Boomo Bugg Show 120825

[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. New Exclusive Inside Track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where after getting a big A whooping in the big A, Alabama now hopes to get it together and goes storming to Norman. Good afternoon, welcome in and when's the last time you've seen such a big blowout with basically no fallout? Welcome in and how are you?

Happy Monday to you and the listeners. We'll recap a tough day for Bama in Atlanta, even though they do get in the college football playoffs at number nine in preview on the other SEC teams in the college football playoff and bowl games. Former UNA quarterback in 2002, Harlan Hill winner, Will Hall, named as the new head coach this morning at Tulane. And Teal Banks is the former defensive coordinator at Tennessee since he was let go this morning. ThomasDeVale.com will recount the storylines of the Super 7. Adam is here right now to talk about the SEC in postseason.

Adam Spencer is busy there as a fine columnist at Saturday Down South, Saturday Tradition and Sports Betting Time. Adam, welcome in. How was your weekend? Hey, guys. Pretty busy weekend over here. How are you guys doing? Man, we're sitting here scratching our heads. Have you opted out of covering the bowl season like Notre Dame yet, Adam? I wish I had the kind of money that I could opt out of a million-dollar payday and be okay. Now I'm going to be working through bowl season, guys. Yeah. You know how it is. If I don't get in my way, I'm going to take my toys and go home.

We'll talk about that, but let's talk a little bit about what's closer to our zip code, and that's the obvious. Adam, where do you start breaking down what I guess was a game in Atlanta over the weekend? Yeah, I mean, it was just some of the things that we've seen from Alabama over the past few weeks finally coming to fruition here. You know, they haven't looked the same since they went into Georgia and won that game. You know, they've had some, you know, obviously after the four-game winning streak, I mean, that was part of, you know, going into Athens and winning was part of that.

But, you know, after that four-game winning streak against top 25 teams without a break, I mean, it just kind of, they just weren't the same, really, after that. They struggled to put points on the board. Ty Simpson started getting sloppier with the ball, and, you know, the defense, you know, played okay. They were just put in bad situations by an offense that couldn't really get anything going. And it's the same song and dance we've seen all year with Jim Miller when he's out there. He's a good, solid running back.

He's just had the worst kind of injury luck this week or this year. I mean, every time it seems like he gets going, then, you know, like that Mizzou game, for example, he leaves with an injury because, you know, he was doing really well before that. So he's just been snakebitten this year, and not being able to run the ball at all has been a real Achilles heel for this Alabama team. And that showed itself again against the Georgia team that has its defense peaking at the right time.

Adam, for the folks who are just joining us the first time, no secret, you are a Mizzou grad. And you mentioned the Missouri game. Alabama hasn't been the same since, in particular Ty Simpson. A lot of folks say that was the turning point. He's suffered some type of injury there that hasn't been fully discussed. Is it that, or is it just that people are starting to adjust to Ryan Grubb, that they've got his number, just drop two safeties and just bring the jailhouse rush the rest of the way and move defenses around and get him frustrated?

Your thoughts, how much of it is Ty Simpson not the same since the game against your team from Missouri, and or is it just coaches unable to adjust to the second half of the schedule? You know, there could be a couple of different things in play here. I mean, I think that, you know, some of the things can't be explained away. Like the ball security, I mean, it wasn't his, you know, right hand that got hurt if it was anything. You know, he should be, you know, taking care of the ball a little bit better.

And, you know, some of the stuff that it looks like he's seeing out there, you know, just not really there. His receivers, notably, you know, Ryan Williams, have been a little bit spotty. Like Isaiah Horton had a drop in the Georgia game. You know, Williams has had drop problems all year. So, you know, it's a combination of things. When the play is there and Simpson sees it and somebody else makes a mistake, and when everything's covered up, he's making too many mistakes. So, it's a combination of everything.

[5:07] Like, everybody gets banged up during the season. You know, nobody right now is feeling good, not even like a guy like Diego Pavia. I mean, I can't imagine how many fruits that guy has from the way that he plays. So, you know, I think that, you know, it's tough. You know, this is his first full year as a starter. And that's, you know, so it takes some adjusting to get your body used to that kind of punishment. Sometimes you have to, like, go through it to really learn how to manage it and play it.

And I think that that's probably a part of it. And then, you know, maybe if he's not 100% health-wise, he's rushing things a little bit. Like, there is an open pass that he just threw straight into the ground. And, you know, we didn't see that during the first half of the season. So, he needs to be better, but he's got some time off to heal up a little bit. And we'll see if he makes the most of that. Adam, five SEC teams make the college football playoffs.

Alabama will be playing Oklahoma 2.0. That will be the Friday night game, the first playoff game, Friday night at 7 o'clock Central Time. I think an intriguing game, Miami at Texas A&M. Tulane and Ole Miss in 2.0, a game Ole Miss won 45-10 earlier in the year. Georgia's going to have to wait another few weeks, but they're going to get the winner of the Tulane-O Miss game. Adam, your thoughts of the SEC in the college football playoff? Yeah, I mean, I think that it was, you know, Ole Miss got a heck of a draw.

You know, that's great that they were able to stick in the sixth seed because, you know, if they were bumped down to seven and they had to face Miami, you know, I don't know that. I like what Pete Golding's done with the defense. I think that he's going to have plenty of energy and have the guys playing for him. Having Charlie White's call the offense is great, but, you know, I just think that if this was, you know, an opponent like Miami instead of a team that they've already beaten by, you know, 35 points, that this would be a lot worse for Ole Miss.

So I think that they can get through that, but then, you know, they're running into a Georgia team that, like I said, the defense is peaking at the right time. The offense is fine, you know, and that's the Georgia model, you know. Even when Stetson Bennett was the quarterback and they won back-to-back titles, they won it because of their defense. So I think that this is a great draw for Georgia. You know, I think that Oklahoma-Alabama winner is going to be a live pick to upset Indiana.

Like, I just think that, you know, with Indiana and Ohio State, I just, I know that it was a battle of two great defenses, but I just really wasn't super impressed with either team in that Big Ten championship game. So, you know, I think that the SEC sets up well to make a little run here, and it would be nice if Texas A&M could just put this debate to rest and just absolutely blow out Miami. We'll see if that happens. Absolutely. Adam, Missouri at Virginia.

And, again, I know a lot of people wondering what's the future of bowl games, but it's still a reward for a lot of these players, and particularly, don't you know, Vanderbilt wants to make a statement in Tampa against Iowa. Texas at Michigan, one of the more interesting games in the postseason. Mississippi State gets in because of the academic progress report against Wake Forest. LSU at Houston and Tennessee, who just relieved their defensive coordinator of his duties, Tim Banks, this morning, Tennessee, Illinois, in the Liberty Bowl.

Well, I'm sorry, in Nashville for the Music City Bowl. Yeah, I think there's some good games on there. I mean, I still think that there's, you know, a lot to play for. I mean, the bowl games make it, you know, worthwhile for players. They have gift packages and all that sort of stuff. You often get a trip to a nice place, and I just think it's worth it. And I think it's worth it from, you know, I think, you know, I don't know what the rules are on this, but if you decline a bowl invitation, like, I would imagine that you don't get those extra, like, three weeks of practice.

So, you know, I think that those weeks of practice are so important, and maybe coaches are, you know, foregoing that. They're okay. Maybe they're okay with foregoing that this day and age because they're just like, well, these guys are going to leave in the spring anyway. You know, I don't know what the deal is there, but, like, that used to mean something to have those two weeks of practice. So, I mean, I think that that's important for teams that want some continuity, like a team like my Missouri Tigers that, you know, figures to have its entire staff back and several key players.

I mean, I think that it's something that you could build on over the next few weeks, and I'm excited to see that game. I'm excited to see Texas-Michigan. Yeah, like you said, Vanderbilt has a statement to make, so we'll see. Adam Spencer, Saturday-down staff. If you don't mind, let's circle back to the Bama-Oklahoma game. Obviously, we know what happened the last time. A thin margin. Oklahoma came out a winner, but Alabama gave up the ball three times on turnovers. This is round two. Bama, at last report, is actually the favorite on the road by a slim point and a half.

[10:14] Adam, is it safe to say the first team to two, not three, may win this ball game, given their defenses and offenses, respectively? Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, both of these defenses are elite. You know, we'll see, because both of them could be getting reinforcements. Our Mason Thomas, who's arguably Oklahoma's best defensive player, hasn't been playing the last couple weeks. So, if he gets healthy over the next couple weeks here, that's a huge boost for Oklahoma. But on the flip side, like, LT Overton should probably be back by the Oklahoma game, and that's a big deal for Alabama's defense.

So, yeah, I mean, it's going to come down to, you know, is John Mateer, the John Mateer from earlier in the season? Is Ty Simpson, the Ty Simpsons from earlier in the season? Whoever can play, like, the first half version of themselves is going to lead this team to a victory. And I think that that's going to be the case regardless. You know, Oklahoma will have a tough environment there. But, yeah, I think that this comes down to whichever quarterback looks the most like his, you know, first half of the season itself.

Adam, I've heard all the issues with bowl games, again, rehashed over the weekend. I'm well aware of it. You've got interim coaches, coaches leaving. You've got players entering the transfer portal. I get all this stuff. There were seven teams who actually were five and seven and had the opportunity to go to a bowl, and they turned it down because players are scattered, coaches are scattered. What is the answer, long-term, to this? Do you tie an NIL reward to this? Do you play some of these bowls at the beginning of the season where it would be a big deal?

I know that's going to be rehashed for the next month. What are some of the answers to this? Yeah, I just don't know because the teams are so different from the end of one year to the beginning of the next. I don't know how you play those bowls. It would be interesting to bat around, but I just don't know how you move them. I think NIL money is always a strong answer if you have an NIL pool and stuff. I just think that that's an option.

I just think that I'm really disappointed in what Notre Dame did. It's just so whiny and just not physical, and it's just terrible. And I think that now they're whining about the ACC, speaking negative about them. It's like, yeah, of course they spoke negative. You don't want to join their conference, and they had a chance to get Miami into the playoff. What do you think? Oh, sorry, Notre Dame. We'll bend the knee and let you guys do whatever you want to do. I'm just really disappointed with that.

They just don't have a conference to find them because I think some of the teams that have declined bowl bids in the Big 12 were fined $500,000. Maybe you make that go up. Maybe the revenue share that comes from all the teams pooling their postseason allotments. Maybe that goes away for teams that decline bowl bids. I think there's ways to do this that really has more of an impact financially than a $500,000 fine, and I think that maybe that's the way to go. Why are the players scattered when there's a chance that there's a bowl game to be played?

There's a lot of entitlement going on right now, and that's true across society and not just in sports, but sports could be a leader to try to fix this. Well, unlike you, I think there are more pros. The pros outweigh the cons as far as the benefits for going through a bowl game practice time, rewards, the gift packages for the players, et cetera, et cetera. Adam, great stuff. A lot of things going on. I know you and the team are going to be looking at the SEC in postseason, a lot of good basketball going on.

Adam, where can we get online to get yours and the team's good stuff? Yeah, get online at SaturdayDownSouth.com. We've got you covered, and, you know, yeah, we're shifting gears. We're going to have a lot of basketball this week, and then we'll have you covered all postseason long. Thanks for saying that about Notre Dame, Adam. I got a feeling a lot of folks agree with you outside of South Bend. Adam Spencer busy there at Saturday Down South. I wonder if they're going to get some cheese with that wine.

And then you go the other direction with it. I thought Clark Lee at Vanderbilt was a man in the room. When asking, everybody's fussing about Vanderbilt not getting in. He said, look, we controlled our own destiny. Those are the rules we should have taken care of business on the field. Those are the rules we've got to man up and live by. And thank goodness somebody is the adult in the room. He is the Max in the room. Max Howell on deck. Stay with us. Hello, everyone.

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Whatever, it's fine. I'm totally fine. But I cope with losing with an ice-cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm, those 23 flavors are, like, so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L. College football, it's a pepper thing. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama sports, and it's brought to you by Guthrie's, America's original chicken finger restaurant and a proud partner of the Crimson Tide. Visit online at guthrie'schicken.com. Hello again, everybody.

I'm Roger Hoover. Here are post-game thoughts from Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oates following Sunday's win against UTSA. Thought it was good. Been emphasizing winning the possession game, trying to force more turnovers than we have, trying to get more old boards than we give up, because we haven't been very good at that. It's been a big point of emphasis for us this year. So we tried to talk about some defensive playmaking. We were able to force 18 turnovers. We only had five, so we're plus 13 there.

And then we were able to get 19 old boards. Aiden Shirell had six of them. He's been playing great three games in a row now. He's had at least three blocks as well. You know, so we got 19 old boards and gave up nine. So we're plus 23 kind of in that possession game that we've been trying to emphasize, which was good. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, especially in the second half. I didn't think it moved quite as well as it had in the first half. I'll have more in a moment.

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[20:39] Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Guthrie's. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The score. Welcome back in. It is always a pleasure for us to welcome in the Big Daddy of Sports Talk back in the entire Southeast. And Max H***, also busy as a former assistant coach there at Ole Miss and Florida State. Max, welcome in. How are you? In Mississippi today, it's 41 degrees and raining. So, I'm going to let you figure out how to do it.

Yeah, you know what? It's about the same on this side of the state line, too, Max. Alabama got blown out over the weekend in your hometown, Atlanta, and still no fallout. And, Max, can you believe Danny Connell and others are upset about this news? Where are you here with the weekend called the Alabama Crimson Tide? Well, you know, I looked at that, and I don't think their performance warranted them making the playoff, the tournament, to say the least. But, however, I understand why they used the system they used.

You know, they took the wins in the middle of the season when they were in a hot spot. I still believe Simpson's hurt. I don't know what's wrong with him on that critical third-day situation. He runs out there and falls down. Nobody within three or four yards of him at the time. It's just little things like that. It's hard to read, guys. I mean, Washington, Alabama, for the last ten years anyway, they've been almost, you know, they've perfected almost every system they've read. They played on the field where, you know, they were 100% every snap.

I got where I kind of isolate some different players from different times, and I don't see 100% coming from a lot of them. And that all starts in practice, you know, everybody, but they do where they start. So, I don't, it's, something's missing. I wish, if I could put my finger on it, I'd sell it. But I can't, you can't do, you can't do that, because you've got the human emotion involved there. But, anyway, they're there, and they go, you know, they play in Oklahoma, they've got to go out there.

If you recall, and I know y'all do, Oklahoma writes their own rules when you play on their campus out there. We can tell about the, in the Auburn situation where they, they had the illegal play, and they said that was their playbook, and they were going to keep it there. I never heard a, you know, an apology for using it or whatever. It isn't about the places that happened along the way. They just, you know, they're going to play their own. But Alabama lost to them in Tuscaloosa.

So, you know, that ought to be motivation enough for them to pick up and try to win the ball game down. I was just noticing the, told me yesterday when they listed the, the book says that if they beat Oklahoma, how about this, they get to play Indiana. So, it's going to be a, you know, it's going to be an uphill battle for them. I think that's starting to take a couple of weeks. Max, Georgia deserves all the credit in the world, and particularly for the block punt.

L.T. Overton was out. And even Kellen DeBoer said they ran through a hole where he normally is. And they picked up on that and exploited it. Alabama, by the time they got to the end of the third quarter, had eight starters who were out of the game. And, again, give George, this game reminded me of the first Oklahoma game with turnovers in short fields. Georgia's scoring drives were 12, 21, 39, and 57. And, again, they took advantage of that. Max, let me ask you from a coaching perspective. In the third quarter, after Alabama had gone three and out another two consecutive times, would you as a coach have considered replacing Ty Simpson with the backup quarterback to give the offense a little bit of a spark?

I don't think there's any doubt about that. That's what should have happened. But let me tell you what happens, get close to the end of the season, though, guys. When they get in a bowl, they particularly got to play an opponent like a Georgia, where there's total physicality. Georgia's just way more physical than Alabama was. What happens is, from Monday to Thursday, guys, they don't practice time. They don't run number twos in there. They're so concerned about ones. And you know where that comes from? That comes from the NFL.

How many times have you seen number two and number three play quarterback in the NFL team? Almost never, no matter what the score is. And I think that's the drift down from that. But the fact is, I mean, why not put him in there for a couple of plays? Thank you. Absolutely. I remember on the punt situation, I believe that was a young freshman they stuck out there on that corner. Yeah, that's right. The block. Well, how smart is that? Not. There's a breakdown somewhere in the communications of this thing.

[26:07] And I don't want to isolate it because I'm not there every day. But I sure watch it on Saturday, and I chart every game I watch just like I did when I coached. And I got all my notes. I got a book full of notes on every game. It's just little stuff. Like, you know, and I was number 74 at the left tackle for the longest time. They finally adjusted his stance. It got him a little closer to the guard to at least block the linebacker company.

But he never did. 90% of the time, he never reached that deep rush in out there. I mean, just little things like that has to be corrected. I hate to see coaches that get things locked in their mind like a tackle is a tackle. I mean, 50 years ago, if a tackle couldn't move his feet, we moved him to guard. If he was the best player, it finds somebody else to put out there. I mean, but I don't see any of that going on anymore. You know, they just recruit to a special position, and that's what they're going to play regardless of his ability.

Those are just little things that I've picked up that I think could be corrected between Monday and Thursday every week. But it's a little bit late in the season. Talk about that now. Amen. It's their last ball game. Max, let's talk about the boys in your state. It's Lane Kiffin going to the committee and saying, give us Tulane. I need that bonus money. I'm rooting for Ole Miss. I'm leaving my boys there so they can get an extra cash as if I need it. Is Tulane turning into North Alabama?

John Somroth from Huntsville. Will Hall, the coach coming, he played at UNA. So, yeah, they're going to turn into North Alabama connection there. They're facing Ole Miss. How nervous is Ole Miss over the green wave, Max? Well, they beat them by 48 the last time they played in the early part of the season. So, I think they're already looking to, you know, Ole Miss better be looking at who the next team they got to play, which I believe is Georgia, where they win this week. So, yeah, I believe the tape ought to go right down during the next couple weeks they got.

Use the first week or so to look at Tulane. But they've already got all the tape they need on there in the game plan to beat them. And nothing's probably changed over Tulane's part of it because they use the same system they've used all year to get to where they are. So, I think it's an easy transition to start working over Georgia and get at least, you know, probably three good weeks of work for Georgia. Now, whether that can do anything or not, Georgia's, you know, you've heard Kirby say, they don't even recruit kids that they don't think are physical enough.

They're one of the few teams that's left, I think, in Division I that really counts on the physical. Everybody else tries to out-for-desk people, not coach them. Kirby just said, put your hand in the dirt and knock them off the ball. And that's what he's been pretty good at it, I think, to say the least. But, anyway, it's here. We see it, you know, we see the 12 teams play off. The thing is, the backlash we're getting from the two or three of the big boys that are pouting because they didn't make it.

They're going to take the football and go home. They're not going to play in the ball game. So, let me ask you this, guys. When there's individual schools in a conference, for example, and I understand Notre Dame, but in a conference, they say, they say, no, we don't feel like playing the ball this year. We're not going to play. Just let us pass. Well, we've got about five or six that's already done this. I thought the conferences got the check and then it's redistributed to all the teams in the conference.

Well, how does one school choose not to play? It makes go with the big – do what the Big 12 conference did. They had two schools that opted out of a ball game. They've done them $500,000. There you are, Matthew, at least that. That's the answer. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you think they'll pay that? I bet you. Probably not. But here's the answer to your question, Max. It all started when the bosses left their nads at home. That's when it started. I think that's true, too. But, you know, of course, my answer is we're watching the whole athletic facilities, say, of the athletic programs change right before our eyes.

You know, and some of the changes are okay. I don't – I'm not so old school. I say just take them all out and start over, but no. But the things that just didn't make sense anymore, common sense, they're just letting them ride along. I'd say they've got the fighting ability. But I want to know how many of these teams that rush the field get five, 50,000. I want to know how many of those fans are paid. If I had to guess, very few. What they're going to do, the comps are going to kick them out of the conference.

[31:10] The conference office says, no, you can go home and play. And the schools are stupid because they know that a large chunk of their money comes from conference distribution. Look, I did 10 shows in my career in Destin, Florida on the more weekend, the weekend that they just – in the SEC where they distribute the money. And I always – I saw that thing go from 15,000 to 20,000 up to the last thing I did, I think, was somewhere around 40,000, 50,000, up to 70,000 of school. So they need each other, let's say that.

And I just get really upset when I see some of these guys just take it upon themselves to make their own rules. If they want to do that, they need to become independent like Notre Dame is. If they think they can make it independently, God bless them, which I don't think they can do that. Well, Notre Dame thinks they can, Max, because they've got that NBC TV money, but that backfired on them at this time. And hopefully that they can get their butt in the conference if they want to solve the problem.

Max, we've got to run to our next guest. He's got to go to a press conference, but we always enjoy it. We'll pick this conversation up next Monday and look at a lot of the SEC teams. Always a pleasure to talk with you and get your great insight. Max, have a great week. Let's do this again next Monday. That'll be great. Thank you, guys. Always appreciate it. Enjoy that 40-something cloudy weather in the still. Now, Max Howe hooking up with us. You mentioned the man with the plan down the plains, Brian Matthews, talking to Auburn next.

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NBA Christmas Day begins at noon Eastern on ABC and ESPN. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9. The score. The college football playoff field was announced yesterday. Georgia Bulldogs are the three seed in the playoff. The dogs get a bye in the first round. Georgia will play either Tulane or Ole Miss on New Year's Day in New Orleans. Alabama is the ninth seed in the field. They will play at Oklahoma on December 19th. The winner will advance to play the top seed Indiana New Year's Day in Miami.

[36:24] Atlanta Falcons fell yesterday at home. They lost to the Seahawks 37-9. The Falcons with the setback dropped to 4-9. Atlanta has dropped back-to-back games. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9. The score. Kohl's Customer Appreciation Event is here, right in time for the gift exchange. Even though everyone pretends gifting isn't a competition, it kind of is. At Kohl's, save on gifts everyone will fight over. From sweaters and flannels to air fryers, toaster ovens, and more.

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He's Brian Matthews. Senior editor for AuburnSports.com. Brian, we know you're busy. Are you about to announce that you are entering the portal? And if not, who has announced that they're entering the portal these days? How are you? I'm doing great, guys, but I'm way too old and slow to enter the portal right now. As long as I can. Yeah, well, who is young and fast? Talk to us because a lot of teams are looking at bowl games. Other teams, if they're not going to be looking at the portal here, they will be in a few weeks.

Let's talk about Auburn. We know where they are with the situation with the bowls, but talk to us about, we know your time's limited there. Let's just jump right in with the names that you know of anyway that may be or are already in the transfer portal window. Yeah, so nobody's in officially yet, but there are several that have announced that are going in. Demari Austin, of course, left the team, you know, two years away in the season or so. So he'll be entering, I'm sure.

Antonio Coleman, who was a freshman defensive lineman who didn't really play this year. Perry Thompson, who's a receiver, who's played a little bit and started playing more here his second year here. Rayon Strader was a transfer in the past year at cornerback. Didn't play a whole lot. He's leaving Caleb Wheatland, the same thing, at linebacker. And then Jackson Arnold, which is no surprise there. I'm expecting him to move on, too. But there's going to be a lot more. I would expect a whole lot more as we get closer to, was it January 2nd, January 3rd, whatever the official date is.

It's always interesting. Talk to us about the window right now. When you have a changing of the guard, and especially one like this, I can't imagine going from Hugh Freeze to Goldish. That's a change. Talk to us about the personnel, personalities that may be coming in, and compared to where Auburn's been over the last couple of those seasons. I think that's kind of interesting. You know, Auburn put a lot of money into its wide receiver room, and I don't think that really necessarily paid off for them this year.

I put a lot in the quarterback room, but, you know, that ended up a lot, too. Wah, wah, wah. That made some changes later, right? But I think you're going to see with Goldish maybe spread it out a little bit more, and put more into the running backs and the tight end rooms. You look at Auburn's tight end performance this year. I thought that was, I'm not trying to be mean, but I thought that was maybe the worst unit on the team. No offense to anybody.

It just weren't very good in a lot of areas. And, you know, I think the offensive line, I shouldn't mention that, too, needs to improve. Even with those two transfer offense and tackles, I thought it was a pretty below-average offensive line again for Auburn this year, which seems to be a trend. And, you know, I just don't think Auburn's had a really – well, they have had some difference-makers tanks in Jarquez, but not a whole bunch of them. Like, you can go to Auburn's number two or three running back and have studs out there.

I think that's an area where they maybe need to pursue more high-level running backs, too, just to balance this offense out a little bit. Let me ask you about the coaching staff. I know we talked a little bit about it last week, and you're going to be – I would imagine Alex Golich is going to confirm a few names coming up in his press conference. We know D.J. Durkin's coming back. I've heard – I don't believe Will Redman is coming back. Some of the staff, the GMs are so important.

[41:25] What are you hearing as far as a few more coaches who may be coming in? Well, the only ones we've necessarily confirmed as far as returning from the old staff or Cody – I mean, excuse me, D.J. Durkin and Von Chalking-Williams are still waiting on Marcus Davis and rushing and who else is still around. There may be one or two others I'm not thinking of. We know that Cody Burns is here. We know that Joel Gordon is here. They're the co-offensive coordinators. Tyler Hudnick, the offensive line coach.

Demarcus Dyke. Van Dyke is coming over. Potentially cornerbacks. There's some sort of DB. So, he's bringing in a lot of guys from USF and a lot of the positions as far as personnel and recruiting analysts, that type of thing. I think they're being filled out by new people, but we don't have a complete roster yet. Brian Matthews, senior editor, AuburnSports.com. Brian, we know this thing called the portal of the pendulum swings both ways. We talked about who may be leaving. Let's talk about who may be coming that you are hearing.

And to me, it's very interesting to hear the conversation about quarterbacks coming from South Florida. I know Brown, he created a lot of headaches for a lot of teams. But Auburn, basically, last year seemed like the end of the season. They planted a lot of equity into building the room next year. Talk to us about who may be coming, particularly from South Florida, maybe starting with the quarterback room. Well, I mean, this is an area to watch real closely because I do think it's possible that Auburn, Byron Brown goes into the portal A and B, Auburn pursues him and eventually lands him.

And I think if that's the plan, that they're probably going to clear out most of this room or all of it. We'll see. We'll see what happens. You know, Ashley Daniels preserved that extra year's eligibility. But, you know, if Auburn brings in another guy that they're expecting to start that's been with his staff before, you would think he'd want to move on and find some where he can start. Maybe I'm wrong on the program. No, you're right. Deuce Knight is a guy that, you know, another school might want to pay a little bit extra to come in there and be the starter for them.

So that'll be one to watch. He's already being paid well, you know, to be a freshman, a star freshman coming out of high school and to be a backup. But, you know, when you become a starter, you can get paid a lot more. So that will be one, to me, that'll be the most interesting. So will they have to rebuild their entire quarterback room? Will they just go with Ashton? Will they bring in Byron Brown? I think that's all to be determined. Let me ask you about the defensive line.

Kendrick Falk, a lot of these guys will be moving on to the NFL and they deserve it. Byron Crawford, Bobby Jamison Travis, Jay Hardy, Dallas Walker, Xavius Walker. How many of those guys do you believe will be going on to the NFL or possibly to another team? I actually think most of them will. We know that they're eligible, especially if they get the right news from NFL scouts, right? And I'm still not entirely sure, you know, about the eligibility of some of these guys because the eligibility, you know, tends to change a lot.

But I think a lot of those guys, I think a Mars Williams is one to watch closely because, you know, he almost left last offseason. He is from North Carolina. If he stays, he's going to be taking over for Kendrick Falk, probably as Auburn starting a defensive end, you know. So that's a big position, potentially. You know, it led to Kendrick being what's, I think, going to be a top 15 type pick. We'll see. But he may move on. And then, you know, you've got some guys there like Jamonte Waller, Joe Phillips, who haven't really played much, you know.

So you're not necessarily expecting them to come back. If somebody's been in any program, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, wherever, for two years and haven't played, a lot of times they're going to be looking to move on, no matter how highly recruited they were. Unless they know they're coming in as a starter next year. And I couldn't say that about those two guys. So Mike Blackton's a guy on defensive line that you can expect back. You know, they've got some young guys, Jordan Crawford, Malik Autry, they need to get back.

They need to have, be really good players for them. But I think this is an area they're really going to have to address in the portal. I mean, really, really have to address. Jared Smith may be a terrific pass rusher. You know, J.J. Falk, we'll see if he's a buck or the end in the future. But they've really got to go out there and get some more proven guys, both defensive end and buck and interior. So that's going to be a huge position for them.

Brian, put your Professor Grader's hat on. What kind of grade do you give Golisht's first recruiting class with a whopping 48 hours to put it together? I mean, I'm not going to say it's Golisht's class. This is John Coleman's class, right? Because he's the one, or his staff, him and his staff made that decision back, you know, late spring, early summer to not progressively offer NIL packages as other schools, most schools. I would say not just others, but most schools. Those are their peers in the SEC did.

[46:27] And Auburn just kind of devolved from there as far as their class. It's currently 46th on rivals, which is by far the worst class since these numbers started being compiled by rivals back in 1999. And it's not even close. I think the worst class before this was 25th. So 14 out of 16 teams in the SEC. So I would give that class an F if I'm being honest. But I don't think Golisht has anything to do with that. And then we'll see, you know, if he can maybe find some gyms, you know, in the late period.

There's still that option. And we'll see how hard he goes. I mean, he's going to have to go hard in the portal, right, just to rebuild the roster. But it'll be interesting to see what his plan is going forward. Does he want to make high school recruiting the building block of the program and supplement with the portal? Yeah. With the portal, or does he want to build it more through, you know, put more emphasis on the portal going forward? So that'll be something I want to talk to him about.

I always enjoy reading Monday Musings. And you had several very good points about the college football playoff. Look, this is not a slump at Tulane and James Madison. They're good teams. They've got good programs. But you suggested a group of five playoff. I've been hearing that for a while. That makes sense to me. Your second recommendation was please get rid of the soap opera on Tuesday nights from the selection committee. and whoever the chairman is gets up there and embarrasses themselves in the committee. Just literally list the names of the schools and let it be.

That's all you need to do. 30 seconds or less. And number three, you're fine with the Notre Dame snub. I agree with all three of those recommendations. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And the thing with the show is it really undermines the credibility of college football in general, right? Yeah. Because every year it's the same. It's a different AD going up there getting just destroyed because they can't make sense of what they're doing. And they make up new reasons and new excuses, right? So why continue to do this if you're college football?

They need to tell ESPN that that feels off. And they're going to have to find a different way to generate this show or this revenue or whatever they're doing with it. Yeah, I've got a good suggestion. Get rid of it. There's no chance of having it. Quite frankly, listen, we appreciate it. I know you're pushed for time today. Good luck with the press conference, basketball transfer portal. Next time we turn around, a lot of things going on. Where can we get online and get all the good stuff?

Hey, I appreciate that. And we've had tons of coverage, and we're right here at the Golds' press conference. About to start here in about 10 minutes, and we'll have full coverage of that at auburnsports.com. Check us out. Part of On3 and Rivals Network. Sign up for a free trial online right now. Or you can follow us, of course, on Twitter. I'm at BMATAU. Sounds great, Brian. Listen, man, thanks for your time. Let's do it again soon, okay? All right, appreciate it, you guys. Thank you, bud.

Brian Matthews, senior at Auburnsports.com. BB, the AP basketball poll is out. Speaking of Auburn, number 21, Tennessee number 20. I'm telling you, the team to watch for in the SEC is at 15, Vanderbilt. Alabama's at number 12. And guess where Alabama's opponent, Arizona, this weekend is located, BB? Well, they're number one, and they're coming to Linguacy Arena in Birmingham Saturday night. Tip-off at 830. Bama with another big chance to knock off the top dog. There you go. Coming up in the next hour, going to be ticking all over the place.

What a former Alabama player is saying about this team, the Redfish. Redfish barter is going to be on board. Vince Royer talking Big Orange and Ben Thomas talking about, amongst other things, Marsh Hill Bible. It's all straight ahead. Stay with us. Flavor is calling at Lost Pizza Company Shovels. Introducing the new limited-time-only Margarita Pizza. Fresh basil, fine-ripened tomatoes, and creamy mozzarella pearls on our homemade crust. Light, bright, and bursting with flavor. Try our all-new dry-rub wings, seasoned to perfection with bold, smoky spices. It'll have you coming back for more.

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Lowe's. We help you save. Valid 12-125-1726. Offer valid for first login per organization only. Loyalty program subject to terms and conditions. Additional restrictions apply. Visit Lowe's.com slash terms for more details. Subject to change. 1819 News. The Islamic Academy of Alabama has now withdrawn its application for rezoning to take place at the Meadowbrook Corporate Park. The Islamic Academy was seeking for rezoning to take place in order for them to relocate their Islamic Academy to the corporate park. However, the Hoover Zoning Commission voted unanimously to not recommend this application or to approve the rezoning request at its latest December meeting.

Now the application has been formally withdrawn seven months after it was first submitted. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville came out against the expansion of the Islamic Academy shortly after the Zoning Commission meeting occurred. Tuberville has been very outspoken of late against radical Islamic teachings and practices, saying they are in direct contradiction to the U.S. Constitution. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Where I was living was not a great place to live anymore. I began to pray for a place to go, praying for all of these things that a nine-year-old would want.

I wanted horses, big house with a bunch of people my age. I wanted parents. I wanted a mom and a dad. Before I even prayed it, the Lord had already answered my prayer with the Big Oak Ranch. Who would that nine-year-old be if she never came to the Big Oak Ranch? I would be trying to fight for survival instead of fighting to break a cycle. Big Oak Ranch, a Christian home for children needing a chance. A third case of rabies has been confirmed in Houston County.

The rabies was confirmed in a raccoon that was found dead in a homeowner's yard. The homeowner's dog got into a fight with that raccoon. Fortunately, the dog's owner kept their pet up to date on his rabies vaccines. An organization that helps foster children in Alabama is now expanding. Kids to Love has opened up a mental wellness center alongside its trauma care service in Huntsville. The organization also offers scholarships to low-income families who are in need of the mental wellness and trauma care. I'm Andrea Tyson. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.

And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. United Way of Northwest Alabama is thrilled to announce the return of its signature fundraising gala, Shoals Royale, on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at the Renaissance Shoals Conference Center. This black-tie optional casino-themed event brings all the glitz and excitement of Las Vegas to the Shoals, complete with live entertainment, gaming tables, prices, hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar, and all for a great cause. Now in its fourth year, Shoals Royale has become one of Northwest Alabama's premier charity events, uniting local businesses, community leaders, and residents for a night of luxury and purpose.

Proceeds directly benefit United Way of Northwest Alabama and the 12 local nonprofit partners and 22 community programs and funds. Individual tickets are $125 or $200 per couple, or go in VIP style for $350 or $600 per couple. Shoals Royale, 2026, Saturday, February 21, at 7 p.m. at the Renaissance Shoals Conference Center. Tickets are available now at givebutter.com slash showsroyale2026. Welcome to Cricut Wireless. Uh, Santa? I've got to get Mrs. Claus a gift or I'm in a whole lot of trouble. How about a single unlimited line? Only $35, plus a free Moto G 5G.

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[57:03] When you switch to Progressive and bundle your home and auto, you could save hundreds, and that's a surprising amount of money. Whoa, that's like farmer's market money. That's like give me a gallon of that locally sourced raw honey money. That's certified organic heirloom tomatoes in every imaginable color except red money. That's let's get two pounds of pink oyster mushrooms money. I'm not even sure I like pink oyster mushrooms. Guess it's time to find out. Because you could save hundreds when you switch to Progressive and bundle.

Then the world is your pink oyster mushroom. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shore. Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Tide fans. Here comes the tide. Let's roll. At one for the win. Ball game, ball game, ball game, and the win. Grab your hard hats and tune in for blue collar basketball with the Crimson Tide all season long. On your home for Alabama basketball. This Saturday, Alabama takes on the Arizona Wildcats in Birmingham at the CM Newton Classic.

Their time is 7.30 p.m. with a tip at 8.30 here on 93.9, The Score. Brought to you locally in part by the law firm of Johnson, Pesher, Medley, and Birchall. Page Borden Insurance and MJ Carter & Company Insurance. J.C. Hammond Sons. Lost Pizza. First Metro Bank. Alabama Health Guidance. Story & Lee Furniture. Valley Credit Union. Cypress Creek Indoor Range. Ray Miller GMC. Finnegar Johnson & Layton Insurance. And Mugshots Grill & Bar, Alabama and Arizona. This Saturday night at 7.30 on 93.9, The Score. 93.9, The Score weather. Today, mostly cloudy with a high around 45.

Tonight, partly cloudy with a low near 30. Tomorrow, sunny with a light breeze and a high around 55. Tomorrow night, mostly clear with possible gusty winds overnight and a low near 40. And for your Wednesday, mostly sunny with a high around 60. 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, Ken. Hour 2 of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a street ride around the Tennessee Valley. And, BBL, I wonder if Ben Thomas is finally, finally going to be able to catch his breath. He's been busy these days. Would you agree? He saw some very good football teams and some very good football players and some teams who could run the ball very effectively. He's at the heart of it all. Ben Thomas got the high school scene covered from one end of the state, from the mountains of North Alabama.

The seashores is the south end of the state. They're at AL.com and everything in between. BT, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. Doing good. Mildly recovered from the last couple of days and ready for another week. How are you guys doing? You're doing all right. First of all, Ben, good job by you guys. But we've got to give it up. We live in such a cynical world now. Everybody's looking for false. I've always said, I can see your good side and I can talk about your bad side, and I'll probably be right either way.

That's what we choose to focus on. In a world where we're so critical of everything, hats off to Alabama Public Television for not only bringing these games into people's homes, but I'm telling you, they did an absolutely professional job. Hats off to a network that was able to bring these games in. These kids worked just as hard as anybody at the college or NFL level, and not to mention the bands and the fans and everything else. And I'm assuming you would agree, thank goodness, they showed these kids to a lot of people who otherwise would not have been able to see them in person.

Yeah, 100% I agree. I mean, obviously, I was there, so I didn't watch any of the games. But I did watch a lot of the, you know, they did a game of the week each third day, and then they did a playoff game. And I tell you what, it made my job as a Super 7 a lot easier because I would get numerous emails during the Super 7 before. I think last year was the first year Alabama Public Television did it. And before that, they weren't really available in the south half of the state.

They had some games available on WOTM or whatever, but you couldn't get them below really Montgomery. And for Alabama Public Television to come in and broadcast those games, I think a lot of people enjoyed it. I know they did. I know they do a first-class job, and certainly I was glad not to answer those constant tweets and emails. Hey, how can we watch this game? And that and that. Now everybody knows you can watch it on Alabama Public Television. So kudos to them. BT, we've talked with you about E.J. Crowell for most of the season.

[1:02:16] And people were saying, well, how good is this guy? Well, after running for 304 yards and five touchdowns as Jackson beat what I think is a very good Aniston team, 52 to nothing. I think a lot of people have got the answer. He finished his career 6,329 yards and 91 touchdowns. And you could go on and on with the stance, was named the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year. And we've talked about Jackson with Duckworth. And they've got quite a few D1 prospects. But what a performance in the Super 7.

Yeah, you know, I think in the last two 4A championship games, they've outscored their opponents 121-6 or something like that. That was in Cherokee County last year and Aniston last year. And Aniston had a good football team. They were athletic, but Jackson was on their game, and it was pretty heavy. And, you know, they handed him the first carry of the game. Crowell ran for 26 yards. Second carry of the game, he scored a touchdown. And it was pretty evident what was going to happen after that.

I think through three quarters, he was like 13 carries for 254 yards and five touchdowns. And that was more impressive, really, than his total. They played him in the fourth quarter. They said they were trying to – they wanted him to be the season-leading rusher, which I'm not – I guess they based that on Max Pratt. I'm not sure what they were basing that on. But I was – that was a dangerous gamble, I thought. Yes, it was. I mean, if he had a helmet or something like that in a game that was already won, that's going to be bad, bad press.

But he's fantastic. Like you said, he won Gatorade Player of the Year last week. I would assume that he and Trent Seaborn will be the leading contenders for Mr. Football, maybe Gunnar Rivers, maybe some other guys in there as well. Certainly, we've got some great players all over the state. But I think those two guys are probably the top candidates, and we'll see in January, you know, who gets that honor. ThomasAO.com, Ben, we've had this conversation over the years, this hot shot in high school.

He's going to be the next Superman at the college level. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But there's a school of thought out there that's saying if he's in Tuscaloosa right now, he'd probably be the best running back in that room. We'll see about that. But your thoughts about his potential based on your expertise at the next level when obviously the defenses are going to be a little bit better. Yeah, well, obviously he's built for it. I mean, you know, he's got the frame for it.

He's fast. I mean, you know, he'll have some adjustments to make like everybody does at that level as far as the blocking scheme and the speed of the game and that type stuff. But he will report, you know, I understand, in January, which I originally thought he might have to go through this whole year because he's really graduating a year early. But, of course, Lorne told me last week that he will indeed graduate and report to Alabama in January or as soon as he can whenever he finishes school, I guess.

So, I noticed they had a celebration for some of those guys who were signing at Jackson High School this morning. But he'll be, you know, I would think at the top of the depth chart pretty quick. I mean, you know, you think he missed the first game of the year against Sarah? B.T., I occasionally mention Morris Hill on this segment throughout the course of the season. They usually had a competitive game against Bayside. Bayside is a good team. Morris Hill pulled away in the fourth quarter, 38-21.

And one of the themes of the Super 7 was teams that were dominant running the ball. Believe me, Morris Hill is. I think they end up with 398 yards. Jackson Penn, Hudson Higgins doing their thing. They've got a lot of other players, too. Corey Pig, Isaiah Owen, the receiver, Samuel Sweeney. But, once again, pardon the pun, Morris Hill runs past Bayside Academy. They did. And it was a competitive game. It was 17-14 going into the fourth quarter. So, it was one of the few competitive games, unfortunately. I thought, I think I told you guys, I expected it to be a very competitive Super 7.

Unfortunately, it really was not. But, yeah, they were up 17-14. Bayside was hanging in there. But just too much of those guys running the football. They were able to control them a little bit, you know, in the first half. But, 10 goes for 206 and three touchdowns. He then's 195 and two touchdowns. The quarterback completed five of eight passes, but he really didn't need to. Bayshore was a good team. I think that shows how good Morris Hill is. I mean, you know, our Bayshore, Bayside. And, you know, Bayside won that semifinal game over Southside Selma 51-20.

And Southside had been lighting up the scoreboard. So, congratulations to Coach Higgins and those guys. Great win for them and another state title for Morris Hill. And a hat off to the old-fashioned way of doing it with a running game. Nothing fancy. Just give it to a boy, let him run through the ring. You know, it's kind of refreshing to see that still being a winning formula. Ben, let's go down to the Class 2A. What can you tell us about Kuso Christian and their coaching staff?

[1:07:37] Oh, my gosh. Yeah, that was maybe my favorite part of the week. Yeah, brush approach. And, really, the only competitive game down to the wire that we had, which was unfortunate, but a good football game. Kuso Christian wins 29-22 over a good Lynette team. Yeah, Rush Prokst was the story. Kind of made himself the story, as you expect him to do. His first time back in 19 years and the first time he'd won a title in 20 years in Alabama. But he was full on rush. I talked to him after the press conference, and my favorite quote of the week was, you know, he said, I want to coach for six or seven more years, wherever it's going to be.

I'm open for business. That's a long run. He's open for business. He's like a Hollywood husband, ain't he? It really is. Seven years, seven wives. Yeah. I mean, the big question now is they've got to answer, you know, in the irony of all ironies, Rush took over Kuso Christian because the previous coach, Mark O'Brien, had to be suspended for the year. Of course. You know, the question is, what will Kuso do? Will Kuso bring Coach O'Brien back? Will they want to keep Rush? And if they bring Coach O'Brien back, where does Rush end up?

He certainly sounds like he wants to keep it going. He said, I don't like retirement. I just lay on the couch and watch Fox News and figure out what to do with my day. So, we'll see where he goes from there. But one thing for sure, the Rush Prope story is never ending. No. BT, let me ask you about another impressive performance. Clay Chalkwell beat an undefeated Muscle Shoals team. I knew then they were very good, and they beat Sarah Land 38-21, got off to a very good start there.

Their quarterback, Aaron Fry, and I noticed him against Muscle Shoals, ran for 192 yards, 8 of 10 for 167. He's not the only one there, but any stretch of the imagination. Sarah Land, Deshaun Spencer, the receiver, the Auburn signee, 10 catches, 135. Roberts, the quarterback, had a big game, 265. But Clay Chalkwell, and I noticed that was a tough decision in your final power rankings. He was going to be number one between Thompson, we'll get to them in a minute, and Clay Chalkwell. I think you made the right choice. Clay Chalkwell in 6A may be the best team in the state.

Well, they beat Thompson, you know, in a very good game midseason, and they won. I think they beat them the last couple of years, so that's big there. But, yeah, I was surprised. I thought Sarah Land, you know, having been there four years in a row and losing the last two, I thought they would find a way to win this game, and it was just really dominated by Clay. I mean, there was an opening or two for Sarah Land to get back into it, and they just couldn't make it happen.

I will say that on Sarah Land's behalf, the quarterback is only a junior, Jameson Roberts. He's excellent, and Auburn people are going to love what they see in Deshaun Spencer. I mean, that was really their only two guys, and he caught 10 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. He'll be a good one at Auburn. But Clay Chalkwell, give them credit. I mean, Sarah Land could not block them. I mean, they had eight attacks on defense, just rugged defense. And then, as you mentioned, Aaron Fry accounted for his Alabama State signee.

He accounted for five touchdowns, three running, two passing, and it was just a mismatch. And I didn't necessarily think it would be, but congratulations to Coach Floyd and his guys winning their second title in three years. Thomasale.com, is there a more intriguing high school story than Trent Seaborn? He does it again. The kid looks like he should be basically coming out of the seventh in the eighth grade, and all he does is win state championships year in and year out. He's not at Thompson. Well, we saw him play in the eighth grade.

Yeah. He won his first state title in the eighth grade. I think most people knew if they had to pick out a game heading into the Super 7, that might be a mismatch. I think most people thought this was it. I mean, most people, including myself, thought the championship game was probably that semifinal game between Thompson and Central Phoenix City that Thompson won 35-34. I give Opalak a credit. Brian Moore did a great job getting them there, but they were never really in the game. And Seaborn didn't ever look affected.

They didn't sack him at all. He threw 259 yards and three touchdowns, and Thompson was able to pretty much do what they wanted. It was lopsided. I mean, it was, you know, 41-3, 34-0 at one point, and then 41-3 at one point. So, I don't know. There's a lot of talk about reseeding. Now I hear it in every classification, not just 7A. But, you know, first thing we've got to do is figure out what the reclassification looks like, and then we'll go from there. But it certainly was not a competitive game.

[1:13:01] Yeah. And two more, BT, just to mention them. Maplesville, with those 10 shutouts, beat Wadley, 10 shutouts during the course of the season, 42-22. Eli Herbert, just a, again, their defense is incredible. Moody beat Viger, 25-0. LeCamry and Meadows had a huge game running for 186. He's going to Western Kentucky. But, again, certainly appreciate you and your staff's coverage every day of the Super 7. It's a great event. Going to be moving to, again, Mobile, coming up very soon. And I'm like Harold, I appreciate Alabama Public TV. Our buddy Kevin Scarbinsky did a really good job of the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage.

But it certainly is a great event. What else have you got on the docket? A lot of basketball going on, postseason awards. BT, when will the reclassification be announced? Well, right. The date is December 15th, which is next Monday, if nothing changes. That's what Heath Harman's told me. That's when the central board meets. I mean, the project bill situation is still up in the air with the Choose Act and the legislature. And I've heard that there's some type of mediation on the 17th for that. So, right now, we believe it's the 15th, but that could change.

And then it could change. You know, they could assign the reclass and then change it again. I still think it's up in the air what's going to happen there. But, yeah, we've got a lot going on. We're going to be starting our AL.com Player of the Year bracket next Monday, I believe. So, we're working on that. We vote on All-State later this week. So, the All-State teams and the All-Region teams and all that stuff will be coming out. And we're not quite done with football yet.

We have the North-South game at Hancock-Whitney on Friday and Alabama-Mississippi on Saturday. So, we'll see Crowell and some of those other guys one final time competing for Alabama against Mississippi. So, that'll be fun. And then, when you go inside and what to call, cover basketball. Ben, listen, man, it's always good to hook up with you. Thanks so much. I echo BB Sinema's there. Great job. Keep it up. Thanks so much for your time today. All right. Thanks, guys. Y'all have a good week. You too, bud.

The BT Express. Ben Thomas, AL.com. Tennessee said, big orange defensive coordinator, here's your pink slip. Good luck. Vince Ferraro, details next. Stay with us. The season's in full swing, and there's no better place to watch football than Sam's Sports Grill in Florence. We're serving up fall-off-the-bone ribs, juicy burgers, saucy wings, and ice-cold beverages. Everything you need for the ultimate game day. With wall-to-wall TVs and an unbeatable atmosphere, Sam's is your game day headquarters all season long. Catch all the actions at Sam's. Sam's Sports Grill, where every game is a home game.

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Discover how easy it is to bring every room to life with incredible sound. Explore Sonos speakers, soundbars, and more at Sonos.com. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back. And what would a Monday be without the V-Man? Vince Rora, he is busy there at 99.1, the sports animal in Knoxville, animal, the ball, radio network. V-Man, welcome in. How are you? I'm good, gentlemen. How are we doing? We're doing all right. V-Man, is it true that you and Tennessee fans have a condo in Nashville in the bowl season?

Here we go again, right? Yeah. Good to be on with you guys, as always. It is not really resonating or exciting fans. Generally, ones that we've heard from, when you see people react on the SportsSource TV show that one of the panelists saw, and they ran a poll on Sunday. What bowl would you want to go to? And then one of the choices was, don't care, decline it, something to that effect. And that was the runaway winner, like 53%, something like that. And the Music City Bowl got one of the least of both.

We got like 3%. So fans don't look at it as a high-level bowl. They look at it as sort of a consolation, participation bowl. You know, the standards have raised in what they expect. The Florida Bowls have a different cachet. I know the Bowls are not what they used to, but if you're going to go to them, the Florida Bowls have more prestige. So, you know, Illinois really doesn't move the needle. I mean, they've never played them, so at least it's different, and it's not Iowa, which would have really made fans mad because we've seen that bowl matchup before.

But fans are just still so sour from the way the season ended. They were not going to be happy regardless. But going to Nashville, where they've gone, I think, like five straight years, and they've gone to that bowl before, not really exciting fans yet. Even though I think as we get closer, some people, out of curiosity and because your Tennessee fans are going to watch football, will buy in a little bit more late. Yeah, and the thing is, you better watch that bowl because Alabama is, I think, they're old for the music city.

I was there for the first one. Brett, too, back there, played Virginia Tech back in the day. They lost that in a sleep storm. Then they went and played Minnesota. They got beat in that thing. So you may not be in a good mood, but you don't want to be embarrassed as well. You mentioned the mood right now. It really, at the end of the day, yes, it all matters as far as the season. But people forget what you do in the first half. The taste that's going to be left is at the second half.

And then especially when the Tennessee lost the way they did by three at home to, speaking of Vanderbilt or Nashville-Vanderbilt, where are fans right now as far as optimism going into the offseason? Well, I think fans actually got a jolt today, and I'm sure you guys are going to bring it up, and that's the firing of defensive coordinator Tim Banks, because a lot of fans have been outspoken in wanting that. Even when he took a lot of criticism, even over the last two years, when he had some of the best defenses in the SEC, especially last year, fans are still critical of him.

I mean, they really never stopped from, you know, 2022, especially where Tennessee had a really bad defense. So you have a really bad defense in 2022 when you have the best offensive nation, and then a much improved defense in 2023, and an even more improved defense in 2024. Now you had the 14th best defense in the SEC this year, and really, despite some key injuries that were no doubt an impact, did not expect them to take such a dramatic fall in terms of their defense. So I think, and it's so out of character for Josh Heupel to make a decision to let go of a coach.

I don't think he's ever done it, not at Tennessee, not in terms of firing a coach. Guys have gone, have left on their own. I don't think it happened at UCF either. So I expected there to be some staff changes, whether they encourage someone to go get another job or whatever. But, you know, with Pete Damos' report that it's a firing, I think the fan reaction that we got early on was, let's go. Maybe now we can move a step forward. And I think whether it's this move or something else, there had to be changes, and there had to be a level of accountability that I think has been in question within this program, despite doing a lot of winning and resurrecting a program that was obviously a mess when Josh Heupel took over.

[1:24:03] Just to reiterate your point, last year in 2024, Tennessee was ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense, only allowing 16 points per game in this day and modern era of college football. That's pretty dadgum good. The lowest in a season since the 1998 National Championship. Team only gave up 14. They tumbled the 92nd nationally in scoring defense and gave up 33.6 points per game. In fact, Tim Banks was a Frank Broles Assistant of the Year finalist. In my memory, serves me the man. Yeah, that was too much of a fall for Tim Banks to overcome.

Well, and look, the temperature has increased for Josh Heupel. When you lose to Vanderbilt and the bar of expectations has increased, I'm not saying he's on a hot seat. I'm saying now you start to hear more fans being outspoken about their frustration where really didn't hear a whole lot of that prior to this year. Yes, fans wanted them to win at Ohio State, but despite what happened in the offseason with Nico and the quarterback swap, when he stood his ground, fans were saying, hey, we'll give him a pass for what happened at the quarterback situation.

And I don't think fans are giving him a pass for what happened at the quarterback situation because he brought in the right guy. And so you make the right move there, and now you're held to a higher standard, and now it flushes you standing your ground and kind of that buffer you thought you were having. Nonetheless, I mean, this team needs to take that next step. You reached the playoff last year, and you just brought in your highest recruiting class under Heupel. So that's good that they didn't have the on-the-field disappointments for fans didn't impact their signing class.

But you've got to still make the right decisions in terms of your personnel, the portal, and getting guys back, and all those kind of things, and then with your staff. And so I'm not surprised that there were changes. I expected there to be. We'll see on who they hire, and if it's an upgrade or if it's someone without the experience that maybe has a relationship with Josh Heupel, maybe from a group of five level. I think with all the moves you're starting to see in coordinators today, the Monday after championship games, I think you've got to get it out in front of it before a lot of the guys that you're interested in are no longer available.

So I think that necessitated them making this move and not waiting it out. Hey, man, aside from Tennessee, just in general, your thoughts about the Notre Dame news? Obviously, Notre Dame fans, I understand what you're upset. They just can't believe that the Notre Dame brand is not in. They've got merit, but the other side of the coin is, quote, you can't have it both ways. You want to be independent when it's convenient for your interest. I'm reading some of the critiquing from that side. They want to be independent when it's good for them, but they want the ACC to throw them a lifeline like COVID back in 2020.

Where are you with the decision of Notre Dame? Are they, again, the privileged few or are they legit in their argument? Well, first off, I think we can maybe table the, hey, this is just made for TV in terms of the teams that they put in. Because if that was the case, they're going to put Notre Dame in. You know, by drawing eyes to your TV and selling ads, if they're manipulating it on that, they're putting Notre Dame in. So I think we can flush that.

I also think that Miami deserved to be ahead of Notre Dame, and so did Alabama. And, you know, Notre Dame, a lot of what they were complaining about, I don't really like Marcus Freeman, but what he was talking about, what Notre Dame was talking about is, you know, how well they were playing and beating teams by 30-plus points per game, a 10-game winning streak, and who's playing better and more balanced. That doesn't matter. That's not, their task isn't picking the 12 hottest teams that we think would win the most games if we put them in.

It's who earned it and who deserved it based on the entire season. Right. And so they didn't punish Alabama much, they didn't punish most teams, except for BYU a little bit, for losing in their conference championship games at that extra data point. You know, Alabama, both teams ended up with two top 25 wins. Alabama's resume kind of came back to Notre Dame a little bit because that gauntlet of games afterwards, because Missouri and Tennessee dropped off and LSU wasn't as good, their schedule at the time looked more daunting than what the reality of it was in the end.

[1:29:12] And Alabama's schedule is still much more difficult than Notre Dame in terms of opportunities to lose. And the same with BYU. So I didn't have a problem with Notre Dame getting left out because it has nothing to do with who's playing the best or who could win the most games. That's their rules of the five highest seeded-ranked conference champions deserve to get in. That's the setup. And that's what they did. And because the ACC fell flat on their face and they didn't have the right procedure for their conference tournament, that's where Notre Dame obviously can complain.

Had they done that, Miami maybe would have been the champion and then earned an automatic bid and opened up an at-large and then Notre Dame gets in. So from that aspect, yes. But we're playing the best has no merit whatsoever because you never know game to game what you're going to get from a team, especially with all the length of time you have in between games where teams can look much different. Absolutely. V. Tennessee finishes, at least right now, number seven in own3.com, 24-7, 23 commitments.

Flipped a lot of guys at the end. And Tristan Keyes, the wide receiver, former LSU commitment. Faison Brandon, the quarterback. It was a very good class for Tennessee. What I hear, the best in 10 years. We'll be talking with you about that throughout, buddy. Basketball still going on, a little bit of a lull, three consecutive losses. We'll be talking more UT basketball in the future. V-Man, where can we get online to get all the good stuff? Yeah, Tennessee definitely needs these, I guess it's eight or nine days now until they play Louisville, another good team next week to get things right with that tough three-game losing streak.

Yeah, you can follow me on the socials, at VinceSports, V-I-N-C-Sports. On there, you can see retweeted an interview we had with Craig Halbert, the national coordinator of recruiting for ESPN. He and your friend and our friend Tom Luganbill do an awesome job for covering recruiting in ESPN. So you talked about Faison Brandon and that recruiting class. And yeah, I mean, all these coaching changes and everything else, who's in the portal, who's opting out, all that kind of fun stuff leading up to the Bulls. So we'll have it on on all the socials.

And then you can catch my TV work on the SportsSource, SportsSource Digital Network on YouTube. V-Man, as always, you're knocking it out of the park. Keep up the good work. And thanks so much again for your time today. Always enjoy it. You guys stay warm. Appreciate it. And you do the same. V-Man, Vince Farrer, who's going to be with us? 99.1, the Sports Animal in Knoxville. He's been there and done that. We're in the Crimson jersey. William, Redfish, Barger, Neck. Stay with us. At North Alabama Bone and Joint Clinic, our Shoals roots run deep.

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[1:34:22] 800-494-6139. Tim collects bobbleheads. A lot of bobbleheads. Baseball bobbleheads. Race car bobbleheads. Little chihuahua bobbleheads. He's got an entire room strictly for bobbleheads. Does he need them? No. Is his wife mad about it? A little. But Tim works with Empower, and he got good at money. So he can be a little bad. Ooh, horse bobblehead. Classy, Tim. Empower. Invest well. Live a little. Start today at Empower.com. This is the story of the one. As an HVAC technician, he and his digital multimeter are in high demand.

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Alabama is the nine seed in the field. They will play at Oklahoma on December 19th. The winner will advance to play the top seed, Indiana, New Year's Day in Miami. Atlanta Falcons fell yesterday at home. They lost to the Seahawks 37-9. The Falcons, with the setback, dropped to 4-9. Atlanta has dropped back-to-back games. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash, presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score. Find the most wonderful gifts at Macy's Friends and Family Sale.

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I wonder what former Alabama players are saying. And, B.B., do you have anybody who might be able to help us out with that? Our next guest can do an exceptional job in answering those questions. Former Bama offensive lineman, William Redfish, barging out co-host of Bama's radio. William, welcome in. How are you? Well, I hate to ruin y'all's intro there, but I'm taking the fifth on everything. I think a lot of folks thought Alabama was drinking the field Saturday night or Saturday, William. Where do you start breaking down that game?

You know, I'm not surprised that they lost, but, you know, I am surprised in the manner that they lost. Yeah. That was probably the most inept Alabama offensive performance I've seen since I made the mistake of driving three and a half hours north in 2004 to watch the Music City Bowl against Minnesota. Yep. We were there. And we just talked about that a while ago. I mean, here's the thing. How in the world, with all these, who was wrong, the recruiting fanatics or the coaching staff, all these guys are three, four, and five stars coming out of high school.

William, since 1968, no Alabama team has had less rushing. How do you have a team like Alabama and rush for a whopping total of minus three yards? I don't even see how that's possible. Well, you know, it's mathematically, you can get into that scenario when you're not real good at running the football and you're kind of good at giving up sacks. Yeah. It ends up working out that way, unfortunately. You know, and I think that's something that the coaching staff certainly has to address, you know, once this playoff venture is complete, whether it's this month or in January.

[1:39:57] You know, they need to really do some self-scouting and self-evaluations with, you know, why they couldn't generate just, you know, 100 yards rushing per game on average. And, you know, it's really made, you know, when we, you know, let's take Kirby Smart and Brent Venerables and Glenn Schumann out of the equation. You know, it'd make the defensive coordinator at Thompson High School's job kind of simple. And, you know, they're going to see, you know, they saw it from Kirby Saturday. You know, y'all aren't going to be able to run on our front seven.

We're not going to put the safeties in the box. We're going to stack them too high 20 yards down the field. And, you know, Venerables did three safeties across the middle of the field like that at times. So, you know, it's something that they're going to have to really, you know, pay attention to. And, you know, they both know each other, you know, as far as the, you know, the matchup in November and then last year as well. So there's not a whole h*** of a lot of secrets or stuff that they're going to be looking for.

It's just, you know, Alabama's going to have to play this one on the road, you know, mistake free this time and not give them cheap, cheap turnovers. It's all on the road at nine Oklahomans for the weather. Who knows? It could be 40 above or 40 below out there. You never know. It's a crazy part of the world too. But you're a former offensive lineman. What in the world from your perspective is the answer? We know, you're right. They just put two high or maybe in the case of animals three and then just bring the house and keep Ty confused with all the motion.

If that's what you know they're going to do, William, I mean, I'm not the smartest man in the room, but if you know that, what is the counter to that? You know, at this stage in the game, you know, I don't know really what they can do different. Now, once it's over with, you know, they can look at the scheme, they can look at the coach, and they can look at the jimmies and the joes. And, you know, it's kind of getting into a six, one-half to a dozen, the other, you know, type scenario when you see, you know, teams like Indiana and Texas Tech making the college football playoffs with basically a, and, you know, Vanderbilt having such a good season with basically 90% portal-driven rosters.

Thank you. You know, you might be getting into a scenario where, and I'm not trying to discourage anybody from continuing to sign, you know, just stud pony offensive tackles out of high school like Michael Carroll and Jackson Lloyd, but can a coach afford to wait on, you know, a Michael Carroll and a Jonah Williams and a Cam Robinson are unicorns. You're not going to find, you know, guys that are SEC-ready like that. You know, sometimes it takes two and three years for those guys to develop.

So can a coach, especially if it's been an issue, you know, can a coach afford to, you know, it used to be, you know, in the 80s and 90s, if you were an offensive lineman, you got redshirted. And, you know, don't even ask questions, mainly because you had to gain 40 or 50 pounds before you just got on the field. That's not the case anymore. But can a head coach in the, you know, today's climate of, you know, you got to produce a trophy in three years or we're going to go find somebody else that can.

Can a coach afford to wait on that type of development any more like they used to do it? William, I give all the credit to Georgia for being prepared, for being more physical in the line of scrimmage. But I will mention two things. Georgia, this game reminded me of the Oklahoma game. Mistakes in special teams. A player, L.T. Overton, being out. Georgia saw that, took advantage of it. A huge turnover with the interception. In short fields, Georgia scored on drives of 12, 21, 39, and the longest they had to drive was 57.

They had eight drives starting in their own territory and scored one time. And something you mentioned the last couple of weeks, last week, I don't know how much more is left in the tank because of the injuries or the guys who are playing hurt. By the time they got to the fourth quarter, they had eight starters out of the game or who missed for a long time. And that's not even Parker Browsford, Browsford playing on one leg. Daniel Hill's been hurt. Ty Simpson is hurt. Again, I know people say, well, that's excuses, but it's also reality.

Yeah, it is. And I also think, you know, it kind of circles back around to what we were just talking about. You know, because even Kirby Smart, you know, being the second best, it's back in elite depth on a roster next to Nick Saban in the last, you know, 10 years. You know, he doesn't even have that luxury anymore. That's right. You know, it's not like you've got a Marlon Humphrey sitting over there on the sideline if something happens to Zabian Brown or Dijon Lee. So, you know, it's the dynamic and the reality that we're dealing with now.

[1:45:34] And, you know, all these other teams have bumps and bruises. And, you know, don't get me wrong, not all of them have played the schedule that Alabama's played. And the way they were able to navigate that schedule, you know, September after FSU up until the end of October is the only reason why they're sitting where they're sitting. I'm kind of stuck in the middle on that debate. I mean, if you look at their resume, yeah, they deserve to be there. But I also think there needs to be a, you know, kind of a priority put on, you know, yeah, they did this damage in a good way in September and October.

But what does this team look like today? And, you know, I thought that was a little bit of a gamble in Kalen DeBoer's sales pitch. And I don't blame him for doing it, but, you know, to, you know, make some assumptions that the majority of these people are going to be ready to go, you know, in two weeks. And the reality is the majority of them probably aren't going to be ready to go. Wow. Let me ask you this, Redfish. We know that week to week you don't have time in practice to give the backup quarterback enough quality time to get ready.

But now you've got a little extra pad time. And you know where I'm going with this. Is there any, what would you do, as they say, if obviously Ty's going to start, if at the half, would DeBoer pull a Saban and go to the bullpen and bring out a Russell or a Mack? You know, I think that's kind of an, I get where you're coming from, and it's certainly a legitimate question, but it's kind of an apples to orange comparison. When you fit, when you factor in that when Saban did that, they were at a neutral site game.

I don't know if on the road at Norman, Oklahoma against Brent Venerable, excuse me, Brent Venerable's front seven is maybe the, I don't know if the analytics would lean towards that decision being made. But, you know, if you want to give your team the best chance to win and you've basically seen the body of work that the, you know, QB1's been able to produce on that given day, you know, you might have to make that call. You know, I didn't understand why they didn't do it last year when they were at Oklahoma.

Right, right. I agree with you. We have talked about, when positive, the depth that has been developed defensively. Now, they've lost a lot of players and they were forced to do that, but we've talked about Pierre and some of the guys. One guy that caught my attention Saturday is Justin Hill. A lot of these guys have come quite a way since the beginning of the season, William, and we could go down the list, but that's certainly a part there for 2026. The number of reps, a lot of these freshmen, redshirt freshmen, sophomores have received, I know hopefully will pay off in 2026.

Yeah, it is, and I think, you know, Pierre's a good one to highlight because they really need to either hit the portal or have a plan in place for somebody to be, you know, maybe it's a healthy Quay Rousseau, maybe it's Keelan Keeley, you know, maybe it's KJ Henry. But they need to come up with another edge rusher because now you're seeing teams basically focus all their attention on keeping Pierre hemmed up. And they really don't have another guy, certainly not having L.T. Overton, you know, to provide that push on the pocket from the interior part of the defensive line.

But they really need another guy where they can get back to the days of, you know, having, you know, Dallas Turner on one side and Braswell on the other and Will Anderson. I know the Will Andersons don't grow on trees, but they need to have another guy where you just can't double team or chip with the tight end or the back and shut the pass rush game down. That was an issue Saturday as well. Yeah, William, just quickly on recruiting, number four ranked in on three, number five in some of the other services.

Crowell could come in, probably could come in and get a few snaps against Oklahoma. Xavier Griffin, Edwards, Sindarian Morgan. Again, it's going to take time to develop these guys, and they've got to go into the portal, as you mentioned. But your thoughts are what seems like, certainly on paper, an impressive recruiting class. Yeah, I mean, you know, all those guys are, you know, elite, highly ranked players. But, you know, the thing that excited me the most was seeing them take five offensive linemen and five defensive linemen.

Yes, thank you. You know, that's where, you know, this is still a line of scrimmage league, and it's going to be for, you know, if you look at the teams that are doing well, you know, it's still that. But, yeah, man, I'm never going to complain about adding a six-foot-four wide receiver. You know, I'm never going to complain about, certainly, probably the best running back I've seen come out of the state of Alabama since a guy named Carnell Williams, and that was a long time ago.

[1:51:07] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and you could see that Ohio State-Indiana game, how much winning the line of scrimmage paid off. Great stuff. We sincerely appreciate the insight. Have a great week. Let's do this again real soon. Sounds good, guys. Always good talking to you. Right back at you, William. William Redfish Barger, former University of Alabama offensive lineman. Again, in case you missed it, Alabama in at nine, Oklahoma at eight. It's the first game in the playoffs, a Friday night, seven o'clock. Who knows what the weather's going to be?

And if Alabama, by the way, Vegas says Bama is favored by one and a half. If that holds true, they will head even farther west. They would play Indiana in the famed Rose Bowl. Over the years, that's been a pretty nice place for Alabama, BB. Yeah, they've won a few games. With some extent. First things first, they've got to get rid of those guys from Norman. First things first, again, on December 19th. That's going to take your bids for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James, Blair, the entire crew here.

Harold LeBug, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow, noon, to two, for the Bilbo Bug Show. Back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score.