Boomo Bugg Show 120425

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in with a question of the hour is, can the homeboys bring the state crown back to town again?

Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you? Well, happy Thursday. The homeboys are doing pretty well right now. Morris Hill 14-0 over Bayside Academy with about two minutes left in the second quarter. It has been an absolute master class in running the wing tee with Daryl Higgins. In fact, they should be 21-0. They dropped a touchdown pass early in the game, but we'll try to keep you updated throughout the show. Alabama, Auburn, and UNA get men's basketball wins last night and the SEC wins the ACC Challenge.

Former Auburn quarterback Charlie Troman gives us his assessment of new coach Alex Goldich. And BB is here right now to talk coaching changes in the SEC and his predictions for a championship weekend. From one BB, Brett Beaird, to another BB, Bill Bender, he is the national voice of the sporting news. Bill Bender, welcome in. Did you survive National Signing Day okay? I survived the last 10 days okay, I guess. It's been a wild, everything through Thanksgiving. I'm glad I took that day off because everything else has been wild.

From Lane, signing day, through all these conference title games and the playoff and the debates. Just be glad that I'm on with you guys. There you are, Brett. We're very, very thankful. I know it's a week after Thanksgiving, but it's a belated thanks for that. Bill, your thoughts. Last year, what a difference a year makes. How many changes as far as head coaches did the SEC have last year? And here we are, the first week of December, and basically, in some ways, almost half of the league will look different next year as far as head coaches.

What a difference a year makes. Yeah, I mean, you know, this is the environment we live in. A lot of come and go. You know, you brought in some really good coaches from the American Conference, though. Jon Sumrall's awesome. I know you guys are familiar with him from his time in Troy. Oh, boy. He's a good coach. Really good coach. Alex Golesh is from up my way, from Dublin, and by way of Moscow, by the way. That Moscow in Russia. He's a really good coach for Auburn.

I think his style of play on both sides of the ball, the work with Byron Brown. I mean, you guys saw that when he was in South Florida. Very good coach. Ryan Silverfield will do a nice job at Arkansas. And I think Eric Morris at Oklahoma State's a hit. That's a really good conference full of coaches there that are coming to the power four. I'm going to be curious to see how Will Stein will do at Kentucky. We'll talk about that. The offensive coordinator at Oregon.

Tell us a little bit more about Golich. Again, Auburn, he was able to salvage a pretty good recruiting with National Signing Day. You know him from up there. He's been close to you. Tell us a little bit more about him. I mean, he's obviously got some work to do with this group. You know, they were coming off five losing seasons. I think establishing that Auburn tradition is going to be a little bit tougher. But a guy that has some charisma to him. You know, had South Florida in the hunt there.

Not afraid to play Florida. And, you know, the type of guy that can get Auburn back on the right track, both in the recruit. Well, they recruited well under Hugh. There's no question. They had back-to-back top ten classes under Hugh. It's just a matter of winning some of these. Can he close the gap to win some of these close games on the field? Bill Bender, the Sporting News. Bill, what would be the odds that Pete Golding would be coaching in the playoff before Lane Kiffin? I don't even know how to answer that, Harold.

Is that not amazing? That's a good answer. Well, I will say this. Like, I'm not the least we talked about this. And I think you guys were in agreement before Lane moved on. I was telling my editors and coworkers, there is no way in the world he will coach a playoff game if he leaves for LSU. It's just not going to happen. I know how the SEC operates. You're not going to have a lame-duck coach that's going to a rival school to face your program on signing day.

[5:09] The calendar is part of the problem here. There's no question. The circumstances that we have to go through. And I'll say this, and it's not the most popular take. But I don't blame Lane for leaving. It's not our – we can't tell Lane what to do. Lane's going to do what Lane wants to do. And if you're being honest, and you guys know this, being in Alabama, it's a better job than Ole Miss if you want to win a national championship. I mean, tell me I'm wrong.

No, you're not. No. No, you're right. Before we get into some of your predictions for championship week, Errol and I and many, many other people have been amazed at the Penn State predicament. Now, I heard Matt Campbell, who I thought they should have looked at six weeks ago from Iowa State, there might be another contingency, Brian D'Abel, who is with Alabama and the Giants. I've heard one. They are – what was it, 134th in recruiting yesterday. Your thoughts on Penn State, the interim coaches in this, what will they eventually do?

I really wish you wouldn't ask me that one. I have no idea. You know how to answer that, right? No, I don't because they're on, like – That's right. Brian D'Abel makes sense. He does. Brian D'Abel certainly makes sense. I think a guy like Matt Campbell would make sense. I've always wondered when he was going to level up. I agree. He's kind of maxed out what he can do at Iowa State, I think, in some ways. At what point do you call Brian Kelly? I mean, you've been rejected enough.

Brian Kelly can coach football. He can win games. There's a lot that – there's some other things that come with Brian Kelly. So, you know, all of those coaches make sense to me. We'll see if one of them finally sticks. But what a disaster signing day was for Penn State, by the way, having all those coaches with the Virginia Tech and James Franklin. OMG. Milt, how do you figure Diego Pavia? The guy loves – I don't know. Can you imagine if he's quarterback for Lane Kiffin at LSU?

What kind of drone would that be? The dude is upset. And, you know, you understand that. Last year, Alabama fans were upset. They were 13th in the 12-man field. And now Diego's trying to rattle a case saying Vanderbilt needs to be in. You understand where he's coming from. But here's the other side of the coin. He wants to go to Washington, D.C. and get the president to sign an executive order to reshuffle the NCAA playoff system, to which I say if it's retro, then Alabama fans need to come back and sue from last year.

And whoever finishes 13th or 14th next year needs to go back to the White House and get another order. What do you make of Diego – where is this – I mean, the dude obviously loves Diego. He has managed to get his way so far. But when does somebody say, son, you've got to grow up the interest knowing we mean it? Well, I mean, this is – Alabama had – you guys had to do that last year. You weren't not – But they didn't go to the White House and sue somebody, though.

No, but you – well, my point is you accepted it, right? Like, you didn't like it that SMU got in, but you did it. And by the way, if you're looking for a playoff campaign manager, nobody was better than Nick Saban during his time at Alabama. That's right. There's some more time up here in Big Ten country. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. You have to campaign. You do. You have to. You do. It helps. And, you know, for Alabama's case, I mean, let's – I wrote about it for us on Tuesday.

If they do lose to Georgia, they're going to have to campaign a little bit because Miami's going to want in ahead of them. Notre Dame's going to want in ahead of them. And this is the way we operate with this system. But, yeah, like I said, you have to accept the answer. And I don't think that President Trump or Marco Rubio or anybody else that's outside that committee room – I do wonder – I've noticed with the Miami-Notre Dame thing, there's a lot of campaigning for Miami, and I keep asking the same question over and over and over again.

If Miami was going to be ranked ahead of Notre Dame, then why haven't they done it already? Yeah. One of the more amazing things I've seen in years, Vandy tried to get a 13th game to show the committee but one more example of what they could do. And somebody told them no. They even tried, I think, Hawaii. Of course, they couldn't get it together in this short period of time. Let me ask you your predictions. Alabama fans want to watch BYU, who's number 11, at Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders won 29-7. Earlier in the year, Satanki's going to stay there. Did they do it again, just Texas Tech win? Bill Bender says yes, 31-19. I do. I like that team a lot. I like the defensive side. They're really tough on that side of the ball. David Bailey, Jacob Rodriguez. You know, we're getting ready. If I'm going to get on the phone here, I'm going to go do my All-American meeting at Sporting News. And they've got a lot of guys on that list. A lot of really talented players.

[10:25] So, I do think they're for real. Now, here's another piece of drama for Notre Dame and Miami. If BYU wins, they're both in trouble. Because the Big 12 will probably get two playoff teams in BYU and Texas Tech at that point. Bill Bender got it all figured out there at the Sporting News. Bill, we know what happened the first time these two boys got together. Alabama got them in Athens. Basically, they're playing a pseudo-home game this weekend at the Georgia Dome. The SEC title's on the line, but I would imagine a lot of folks out there said something's even more bigger on the line.

That is, getting into the playoffs without any drama. Vegas has Georgia getting revenge by two-and-a-half. Bill, what do you say about this weekend's showdown in Hotlanta? I had Georgia winning a one-score game, but I think I had Georgia winning a one-score game last time. And talked to some friends there. Brett's friends there helped me out. Remember that article I wrote at the time? And it was supposed to be supposedly this watershed moment for Caelan DeBoer and everything. And here they are in the SEC championship game.

So a little bit of faith in the Crimson Tide never hurts. I do think the psychological bend to it is very real. When you're 1-7 against somebody, does that influence maybe a third down call or obviously a fourth down call in the last game? So it should be a fun game. I don't think Georgia can beat Alabama by enough points to knock Alabama out of the playoffs. I do think it's going to be a hotly contested debate if they lose. But at the end of the day, I think Alabama and Notre Dame get in the playoffs.

And Miami's left out in the cold. They're the one that's going to – and they're going to have a really good gripe because, yes, they did beat Notre Dame on the field. Indiana and Ohio State, both of these teams are better. I was quite impressed with Ohio State. Julian's saying former Alabama commit really looked good. They were balanced. Indiana's a better team this year. Bill Bender's got Ohio State winning 28-17 and covering the 5.5-point spread. Yeah, I do. But this could be a lower scoring than that.

These are the two best defenses in the country. Now, Indiana gets after it. They're disruptive. They create tackles for loss. The key for them is going to be running the football a little bit against that Ohio State defense. And they weren't able to do that against Oregon, Penn State, and Iowa, for that matter. So, you know, the quarterback matchup should be fun between Sane and Mendoza. I think it's going to be a fun game. But it's really difficult. I was at Ann Arbor last week. Julian Sane's a real deal.

The receiver's good. Defense just unrelenting under Matt Patricia. I think the Buckeyes get it done. Clinch the one seed. Then Indiana falls to four. I will say this, though. I forgot to tell you this about Alabama and Georgia. If Alabama wins, everybody better be prepared for them to jump up to number four. Because I think they will. I think they'll get a first-round bye. Well, the SEC champion should. We'll see how that goes. And you're right. I was really impressed with Ohio State. They're deserving number one seed.

Right now, a lot of good stuff. I know for you, the postseason awards coming up. We're going to know a lot more Sunday afternoon about 2 o'clock where everybody's going. Where can we get online to get all your good stuff? Yeah, I'll be at the Nagurski Award Monday. I get to help present that award. I'm staring at the box right now that I have to try on. And I have no concept of how to put a bow tie on. So we're going to go figure that out.

I'll talk to you guys next week. Maybe I'll figure it out by then. There you go. I don't mean to tell you what to do. Forget the bow tie. Just make sure you wear pants with it. Okay, Bill? I will. No problem. Safe travels to and from the one, the only national voice at the table, Bill Bender from the Sporting News. Coming up, he is one of the best in Bama. Doug Seagrish on deck. Stay with us. If your appliances can't handle the holiday hosting heat, December deal drops at Lowe's makes upgrading easy.

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Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On Thursday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we'll be joined by women's basketball head coach Christy Curry. Yeah, I mean, he's done a phenomenal job in recruiting. You know, they had a top recruiting class. They've hit the portal. They've done an outstanding job. You know, they returned two starters. We returned two starters. We played them down in Destin. And we're fortunate to come out on a positive side, but they're a different team. And I think the importance of us understanding shooters, the importance to have a great inside-outside game.

Very similar styles of play. They run a lot of split action. Very difficult to defend. We're going to have to be disciplined defensively. We're going to have to rebound the basketball. But I think it'll be interesting who can make more threes. You know, who's going to come out and play off two feet and get the bottle of the paint. So it'll be a fun matchup because we're very similar styles of play. You know, we're excited for Crimson Chaos. It should be a fun weekend of basketball in Coleman Coliseum.

I'll have more in a moment. Hey, Bama fans. Each Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m. Central, join us live for Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR. This live streaming talk show features the latest on Alabama athletics with exclusive conversations with Tide student-athletes, coaches, and media members giving their perspective on the Crimson Tide. You can watch on YouTube, Facebook, and X with all conversations archived as well on the Alabama Insider Podcast. Roll Tide with Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR. We've got you covered tonight for Alabama women's basketball against Clemson.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum with our coverage on the network starting at 5.45 p.m. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR. 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. A couple things before we get to the one, the only Doug Segrist. Right now at the half, basically about ready to come out of the locker rooms at the 3A state championship game.

Good news, Mars Hill Bible, Bayside Academy, scoring late in the first half. Cuts the lead to 14-6. Mars Hill, two quarters away from back-to-back state 3A championship. Titles all the best to the Panthers. And BB, while we're on the scoreboard, what a win by the UNA men last night. Knocking off San Francisco 65-63 at San Francisco, the number 20 team in the country. BB, huge win for Coach Tony Pujol and the Lions. Yeah, they're playing well. They've won three consecutive games. In fact, they got behind Harrell, I think it was 24-7.

It was a huge deficit. Came back, whittled their way from the game, got down to the end. It was tied, and UNA made the plays at the end to win 66-64. Coach Tony Pujol, proud of his guys, and I'm sure also proud of Doug Segrist for being named one of the best. As a matter of fact, one of the top 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association, and that ain't all. Doug Segrist, welcome in. How are you? Guys, I am superb. I'm ready for a championship Saturday.

Even though I'm not sure why we're having it anymore. Doug, you're smart, man. Why in the world, and what's going to be the future of this? I mean, why would somebody want to sit here and schedule all these tough games? Because we've heard the argument, well, we're fans, and we don't want to see this team. But at the same time, when they lose to a good team, we'll get to this point in the season, and they left at the altar, so to speak. Then all of a sudden, it's like the tune changes.

What's going to be the future of these league championship games, given the reality? And not only that, going to a nine-game ACC regular season next year. Yeah, I think you're going to see non-conference schedules get lighter. You know, the benefit of the new playoff is we've seen in early September some of the best intersectional matchups we've ever seen. At least, you know, in our lifetime. And it's just been fantastic, but you can't afford to do that going forward, particularly nine games. Again, the SEC championship game, I mean, tomorrow should be a great game, but Georgia really has nothing to lose.

[21:02] Because Alabama may have everything. You know, I'm not convinced that they win their end. Look at the Big Ten. I mean, Indiana, I would say any other year, this would be the game of the century. And now, you know, I would almost have a gentleman's agreement to play backups, because you can't risk injury. And it's a needle. Yeah. If Alabama loses that game, is it fair, given their strength of schedule relative to other teams' end? And not only that, that means they would have lost to Georgia, who early in the year they beat on their home turf.

They were in the top five at the time. Your thoughts on that, and here's how we see it, Doug. They are between maybe, if everything fell right, going from where they are now, what, number nine to number four, or basically being left out entirely? What's right and what's wrong there? We know if they win, they're in, but what happens if they lose? I think if they lose, they slide down at least one spot. And that doesn't sound bad. But if there's an upset, you know, if BYU knocks off Texas Tech and gets in, or if, you know, if Duke, where Virginia takes care of business, all of a sudden there just wouldn't be a slot for them.

That's the potential. Vegas says it's not happening. The odds of Alabama making the field are just about as certain as you can find. But I'm just not buying it because if you look at the field, listen, we can talk about Notre Dame's two losses, but they lost two games at the start of the season against top 25 teams, one on the road. Both came down to one play. Either way, they could have won the game. Their schedule has been relatively good. On paper, I mean, this is the top five, top 16.

Miami beat Notre Dame. And on paper, they're at least the top 10 teams. So Texas is right now playing as well as anybody, but they've got three losses. But why do they have three losses? Because, you know, they opened at Ohio State. So I think this is the year where you're, you know, you say 12 teams is too much, but we've got 15 teams that are legit. And so I think that's where the problem really comes in. Alabama's got the metrics, but they also got the one bad loss at Florida State.

And, you know, I think if you just do the eye test, the way they've played the last month of the season, it's been a little shaky. Alabama's won 10 in the last 11 against Georgia, including, as we mentioned, the earlier one to snap a 33-game home winning streak, 24-21 that Georgia had. Both teams have got key injuries. L.T. Overton got hurt in practice. Bobo, the Georgia center, is going to be out. He wins Saturday afternoon. I'm kind of favorite Georgia this time. Now, we know that Kirby gets a little uptight with Alabama and gets a little conservative, and they get behind, and then they open things up and they come back.

You know, I think Georgia can win it all. I don't think they're decisively better, but I think with everything going on, I think this is the time with nothing to lose that Kirby can let it all fly. And I just got a feeling Georgia pulls it out. You know, I predicted in August these two teams would meet, but I predicted Alabama would win after avenging the regular season loss to Georgia. So I've kind of got it backwards here. You know, October Alabama can win this game going away, but we just haven't seen that performance of late.

Doug Segrist in the huddle with us. Doug, did Auburn finally get it right with their head coach? Yeah, I think so. I mean, listen, everybody wanted John Summerall, but he got what he considered was a better offer. I think this is a pretty good fallback. I actually thought DJ Durkin wouldn't have been a bad fallback, but I think this is kind of a step up from that. In coaching circles, Alex Gellish is really considered the hot, young commodity. You look at his record, South Florida, it's not overwhelming, but they won, what, five games in three years before he got there.

And he beat Florida. Yeah, and rebuilt them in a hurry. You know, they play a good non-conference schedule. He's played Alabama tough twice. So, you know, I just think this is a solid hire, not a home run, probably a double, but I think this program is poised to take a big step forward. A lot of the credit there goes to Hugh Freeze. I mean, the talent's there now. It wasn't three years ago. Yeah. But they've got a roster now that next year, if they hold the cards and keep people, you know, avoiding mass exodus, I think this team can compete for a playoff.

[26:07] We know eventually, once Lane gets his staff in place and gets rolling and gets over the initial brushback from fans on how he handled this, he's going to win at LSU. Six new coaches in the league now. Five years from now, who's going to be the best hire the SEC put forth last week? I'm going to go Summerall 1A and Gullish 1B because I think both are headed to places where they can make a difference because, again, Florida's roster is really good, you know. So they just need the leadership they've lacked.

And, listen, a lot of things went bad for Billy Napier. They're beyond the coach's control, but they're set up. I think both those guys are set up. And, again, you know, we talk about all these coaching changes at Auburn. You know, if Alabama ever takes a step back, that makes your life a lot better. I'm not sure that's going to happen, though. I just think Auburn fans are more patient than they get credit for. Maybe the boosters aren't, but the fan base is. We'll get into this in the upcoming weeks, but once you can tell for how they've performed so far, will Alabama and Auburn in men's basketball get to the lead eight and possibly the final four again?

I think the potential's there. And, you know, I think your goal has to be sweet 16 because, you know, you've got to take care of those first two games. But I think those two teams, along with Florida and Tennessee at times, are kind of like the cream of the crop. But let's be honest. I mean, the Big Ten has just blown by the SEC this year. I talked to Bruce Pearl back in August before he announced his decision. The first story we did. And, you know, he was saying, listen, the SEC was so good last year because the league was ahead of the NIL game.

Well, now everybody's caught up. And you're seeing that in the Big Ten right now, Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State look like they are, like their major league and the rest of college basketball is double A or triple A. So the big teams are just loaded right now. But I think the SEC is going to be awfully good. And I think Alabama and Auburn can both compete for a title. You're right about Michigan. They beat everybody in Las Vegas by 30, Auburn by 30, and won the next night, beat Gonzaga by 40.

That was one of the more impressive performances I've seen. Can't tell you how much we enjoy catching up with you, young man. Listen, have a great weekend, great week. Let's do this again real soon. You just name it. I always love being on with you. You've always been some of my favorites. Be careful what you wish for, Doug. We're Santa Claus. We will grant you a wish. You just clean out the chimney and give us some cookies and milk. We're cheap, okay? Thanks, guys. Y'all have a great week.

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Doug. The one, the only, Doug Segrist. Coming up, going to give you the update from the 3A State Championship and Ryan Callahan. Big day in big orange country on the recruiting trail. Tell us next. Stay with us. Have you ever seen those halftime scholarships where you have to nail a 40-yard field goal? Yeah, this isn't that. I didn't have to write a long essay or audition or make a half-court shot. I just had to open a bank independent account, use my debit card, sign up for online banking, and have a positive balance.

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Seahawks are 9-3. Well, the Falcons come into the matchup with a 4-8 record. Alabama, Georgia are set to play on Saturday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC Championship. Georgia is ranked number 3, 11-1 of the year. Alabama is 10-2. The Tide ranked number 9. Alabama top Georgia 24-21 in the regular season. Progressive is helping veterans drive their lives forward with its Keys to Progress program. Online at keystoprogress.com. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9. The Score. Find what you love. Love what you find.

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And a quick update from the Super 7. Mars Hill Bible trying to bring another state 3A crown back to town. Leading 14-6. They just kicked off the second half. Bayside Academy with a good return. They got it up near midfield on that opening kickoff. Looked like they were getting an instant first down, but the penalty brought it back right now. It is 11-26 to go in the third. And they are basically just completed the pass there at midfield. 14-6 Mars Hill Bible trying to hang on and then add to it once they get the rock back, BB.

Yeah, they're trying to win their 20th consecutive game in back-to-back Class 3A state championships. I thought Bayside Academy was going to be their stiffest competition that they played. Harold, let me update our listeners with some of our local players as far as signing. Interesting note, Kiwi Foster decommitted from Arkansas earlier in the week and yesterday committed to Troy. And Ryan Satterfield took over at Arkansas coming from Memphis, of course, brought in a new coaching staff for still in the process of doing that. He did not work out for Foster, so he decided – in fact, I saw he and Scott Baston and Maury Johnson yesterday made the local news.

And that was interesting. Decommence from Arkansas commenced to Troy. Some of you are watching Mars Hill right now. Jackson Penn committed to Troy and signed with the Trojans yesterday. He's rushed for 1,800 yards, 35 touchdowns. Hudson Higgins follows through with his commitment to UAB, even though they don't have a coach. He's run for nearly 2,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. And Florence defensive back Walt Barrett signs with Austin Peay. So, congratulations. We're going to try to keep track of some more of the other guys who signed yesterday. But congratulations to all these young men and women who signed scholarships on National Signing Day yesterday.

[37:10] And let me say, thank you so much, folks, for giving us an extra hour of your time yesterday. National Signing Day bonus hour yesterday, three hours instead of the normal, too. So, we do appreciate that. Bibi, now that the dust has settled, to me, the biggest surprise, and we're after going to hook up and get more details on it, is Ryan Callahan. Of course, if you're a regular on the show, you know he covers the big orange like the morning dew. Tennessee is interesting. A lot of fans sometimes say, well, if you get blown out at the end of the year, particularly in a rival game, in particular on your home field, that's going to impact recruiting, especially this close.

I mean, think about it. Tennessee got blown out by three touchdowns Saturday, and they were probably one of the biggest gainers yesterday, finishing. They went to bed last night. They were ahead of Alabama this morning. They did the math again. Last time I looked, Alabama had nipped them out. Alabama finished with a number five class in on three, a number, I think, four class in 24-7. So, that's tomatoes and tomatoes. But back to the point there, Tennessee really, really jumped in, and people said, well, Josh Heupel must be a good recruiter.

He may be, but they also got somebody who owns a lot of truck stops in the Cleveland Browns with a lot of money in the background, BB. Well, I don't think there's any question NIL was very instrumental in how Tennessee finished. In fact, it was the highest finish Tennessee's had in the recruiting standings in 10 years. And your point's well made after being dominated by Vanderbilt in the second half in Tennessee, finishing the season eight and four. And I know there are a lot of Tennessee fans disappointed with that.

J.J. Finch, a very talented defensive lineman from Illinois, had been committed to Alabama for months, and then flipped to Tennessee. Legend Bay was another one who had flipped to Ohio State, then flipped back to Tennessee. Carter Gooden, a defensive lineman from UCLA, who had committed to UCLA, flipped to Tennessee. And Jordan Carter, a four-star edge rusher, signed with Tennessee over Texas A&M. But yes, best recruiting class Tennessee's had in 10 years. I'm sure I had nothing out of coincidence with money. Your thoughts about where we are now?

Because right now, one of the conversations that's in the mix is Texas Tech. Do you really believe back in the day Texas Tech would be in, at this point, if you took out the NIL issue? Your thoughts about how, from this point forward, this has got to influence classes. And you look at it, and a lot of people say, well, they want to go because it's a tradition, it's family, it's this, it's that. BB, let's face it, I think Lane Kiffin, you can love him or hate him, I think this is before, he was still in good graces at Ole Miss.

He said, look, it's a different era out there. These kids don't go by those old formulas. It's real simple. Whoever's got the money and can promise them decent playing time, deal's done. Well, Texas Tech has made no bones about it as far as saying, look, we've got a big NIL package. We're trying to ramp up this program. And, again, they're playing BYU for the Big 12 Championship Saturday. They're ranked number five, I believe, in the nation right now. And, Harold, they may even get a bye. We'll certainly see you, and particularly if Alabama beats Georgia again on Saturday.

But a lot of it is they went all in. They've had several big boosters, give as much money as they could. And it certainly paid off. His wins on the field paid off again as far as recruiting rankings yesterday. Got some breaking news. Good news. Mars Hill Bible. Bayside Academy was driving and had a good run. And then, boom, a fumble. Mars Hill has now recovered. They are at midfield, 10-0-8 to go in the third quarter and they lead 14-6 and about to move into Bayside Academy territory.

So, a quick update on the Super 7 State 3-8 Championship game. Your thoughts back to Alabama. Obviously, you didn't see a lot of this under Nick. People going in another direction on signing day yesterday. Not one, but two wide receivers saying, we're going to scratch our head and go elsewhere. But here's the caveat. I think a lot of Alabama fans are saying, well, I think they're both three A's. We can replace them in the portal. Where do you start in reacting to the news? Whether they do or whether they don't.

But the fact is, Alabama had these guys in their sights for some time at the wide receiver spot. And now, they've got to go back and open it back up and go shopping. Well, the reason Owen Cabal did not come to Alabama was they were going to offer a scholarship, but not an NIL package. That's the primary reason. And Vanderbilt did. And, again, Clark Lee has totally changed that program. And we'll continue to see this. Jared Curtis, one of the best quarterbacks in the country, who was committed to Georgia, decommitted and committed to Bandy.

[42:30] So, the Pavia influence there. But, yeah, the reason Owen Cabal did not come was strictly Alabama did not offer. Either they didn't offer one or it wasn't much of an NIL package. But, yes, that's one of the reasons. I mentioned J.J. Fence, the defensive lineman. That's basically it. Alabama got outbid with an NIL package. Yeah. And I'll say this. I think Courtney Morgan, he's not going to overspend. I think that's his mantra. He's a GM. He sits here and tries to get what they call value out of those packages.

And I don't think he's going to overspend. If someone says, give me my price where I'm going, I think Courtney will show you the door. And, you know, B.B., at some point you've got to do that because when you overspend, if you rob Peter, you've got to pay Paul. If I give you $10 million, then I've got nobody to block for you. I've got to give somebody else $0.10. Guess what? It ain't going to matter if I get my $10 million man. Ain't nobody going to be there to block for him.

So, you've got to have somebody who knows how to get the biggest bang for the buck. You mentioned Vanderbilt, and we mentioned it earlier with Diego. And your thoughts, again, anybody can understand. Alabama fans, they were there last year at number 13 in a 12-party. This year, Vanderbilt is going to be, at this point in time, who knows what's going to happen Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon. But right now, they're just on the outside looking in. You understand their angst. But, for Diego to come out and say, not only am I mad, I want to go to Washington, D.C., I want to stop the world.

We've got all these issues with this and that, you name it. And I want the most powerful man in the United States to go to bat for Vanderbilt and sign an executive order. At what point does Diego get the memo that people in Nashville love him, but outside of Nashville, a lot of people have problems with his moxie? Well, Harold, that's one of the reasons why Vanderbilt is 10-2 is because of his moxie. But I think people with a little cooler heads have said, Diego, we appreciate everything that you've done.

And we understand the frustration. And Doug brought this up, Harold. This year, I didn't think there was last year. This year, you make a case for 15 or 16 teams being eligible for the playoffs. And Vanderbilt is another one. Texas is going to be hollering probably come Sunday afternoon. But, again, there are a lot of people trying to do something with this calendar. I think that's certainly got to be looked at again. Who's running college football? Nobody right now really knows. And we understand the frustration. But I think a few people have explained to him, Diego, just concentrate on the field.

Well, here's the problem with it. I mean, you can, again, we understand where he's coming from. Anybody who is number 13 to 14 is going to feel that way. But here's about that same conversation, same argument. Next year, who's going to be number 13 and number 14? So you go ahead and you get all these rules changed. Then guess what? Next year, in law, all you lawyers know this. The word is the P word, precedent. Once you set a precedent, next year somebody else is going to sue. And then the next year somebody else is going to sue.

And you say, well, we'll fix this problem. We'll go to 16 teams. Well, guess what's going to happen when number 17 wants to go to court? Where do you say we've got to have some parameters here and some boundaries? Well, that's what people have been saying, Harold, for two or three years when the NCAA did not do their job. And all of this stuff went into a legal battle. That's the problem with this. And again, I don't know if the NCAA's ever, I think they're a little more streamlined than they have been with their bureaucracy.

But until they name a commissioner or a division council that's got some you-know-what, this is going to continue to be a problem. Yeah. You know, we've been so busy this week. One of the biggest stories relative to us here in this general area happened on Tuesday night, baby. And that is the committee moving Alabama up one spot. What kind of value can you put on moving from 10 to 9? And you know where I'm going with this because that gives them a little more wiggle room in case.

Now, obviously, if Alabama goes to Atlanta and gets blown out, I think a lot of folks are going to say they're justified. But if Alabama goes and they win, and let's face it, David, that means at least two, if Ohio State beats Indiana, that means two of the top four teams will be losing this weekend. One will be either Ohio State or Indiana, and the other would be if Alabama wins Georgia. And that means Alabama would have beaten Georgia twice. Why can you put an argument in there that Alabama isn't deserving of one of those top four spots?

And that's big because you get a first-round buy. You don't have to travel. You don't have to play. You get to sit here and watch and scout and keep your team healthy and not risk a loss. So there's a lot of bonuses to that. But, B.B., your thoughts, number one, a big story that kind of went under the radar because we've had so much on our plate, moving Alabama 10 to 9. And what factor did ESPN play when they came in and said, guys, I'm not going to tell you what to do here, but here are the ratings.

[47:43] This is what Alabama means in terms of ratings across the board this year. Well, I mentioned this earlier this week. Alabama was the most watched team in the country with averaging 8.14, I believe, million viewers. Georgia was second. And quite frankly, I think it was huge for Alabama. As you mentioned, it's going to give them a little bit more wiggle room because, again, you've got Miami and BYU beating on the door to try to get in or to try to jump Alabama. But it's the strength of schedule, Harold.

The same thing we've been trying to argue throughout. Notre Dame's done a very good job of coming back from the two losses to begin the season, as Doug Seager said. They do pass the eye test. They're playing very well. But Alabama's strength of schedule, and you and I have argued for this metric for years that needs to be more emphasized. Greg Sankey's talked about it until he's blue in the face. And I really think he's going to have to take control of this right now. To me, he and Panetti or somebody, the Big Ten commissioner, but this selection committee, and it is amazing at the blowback from some of the national journalists I've seen this week talking about the selection committee as a clown show.

Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports mentioned this earlier, but to answer your question, I think it helps Alabama quite a bit to jump Notre Dame. And, again, Alabama doesn't need to lose 35-7 to Georgia, but it does help them, I think, as far as giving them a little bit more of a cushion. The game is Saturday between Bama and Georgia, 3 o'clock. By then, we should know the outcome of the Texas Tech-BYU game. Bama fans, I'm assuming, rooting for heavily for Texas Tech there. That would give more wiggle room taking BYU out of the mix, so we'll keep a close eye on that.

But by the time Alabama kicks off, they pretty much will have a handle on if they're going to get any wiggle room there. Good news from the Super 7, the boys from Mars Hill striking again. As a matter of fact, let me retract that. They scored a penalty, brought it back. So, in the interim, from when we were talking to then, I overspoke a penalty. They had a touchdown. It got called back. It's 14-6, 4-18 to go into third. And they are going to be attempting a field goal, which is about 20 to 30 yards.

I can't really tell from my angle here, but they're in place to kick a field goal. And if they hit that, it would increase the lead by 3 to 17-6. If you hang on a second, I'll give you the very latest. The kick is up, and the kick is good. So, Mars Hill, you're hearing it in live time here. Mars Hill increasing it 17-6. They are leading by 11 with 3-55. They're going to third at the 3A state championship game. And, of course, right now, everybody in this neck of the woods is all Mars Hill.

Coming up in the next hour, I'm going to be taking kind of close there. Ryan Fowler is going to be talking time. Tuscaloosa, Charlie Trotman is going to be talking about the new air on the plains. And Larry Vaught, he's got some cat talk. It's all straight ahead on the We Want Buck Show. Stay with us. At Valley Credit Union, we believe every great team starts with a strong community. We're proud to help our neighbors save, borrow, and build brighter futures together. Whether you're planning for your first home, growing your family, or supporting local dreams, we're here with personalized service and competitive rates.

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Tuberville is fully supporting the Trump administration and its efforts to stop the importation of drugs from countries such as Mexico and Venezuela. Tuberville was on Fox Business saying he's opposed to the war powers resolution being offered by Senate Democrats along with sole Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky. War power resolutions would restrain the actions of the U.S. military. Where were they, Dagan, when Obama had 580 bombings with drones and killed innocent people, thousands of people? Where were they? And we're talking about one bombing here of a Venezuelan radical drug boat and terrorist that was bombed and people were killed.

We need to kill them all. They're killing Americans every day. We have people that are trying to support these people. Where are we going wrong here? President Trump's exactly right. Kill every d*** one of them. And we can eradicate this. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Brian Dawson here, CEO of 1819 News. I'm also the host of 1819 News, the podcast. And we'd love for you to join us by listening to our weekly show on all the top podcast apps, both in audio and video format.

At 1819 News, the podcast, we are in pursuit of a free and flourishing Alabama. Every week, we're having important conversations with guests from across this great state, all with the goal of equipping Alabamians to be in pursuit of a free and flourishing Alabama with us. New episodes are released weekly. I hope you'll join us. A human skull that was found by a dog at a property in Centerpoint this past summer has now been identified. The skeletal remains are that of a visually impaired man, 25-year-old Curtis Taylor, Jr.

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Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Ryan Radke here from Sunday Night Football Law in Westwood 1. Mike Golick and ILB in Kansas City this week when the Chiefs host the Texans. Kansas City sits outside the playoff picture at 6-6, knowing they need wins down the stretch. Now they get a league-leading defense in Houston, who is feeling confident after four straight wins. Join us for all the action on Sunday Night Football. Kevin Harlan here from Monday Night Football on Westwood 1. Join me and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner for a battle between two playoff-bound teams when the Los Angeles Chargers take on the Philadelphia Eagles.

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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 to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Redbeard. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. And speaking of a ride, we highly recommend you keep your eyes on the road, and we'll keep an eye on the Super 7 right now. It is late in the third, Mars Hill Bible.

They lead Bayside Academy 17.6, but Bayside Academy driving. Now, inside the 15-yard line, trailing by 11 with 56 seconds to go in the third quarter. And, of course, BB, we will keep you up to date on that. Plus, giving you the man, the king, the Elvis of coverage in the bluegrass state, Larry Vaught. He's busy there with Vaught's views. His column appears in 50 papers and websites on at WPBK-FM. He's on UK with a sports minute on radio stations for Edge Media, WLAP, and a feature writer for Topps Magazine, Larry Vaught.

Welcome in. You're going to have to eat a lot of turkey at Thanksgiving to get the energy to keep up with all that. How are you? I'm doing great. I was a little envious when I heard you all talking about 45 and 50 degrees. I'd like to be experiencing that right now. We're down south. Did you get any snow? Did you get any snow, Larry? How's it going up there? Yeah, we had our second snow two days ago. So, we got probably about an inch of snow. But it's just snow, so all the snow that came, but a little snow that came is still here.

So, it's just kind of pretty to look at. But it's, I think, 28 right now. Last time I looked at my thermometer. Larry, how do Oregon fans feel about the new head coach of Kentucky football? I'm surprised. They've been very kind and gracious, I think, because Will Stein is staying to go ahead and coach for them in the playoffs. So, they've been pretty gracious. I think they knew he was going to be getting a head coaching job, which is a matter of when and where. And I think Kentucky fans are just delighted.

It's really kind of funny how the scenario has shifted up here two months ago. It's, wow, I can't wait until football gets over and basketball gets started. And Kentucky is just kicking butt and taking names. It's going to be so much fun. And now it's like, man, I can't wait until Will Stein gets that first football team rolling and everything like that. And put it because basketball is done. I mean, it's basketball done. So, I mean, up here we see our eyes and make everything work out just however we need to.

We just spin it whatever we need to. There you go. There you go. Listen, you keep telling everybody volleyball is the sport. I've been saying that for a while. Tell us a little bit more about Will. A big history with Louisville. Will's dad, Matt, was a defensive end for Kentucky under Jerry Claiborne. He has got a lot of Kentucky roots and has slowly made his way up. Only 36 years old, a head coach in the SEC. Larry, tell us a little bit more about him. Well, he's a really feisty, spunky guy who, even though he grew up in Louisville, grew up a Kentucky fan.

And even though he played at Louisville, he always stayed a Kentucky fan. I mean, he grew up, he went to Tubby Smith's basketball camp. In fact, Will's dad was telling me last night that when Will was at one of the summer camps, he got a call one night and thought, uh-oh, this is not good. This is a caller from the U.K. camp. And he said, I just want to tell him that your son is doing really well. And he said, oh, your call, tell me he's doing well.

And he said, well, yeah, that's what I'd like to do. He won a contest. And Will's father said, who is this? He said, oh, this is Tubby Smith. He said, that's right. Okay, well, y'all quit messing with me. And he got to say, you're pulling up on me. April 1st. Yeah, and then Tubby called back. It really was Tubby calling. But they had a life-size poster of DeMarcus Cousins in their house. His parents had U.K. season football and basketball tickets, so he went to a lot of the games.

[1:03:05] I remember his different bowl games and all like that. So he's always been a Kentucky fan, even though he played at Louisville. And in his coaching career, you can look, every move has kind of been an upward move or a very well-thought-out move, like when he left college to go become a head high school coach in two years in Texas because he thought he needed to learn how to run a whole operation. And so that worked out very well for him because now that he went right back into college and he's moved up and he's, I think, got a really good offensive mind.

He said yesterday that he wants his quarterback to be the toughest MFer on the field and all like that. So, I mean, he's got to be great for media people because he's going to give you sound bites. I will tell you that. He's going to do that now. How he kind of rebuilds his roster and what he does, I don't know. But just talking about just winning a press conference, he's certainly won a press conference. Yeah, I'm looking up. I'm Googling it what MF stands for.

Here it is. Morning, folks. Morning, folks. That's what I thought it was, yeah. Let's see it. Let me ask you this. Obviously, first of all, you're giving every parent out there chill bumps. What parent would not want to see their kids live a dream right there in their own backyard? So, you know, they're proud. But your thoughts earlier, the favorite son was a guy that knows our neck of the woods, and that's John Somerol. He grew up and still maintains, at least until recently, a resident still over in Huntsville.

He was, at least at one point, the heir apparent to come in there. We know how things work. I thought it was interesting that the moment that he goes to Florida, it looks like it was signed. Kentucky says, no, we're going to be making a change. Your thoughts about that part of the story, Larry? Okay, y'all, my conspiracy theory or my professional theory? Both. Both. We've got time. Okay. All right. The conspiracy is, of course, the Florida AD is Scott Strickland, who worked for Mitch Barnhart at Kentucky.

And Mitch knew that Scott was going after John, so he just kind of wanted to stay out of the way, and he just didn't do anything. Now, I also think that Mitch and his people felt they needed somebody that was known as kind of an offensive guy, where John's kind of known more for his defense, even though his offenses have been really good, but just the perception will be that John Summerall's a defensive guy. So I think they were kind of, okay, Florida's really wanting him.

That's why I've got one of my guys working. John's kind of known as a defensive guy. Maybe Mark Stoops will find a way to beat Louisville, and this will solve all of it. We'll just keep Mark and save our money. And all I got there, when it didn't happen, I think trying to get somebody that will hopefully get the ball in the end zone a little more regular is what Mitch wanted to do. So I think the way the timing played out just kind of took the pressure off Mitch.

He could say, oh, yeah, well, we loved Summerall, but he was gone. Wish he hadn't been, but now we're really happy to have Will Stein. And that's kind of how it's being spun up here. But I think John will do a great job. He's still one of my favorite people. And believe it or not, I can still, like when he got the job, I sent him a couple texts, and he still responds to me. And answers back. He really hadn't changed as he's had success. And I'm really glad to see that Brad White, he got him because him and Brad White worked really well together when John was at Kentucky.

So I think Florida folks will be happier with Brad White than what they think they are right now. But it's been kind of funny to see that it doesn't look like the Florida fans are overjoyed with the John Summerall hire. Like if he came to Kentucky, he would have got the Elvis treatment that Will Stein got yesterday. I mean, Will talked about when he flew in to Louisville. He'd never seen as many police cars. He didn't know what was going on. He said he had 15 in front of me, escorting us, and 15 behind us.

He said he didn't mean he's in school, and he was trying to get away from them, right? Yeah, he got his camera out and took pictures. And his dad said he thought, who in the world is this guy? Is that my son that they're treating like Elvis and all, like a rock star? So it's been really funny, but they are a good family. Like I say, his dad played at Kentucky and a bunch of his former teammates at the press conference yesterday. That was kind of nice to see all of them welcome one of theirs back.

And I think Will will just kind of heal a lot of wounds and things that have gone on. But the bottom line is he's still got to win. And let's see how he goes about that. Larry, you had a very good article about Mark Stoops, his legacy at Kentucky. Stoops leaves a legacy of what is possible at Kentucky. I think in a couple of years when Kentucky fans step back and look at what Stoops was able to do, 10 win seasons in 2018 and 2021, eight consecutive bowl games, two top 25 finishes.

And I know Alabama fans and Georgia fans look at that and just shrug their shoulders. But it's still a big deal. Now, the last two years went off the rails, four and eight, five and seven. And in particular, as you noted, the debacle with Louisville, one of your biggest rivals, 41 to nothing. But I thought the last four years, offensive issues with quarterback, the offensive coordinator. Larry, your thoughts on the legacy of Mark Stoops at Kentucky? Well, first of all, the younger fans don't remember the days when four and eight and five and seven would have been considered debacle.

[1:08:33] That would have not been. And I've been telling people to think that I would have lived, I've been doing this over 50 years, and to think that I would have lived long enough for Kentucky fans to only won seven games. Man, what's the matter? You know, if you won enough to go to a bowl, we ran naked down the streets on Main Street celebrating. Everybody was just overjoyed, didn't know what to do. And Mark raised that bar up. And I think the biggest mistake that Mark made was when he was having these good seasons.

And he decided, okay, what I'm doing is working for giving us where we kind of are. But if we're going to kind of move in and do even better, we're going to have to do kind of like what Nick Saban finally had to do, kind of open his offense up and do different things, which just wasn't really in Mark's DNA. And they had some bad misses with the quarterbacks in the portal and some different things and kind of got away from what they were. Their culture kind of changed.

I also think when the offensive line coach, John Schlarman, passed away a few years back, he was the guy that kind of held that big blue wall together. He was the Kentucky guy, the one that identified with all those people and had guys that would just run through walls for him. And it's never been the same up front since then. So it was kind of a tough combination of things. But, again, a lot of the younger UK fans just don't remember the tough times. They've seen two 10-win seasons in three years.

I went 41 years in between seeing a 10-win season in Kentucky. And it took from 1977 to 2018. They don't remember some of those kind of periods like that. So, as you said, for Alabama and Georgia, what Mark Stoops did probably wouldn't have seen that significant. But for what he did at Kentucky and to raise the bar to where he did, it's pretty phenomenal. And now we'll see if we all can build on that or not because it's easy to kind of talk about that and that we're going to compete for championships and do all that.

But these teams in the SEC don't just roll over and say, yeah, that young kid from Oregon, let's let him win a couple every year. They're not going to do that. But his plans sound good. Yeah. I can't wait for a coach to get up on his opening introduction and say, we're going to lose every ball game this year. And then my cash is on my buyout. So, thank you very much, Kentucky. You know what? And this day and age, it could be coming. So, I'm so happy now that there's money in the bank.

If they need to fire me today, I'm good. I'm the smart one here. Let's talk about that other sport in Kentucky. I think they call it basketball. Oh, I thought you were saying volleyball. And basketball is over. Basketball is over. The basketball has been such a disappointment. I think everybody thought this team was going to be better. And once they beat Purdue in an exhibition game with their starting point guard, Jalen Lowe, hurt and not playing, that just raised expectations through the roof. And now they're 0-3 against ranked teams that have looked horrible.

They just have looked horrible. Against Louisville and Michigan State, they both were down about 20 points or more in each of those games. Against North Carolina, they went 10 minutes without a field goal Tuesday night. And they just look out of sync. Their aggressiveness is not there. They're getting bullied around. They don't seem to be hustling the way they should. They can't make a three-point shot. And then Mark Pope has just kind of been at a loss for words. He's such a nice guy. He just won't raise h*** about something and come out.

Kentucky fans, they want him to come out with some fire. And that's just not him during a game or after a game. I mean, there's a lot of talk up here now about will Kentucky even make the NCAA tournament. And based on what you've seen the last three weeks, I mean, that's a valid concern because now you've got Gonzaga Friday night, which I think will be the best team Kentucky's played. Then they've got Indiana coming in in a week, which has been better than what I expected.

Then they've got to play that Rick Pitino in St. John's. And you think Rick Pitino won't want to beat Kentucky? Really? And then you look at the SEC. I think the SEC's maybe going to be a little bit better than what some thought going into this season and certainly better than what Kentucky needs it to be based on how they're playing right now. I mean, maybe if they get Jaden Quaintance back in the middle, that's going to help them some. But this team just has issues.

They don't have the shooters and the teamwork and the offense is just kind of clogged down. So I don't know if they're going to get this worked out or not, but I know there's a lot of panic up here in the bluegrass right now about basketball. Well, Larry, once again, it just pushes everybody to volleyball. They're disappointed with basketball. They're going to volleyball. All right. Well, they all do because I tell you, this volleyball team is going to win the national championship. I've been telling you that for two months.

Oh, Lord. We always enjoy the conversation with you, my friend. Volleyball, basketball, or football, Volts Views is the place, along as Harold mentioned, the other 47 platforms you're on. Where can we get online to get all your good stuff? Well, the best place you can do is you can go to YourSportsEdge.com or you can go to VoltsFuse.com, and that'll have all of my writings there for you. Or you can just follow me on X at VoltsFuse, and that way you'll usually have links to where you can read me or hear me.

[1:13:56] Sounds great, Larry. And listen, keep up the good work, and we'll see you at the net, okay? Enjoy that warm weather. Yeah, all 37 degrees of it. Larry Vaught, amongst other places, Vaught's Views. We'll have the update from the Super 7. You're not going to believe it, but we will share it, right? As we say, Charlie Trotman will also be in the huddle straight ahead here on the Boom on Bug Show. Stay with us. This football season, bring the flavor that wins every time. Champy's World Famous Fried Chicken.

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And marched it right down the field. They scored. 24-14. 7.39 to go. Defense taking over now for Mars Hill Bible. Third and 31. And I'm going to ask Charlie Traumann as a former quarterback what play you call on that. But 24-14. Marse Hill Bible over Bayside Academy. 7-31 to go in the state championship game. We've already given it away. Charlie Traumann has been there and done that. Former Auburn quarterback. Charlie, welcome in. And what play did you guys call on third and 31 in a championship game? Well, I'd call that same play that Nick Saban called when he was fourth and 31 at all.

[1:19:06] Great digger. Great digger. That's the play I'd call. I'd tell the defense to rush just two people and mush rush and give the quarterback all day long to throw. Let him have luck and deserve, right? That's right. That's right. Oh, my goodness. Anyway, Marshall trying to hang on and bring another state championship back to town. Speaking of town, Charlie, how do you feel about the newest resident called Auburn's new head coach? As an Auburn family man, former Tiger, your reaction to the news? Well, I was a little surprised that it wasn't John Summerall, but knowing that John Summerall had made the deal with Florida, I thought that Alex Golesh was a great hire.

And I wasn't completely familiar with his whole story, but, you know, he's got a great story. And, you know, he comes from Russia. He came to the United States when he was seven years old. And, you know, he fell in love with football after going to a camp when he was just a young kid. And he loves competition. And, you know, he's very, very disciplined. He is going to be like Nick Saban in the sense that he keeps mentioning the word process. He says it's a process.

And, you know, we're going to be a – he calls it an athlete-run program. By that, he means that, you know, he's going to take the strengths of his players. And he's – he actually talked about the quarterback in particular, take the strengths of the quarterback. And he's going to, you know, arrange his offensive strategy around the strengths of his quarterback and the skill position players. And I just like what he stands for. You know, he's a good family man. And he has done a great job at South Florida in the sense that when he got there, they had won four games in three years.

And, you know, he had two winning seasons, seven and six. And then he's nine and three this year. So, you know, I'm excited about him, guys. I really am. Charlie, let me ask you. Only you would know this. He is bringing – I believe it's Reese Rice, his first name, the quarterback from South Florida. There is some scuttlebutt about Byron Brown. He has been the starting quarterback for South Florida for, I know, two years. He's tormented Alabama in a couple of games. We know Ashton Daniel did not play in the Mercer game to come back next year.

And everybody knows the potential of Deuce Knight. Charlie, if you were Deuce Knight and Ashton Daniel, how would you feel about – and again, I know it's competition. How would you feel about if he ends up bringing not one but two cornerbacks from South Florida? Well, I'm not – you know, the Rice kid is – he's a high school kid that, you know, is being recruited. So, I wouldn't worry so much about him because it's going to take him a year to adjust and things like that. But I would worry about the Brown kid out of South Florida.

Yeah, if I was Deuce Knight, it would not sit well with me that he was bringing his quarterback in, especially since he was the actual coach's quarterback for the last two years. So, you would think that he would almost have a leg up on Deuce Knight. But I tell you what, if they do that, it'll be an open competition. And between the three quarterbacks, between Ashton Daniels, Deuce Knight, and this Brown kid, they'll choose the right quarterback. And if I – if it was my guess, I think it would be Deuce Knight.

But that's just a supposition of mine. But I'm a Deuce Knight fan. I had been a Deuce Knight fan before he played in the Mercer game. I've seen some practice practices, and he has an incredible arm. He's got great arm talent, as well as the ability to run the football like a gazelle. So, you know, I really hope that he's going to be the quarterback next year. Former Auburn quarterback, Charlie Trotman. And could it be said that one of the biggest moves that Alex made was keeping DJ as his DC?

Oh, yeah. No doubt about it. I mean, there was a friend of mine who – I went to the basketball game last night, and Coach Gullish was introduced to the crowd, and they gave him a really warm welcome. I think everybody's excited about it after they've heard him and been a little bit familiarized with his story. But I had a friend of mine say, you know, we needed three things. We needed a coach that could keep DJ Durkin. We needed a coach that – or a coach that would be able to coach up Deuce Knight.

[1:24:36] And then, you know, we needed somebody that we feel like has offensive firepower. And we haven't had that in three years, guys. I mean, we haven't scored many points at all over the last three years. And the guy I was talking to said, and we got all three of those in one coach. So, you know, hopefully it'll turn out well. But Auburn's schedule next year is brutal. It is. You know, it's hard to win in the SEC. But, you know, maybe if Auburn can do a good job of recreating – you know, we're going to lose three offensive starters on the line.

And the line was not real good at pass blocking this year. So, they're going to have to revamp the offensive line. If they can do that, and Coach Golesh can put his offense on the field like he had when – you remember Hendon Hooker at Tennessee? Yeah. Yeah. The offense they had there. That's hopefully what we're going to see at Auburn. Charlie, I know he's going to bring some additional staff members. Of course, Auburn – Cody Burns, I know, makes a lot of Auburn fans happy. But he's going to bring in three or four or certainly more of his staff that probably worked with him at South Florida.

Receivers coach Marcus Davis, Wesley McGriff, and the general manager Will Redman, again, he certainly can bring in his own guys. How many of the former Q3 staff do you envision remaining on the staff? That's a great question, Brett. I'm not sure – I think those coaches that you just named are outstanding coaches. I think that Marcus Davis and, you know, Wesley McGriff and just – those guys, they've been there. They've done that. They've proven themselves on the field. But I will say this, a coach is very, very loyal generally to his assistants.

And I don't begrudge Coach Goalish if he wants to bring in, you know, his assistants because they've been successful there and they work well together. And I know we're keeping our defensive line coach, which I'm happy about, because our defensive line was one of the stronger parts of our team this year. And, you know, I mean, it's going to be a little bit of this and a little bit of that in terms of who's going to be on the coaching staff because you'll have some that are retained and some that are new and some that come from South Florida.

So, you know, we've got to get them to mesh and work, you know, pull all the same strings and try to make that offense work, especially because I think the defense under D.J. Durkin will be good again. Charlie, it's not fair to Alex Goalish to comment on really this recruiting class. I mean, my lord, he'd been there three days. But Auburn's 38th and people will just shrug their shoulders at that. But for some of the guys they brought in yesterday, Charlie, and I know you don't have that list in front of you, I thought he did as best of a job as he could.

Yeah, I thought he did great. You know, he got a defensive lineman from Texas. He got another defensive lineman from Penn State. He was able to pull a receiver from Sarah Land, from Duke. He got most of the players that were on the list of Auburn commitments. He got most of them to sign. Now, I think Auburn lost like six players because of the change in the coaching staff. And some of those were big losses. There was a five-star safety, I know, that went to Mississippi State that we would have loved to have had.

But other than that, you know, I mean, to come in and only have 48 hours to, you know, before these guys are putting their name on the line, I think he did a whale of a job. No question about that. Yeah, that was Braylon who flipped to Mississippi State. Charlie, I always enjoy the conversation. This Auburn basketball team, if you got to see firsthand last night, it's pretty good, too. Seven's chip off the old block. Listen, have a great weekend. Enjoy the SEC championship. Let's do this again real soon, bud.

[1:29:38] All right, sounds good. Appreciate it, Harold. Appreciate it, Brett. You guys have a good afternoon, too. And we appreciate you, Charlie Trotman, former Auburn quarterback. Speaking of former Auburn quarterbacks, remember Barrett Trotter? You know what he's up to these days, B.B.? Well, he's coaching Bayside Academy. And he's down 31-14 now with a handful of minutes to go in the state championship game. We'll give you more details on that and the latest Tide Talk with Ryan Fowler next. Stay with us. Mugshot's Grill and Bar has a winning fall lineup with their limited-time offers.

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The score. Mids basketball action yesterday. 12th-ranked Alabama winner over Clemson. 90-84 in the victory. Amari Allen had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Alabama approved to 6-2 on the season. 20th-ranked Auburn topped NC State 83-73. In the victory, Kevin Overton with 29 points and 9 rebounds. The Auburn Tigers are now 7-2. Auburn is 5-0 at home this season. North Alabama won at San Francisco 65-63. The Lions are 5-4 on the year. Troy Trojans play tomorrow night at James Madison for the Sunbelt Conference Championship. Progressive is helping veterans drive their lives forward with its Keys to Progress program.

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They come back with their own touchdown. It's now 31-21. Mars Hill Bible. Bayside Academy just had the on-side kick. Mars Hill Bible recovered. Hope you followed all that. 31-21. Three minutes, 28 seconds away for Mars Hill Bible. Bring him back. Their second state championship in 3A play. Let's go to a place that's known for a championship or two, Tuscaloosa. Ryan Fowler drives you home every afternoon there as host of the game on Tide 109 FM in T-Town. Ryan, welcome in. How are you? Yeah, doing good. Doing good.

Just trying to plug along. And, you know, all these injuries starting to mount up for Alabama. But they've made their way to Atlanta. And, you know, the Iron Bowl was a big victory. I think it's one that you must stop and celebrate, right, especially in this state. You know, 70% of the state will be happy and 30% are a little bit disappointed. But I know Auburn got a coach. And so they're a little bit happy, I guess, as we, you know, approach the offseason. So it was a big win for Alabama.

It was a bad loss for the Auburn Tigers. Let's talk about now that the regular season is in the books. Two things on there, Ryan. Who would have thought back in the last weekend of August that we'd be having this conversation about Alabama getting ready to play for the SEC championship game, if we're honest. Your thoughts about the season to date. And then, obviously, that's good. But by Alabama standards, you've still got work to do starting this weekend in Atlanta. Yeah, I think when you take a look at what this team has been able to accomplish, what this team has been able to adversity.

I mean, you know, and I don't know if it's just me, but Kaelin Boer was just asked about this, and it kind of hit me. Because, you know, we have so many different things to cover that we, you almost forget about it. But why are there so many injuries? Well, because you play in the toughest conference in all of college football. And whether you believe this or not, Alabama's the regular season champs, right? I mean, they're the number one seed. Now, we don't claim a trophy.

There's probably others in this state that would put up a trophy or put a trophy shirt. But they are the number one team, right? I mean, they're the number one seed. They had to earn that. And they went through a lot of different injuries. They faced a lot of adversity. But I think about where this team is at. And then I think about probably one of the hardest schedules in all of college football. I mean, is that a fair statement? And then I think about it's even going to get harder.

Right? Because the SEC is going to non-conference games. And now the ones that, you know, did not have the successful season throughout the league, it's going to get harder for you guys, too. Because now it becomes nine conference games. You don't get a chance to pad your numbers against, you know, the Chattanoobos, the Western Kentuckys, the smaller teams. And there's nothing against those smaller teams. But it's going to become even harder. Do you have the roster in college football to be able to go through and sustain a roster to get through a nine-game conference schedule?

Because, listen, the reason why we did it is one reason. Money. We did it for money. Right? Because money currently in college athletics is at a – it's hard, right? It's hard to come by. And we've done this in the world of college athletics. But I also look at it and I go, they're going to have to increase this roster limit. I don't think they have a choice. I do not think they have a choice to be able to go through and get more, you know, roster size.

I mean, I think they're going to have to create a number. And I don't know what that number is. Maybe it's 95. You know, maybe it's 105, like the Big Ten. They're allowed to go to 105. But the SEC has been very hesitant at getting there. Now, they're having discussions. But they're going to have to at some point move beyond the 85 if they're going to play – I mean, guys, look at it. It's almost like it's similar if you're the last two teams standing to an NFL regular season schedule.

[1:39:53] We have to – and I'm not here campaigning because these guys do – you know, it's not a full-time job. And there's not a practice squad that you can go get players. You know, if the NFL guys later this season, my Dallas Cowboy guys, have nine injuries at the running back position, you know what they'll do next week? They'll go to the practice squad on somebody else's roster, and they can pull away from that, okay, and get through the season. In college football, you can't do that. That's a big problem that they're going to have to find a way to address.

You know, you're going into the SEC title game. Everybody wants to see the two best teams. But you also want to see a team that is talented. And Georgia's dealing with major injuries, and Alabama is. And it's almost when you go through this extra championship game, you almost say, okay, if you go through 10 conference games, including the SEC title game, and then you play a college football playoff, it's almost like the Big Ten. We've seen them win national titles. But is that based on the best team that they've got?

Or is that based on the schedule that has allowed them to get to this point? Is that a fair question, guys? I mean, am I asking it the right way? No, you're not, especially in the NIL era. You don't have the depth now that you once did either. So you're increasing the competition, and you're decreasing the depth. Yes, and you're now playing a lot more games when you look at, you know, the amount of games that it takes to go win a championship. So we've seen the Big Ten pull ahead, and I almost feel like that it's based on strategy.

They play a weaker schedule. They don't play in the league. That is just every – I mean, listen, as much as – listen, I know I've thrown a few stones at Auburn here in the first couple of minutes. But listen, take Auburn. Put them in another conference. What would they do? There is no doubt in my mind that that team would not be 5-7. Guys, they've got a great wide receiver core. They've got a great defense. And really, they've got better quarterback play as of late. That's not a bad football team.

Yeah, we like to pick and have fun. But when you look at Auburn, they're not a bad team. They're a team that plays in a league that is so dynamic that it's hard to win games and it's hard to stack – you know, what are they, 1-7, I guess, in the league. But I promise you, if you put them in the ACC, heck, they may win the darn thing. Well, let me ask you about the injuries. L.T. Overton surprised a lot of people being out. Obviously, that injury happened in practice.

And people forget this. But L.T. Overton had a huge play late in that Georgia game when he tripped up Kess Jones on that fourth down. Now, Josh Quavis, Danny Lewis, the two tight ends, and left guard Kim Dewberry are, quote, questionable. I would be shocked if Josh Quavis, number 80, plays in that game. I would also be surprised if Cam Miller, at least a miracle, happens. And I think we're going to see more of Daniel Heal and A.K. Deer siding. And who's not on that list is number 15, Ty Simpson, who's been quite frankly hurt since the South Carolina game.

And I know it's next man up, and we've talked about attrition, but there's no question, Ryan, this is a beat-up team. No, it is. It is. I mean, that's what I'm talking about. But, you know, and maybe it's quick time trying to be negative, Ryan, and be positive. Let me tell you where Kaelin DeBoer is better than Nick Saban. You guys ready for this? It's not championships. He plays more players. He plays a lot more players throughout the season, and he's ready for moments like this.

And, listen, I don't know if Coach Saban would have adjusted. Maybe Coach Saban would have adjusted. And he would have started playing more players. But he came from an NFL model where they were limited with the number of the players. You almost have to step back a little bit and give this coaching staff a lot of credit for being able to go through and to be able to manage those injuries. I don't have any more details other than what Kaelin DeBoer. I was on the SEC talk conference just a couple of minutes ago.

And when he said what he did, I went, okay. I mean, it's, you know, I look at it and I say, man, that's tough. But, see, things like this are going to happen. I mean, who knows? We could have a flu outbreak. But you're going to have to increase, and you're going to have to get some depth. And I think Harold said a couple of minutes ago, NIL kind of boxes you in where you can't really build depth. I just look at it, and I stare back, and I go, I see this big old steam, you know, this big ball rolling down a hill.

[1:44:55] And it's like, okay, we're going to nine. We're going this way. It's the injuries that just continue to go back in the back of my head that it's, you know, if you played a team like Purdue or you played a team that's just not very good. Okay. Just got a text message. So, yeah, definitely, definitely is an illness. So, yeah, I'm able to confirm that. So, yeah, just got a text message from someone that, yes, yeah. So, yeah, Kaelin DeBoer said it was an illness. But, you know, I don't think he's ever going to fidge in any way.

But, yeah, just literally got a text message just a couple seconds ago. So, yes, it was no doubt an illness. But, let's see, these are the things that you have to deal with. And if you were – but it's a credit to this roster building that you have to be able to build a roster. You've got to be able to recruit, you know, Alabama yesterday, the guy that everybody told us that could not recruit, this time the number one class in the SEC again. Ryan Fowler, afternoons, 109 FM in Tuscaloosa.

Ryan, the future will be what it is going to be. First things first, what happens for Alabama Saturday in Atlanta? And what happens Sunday if things don't go Alabama's way Saturday? Well, I feel – I feel that this team would be in the college football playoffs. And I feel that you – it was almost like what we talked about a few weeks ago, that they got it – that they got it wrong. And I think they corrected – is that fair? They didn't come out and say that they got it wrong.

But, guys, they got it wrong. And they flipped it. And I think because it was after the Oklahoma, they dropped them six spots. And I think they went back and corrected that. So, that's the issue, you know, that we're sitting here looking at. That I think this committee – that there's no way – I know they've got a bad blemish. They've got that Florida State. But when you go through the best league in the country and you are, quote, the regular season champs, you're the number one seed in the SEC title game, then you deserve a spot in a, quote, playoff.

Because you really just played a playoff. I mean, you went through the toughest schedule out here. And you prove that you're the best of the best, you get the blemishes, right? You understand them. But, guys, I remember Kirby Smart in 2024 in spring meetings. I'll never forget – I could circle you the seat that I was sitting in when he looked at us and says, guys, I hope y'all have enjoyed undefeated season because it's not going to happen anymore. Those things are done. And I went, what's he doing?

Conceding a loss? And he explained that that's not going to happen anymore. So, to be able to get to this point, I think they've earned a spot. And I think they'll get that spot. As long as they don't go over and just get absolutely destroyed. Yeah. Brian, one of our guests mentioned this earlier. If the September Alabama team played Georgia Saturday, they'd win but two touchdowns. And my comment to that was, offensively, you're probably correct because, again, with Ty Simpson's injury situation and the other injuries on the offensive line and at tight end, this offense is not exactly percolating the way they were in September.

But I counter that by saying, this defense has improved leaps and bounds since, particularly the Florida State game. That secondary put on a master class. Zapian Brown held Coleman to five catches for 43 yards. Hubbard forced two intercepts. Well, two turnovers. Keon Salb had five tackles. I don't think there's any question. This defense, and I know Womack has gotten a lot of criticism. This defense has come a long way. Man, I tell you what. Wow. What the job he's been able to do. Wow. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty incredible.

Wow. At Kane Womack. And I know while Arkansas looked at him, and I think he would have been a great, you know, a great fit. But I'm glad that Alabama was able to keep him because he's a championship caliber defensive coach. And look at the job. That Alabama, if they win Saturday, one of the reasons, it's going to be because of Kane Womack. And that's a, I mean, you step back and you look at this job that this Alabama defense has been able to overcome. It's been pretty special.

And they've also dealt with the injuries. If you look at that injury report, look at all those defensive guys. They've been able to do it. Yep. And they've done it with a lot of injuries. To who's on the show today, where can we get on line and listen? It is, we've got Josh from College Football Nerds. We've got Rodney Orr. We've also got Bruce Marshall, which is somebody that you guys feature. And we're going to do keys to victory for this Alabama Crimson Tide football team.

[1:50:15] And I'm still working the phones, trying to get some clearance on this L.T. Overton. If I can do anything, I'll do it coming up at 2 o'clock here in just a couple of minutes if I get some clearance. But we'll do it, Todd, 100.9 in Tuscaloosa. Always appreciate you guys so much. Same right back. It's Ryan. Safe travels to and from the Dome this weekend. Ryan Fowler, host of the game, 109 FM in Tuscaloosa, BB. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Literally, as we speak, the game over.

Mars Hill Bible 38, Bayside Academy 21. Mars Hill Bible back-to-back state championships. No surprise to me. I've watched them two or three times this year. It's just very difficult to get ready in a couple of days to face that wing T, the misdirection, all the other things they do. 20 consecutive wins for more Hill and bank-to-bank state championships. Congratulations to Coach Daryl Higgins and the entire staff and team. What a job. It's going to take care of us for today 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. New in the tube of the Boomwell Buck Show back here on Sports Radio 93.9 to score.