pretty much all the teams in the top, really, 15 won.

[1:03:38] So, there was not going to be a lot of movement. I think there will be this time next week. Yeah. By the way, before we jump in to Ben here, the SEC, BB, is apparently serious. They're voting Thursday to go into court to see if they can throw LSU out of the league. I mean, they're not messing around with this guy because what they're saying, in effect, LSU, you're letting him, basically, you're letting the tail wag the dog in Baton Rouge, and it's time to put a stop to this.

Well, the SEC needed to make a statement. Harold, they're very serious about this. And I would imagine they could get 15 presidents and athletic directors to vote right now to kick LSU out of the league. We're not going to kick Ben Thomas off the show. He is the man at AL.com. BT, welcome in. You're not going to court anytime soon, are you? How are you? Oh, boy, I feel like I should. I mean, it seems like not just in college football, but on the high school scene, we've had three court cases or filings, whatever you want to say, last week.

I feel like, you know, one time I wanted to go to school to be a lawyer. Maybe I should have done that. Maybe I could understand what was going on in these court things. But, yeah, I'd rather stay covering high school games on the field and not in the courtrooms, if possible, please. Ben, it's crazy. I have no idea. Maybe someone smarter than I am can figure out what's going on in the world because it just seems like H-A-T-E is King Kong these days, no matter where you go.

But, Ben, be that as it may, who has more records? Elvis, the Beatles, or Trent Seaborn at Thompson? Yeah, I mean, you know, we talked about Trent last week, I think, and he's left to become the state's all-time leading passer, and he did do that. I mean, Thompson just, we may end up, you know, it's early. I don't want to get anybody, you know, fired up yet, but we may end up at some point talking about this Thompson team being one of the best in, you know, the history of high school.

Wow. You know, the Viger of 1988 and Hoover, some of those great Hoover teams. We'll see. I mean, lots to be said about that, but Trent, 264 yards and another route of a good Vestavia Hills team last week, and now has 11,032 yards. He is the state's all-time leading passer. Passed several people, but the previous top holder was Jack Hayes, the former Piedmont quarterback. Here's what's kind of crazy to think about, guys. I obviously know Trent's been playing since the eighth grade, or at least in the playoff, you know, playing those playoff games as an eighth grader.

He's got, what, 10, 11 games left to play as a senior? I mean, how much, what is he going to finish with? I mean, you know, he's got 11,032 already. I mean, 12,000, 13,000. I mean, he, you know, you've got to think this is a record that's probably not going to be broken again, at least not anytime soon. And kind of the, you know, a little bit disappointing is the fact that when we entered the season, it looked like he and Gunnar Rivers would kind of be chasing that record together, maybe going back and forth, seesawing in the lead.

And because of Gunnar's injury, that's probably not going to happen. They think he's going to be back sometime this year, but it's probably going to be hard for him to catch up to Trent at this point. But congratulations to Trent, good guy, future Alabama quarterback, and might be a four-time state champion by the time he leaves. BT, somebody asked me a couple weeks ago, what's Wade Waltrip doing, the former Florence and James Clements coach? Well, he's doing pretty well. Orange Beach just stunned Biger, 21-19. They knocked down a two-point conversion.

Biger, number two in Class 4A. I think Wade Waltrip is doing pretty well. I can tell you one thing he's not doing, Brett, and that's calling Ben Thomas back today. No, no, no! Yeah, I don't know, but… Wade? Yeah. Hopefully he will, but yeah, Orange Beach has only had a program since 2020, and Coach Waldrop's been down there since leaving Hoover, and they've been pretty good, but this looks like their best team. They've got some prospects on this team. Lee Steele, junior tight end and outside linebacker, he's also a basketball prospect.

He may have to choose not only a college, but a sport when he gets around there. Amari Trammell is another big defensive line, outside linebacker type guy that they have on this team. So, they've got some players, Tucker Wade, the quarterback, and they did beat Viger. Now, Viger was a little bit down in manpower. I think they had a few guys sitting out for whatever reasons. I'm trying to check and see what that holds. But a great one, you know, best win in school history for them.

And not just that, I mean, down here they call it ballin' at the beach, you know, those two schools down there, Orange Beach and Gold Shores. All Gold Shores did was go to 3-0 by ending Sarah Land's 41-game home winning streak. Carter Davis is a wide receiver, fastest guy in the state, a lot of people say, who's committed to West Virginia. Elijah Malone had an unbelievable game. He's right now committed to Jacksonville State. But I wonder if some other people might be knocking on his door before it's all said and done.

[1:08:56] So, yeah, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach having historically, of course, I was going to say historically good seasons. Of course, Gulf Shores won the state title a couple years ago. So, for them, not necessarily. But two big wins for sure on the beach. Speaking of going to 3-0 and streaking, how about Florence? They go to 3-0 by ending Muscle Shoals' 10-game winning streak against the Falcons. A defensive battle. Florence, again, off to a 3-0 start. Yeah, and, you know, Brett texted me and said we need to make sure we got Florence and Russell on.

Yes, you do. There you go. That's a good one. And I think we do. But, yeah, undefeated, Lawrence 3-0 against Russell will 3-0. You know, I think the last time these two teams haven't played in a while. Yeah, correct. I think it's been since 2011 since they played. Right. If you look at what Florence has done, what, two shutouts in three games for them. So, their defense has been really good. Obviously, they played Jasper, which has a good tailback. Didn't shut them out. A pretty salty bunch, it looks like, to me.

And then Russell will, I mean, are we surprised that Daryl Higgins is over there and has continued to win? I mean, a huge win for them against Hartzell, 35-21. I think four of their next five or something like that are on the road. They're about to get tested. But with Daryl Higgins there, I mean, he just, you know, does what he does, which is win ballgames. So, that ought to be a good one. I haven't done my picks yet. You know, I did okay. I've not really hit my stride yet on the pitch.

I've made a couple of 18-2 records, but so far, I haven't even been close to that. Yeah, Taurus Davis ran wild in that Hartzell win, ran for 269 yards. Tripp Cleveland, who may be a better baseball player than a quarterback, has had a tremendous year. The other one, BT, I suggested is Hamilton 2-0 at Dessler. Dessler lost. They could not convert a two-point conversion in the first game of the year at Russellville. And then they've scored 50-plus points the last two games. Hamilton is 2-0 after beating Artmore 49-8.

They've got a Crankerjack quarterback by the name of Mason Holloway, who is 15-21 for 3-21. He's another one who's been playing quarterback for Hamilton for years. Yeah, Dessler beat Lawrence County 55-14, but two very good games in the shows on Friday. I think I put that one on there, too. Yeah, Dessler, 58 against Colbert County and 55 against Lawrence County, I believe. So they look like they're in high-octane form. You know, I think Hamilton's like 1-18 all-time against Dessler. They have not been very successful, but they haven't played a whole lot.

I see it. I think they played last year, and Dessler won in overtime, and that's, I think, the first time they've played in quite a while. So that should be a good game. Who do you recommend I select on that one, Brad? Let me think about that, and I'll text you a little bit later today, B.T. All right, I got you. I got you. Brett comes from a logger family. Yes, he does. You have been more in there, B.T., BenThomasAL.com. How about Lexington?

That community's on fire. They're going to be beating 3-0 after knocking off Phil Campbell 2018. If I saw it right, Lexington is sitting atop the regional standings right now. That's right. Is that our buddy, Brett Matt? Yes, it is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's got good coaching genes. I'm sure Steve Mask is proud of that, but I talked to Brett last week. I didn't talk to him this past week when they had a big win, and one of his guys made my Ben's 10 list of top 10 impact performers.

So glad for him. I like Coach Mask. Obviously, I don't know him quite as well as I know his dad, but love the family, and I think he's a good football coach. He's obviously doing a good job there at Lexington. Yeah, they've got another Cracker Jack quarterback. I mentioned him, Zane Kilburn. That killed Byrne, I'm sorry, and they beat Phil Campbell, came back from a 12-point deficit to win 20-18. Tell us about, and I like the title, Ben's 10, the 10 best performances in the state of Alabama.

Demar, you've got the five questions, I believe, from Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, in that area. What else have you got on tell this week, and where can we get online to get all the great stuff? Yeah, we're not slowing down this week. One of the coaches asked me, what do you do on Labor Day? You work, Labor. It's just another Monday for me. Yeah, Ben's 10 comes out every Monday morning. It's my top 10 impact performers of the previous week. And a lot of times it's big stats, but sometimes it's a special teams play or something like that, just something that attracts my attention.

And that seems to have gone over pretty well. You can get that on Monday mornings. We even send a little certificate out to each of the 10 players with my shining face on it. There you go. So they can do that. Or they can hang it on their dartboard if they don't like it when they pick against them, they can throw at it, I guess. But, yeah, we have the five things to know in each market tomorrow. The rankings will be out. Sports Riders rankings early in the morning.

[1:14:12] Power 25 is already out. Randy Kennedy's best in Bama Thursday. The two ranking all the best prospects in the state, regardless of grade. It's funny, we get some response on that. People are irate saying, well, how can you rank this guy ahead of that guy when he hasn't even played much yet? Well, that's kind of the point of all. Kind of the point of all that. Yes, there is. We got plenty on AL.com for you to love football. High Live, obviously, on Friday nights is one of our most popular things.

I just got to tell you guys, a lot of people are worried about public and private schools. I'm worried about our education in general. This is why I say that. I went to a store yesterday and I purchased something that was 1401 and I gave the young man a 20. You know what? You want to guess what happened next? The wrong change. He pulled out his phone to subtract 20. And I just thought, oh my gosh, this is where we are. Oh, man. That's okay. That's okay. You better pray the internet doesn't go down.

You're going to be stuck, Ben. Why am I not surprised? Let's say as cool as you can and thanks so much for your time today, okay? All right. Y'all have a good week. God bless. You too, buddy. Well, I'm just impressed. He had a 20 to spend. That's pretty doggone good. B-T at AL.com. Coming up, double M, Matt Mischel on deck. Stay with us. Start your day at Milla's Place, where French toast, fluffy pancakes, and all your breakfast favorites are served fresh and hot, weekday mornings starting at 6 a.m.

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Matt Rochelle is a college insider with the Orlando Center. His podcast is Gridiron 365. Matt, Florida State, did they figure this thing out? There's a switch in the wall. One is on. One is off. Do they know the difference between on and off? Or did they just not pay their electric bill? How are you? I'm doing well. Listen, I figured after watching last night that most people would probably end up blaming Mike Norvell for the power out. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. But, you know, I mean, listen, we thought we saw everything this weekend.

Michigan, Western Michigan. Really? All the things going on. No, no. Florida State said, play, hold my beer, Michigan. I'm going to go ahead and show you something different. And we had a power outage last night. So, it was crazy. I don't think I've ever seen a situation like that. And I think, you know, honestly, it just kind of demonstrated what week one was like. And I think the worst part about all of that, obviously, was the fact that Florida State isn't losing that game. So, for Florida State fans, you know, yeah, they could take a little bit of solace.

It was a close game. They lost on a last, pretty much a last-minute field goal. But still, it's a loss. And that's not got to be still really good for the people in Tallahassee. Especially not being embarrassed like that. We're on national television. Yeah, I'm sorry, man. Here's the deal. I mean, they did without replay and all that stuff. Let's go to Michigan's game. Now, let's say the same situation happened there. They didn't have replay. Now, think about how that could not only affect that game, but the college football season.

That shows you what happens when you have it, and sometimes what happens when you don't have it. Well, yeah. And what's incredible about the Michigan situation is, you know, everyone believes the game is over. And then all of a sudden, Big Ten says, well, there's another clock. Right, right. Not in the stadium, that's a clock that we look at. And then this is what's going to happen. And now, I just read just a few seconds ago, the Mid-American Conference came out and said, basically, they were wrong that Michigan, the replay officials were wrong, which, by the way, were Big Ten officials.

They were wrong. Of course. And basically, they're going out and trying to ask the, you know, ask the college football playoff and all these other organizations to recognize them as winning that game. So, we have seen just about every craziness we've seen. And we're only in week one right now. I mean, we're talking about, you know, and I mean, listen, I'm a Mid-American Conference guy. I went to Ball State, covered the league for a couple of years while I was at school. I have an affinity for that.

I thought it was going to be a great win for them. Michigan played horribly. Somehow, they ended up getting a win. And I got to say right now, I asked Michigan fans, how comfortable are you with that win? I mean, because it did not look good. Even though you got that last-second touchdown, it didn't look good. And I'm not sure, with Oklahoma coming up to town this week, how Michigan can feel very confident about going up against the state. I agree with you, Matt. Matt, just to add to that, the SEC basically giving the commissioner power to kick LSU out of the league to expel them.

[1:24:45] We'll see where that goes. Matt, the Florida Gators, under John Summerall, pretty impressive performance, beating Florida Atlantic 66-21. Jane Ball, I've been saying this for two years, just turn around and hand the ball to Jane Ball and let him do his thing. 14 carries, 160 yards. Philo looked pretty good. Impressive opening debut for the Gators. Yeah, I think it's everything that Gator fans have been looking for. But I've seen this story before, guys. I've seen the week one, past the cup game, where Florida puts up a bunch of points, and then everyone thinks the offense is going to look good, and they don't.

It's a good step in the right direction for John Summerall, because he needs to show the fan base that, yes, we're going to score points, we're going to look good, we're going to be efficient at doing it. I think the concern has to be the fact that they give over 20 points to FAU. They have to find a way to get a little bit tighter on defense. They're not going to have much of a challenge this week against Campbell. But again, down the road, they're going to start playing tougher opponents.

They've got to get better on defense. They've got to take away the turnovers. But it was good to see the offense, which you can expect to see out of them. And I'm with you. Jane Ball is probably one of the top players in the SEC. He deserves to get the ball as much as he possibly can. If he can do that, I think Florida's going to have fun when it comes to their offense. Matt Murcia of the Orlando Sentinel. Matt, we love having you here. You've got the national voice.

What is your takeaway from Alabama and Auburn over the weekend? Well, you know, Alabama, I thought, did what they had to do. You know what I mean? Auburn, you go out, you play the game, you get your players out there, you get a chance to take a look at the quarterback position. They did what they had to do. I think for Auburn, I think Auburn, to me, they got away with the wind. They did, man. I mean, listen, if DJ Lagwa, the Baylor quarterback, is hurt, and he was basically a couch most of that game.

I mean, he was sitting in the backfield like a couch, and his leg was hurt. He couldn't. We had no mobility. If he can roll out a little bit on that last two-point play, you know, I think there's a good possibility they get that two-pointer and win the game. So I think Auburn got very lucky with that. You know, I mean, I thought kudos to Dave Aranda for going for two at the end of the game and trying to win it over time. Listen, more coaches need to be aggressive when it comes to that kind of thing, but it didn't work out in his favor.

So my guess is Dave Aranda's on the hot seat even more so than he was when he started because of it. But I think Auburn, obviously, they've got some issues. They've got to do better offensively. I thought Alabama looked a lot better than, you know, what you expect them to do. And, you know, they've got – they can start to move forward and start adding more to their offense. I mean, I mean, it was a little bit of a limited offensive scheme, but you want to make sure you don't showcase the whole playbook.

So I was impressed by both of those. Absolutely. Congratulations to Central Florida, the team you cover, 73-6. Woo! Pulled out a can of whoop you-know-what on Bethune-Cookman, but a very good debut. For UCL. Matt, we've got to run to a tennis update, buddy. But, listen, great job as always. Where can we get online and get your coverage of UCL and everything else? Yeah, you can go to OrlandoSentinel.com to check out the latest or follow me on social media. Oh, that's Matt Merchel. Matt, listen, man, thanks so much for your time, Dave, and have a great week, okay?

All right, take care, guys. Thank you, buddy. Matt Merchel, the Orlando Sentinel Gridiron 365 is a podcast. Coming up, the latest on the Tide with the Redfish after the latest from the U.S. Open. Westwood One Sports presents this special tennis update sponsored by Prevagen. Prevagen, made for your brain. The U.S. Open three-peat still alive for No. 1 Arena Sabalenka as she outlasts Wimbledon champ Lyndon Noskova in a third-set super tiebreaker to get to the semifinals. Right now at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the All-American men's quarterfinal just started.

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And manage your diabetes as easy as… Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 to score. NASCAR Cup Series is in Illinois on Sunday. It's the second race in the chase. The Atlanta Braves had just two hits yesterday as the Braves were shut out in Philadelphia. They lost to the Phillies 1-0. The Braves are 85-59. Braves back at home tonight. They'll start a series with the race at Truist Park. A.J. Smith-Shauver will get the start for the Atlanta Braves. NFL season gets underway tomorrow night. The Patriots are on the road in Seattle.

[1:35:04] They'll take on the Seahawks in a Super Bowl rematch from February. The Atlanta Falcons are set to open up the season on the road in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Tua Tunga-Vailoa will start a quarterback for Atlanta. The Saints will play in Detroit Sunday against the Lions. Bundle auto and home. Red Tercer condo and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score. Pump up the volume. Business moves fast. Orders roll in. Deadlines close in. When you ship with USPS Ground Advantage, you can keep up with confidence.

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It's finger-lickin' good. Prices and participation vary. Well, supplies last are available on third-party ordering platforms. Tax extra. This is Roger Huber with the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Join me and Tyler Walks this fall on Monday nights at 6 p.m. for Crimson Tide Rewind. Live from Baumhauer's Victory Grill in Vestavia Hills and on this great station. Tune in and roll tide. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. So, what are those in the nose saying about Alabama's opening act for 2026? Nobody does a better job than answering that question than the redfish.

William Barger, former University of Alabama offensive lineman, and now a co-host of Baum's Radio. William, welcome in. How are you? Doing good, fellas. Hope y'all are having a good Tuesday as well. Hey, bud. Well, I got a feeling you're having a better week after Game 1 this year than last year. William, we've talked about it. Now you've seen Act 1 in the books. Where do you start? And you do a good job breaking down the five critical observations about this team. William, where do you start with those critical observations?

Well, I mean, I think if you look at, you know, the biggest concern, you know, heading into the 2026 season for Alabama, I think it starts and stops with the offensive line. And, you know, my biggest concern, which proved to be a waste of time, was, you know, with right tackle Jarvin James, who I thought probably had a really consistent performance Saturday. It looked like he was, you know, ready for the moment. So, and, you know, the overall performance of the offensive line, look, it was a long way from perfect.

There's a lot of things that need to be cleaned up. But, you know, I think I saw a stat where they were like 11 of 12 in third and short, short yardage goal line situations. And, you know, they couldn't have produced a stat like that against Samford last year. So, you know, there's progress has been made. I think there's been, you know, baby step level improvement. And, you know, I think when you factor in, you know, first time starter at cornerback, you know, four new offensive line starters.

You know, I thought the new running backs and an old one, I thought, you know, Daniel Hill, Treshawn Brown, you know, Crowell, even Kevin Riley. You know, they looked really good. And, you know, for an offensive lineman standpoint, you know, you saw at times when somebody got beat on that offensive line, as opposed to last year with the play being dead, the backfield. You know, those backs had the ability to make one guy miss and allow for a positive play to develop. And, you know, that's how, you know, a running play is drawn up is, you know, the running backs got to make one guy miss during the course of the play.

There's going to be one guy unaccounted for. So, you know, I was very pleased with that. I mean, I would say overall, offensively, you know, I'm going to take points away from the wide receiver group for the drops. There was a lack of separation at times. But, you know, there was a lot of times that East Carolina was dropping seven and eight guys into coverage, too. So, but I was very pleased. You know, I gave the defense an A minus. I gave the offense a solid B.

[1:40:13] Your thoughts, you mentioned 11 and 12. And let's face it, the Lions' best friend there is having a quarterback who can take nothing and make something out of it. That's good. But how concerned are you going forward when the competition steps up, maybe the physicality of the obvious there with Russell? I mean, this kid, I think he personally exceeded expectations because, let's face it, they were off the charts coming in. And I didn't see anything to make me feel otherwise. But your thoughts just about his mobility and maybe what did they learn?

Because, let's face it, they say the biggest jump, and I'm not telling you anything, you don't know. You've been there and done it, is from game one to game two. Can you correct the mistakes? Your thoughts overall from that standpoint about Russell? And maybe, here's a thought, slide instead of going in like a halfback. Well, you know, I'll say this. I mean, you know, I think the good news is, you know, in regards to his game, you know, yeah, there's pre-snap reads, you know, communication, you know, operational stuff that he certainly can get better at.

And, you know, before anybody gets too excited, despite, you know, that East Carolina team being the oldest roster this team's going to see all year, where they were even older and more experienced than the Indiana team last year was. Right. Right. You know, it's still going to be a step up in competition. And just like the East Carolina game, with it being a new head coach, a lot of transfers, they do have one game of tape to look at. So, you know, it's going to be a step up in competition.

You know, it's a road game, so that there's another thing. Not that, you know, that's a tough place to play up there. But, you know, I think that before you apply it to an opponent, I think you have to apply it, you know, inward as an individual player, you know, as an individual in a group setting like the offensive line, the wide receivers, whatever. You know, that they have to fix the stuff up that wasn't so good Saturday. And there really wasn't a lot to complain about.

I mean, you know, illegal procedures, two men in motion. You know, you didn't see outside of that ridiculous holding call that they had on Joe Gotti. Yep. You know, I've got pictures in my office of myself making that same block. You know, and no flags were thrown. So, you know, and the fact that the flag came out after they saw that it was going to be an obvious, you know, not get touched by anybody touchdown was even more suspicious. But, you know, it is what it is.

I think the fan base at least got to see just how electric Treshawn Brown really is and, you know, where the urban legend has come from that we've been talking about on your show for several months. But, you know, I think the things, you know, the next step is the windows are probably going to be a little bit smaller and a little tighter and they can close quicker at Lexington this weekend for Keylong Russell. You know, it's a lot of the good things that I saw from the new center, Del Gotti.

I did see him get, you know, overwhelmed at times at the point of attack by a 300-plus pound defensive tackle. You know, and again, he's got plenty of people on that team on the other side of the line of scrimmage he can work on that with this week. So, you know, I think that, but now that this game is on tape for Kentucky to look at, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how their defensive coordinator goes about trying to slow the Keelan Russell train down.

I mean, do you go the East Carolina route and just, you know, flood the box and get, you know, there's only, you know, three or four people left in the box and you drop everybody into coverage to maybe try and keep a wide receiver from beating you deep. And you just give him a free 10-yard quarterback, you know, scamper when he wants it. Or are they going to be more honest and, you know, have a spy on Russell? Are they going to be more men in the box and play more honest on the back end, which, you know, leads to more wide receivers getting open and finding soft spots.

So, you know, I would rather be, you know, on the Alabama side of the stick going into this Kentucky matchup this weekend than trying to figure out which poison do I want to kill myself with trying to slow this offense down. William, as far as some tweaks, I nearly fell out there that there were some quarterbacks under center, which was interesting. But the one that I think I've heard 20 people tell me this in the last 10 years, even some with Nick Saban, and he did it much better.

[1:45:14] When Alabama got inside the five-yard line, heaven forbid, they put a fullback who was Lindsey in front of the tailback. I thought that I had been transported back to 1995, William. Your opinion of putting a, heaven forbid, fullback in front of the tailback down on the goal line? Well, I mean, I hate to have to one-up you, but I'm going to tell you what got me more excited than even that. What was out of the same personnel grouping when they brought the big children of the corn looking tight end in motion.

Yep, exactly. As an H-back, and you had a fullback and an H-back leading their way through the hall, which goes back to the point that I made earlier. That's why they were so successful in the short yardage and goal line situation. And they were intentional about it. They didn't just do that one or two times to put it on tape. You could tell Ryan Grubb, which the fan base is guilty of jumping on his case for not being intentional and sticking with something that's working. Well, he did it Saturday, and I think everybody should be pretty pleased with the result because those are two of the most physical blockers.

You know, Jay Lindsey was a quiet star of the summer scrimmages, more so as a receiver because he had multiple touchdown catches. But those are two of the most physical and strongest, what I call power athletic, you know, players. They're basically extra offensive linemen, but they're athletic enough, you know, not to get that c***** 50, 60, or 70-numbered jersey put on their backs. So, I was excited to see it. I think it's something certainly that Alabama can build on. And so, to me, that was the best takeaway of Saturday offensively was there wasn't just like a test market for, you know, being physical.

It was intentional, and they showed it over and over and over and over again. And, man, let me tell you something. You know, going back to my high school days playing, you know, a stand-up defensive end, outside linebacker position, whatever you want to call it. You know, seeing that kind of action coming at you, it's not a fun place to be when, you know, both guys are 250, 260 pounds. You know, they've got a five-yard run and had a start. So, you know, there again, man, I thought that Ryan Grubb was very savvy in what he showed.

I've got a very sneaky suspicion. He showed a lot more in the run game than he did in the route tree. Yeah. Yeah. But I liked what he did. You know, it was almost like, hey, y'all b****** and complained about this, and, you know, rightfully so. But, you know, we're going to shut you up in week one. William Redfish, bars are coming from you. That means a lot. You've been there and done it in the trenches. William, speaking of Ryan, how concerned are you with the other Ryan and the drops on the offensive side of the ball?

You know, more than anything, man, I really hate that it happened. You know, if he doesn't have those two drops to go along with a really nice job that he did in the punt return game, we'd probably be sitting here talking about him with 250-plus all-purpose yards and probably the SEC player of the week. So there'll be plenty of more opportunities, you know, for Ryan Williams to improve on that. But, you know, I personally don't see it in the same lens that I saw it last year because there were a lot of explosive plays, you know, mixed between the two drops.

You know, kind of like last year, there'd be a drop or two, and it was like he went into a shell inside himself and just, you know, was a Casper the Ghost the rest of the day. So I don't think it's the same thing. Certainly it's a concern, but I've got a feeling Derek Nix and Ryan Williams are going to work on that a lot this week in practice. William, we've been talking about how much bigger and physical, speaking of that, the defensive line going into the season.

You could begin to see some of this stuff in some runs. Three sacks, five tackles, four loss, three and out on four drives, eight punts. They only gained 162 yards. Sixty of that was on that phantom holding call that you talked about. William, your assessment of the Alabama front seven on defense? Man, I really liked it. And, you know, if people enjoy, you know, line of scrimmage play the way that I do, I would go back and watch the replay and, you know, watch how, you know, that defensive line stood those offensive linemen up and held their ground.

[1:50:23] You know, you saw Tompkins do it over and over again, but to me, you know, I was kind of expecting that a little bit. What really kind of hit me in the face was how well and how fast both Woodson and Mets closed on the ball. And, you know, they don't show up a lot with, you know, tackles on the stat sheets because the big fellas in front of them were, you know, wrapping people up and putting them down so well. But, man, you could just see a different click up in athleticism out of those two and just, I really liked it.

You know, like I said, I got to ding them a tad for the busted coverage, but I expected that. It's always a concern in, you know, early games. But, man, besides that, any time the defense knocks the quarterback out of the game and gets a turnover for a pick six, I'm willing to, you know, wipe away other mistakes and there weren't any other ones to wipe out. But that's, to me, you know, and if this sounds sadistic, you know, send the cops to give me. I don't care.

But that, to me, should be the goal of the front seven in every game. I'm not saying kill the guy, but, you know, put him in the injury tent, make the backup quarterback come in. And, you know, I was never a fan of Nick Saban's philosophy of affecting the quarterback. I don't want him affected. I want him standing over there scared to death with the coach on the sideline. Kind of like you saw Chris Vizina of Clemson do it by the start of the second quarter in Baton Rouge Saturday night.

Oh, you're exactly right. Oh, you're impeccable sources. Kellen DeBoer kind of hinted at this. A.K. Deer, Jaira Edwards may be back sooner than later, and Noah Rogers behind him. Will all three of these guys be playing by Florida State or South Carolina? I think the safe bet, maybe you see Jaira and A.K. get a little sprinkle. But I would say the goal probably is to have all three of those guys, including Noah Rogers, back by Georgia. Yeah. And, you know, I sure would like to know, you know, did they ship our buddy Crowell off to Cuba for stem cell therapy?

I mean, I, you know, a 225-pound kid doing a pirouette in midair, landing on that ankle and changing direction. It doesn't add up to an ankle injury to me, but I, you know, Kellen, you just keep doing what you're doing. Sandbag him, William. Sandbag him. I mean, I'm enjoying the poker that you're playing with these injury reports in the media. Oh, Crowell. Absolutely. Especially if they get, especially if they get plays like we saw from Crowell on Saturday. Oh, that was amazing. Turned a three-yard loss into a touchdown.

You're exactly right. Listen, great synopsis of the game. Going to be interesting going to Lexington because, again, it's a little bit of a different animal. Listen, always enjoy the conversation beginning of the week with you. Have a great week. Listen to this again next week. All right, guys. Talk to you later. The Redfish, William Barger. BB, obviously, a historic weekend for UNA. Showing up in Arkansas against an SEC opponent coming up tomorrow. We're going to delve a whole lot deeper into it. Coach Brent Jermott is going to be on board with a whole lot more.

That's coming up for you tomorrow. In the meantime, the Braves tonight trying to keep on track here down the stretch with the regular season. Trying to get in there without any problems. So check out that game later on tonight here on on 93.9 The Score. It's going to take care of us for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow. Noon to two for the Boomer Buck Show. Back here on Sports Radio.

93.9 The Score.