Boomo Bugg Show 120225
93.9 The Score WYTK - December 2, 2025
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-120225/

This transcript was generated automatically from the broadcast audio. Names and some words may be misspelt; the audio is the official record.

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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 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 the big question amongst others of the day is,
how will the crazy coaching carousel affect the fresh crop coming in?
Welcome to National Signing Day Eve.
Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?
It may be a Tuesday to you and the listeners.
That's going to be a big question for tomorrow.
We'll talk about a big show tomorrow, a little bit later in the show.
Speaking of the coaching carousel, may finally be winding down in the SEC as Kentucky hires
Will Stein, offensive coordinator at Oregon, to replace Mark Stoops.
Las Vegas insider Bruce Marshall previews championship Friday and Saturday.
Roger is here right now to recap the Iron Bowl preview Georgia 2.0 and also recap a basketball trail in Las Vegas.
Wow, a pocket full of dough.
Roger Hoover is on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
Football, basketball, softball.
If it's a ball, he's always having it in Tuscaloosa.
So, Roger Hoover, welcome in.
How are you?
Boom, oh, bug.
I'm doing really well.
It's good to be back home in Alabama this week until a little bit later in the week until we have to go to Georgia.
But kind of beats Vegas at this point.
Nice to be home for a little bit.
Have you and the crew picked up your Oscar?
A lot of folks saw that cam in the booth when the big play happened.
And you guys deserve an Oscar, Roger.
I don't think there's any question.
What on family radio can we say that was said at that moment in the booth?
It was just chaos.
It was just absolute chaos.
We're lucky we have Chris Stewart, too, as such a pro that was able to still call all the action.
You know, I was trying to make sure I could help to get a name right.
But then when we got the final play, we knew the game was over.
I think most people saw the crazy reaction Tyler had to the fumble recovery.
I stayed calm on that one.
But once we got that final stop and knowing that the ballgame was over, then I kind of let loose.
And I remember a few minutes afterwards, I'm getting in my postgame show.
I'm like, my right wrist is sore as can be.
Well, I think I had a high-five Butch Owens so quickly, our spotter.
I think I may have even slammed it down on the table once, like in the midst of the celebration as well.
But I'm on the mend.
I'm good to go for this week against Georgia.
And we need more Crimson Tide players to say that getting ready for this ballgame because we know it's going to be physical against a very good Georgia team.
Check it out.
YouTube.
You got to see it.
Roger, talk to us about this team going back to about August 30th, the night of August 30th, to here on December 2nd.
It's been, we're joking the other day from Alabama fans, they're broke because they've been going to see the cardiologist all year.
Every game outside of a couple of the other games, let's talk about it.
I'm talking about a team with a pulse.
It's been a fourth quarter game for the most part.
Talk to us about this journey for this team this year from game one to now.
Well, I think the journey can be summed up in one player, Bray Hubbard, because I don't think there was anyone that was singled out.
And a lot of times unfairly singled out for his play against Florida State.
And look at the response he's had.
It was almost immediate with how well he played the next week against ULM in Wisconsin.
He has come up with big plays ever since.
And then he came up with the biggest plays for Alabama defensively with a second-half interception.
And then obviously forcing that fumble on Cam Coleman just as Auburn was driving and getting ready for what could be a game-time score.
Or as we're all thinking, if Auburn scores the touchdown there, they're probably going to go for two and try and win the game right there.
So for him to make that kind of play I think sums up the kind of grit and toughness that this entire football team has.
And it's just amazing to watch.
It's been so much fun to see them play so well on the road in all tight ballgames in SEC play.
They really had to grind it out, sweat it out against Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, and now here we are against Auburn.
Another good win for this football team.
And I think that's the best thing that this group has going for it.
Towards Atlanta and the SEC championship and beyond in the college football playoff.
They're as battle-tested as any Alabama football team has been in recent years.
And that gives, I think, a lot of us a lot of optimism for what could be ahead in these tough games.
But that are all going to be now on neutral sites, so hopefully moving forward.
Hopefully we don't have to go on the road first round of the playoffs.
Let's just go ahead and get a win in Atlanta and then focus on the destination after that.
Roger, you brought up a good point.
This is going to be game 13.
There's not a team in the country who particularly is playing in championship Friday and Saturday who is healthy.
I've been asked, will Josh Quavis return?
I believe that's a no.
What's the status of Jim Miller?
We'll find out later in the week.
Parker Browsford is basically playing on one leg, according to a couple of sources.
But Geno Vandermark has been in there at center.
Hill will be playing.
Maybe AK Deer will see more of him Saturday.
Roger, again, when you get to this time of the year, as you mentioned, this team's playing on guts.
This team's playing on tenacity.
It's next man up.
And if the starter is not ready to go, the guy behind him will be.
Yeah, that's been really impressive.
And that's what we felt good about going into the season, right, Brad,
is that Alabama had some really good depth towards the season.
And now it's being tested as to get ready for game 13, like you mentioned.
So, hopefully some good updates as the week goes along.
And the injury report will come out tomorrow night initially to kind of see where things stand.
But we need some of these guys healthy and back and just finding a way.
Even like Parker Browsford, like you mentioned, he was able to play some against Auburn.
If he was able to play some against Georgia, that means that Alabama's going to have some good possessions out there.
And if it has to be Gino Vanderbark for the majority of the game, so be it.
He played really well.
But you just want to be able to get these guys out there just to contribute anything they can
in a game that really means everything.
Roger Hoover, Crimson Tide Network.
Roger, obviously they say what's hard is to beat a team that's really good one time.
What's really hard is to beat a good team two times in the same season.
This is the rematch.
It's not the first time these two teams have been in this rodeo.
The difference is, it's amazing how Alabama draws a short straw.
They beat Georgia at Georgia.
And correct me if I'm wrong, they're going to play them again at the Georgia Dome, not the Alabama Dome.
Your thoughts just about the fact that they've shown that they can beat Georgia anywhere, maybe outside of Indianapolis.
But what about round two?
What's going to be different this time around?
Well, I think all the jokes about Jordan-Hare Stadium being haunted, but if you really think about it, it's more so haunted for Auburn.
Auburn can't pull it out against Alabama.
I think it's kind of similar from Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Georgia against Alabama.
I mean, that's just a spot in a game where they have just not been able to move past Alabama.
And frankly, in some years when they were more talented than the Crimson Tide, I think two years ago was an example.
That was a better Georgia football team.
But on that day, Alabama was the better team, and that turned out to be Coach Saban's final SEC championship and final win as the Crimson Tide head coach.
I think it's all about what happens in this game between the lines.
You know, Tyler Watson and I discussed it last night on Crimson Tide Rewind.
You know, he talked about in 1999 Alabama did not have as good of a football team as the Florida Gators,
but went to the Swamp, beat them in overtime in Gainesville, and later in the year no one gave Alabama a chance against Florida in the SEC championship game,
and it turned out to be a very good win for the Crimson Tide in that game.
So I'm hoping something similar is going to happen coming up this year,
and just hoping that the Crimson Tide can just kind of focus on this game for what it is.
And still, we haven't seen Alabama's best football yet.
I know that's crazy to say as it's 12 games in, and even that great win against Georgia,
you still felt like you were a little bit off from having Alabama's full potential reach defensively and offensively
on that great night in September when a lot of things came together.
So you're just hopeful now that this is maybe the game where Ty Simpson is able to hit some of these long throws downfield
and start hitting some of these home runs as opposed to some of these shorter passes to guys like Isaiah Horton in the red zone.
Now let's really break it open and have the best day Alabama's had.
Some teams have been able to move the ball against Georgia pretty effectively this year,
and Georgia's offense has been Jekyll and Hyde a little bit.
Some weeks they look great, you know, against Ole Miss, against Texas.
Look outstanding.
The great rally they had earlier in the season, even before we played them against Tennessee.
Some weeks they can't really get much done offensively, notably against Georgia-Texas past week in that same building.
So let's see what we have.
I think it's a fascinating matchup.
It's always entertaining when it's Alabama against Georgia,
and I'm really excited for what's coming up this week.
Roger, this second year we talked about it yesterday with William Redfish Barger.
Keon Saab had five tackles, led the team with two pass breakups.
Bray Hubbard involved in the two turnovers.
But Xavier Brown put on a master class against one of the best, most talented receivers in the country,
and Cam Coleman, he held him to only five catches for 43 yards, despite being targeted double digits.
This secondary, I know they gave up two 60-yard plays to Malcolm Simmons, and Auburn's a talented team.
But this secondary is very talented.
It really is, and the John Lee has come on as the season's gone along,
and I think whether it's him or Damani Jackson, even Damani Jackson,
even though he may not have as large of a role in that secondary,
he made some plays against Auburn this past week as well.
And Red Morgan's emergence has really been great to see for, I think,
somebody that Alabama fans really root for.
And the Phoenix City native, who may be a little undersized compared to some other players,
but it's fast and physical to the football.
I think he's somebody that everybody can really root for.
So this group has a lot of confidence, and Georgia's wide receiving core
is not the most talented Alabama's faced this year,
and probably in a lot of ways isn't as talented as the group that we just saw this past week,
notably with the player you mentioned, Cam Coleman.
So I think that's another point of data for fans to look at and say,
all right, Alabama's going to be all right in this matchup.
It's not overwhelming going up against this Georgia passing attack,
because really, with a few exceptions, the Georgia passing attack
hasn't been overwhelming to some of the teams they faced this year.
Roger, obviously, if you listen to Alabama fans, you get the same questions we do
as far as the up and down with Ty relative to the first three or four ballgames.
We know that one reason, these defensive coordinators make a lot of money, so they adjust.
Your thoughts about his performance in the second half,
and, of course, the missing link that I think a lot of folks said
Alabama would be in the SEC championship game without Ryan Williams.
He's been missing from action relative to where he started.
Your thoughts about Ty and Ryan?
I think he's only been missing in the way that he just hasn't been targeted,
and he's still been out there in a lot of key plays,
especially with some of the touchdowns in the red zone to Isaiah Horton.
You know, Ryan was out there.
Ty's got a lot of different options,
and sometimes you're not going to connect with certain players as much.
But I think Ryan is in good shape.
I think people kind of questioned this a few weeks ago against Missouri as well,
and then he's able to bounce back right away and have a big performance
when Alabama needs it against LSU.
So I wouldn't read too much into it.
Again, he's healthy.
He is good to go,
and I think you're probably going to see him targeted a little more.
And, you know, Ryan Williams has a knack for big catches against Georgia,
so I'd watch out if I'm the Georgia Bulldogs.
He's a good decoy, too, by the way.
Ryan Williams is having a sophomore slump.
Listen, Harold and I are biased, but you did a marvelous job in Las Vegas.
I stayed up for most of the games.
Alabama lost to Gonzaga 95-85 and then ran UNLV in Maryland out of the gym,
scoring 100 points both.
They got in another critical game tomorrow night with Clemson in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
We know Las Vegas can be a little bit fun off the court,
but I thought you and Brian Passing did a marvelous job,
and that was really quite a trip to Las Vegas.
It really was.
It's a great tournament, and it's a tournament that I don't know
if it's been officially announced that Alabama is going back in.
I would assume Alabama would be part of the field as it continues to expand.
I know Nate Oates really likes this tournament,
and it's become the premier kind of pre-conference events that we have in our sports.
So I'm glad that Alabama continues to be at the forefront of this.
It's great for the players with the NIL money
and just the experience that they get to have,
and they'll also really be in a good spot with their families.
Plenty of hotel rooms available, easy to get tickets to these ballgames.
I think it's a really well-run tournament.
So lessons learned against Gonzaga, the main lesson, rebound.
You've got to keep rebounding.
I think Nate's going to be saying that one word over and over again the rest of the season.
If this group can do that and if they can shoot it as well as they did against UNLV on Tuesday,
Maryland on Wednesday, this is going to be a special team.
And this is also a group that has to get healthy.
Really tough injuries out there with Latrell Reitzel Jr. unavailable,
as well as Keaton Bristow.
They're kind of still day-to-day as we get ready for Clemson tomorrow night.
So it'll be important to get this group healthy, just like the football team,
in order to see what they can fully do.
But I think it's going to be a fun matchup against Clemson.
They may not be ranked.
It may not be as attention-grabbing as some of the names like St. John's,
Purdue, Illinois, Gonzaga that we've faced so far this year.
But it's still a really good basketball team that we only saw a couple years ago
in the Elite Eight with a Final Four berth on the line.
Not as much on the line this time around as we meet in early December,
but it's still a great opportunity for the Crimson Tide.
And I think everyone's looking forward to being back together
and seeing this group in Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa tomorrow.
Tell us about the week, Crimson Rewind, as you mentioned with Tyler last night.
Crimson Drive, I saw Chris Stewart, is one of the guys.
By the way, if you haven't seen Kalen DeBoer, everybody says,
well, you know, he's kind of stuffy, he's kind of subdued.
Watch the clip of Kalen DeBoer giving Chris a hug on camera.
That's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.
He has quite a personality that a lot of fans don't understand.
Hey, Coach, on Wednesday.
And then, of course, in Atlanta at the Mercedes Dome on Saturday.
Tell us about your week.
Yeah, pretty much all the football, basketball things you mentioned
that we're going to be right there.
Yeah, Crimson Drive gets us started this afternoon.
We're going to have a good conversation not only with Chris,
but also Damian Square, who used to be our sideline reporter.
He was the captain of that team in 2012 that beat Georgia on that thrilling finish at the end of the T.J.
Moseley tip pass, and all of a sudden time ran out for a driving Georgia football team.
He tells us he didn't even know Alabama was ahead at that point of the game.
He didn't know what the score was at all.
That's how locked in and focused that group was.
Ironically enough, led by Kirby Smart as the defensive coordinator that year.
So really fun stories, though, with Damian coming up this afternoon.
And then we'll have Hey Coach tomorrow night.
So Chris is going to be there with Coach DeBoer at Baumhauer's.
I'll be teaming up again with Brian Pastink on the basketball call for the Clemson game.
So looking forward to that.
Women's basketball.
We're also at home against Clemson on Thursday.
So it's deja vu all over again coming up on Thursday nights as we settle in for Alabama against Clemson in basketball in both men's and women's basketball the next two days.
And then it's on to Atlanta for what's a very special game, the SEC championship game, which I hope as we move forward in college football, we find a way to keep this game as important as it always has been.
For us growing up, once that game got introduced, it became the highlight of the year, whether it was in Birmingham or eventually finding its good home in Atlanta.
I hope college football recognizes how special a game like this is.
And I'm thrilled we get to be a part of it again coming up this year.
Roger, as always, appreciate your time.
I know it's early December, but I'm going to predict pretty good weather conditions for the game for the crew Saturday.
How about that?
Yeah, I think 72 degrees.
And if it gets any warmer, it might get up to 73.
If it gets any colder, it might get down to 71.
We'll be ready for it.
Stay tuned.
Hey, Roger, safe travels to and from.
Tom, and thanks so much for your time today.
Enjoy it, guys.
Thank you.
Roll time.
Thank you, bud.
The Roger, Roger Hoover, Crimson Tide Sports Network from Alabama to Auburn and Brian Matthews on deck.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The Score.
Welcome back week.
Absolutely nothing happening over the past week down the plain.
I think maybe Brian Matthews might disagree with that.
He's a senior editor for AuburnSports.com.
Brian, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm doing great, guys.
How are y'all?
Hey, buddy.
Hey, we're doing all right.
We're just sitting here thumbing through the research, Brian.
Alabama's head coach is from South Dakota.
Auburn's new coach is from Russia.
It's just like Bear Bryant and Pat Dye predicted all those years ago, right?
Yeah.
I mean, they're ready for whatever weather comes at them, right?
You got that right.
Prepare for that.
All right.
The curtain is up on the brand new era.
Is it early Christmas on the plains?
You was there.
You saw it.
What are your impressions, and what about this new era of Auburn football?
I mean, I was pretty impressed.
He's a coach that's been on the heartboard from the start.
You know, we followed him, but we never listed him as really a front runner or in the top two
until really getting into the last maybe 24 hours or so, 48 hours before Sunday when he was officially announced.
But he's the guy, I think, that really grows on you when you look at his background.
He's got the SEC coaching experience at Tennessee.
His offenses have been pretty impressive.
Over 500 yards, over 40 points per game this year at South Florida.
You know, a guy that seems like a football guy, really, one of those guys that lives and breathes football.
He's going to be over the complex for long hours working to, I won't say rebuild, because I don't think Auburn people want to hear that word,
but working to bring Auburn back into championship contention where Auburn people believe and strongly believe that's where this team belongs,
that's where this program belongs.
So, yeah, I was pretty impressed with everything I've seen from him so far.
Good having Cody Burns back, I think, as his right-hand man.
And we'll see how, you know, the staff and everything comes together.
A big signing day coming up.
Then you're going to go through the process with the transfer portal and, you know, who stays, who goes, and who comes in.
So, still a long way to process everything that's going on.
And the one thing I would say to people out there, you know, that are closely watching things, don't overreact.
We don't know how things are going to pull out.
You know, a player may say, oh, my God, this is terrible.
And then he gets to know his new position coach and they have a great relationship.
He ends up staying.
So, you just don't know how this is going to progress over the next several weeks.
You had a very good Monday musings yesterday, and we try to highlight that with you on Mondays.
Lanking and Edge, you made the comment, and I think everybody noticed this.
In the Iron Bowl on Saturday night, the first 20 minutes, Auburn came out and looked scared.
And you noted that it's inexcusable.
And also, Auburn needs a winner.
Auburn has been in its best when it plays hard-nosed, tough, selfish football.
Now, I'll say the defense has done that from time to time in the last couple of years.
Pat Dyer and Tommy Toberville were certainly microcosms of that.
But he's got a chance to come in and basically set his benchmarks.
And you alluded to some of it, but hard-nosed, tough, selfish players needs to be a part of it, too.
It does.
And that's sort of what he talked about he wants from his players.
He talked a lot about, excuse me, that's a very loud car.
He talked a lot about being process-driven, right?
He mentioned that over and over.
He talked about that a lot during his time at USF.
And I think fans of the state will recognize that.
That's very much what Nick Saban did for 17 years, right?
It's not the process.
It's about practice.
It's about everything else getting to that game, not the actual game.
If you do the process right, you'll get to the game.
It'll be much easier.
Easy is probably not the word that Saban or our coaches would use.
But you know what I'm saying, right?
Yeah.
So I think that's going to be a little bit different.
That'll be an adjustment for the players.
You know, it's going to be a little bit more strict, I would imagine, in the way they go about things.
But I just, you know, we'll see how it turns out.
I'm not going to get on any show or message board or write a story about how I think Alex Golesh is the be-all-end-all
and Auburn's done a great job and he's going to turn Auburn around.
Yeah, I'm just not that person to do that, especially what Auburn's gone through the last six, seven years
with this revolving door of coaches.
So we'll see how it turns out.
I like what I've seen so far.
I've seen some positive signs.
But, you know, we'll know more about nine, ten months from now, right?
I think we're both from Missouri.
You've got to show me before I sit here and comment.
You know, you earn it and I'll give it, but no free tickets based on what we've seen over the past few years.
Brian Matthews, AuburnSports.com.
Brian, a lot of folks thought John Somerl was going to be the man.
Your thoughts just back to that word process.
What happened there?
Well, I mean, there are two competing narratives, so I don't know exactly what happened.
I'm inclined not to believe either of them fully.
I think Auburn's side is that they started getting, you know, some, you know, not as much feedback from him.
And he was maybe playing them to up his salary and looking at other jobs at the same time, you know.
Right.
I think his perspective was that, you know, Auburn was trying to force circuit on them or was lowballing them.
So we've heard both things, and I don't know exactly what's right.
I'm not sure I'll ever know what's right.
But Auburn's hired Alex Goldish now, so it really doesn't matter in the big picture.
Obviously, a lot of people say, how's he going to do as a head coach?
My answer to that is, who's he going to hire around him?
I think that was part of Nick's success.
He could recruit five-star players and five-star assistants.
What are you hearing about the staff?
I mean, it's coming together.
He's going to bring a lot of guys from USF.
He already has, especially on the offensive side.
Not as many yet defensively.
We still don't have an answer on Durkin.
I think that's going to come fairly soon.
They can't wait too long.
You've got Sunday tomorrow.
You've got kids on the team wanting to make decisions, and they need to hire DC.
So we'll see how that goes.
But, you know, I mentioned Cody Burns is here already.
He brought in his director of scouting, Alex Fagan.
Offensive coordinator, Gerald Gordon.
I think Cody is co-offensive coordinator, I believe, and associate head coach, something like that.
Offensive line coach, Tyler Hudnick.
I hope I say these names right as here.
Cornerbacks coach, DeMarcus Van Dyke.
They brought in strength coach, George Cordy.
Again, I'm not sure if that's the pronunciation yet, but this is just early with this.
I'm sure there are a lot more guys, and we just haven't put a name to a face yet.
But that's going to be a process.
He said his number one thing coming in was the current roster.
So that would be developing relationships with those guys and figuring out who they want
to keep and if those guys they want to keep want to stay, right?
And then along with recruiting and along with hiring a staff.
So those are the first three big things he's going to be working on over the next seven plus days.
Let me ask you about recruiting National Signing Day tomorrow.
There's no way in the world Alex Golich hasn't been there 24 hours yet.
And the 2027 class and 2028 are going to be his classes.
Auburn has had, and I know you've got a recruiting crew that's going to be quite busy in the next two days.
Braylon Womack flipped to Mississippi State, a very coveted talent.
Peyton Falzone, the four-star quarterback, has decommitted the backup at Penn State.
And then I know an offensive lineman.
But the other part of this is he's going to bring with him eventually some of his commits at South Florida.
Marcus Brown was committed to South Florida for a long time.
Yeah, exactly.
I think their quarterback is committed, which is his name I don't know yet.
He's definitely looking hard at all right now.
And Byron Brown, their quarterback who threw for over 3,000 yards and ran for over 1,000 so far this season.
He's got a year of eligibility left.
So that's one that we'll be talking about probably going into the portal season once that gets started.
So, yeah, there's going to be a lot of movement.
Recruiting-wise, probably some surprises, I would imagine, just because, as you mentioned,
they've been recruiting a whole bunch of guys.
And maybe there's guys out there that they couldn't get at South Florida because they didn't have the financial resources or they weren't a big enough program.
Where now that they've got Auburn money and they've got the Auburn program, maybe they can make another run at those guys.
So we'll see.
But expecting a little bit of upheaval in recruiting over the next 24, 36 hours or so.
Yeah, I think their quarterback's name is Reese Brush.
And I'm like you.
I'm not quite sure about the first name.
Let me ask you before we go.
D.J. Durkin has been a centerpiece of this.
I know he and Alex Golesh have met several times.
And, again, it's not a bad thing if he decides to bring in his own defensive coordinator.
But I know Auburn fans appreciate everything that he's tried to do the last two years.
Your gut feeling, will D.J. Durkin be a part of his staff?
I don't have a good gut right now.
My gut might have said no yesterday and was feeling better about it.
Maybe it possibly happened last night.
And now I probably, if I had to, you know, nail my hands down or whatever, maybe 51-49, he says.
But I just don't know that for sure.
If he stays, he's going to make about $3 million and be one of the highest-paid coordinators in the country.
But, you know, maybe there are other factors for him.
He's in the running, I think, for at least one head coaching position, maybe.
I don't think he's a favorite.
We'll see.
So that's another factor you have to kind of look at, too.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, it has been an amazing, I'm sure, 72 hours for you and the staff.
And then you're staring National Signing Day in the face.
Where can we get online and get continuing coverage of the coaching hire, who he hires as far as assistants?
Oh, by the way, the Pearl Boys still are playing basketball in the portals here about a month away.
Where can we get online to get all the good stuff?
Yeah, just check us out at AuburnSports.com.
We probably had 40 or so updates to our stories, content since Goalist was hired.
So we are blowing out of coverage of the hire, the recruiting impact, the staff, everything at AuburnSports.com on the Revival Network.
You can sign up online right now.
You'll get a great deal.
And you can follow me on Twitter and slash X at BMATAU.
Well, you know, with all that work you mentioned, he's going to get some of that Auburn money.
You need to talk to him, Brian, about you getting some of that Auburn money, okay?
I'll do my best.
Okay.
Good luck, buddy.
Good luck.
Go ahead, Brian, man.
Hook it up with us, senior at AuburnSports.com.
I'll tell you what, B.B., I'm just sitting here listening to that.
If he brings in all these quarterbacks, what about Deuce Knight and Ashton Daniels?
Where do they wind up next year?
That's a good question.
Stay tuned.
And the latest from Vegas about what's going on in Atlanta and elsewhere this weekend with Bruce Marshall on deck.
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The score.
Men's hoops last night.
Troy was beaten by West Georgia in double overtime.
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Troy drops to 5-5.
Thomas Dowd had 20 points and 14 rebounds.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back to a quick programming reminder.
Coming up tomorrow, all you recruiting gurus and fanatics
to expand the coverage 11-2 right here on 93.9 The Score.
And amongst the folks who are going to be on the inside looking out
is the guru himself, Tom Lemming from CBS Sports.
Again, it's 11-2 tomorrow.
B.B., you know who else does a fantastic job at the CBS Sports line?
Well, our next guest, Bruce Marshall.
I keep telling people he's the gold standard.
By the way, Harold Bugg, I've got some breaking news too.
The one and only Paul Feinbaum just announced on AL.com that he is not going to run for Tommy
Tomberville's Senate position.
So, Paul Feinbaum will continue to follow the Boomo Bugg show, but just announced, Paul Feinbaum is not, N-O-T, not running for Senate.
Well, I guess Jimmy Sexton says, I can get you a better deal.
Bruce Marshall's always a good deal.
He's with Las Vegas Insider, BounceSports.net.
And as we mentioned, CBS Sports line, winners and whiners, picks and parlays, and bet rivers.
Bruce Marshall, welcome in.
How are you?
Geez, I was looking forward to Rachel Maddow interviewing Paul Feinbaum.
There you go.
That would be must-see TV, would it not, Bruce?
That would.
What were the Vegas odds on Armageddon hitting the SEC coaching ranks this weekend?
Bruce, have you ever seen anything like it?
No, I haven't.
I mean, I haven't seen anything like this Kiffin stuff since, you know, O.J. and the white Bronco chase and then riding from Rockingham back to the police department when we had the helicopters following him.
I think that was the only thing we were missing.
It was something else.
And, I mean, listen, there's a couple things about Kiffin.
I'll say this.
I mean, the guys you know, I mean, Brett in Memphis and Richard Cross, Michael Borky, these guys who cover Ole Miss and know Kiffin, all seem to like him.
You know, and they, past Ole Miss, they haven't all been that way, past Ole Miss coaches.
They've told me they haven't liked the guy.
They all seem to like Kiffin.
He's not going to, you know, go out and play golf with the sports writers and all that.
But they did seem to think he's kind of a pleasant guy.
And I think you can be self-absorbed and be kind of a pleasant guy, sort of.
And I think this is just what Lane is.
But I think, you know, some of the quotes we saw from last week are pretty funny.
Lane's the only guy who can try to burn a bridge while trying to stand on it.
I mean, what we hear he did at Ole Miss was like threatening Ole Miss.
If you don't let me coach the playoff, I'm going to take all my players to LSU and my staff with me.
I mean, that's Kiffin-esque there.
But, I mean, it is what it is.
He may be the perfect fit for LSU.
And I always thought he will kind of embrace the insanity there.
And it takes a special – we never thought – Brian Kelly never looked comfortable.
He never looked comfortable anywhere.
But, I mean, he certainly didn't.
In Baton Rouge, plus the fact he was a Yankee down there, that did not help him one bit.
But I have a feeling Kiffin – it's just sort of – and I always thought Kiffin, you know,
before the Tide hired DeBoer, that Kiffin would probably be a guy who could handle the Alabama job, too,
just all the pressures with it, just because it sort of rolls off its back.
So, in a way, I think this might really work for LSU.
And it makes – listen, those guys down there, Jimmy Ott and Charlie Hanegger,
those guys I talked to in Baton Rouge, they are thrilled, whatever they think of Kiffin.
I mean, he's must-see – it's sort of like what MSNOW, they call it, CNN, and Trump.
I mean, he's great for ratings, and Trump's great for their ratings,
and Kiffin is great for the media down there, whatever they think of him.
It's going to be a show they can't miss.
It's a Hollywood marriage, in my opinion.
It's going to be – the beat writers, they're going to have a ball with that.
But I was going to ask you, if you already answered that one, if it's going to work.
Let me ask you this, Bruce, is it going to work with the marriage now, the new marriage at Auburn?
It's a good question.
Because the SEC is so tough, we will see.
I think Golesh has a better shot to make it work than Freeze did,
just because he's really progressive offensively.
And we saw Auburn struggle the last couple years, and that surprised me a bit.
I thought Freeze would be able to get that thing cranked up a little bit better, but he didn't.
South Florida was as fun a team, as fun to watch as any team in the country.
And by the way, that's the best team in the American, and they've got to kick themselves.
They blew that game to Memphis, and they blew that game to Navy.
I mean, they are better than Tulane.
They beat North Texas by three touchdowns in Denton.
So, I mean, we won't see them in the playoff, but I think Golesh, you know,
they'll be more fun to watch.
Now, it's tough to win in the SEC.
I mean, shoot, look, go back to the old Norseworthy thing.
Somebody's got to lose in this league.
This year it was Arkansas, and Auburn lost more than it should have, probably.
And Auburn was not a bad team this year, but at 5-7, you know, you can be good
and still finish at 500 in the SEC.
So, my answer is, I think he's got a better shot than Freeze.
It'll be more fun to watch.
If he's going to win enough to satisfy the Auburn fan base, that I'm not sure.
We will see.
Let me ask you about John Summerall.
Harold and I are biased because we know him pretty well, his roots,
and playing at Huntsville at Grissom High School, then, of course,
playing at Kentucky, coaching at Troy, Ole Miss, et cetera.
I know some Florida fans have said, oh, Lord, we've hired another Sunbelt coach.
He is not Billy Napier 2.0.
Your thoughts on John Summerall going to Florida?
I think Florida might have actually lucked into something here with Kiffin sort of dropping out.
They might have got the better coach, although we'll see about that.
But even if not, Summerall's close, and you won't have all the Kiffin drama there.
Really?
And I think, you know, when somebody asked me the other day who's going to be at their job longer,
Summerall or Kiffin, and that's tough to answer in the SEC.
I said, there's maybe a better chance Summerall's going to last longer at Florida.
Maybe this is what they've been looking for.
He checks every box.
And, you know, Troy and Tulane here, and they didn't skip a beat at Tulane after Willie Fritz left.
This year, I mean, they had to scramble some at Tulane because of the quarterback thing.
Finley leaving school there in spring, and, you know, Retzlaff, they found Retzlaff,
and it's worked out pretty well.
I mean, they make the playoff.
So, I think Summerall, he's a home run, I think.
But then again, here we are.
We're in the SEC, and it's so darn tough.
But I think they have as good a chance of Summerall as any.
And I have a single goal of Summerall, so I hope it works.
And the thing is, Bruce, he is a down-home guy.
Unlike, let's face it, Kiffin was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
He's always known the good life.
Summerall, he still maintains a residence in Huntsville.
He has four kids.
He married his high school sweetheart from over at Grissom High.
So, he knows what it's like to come up and earn his stripes, as opposed to Kiffin,
who basically has always had the Mercedes waiting in the parking lot for him, you know.
So, I think he knows what hard work is.
You've got to go earn it.
As far as the balance of the coaches out there, what's your assessment of Arkansas
and all the other places, Kentucky, your thoughts about those hires?
Well, Kentucky's the interesting one.
Well, Arkansas, I guess they all are.
Kentucky didn't, they must have had their eye on Will Stein for a while,
because that didn't, that happened really quick after, after Stoops got pushed out.
I mean, that whole, that was, you know, 48 hours, 24 hours.
That all happened.
And I'm, and I'm pretty sure Stein is a Sexton guy, because he worked for Lanny and, you know,
but it seems to fit, I mean, he's from, I know I went to Louisville, but I mean, he's a Kentucky guy.
And there, I mean, listen, Kentucky, after watching that offense the last couple of years,
Stein's offenses have been really, really as sharp as you can get at Oregon the last few years.
So, I like that hire from that perspective.
But again, is he going to win enough there?
It's Kentucky.
Nobody ever seems to win consistently more than Stoops.
And he hits your ceiling at seven, eight wins, but we'll see.
But I think that gives him a better chance to compete.
Silverfield, his star might have fallen, I thought, a little bit late in the season,
when Memphis started to blow some games late.
But he did keep that program very relevant after Norvell left.
Remember, Norvell got them in the, well, let's call it the New Year's Six Bowls,
and they were the rep in 2019, played Penn State in the Cotton Bowl.
But, you know, Norvell had left for Florida State right before that,
so they promoted Silverfield.
We thought he was in line for somewhere.
You know, I don't think he was Arkansas' first choice, but we will see.
Again, I mean, he's taken over a program that he did not win an SEC game
on a 10-game losing streak now.
So he's got a lot of work ahead of him.
I kind of like the Stein hire a little bit more to tell you the truth, but we'll see.
Let's talk some games.
We'll get to Atlanta in a second.
Indiana at Ohio State.
A lot of people are saying, well, first time since Oregon,
Indiana's going to be playing a team with a pulse.
Fernando Menendez has got a chance to make a Heisman statement.
Ohio State just bullied Michigan.
They just whipped Michigan at the line of scrimmage.
Sam used Jeremiah Smith, Cornell Tate.
Ohio State, a five-and-a-half-point favorite in Indianapolis.
Do they win in cover?
I think so.
I think for the time being, I've had it picking against Ohio State.
I mean, there's just no use in doing that.
I mean, like you said, Brett, the line of scrimmage, they really own that against Michigan.
Yeah, I went in even watching them this year, and I mean, every game's sort of the same.
It's just grinding everybody up.
Even, you know, back to the title game last year against Notre Dame, and I remember watching that,
and I sort of watched it on that sky cam that they have on ESPN.
But you could tell up front, Ohio State was just really winning the line of scrimmage.
Notre Dame was fortunate.
Riley Leonard kept them in the game, but up front, Ohio State was just dominating, and that's what they're doing this year.
And that's why I am not, and I think we mentioned this last week about Julian Sands' Heisman candidacy.
I don't buy that yet.
It has just been too easy for this kid.
He's got all day to throw.
I know he's good, but, you know, it's just been too easy for him.
Mendoza, I think, might win.
Probably it's my vote.
I'm back to him after I was on the Haynes King bandwagon.
But I'm thinking if Mendoza has a decent game, he actually might win it.
But I'm not.
You're right.
Indiana, we did see the Oregon game, so they're really good.
And they didn't look as outmatched in the playoff against Notre Dame as, say, SMU did against Penn State last year.
So they might put up a fight for a while.
But under a touchdown, I cannot pick against Ohio State.
As much as that pains me, I can't pick against Ohio State.
I know it does.
Not the president of the Ryan Day fan club.
He's Bruce Marshall, Vegas insider.
A couple of things, Bruce.
Number one, the poll comes out tonight, the only one that matters.
Where will Alabama be in it, given the chaos at Ole Miss and obviously some of the changes over the past week?
And speaking of games, what's going to happen Saturday in the rematch of Alabama and Georgia for all the marbles in the SEC?
Well, first, we'll talk about the poll tonight.
The interesting thing for me is that last year, the poll guys said that effectively this is the poll that counts because they said they weren't going to move positions based on the conference title games.
So the interesting thing for me is at the edge of the field, I think Alabama then should be okay.
I think they're probably going to be probably 10th tonight.
And even if they lose to Georgia, I can't see them getting knocked out.
The intrigue for me is if BYU is at 11.
If BYU loses to Texas Tech, Miami is going to be next in line.
And maybe they leapfrogged Miami over BYU tonight.
I don't know.
But that's the only intrigue for me.
And then we'll see what happens.
The ACC, Virginia would be in if they win.
I'm not sure Duke would be in if Duke beats Virginia.
In fact, I think in that case, maybe Miami does get in as an at-large, so the ACC might not be shut out.
But that's the whole thing tonight.
It's right at the edge, I think.
And this is my problem with them announcing all this beforehand.
A lot of the drama really is sort of taken out of it.
It's like knowing the score of a boxing match from the officials and judges along the way.
And you know after the 14th round, the way this decision is going to go.
So this is the one tonight that I think the only drama is there who's at 11 tonight.
Bama's going to be at 10, even if they lose to Georgia.
I don't think they're going to knock them beneath Texas or beneath poor Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt's going to be left out of this thing.
I know there are a lot of people in Nashville upset, but that's just the way the schedule works
and the way they pick these things.
They're going to be the first or second team out, no matter what, I think.
All right.
Give us your prediction, Alabama and Georgia 2.0.
And you mentioned number 11, BYU.
They're at Texas Tech.
It's a rematch of a game that Texas Tech won earlier and held BYU to only 67 points.
Penn State is flirting with Kalani Satake, the BYU coach.
We'll see where that goes.
Your prediction on Alabama-Georgia and does Texas Tech beat BYU again?
Yeah, Alabama-Georgia.
I'm kind of thinking Alabama.
And the reason I'm saying that is as much as I've been waving the flag for Gunnar Stockton
and I keep comparing him to Stetson Bennett and Scrappy and all that, well, you know, he can have games like he can still have games like last week against Georgia Tech
where it didn't look like he could complete a pass.
I mean, it's really, you know, he's Bill Kilmer.
I mean, he's sort of like that.
I mean, he's never going to look that good with him.
And he is always liable to, you know, not have, I mean, to have like a bad game.
And I don't think Georgia beats Bama if he plays anything like he did against Georgia Tech last week.
Bama's sort of a survivor this year.
I mean, they did go into Georgia and win.
They are the team that they took out Vanderbilt.
I mean, I know they lost that game to Oklahoma late, but that was sort of weird.
I mean, the turnovers.
And I know they have to run the ball a little bit better, but darn it, they seem to be able to find a way to,
Simpson seems to be able to make plays.
And I, actually, as much as I've been a Stockton Bennett, I kind of like Simpson a bit more.
So I'm going to take Bama to win this close.
And that'll, you know, erase all doubt.
Would that knock Georgia out of the top four and a bye?
Possibly.
We'll have to see if that was the case to Texas Tech and move into the top four.
I think they beat BYU.
I mean, this team is not, you know, they won with three different quarterbacks this year.
This is the sort of depth that they've developed.
And, again, we talked about football GMs and, you know, with Barton Simmons at Vanderbilt,
my favorite example, doing a great job.
James Blanchard at Texas Tech is the other one.
Notre Dame tried to pull him out of there, and Cody Campbell came in and said,
uh-uh, we're going to bump your salary up, stay here in Lubbock.
He and McGuire have a really good working relationship.
And they've got all the nil money they need.
But it's not just money.
We talked about this last week.
If that's it, then if it's just money, then, you know, the New York Mets would win the World Series.
That's right.
This guy knows what he's doing.
And they have put the building blocks together.
I think Texas Tech wins maybe something like the first game at BYU.
The Satake rumors have to be distracting at BYU, I think.
I don't think – I think Arizona – Arizona should have beat BYU.
Arizona's the second-best team in that league.
Should have been playing Texas Tech here.
But I think Texas Tech wins.
And if Georgia loses, Texas Tech is going to take advantage and get a bye, I think.
Well, you're a winner if you follow Bruce Marshall.
Still the gold standard.
College basketball, some big games tonight.
Alabama hosts Clemson tomorrow.
NFL, hockey, you name it.
You follow it and do a great job.
Tell us about the many platforms we can find the great Bruce Marshall on.
Well, thanks, Brett.
Yeah, a lot of college hoops tonight.
Boy, some good games.
Watch this Iowa-Michigan State game in the Big Ten.
I know we've got some other big games going tonight, but watch this.
And Iowa's a team – we know Michigan State's good,
but I kind of like what Ben McCollum's doing at Iowa.
Watch that one among other college games.
I've got some picks on that one and other ones tonight at my old platforms.
That's VegasInsider.com, CBSSportsLine, SportsLine.com,
and picks with a different twist at WinnersAndWeiners.com,
picksandparlays.com.
Bruce is always good to catch up with you, man.
After last weekend, I don't know what in the world we're going to do
for an encore this weekend, but we'll give it a shot.
Thanks so much, and have a great and safe week, okay?
Have a good week, boys.
Thank you.
Thank you, buddy.
Bruce Marshall again, amongst other places.
Vegas in Saturday.
Coming up, Matt Michelle on deck,
talking about the chaos down in Florida and LSU.
Joe Cox all over the SEC.
And Thomas Ashworth says it's time for the big showdowns of the high school grid irons.
That and more spread ahead of the boom old bug show.
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A meeting that was held this past Monday night by the Hoover Zoning Commission was packed out by community members who are opposed to a particular rezoning proposition.
The commission ended up voting no on approving the rezoning application coming from the Islamic Academy of Alabama.
The Islamic Academy was seeking to repurpose the Meadowbrook corporate park and turn it into a K-12 school and Muslim community center.
The city planner, Mack Martin, says his staff found that the proposal did not align with the comprehensive plan first established for that corporate park.
Attorney Lucas Gambino represented the Islamic Academy in this meeting, while community members turned out to address the commission for 40 minutes with their concerns over the rezoning proposition,
the effects on traffic, and the precedent that it would set if a school is placed in a corporate park.
The commission ultimately made a motion to deny a recommendation to the Hoover City Council that issue could be addressed by the Hoover City Council as early as its January meeting.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.
Did you know that 70% of people experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime and that 6 out of every 100 adults face PTSD every day?
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The Chelsea City Council will be holding a meeting tonight regarding a proposed construction of a Target department store on Highway 47 in Chelsea Corners Way.
A developer is looking to acquire some 30 acres in that area for the project and then sell that land to Target if they commit to building a store there.
The developer and Target company are seeking economic incentives from the city of Chelsea.
Community members will be able to make public statements and or questions about this plan.
I'm Andrea Tyson.
For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.
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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.
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Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.
Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in our Totally Boomo Bugg Show.
I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
Maybe is it me, or is it just getting colder as the day wears on out there?
It is a cold day.
Once you get to December, it's cold and rainy.
But, you know, it always turns cold and rainy for the Super 7.
Yeah, it's amazing.
And it's here upon us, and nobody's got an eye on it better and closer than Thomas Ashworth over at AL.com.
Thomas, welcome in.
How are you?
Good.
How are you doing?
Hey, boy.
We're doing all right.
It's amazing.
And, Thomas, before we get to the obvious topic de jure here in our zip code, talk to us about this season.
Everybody talks about college, and they talk about the NFL, but these kids, it's now 12 months for these high school kids, but formal practice and formal games starting before Labor Day and now winding down right before Christmas.
It's a long season for high school kids as well, is it not?
Yeah, you said it.
I mean, it seems like the seasons are just getting longer and longer.
And in some states, I mean, even if you go across the state line in Georgia, it's even longer than, you know, Alabama has as far as pads and stuff like that goes.
So, it seems like it's getting longer and longer.
But, I mean, it's been a good year, honestly.
There's been some really good runs in North Alabama, and we'll talk about them, I'm sure, in a little bit, and one in particular.
But now it's been a really good year for football.
And, like you said, it's really long, a lot of, you know, really good games this year, it seems like.
It seems like we're talking a lot about, you know, a really good game that happened.
Every single week we talk.
So, it's been a really good year, honestly.
Yeah, but like you said, it's the end of a long, long year.
So, I'm sure, you know, I'm sure they're ready to, you know, be able to hang it up.
But, at the same time, I'm sure they'd love to be, some would still love to be playing some more football.
Let me ask you about this Morris Hill game at Bayside Academy at Jackson Penn.
And Hudson Higgins have ran for a combined 3,700 yards and 64 touchdowns.
Their closest game the entire season was the first one against Madison Academy by 24 points.
They have just steamrolled teams.
I saw them beat an undefeated Geraldine team.
They scored on three of the first five plays of the game and led 35-0 at halftime.
This is a good Bayside team.
And I know you and Ben Thomas are going to go in-depth as far as looking at each matchup.
Barrett Trotter, the former Auburn quarterback, is the coach at Bayside Academy.
Davis Barnett is a good quarterback.
But Morris Hill is a buzzsaw.
When they get going, and both of those two running backs run a 4-4 and a 4-3,
your thoughts on Bayside Academy and Morris Hill?
Yeah, like you said, I don't know if there's a better running back duo in the state of Alabama, honestly.
And, I mean, that's saying something, especially when you're talking about 3As,
where, you know, some guys, some of the best teams have two guys that have FBS rosters,
but they have offers and commitments, but they have two guys that are playing FBS football in their running back room,
which is, you know, just ridiculous when you're talking about a 3A level.
I mean, like you said, it's two completely, I don't want to say completely different,
but, you know, both of these offenses run, you know, very differently.
Like you said, Hudson Higgins, I think he's almost at 2,000 yards,
and then Jackson Bennett, 7,800 yards on the ground.
And they throw the ball some.
Lawson Frederick has, you know, I think he's over 1,000 yards,
and Isaiah Owens is a, you know, Division I guy.
But they throw the ball some.
But, I mean, Bayside Academy, their quarterback, Davis Barnett, like you said,
I think he surpassed 3,000 yards, over 40 touchdowns passing.
And, you know, they get it to a lot of people.
They're, Walker Collins is a guy, 806 yards, 11 touchdowns.
Monroe Parton is committed to Wake Forest, but I know he's on Auburn's radar.
He's been involved getting the ball some at tight end.
But he plays linebacker as well.
And I know Auburn would like to, you know, try and get him in at tight end, it seems like.
But, I mean, there's still two different offenses.
But, I mean, you know better than I do this, Marcel defense is really good.
Samuel Sweeney is a, you know, Division I guy.
27 tackles for loss and six sacks on the year.
Jesse Parker, you know, has been really good for Marcel.
168 tackles, which has to be some kind of, you know, top 10.
There's been a lot in Jackson Penn.
And Hudson Higgins has obviously been good in the secondary as well.
So, this will be a really good matchup.
I think there's just talent all over the board.
And this Bayside Academy team is loaded with talent.
But Mars Hill, I mean, like you said, we talked about it at the beginning of the year.
We knew they were going to be here.
I mean, I don't think it was a secret to anybody that this team could compete.
You know, this time last year, this roster was just so banged up.
I mean, they just had like, it seemed like every single week somebody was going down with an injury.
And they were almost, you know, depleted when it got to the state championship.
And really grinded that one out.
But I think this one will be a little bit more special for them just because they have so many guys that are coming back.
And a lot of guys who may have been injured for that state championship game are able to play for a championship this week.
Thomas Ashworth, AL.com.
You mentioned Higgins.
Coach Higgins is the boss there.
He's been there and done that.
He's got the crown.
It's Bayside's job to take it off.
But Coach Higgins is a wise old fox.
He knows as good as his team has been, as convincing as the wins have been.
He knows that every giant has some chink in the armor.
Your thoughts about the respective weaknesses.
What, in your opinion, would be the weakness for Mars Hill coming in?
And conversely, for Bayside, what would be their weakness coming in?
Yeah.
I mean, it's tough to say, you know, kind of, you know, what the game will look like for any of these matchups.
Just in general, because, you know, it's two completely different sides of the state most of the time.
And sometimes, you know, in some classifications, it's like the north team is like five miles away from the south team in Birmingham.
But this one is truly, like, two completely different parts of the state.
These teams could not be farther apart, it seems like.
So, it's going to be interesting.
I don't think that – I don't know if Mars Hill has seen a passing game like Bayside.
Maybe a couple of times.
I know Madison Academy throws the ball really well, but that was really early in the season.
And Piedmont could throw the ball really well.
But they've spread it out really well, Bayside Academy does.
So, I think that'll be interesting to watch is kind of how the secondary is able to keep up with a quarterback that has so much volume as far as just throwing the ball in general.
And they can run the ball as well.
But, I mean, I just think that this Bayside Academy team is in the elite when it comes to throwing the ball.
And, obviously, they have a guy who knows the quarterback position a little well as coach.
So, you know, that helps.
And then, you know, I just don't know if any team has seen a running game in 3A like Mars Hill has.
We talked about him a bunch.
But, you know, Hudson Higgins and Jackson Penn are game changers.
And, you know, even when they don't have the ball, they're game changers.
And they're able to create, you know, opportunities for each other.
They have a few, you know, offensive linemen that are going to play Division I.
Then you throw in tight end Matthew McIntyre, who is probably an FBS Power 4 guy.
You know, their run game is just elite.
And you can probably put them up against a team in a 6A or 7A, some of those teams.
And, I mean, they'll probably run the ball pretty effectively.
They're just loaded at that.
So, I just think that, like we talked about, you know, those two factors will probably make the difference in that one.
Just, you know, who's going to throw the ball and who's going to run the ball better will probably be the difference in this one.
Yeah, and I'm going to be curious if Mars Hill gets behind for the first time this year, how they react to that.
That will be interesting.
I know you're going down, I believe, today or tomorrow.
Who else are you looking forward to seeing?
Maplesville in Class 1A has 10 shutouts.
I still find that amazing.
Against Wadley, Jackson versus Aniston.
Aniston is undefeated.
They beat Desler.
Jackson with E.J. Crowell.
Landon Duckworth, he's going to South Carolina, and about seven other D1 prospects.
Good old Rush Proves with Kusa Christian against Lynette.
Rush always seems to end up being there.
And then, we talked to Ben about this yesterday.
Class 6A always seems to be one of the better games.
Sarah Landon undefeated against Clay Chalkwell at 14-0, who beat a very, very good Musher Shoals team.
Any games in particular that you're looking forward to?
Yeah, I think 6A is pretty interesting.
Like you just talked about, Sarah Landon, the last few years, they had Ryan Williams.
People were like, oh, I don't know if they're going to be back without Ryan Williams.
Get back.
Luke KJ, Lacey.
You know, there's questions there.
But they get back to the state championship game against a Clay Chalkwell team.
That's some of the, you know, best speed positions or speed players in the game.
Their quarterback really runs the ball well.
Corey Barber recently decimated from Ole Miss after Lane Kiffin left.
Recently got an offer from LSU from Lane Kiffin.
So they might be going to play for Lane Kiffin over in Baton Rouge.
That's a really interesting matchup.
But this 1A matchup, I think, is going to be really fun.
Wadley, the defending champion.
They have one of the best players in the state, you know, as far as numbers go.
And Jacquez Wilkes, he's going to Auburn.
But, I mean, they return just so much talent on that defense.
And I think they're allowing, like, under or right around four points a game that Mapleville defense is.
Or 3.2, there it is.
They're allowing 3.2 points a game in a 10 shutout.
So just ridiculous.
And there's got to be some kind of state record as far as straight shutouts or something.
You'd think there'd be something in there.
But I think that they allowed, like, 18 points last week against Leroy.
And it's like, man, it's a tough week for them.
But, like, I think they played a 5A in Holtville in the last 14.
So, I mean, those are their only two double digits.
You know, leads to 5A.
And then it gets a really good Leroy team.
So, that'll be an interesting one just because, you know, they have so much talent on defense.
And Nehemiah McCrary, the guy who has offers from Georgia and Alabama, he's kind of gone under the radar as a one-hit player.
But, like you said, with Rush getting a champion, you know, in position to get a championship, that Marceau game.
And it's been on the hunt for his first championship since they were in 6A, like, 20 or 30 years ago.
And then Moody Vigers also are really good.
I mean, there's just some really good matchups in the Super 7.
I don't know if there's been a better slate of matchups in recent memory, honestly.
Because there should be some really good games.
Thomas, obviously, Marceau Bible back then.
They're carrying the torch for all of North Alabama.
A lot of disappointing teams out there to not make it this far.
Muscle Shoals getting so close yet so far away.
Your thoughts now that the season's over for 99.9% of North Alabama teams as far as putting a rep on this year,
as far as high school teams in the North, your thoughts?
Yeah, I mean, there are some teams that, you know, I think surprised.
I think that kind of, if you're asking, you know, who was the biggest surprise, I look at playing B as number one.
They were just elite.
And everybody kind of thought, you know, they're going to be much better than they were last year.
I think they went like 5-5 last year or something like that.
But this year, obviously, they made it to the state semifinals and lost almost a fluke to a really good Aniston team.
I think they scored, and they scored like the last 3.1 seconds after, like, blocking a kick or something like that.
It was just a crazy game from what it sounds like.
But I think that was a really good season for them, obviously, to get to the semifinals.
It's unclear, you know, if Pruitt's going to be the coach next year.
I mean, he's had a really good run.
And then, you know, Jeremy's going to go to Jack State.
I'm sure he's there now working with them.
So a lot of questions over at Plainview.
But they've had a really good year over there.
Muscle Shoals, obviously, they looked like one of the best teams in the state.
They just ran into a brick wall against Clay Chalkville.
I mean, this is a nationally ranked Clay Chalkville team.
I think that they came in at, like, number 25 in the nation.
And the most recent Max Rep's hole just stacked just about everywhere.
But as far as Huntsville goes, I mean, they're still kind of chasing that.
You know, they're just going to break through, which is tough.
Madison Academy kind of looked like that team.
It just ran into a really, really good Aniston team.
It's now in the state championship game.
So, I mean, they're still kind of looking for that team that's going to break through.
And I think that Madison Academy has a really good chance.
James Collins has a chance next year.
But I think the question for next year is who's going to be that team that, you know,
kind of breaks the mold of a team being able to, you know,
advance past the first or second round over in Huntsville.
And then in 7-8, who's going to be the team that, you know, finally gets that first win to the 29th team.
So, you know, kind of a tough year for Huntsville standards.
But I think there's a lot of questions that should be answered next year.
You follow Jack State football and basketball.
In fact, you had a story on AL.com about Jack State and UNA.
And then Friday, Kennesaw State at Jack State for the Conference USA championship.
Can Jack State win Conference USA?
Yeah, why not?
I mean, they're in the game.
So, that's obviously a good start to winning a championship.
But, you know, it's kind of a surprise, honestly.
You just never really know what you're going to get when a first-year coach comes in.
I mean, I'm just kind of thinking back.
You had one cornerback and one quarterback that were on scholarship on the roster.
When he came in, I think he started like 40 or 50 players on the roster when he came in.
Coach Kelly did, that roster was gutted from the transfer portal.
When you look at it now, they're rolling.
I mean, they've number one seed hosting conference championship.
And this team has obviously exceeded everybody's expectations.
I mean, you know, you kind of knew they were going to be in a bowl game, that kind of thing.
But hosting a conference championship in the first year is just unheard of.
I mean, they're playing a really good Kennesaw State team.
And Jerry Mack's been in the talk for some other coaching vacancies like Memphis and some other spots.
So it'll be interesting to see what happens there.
But as for now, I mean, this Jack State team has all the pieces.
They have a lot of really good players who have done really well.
Cam Cook runs the ball at an elite level.
He's, I think, the number one rusher in the country right now.
But I think they've exceeded everybody's expectations for sure.
I don't see a reason why they can't win it again.
I mean, they're stacked at just about every position it seems like.
But they've just got to clean up some things.
And I think that they'll be just fine, especially being at home again.
Well, you've got an easy week ahead of you as far as covering the Super 7 and then Jacksonville State in the Gulf South Conference.
Very good write-up again about you and a win yesterday.
Where can we get online, young man, and get all the great stuff?
Yeah, you might not be able to talk to any for the next three days because I'll be asleep after all this.
But on AL.com, we'll have plenty of stuff leading up to the Super 7, after the Super 7.
And there's an SEC championship game or something like that I heard coming up, too.
So plenty coming on AL.com from a busy week.
So a lot of coverage.
And, you know, this is a good week to be watching sports in Alabama.
Santa Claus is not the only one busy here in December, right, Thomas?
Thomas Ashworth, they're going to be with us.
He's visiting there at AL.com.
Listen, man, thanks for your time.
Have a great rest of the week, okay?
Thomas Ashworth, AL.com.
Coming up all over a crazy SEC, Joe Cox.
Next, stay with us.
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From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today.
It's a daily update on Bama sports, and it's brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane,
the best pregame fan fest in the country.
Visit online at championslane.com.
Hello again, everybody.
I'm Roger Hoover.
On Monday, Alabama women's basketball improved to 8-0 in the season with a dominant home win against Kennesaw State.
Here are some of the highlights from the victory.
Naomi Jones, handoff to Timmons.
Timmons in the free throw line, driving right side layup, up off the window, it's in.
Jessica Timmons leading the way with 19 points for Alabama.
She makes it 65-53.
Collins, bounce pass right side lane.
Lester fights her way in, throws it up, no good off the window, an iron rebound.
Costa, Costa works it back to a wide open Weathers, left wing three, switch.
Carly Weathers makes it to Alabama 70, Kennesaw State 57.
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Alabama five seconds left.
Inbounds pass to Collins.
She will dribble out the final moments as Alabama improves to a perfect 8-0 on the season
and wins in front of a lot of fifth graders at Coleman Coliseum.
Final score, Alabama 79, Kennesaw State 65.
I'll have more in a moment.
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Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Vector Security Champions Lane.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
I would imagine he's been as crazy as the rest of us trying to put all the pieces into the puzzle the past few days.
Joe Cox got it all covered there when it comes to the SEC at Saturday down south.
Joe Cox, welcome in.
How are you?
Well, I'm just trying to decide now that it's slowing down a little bit when I can look forward to my buyout money to start rolling in this week.
Well, not so fast, my friend.
As crazy as it's been, there's yet some more breaking news, at least on the eve of National Recruiting Day tomorrow.
Five-star quarterback Jared Curtis decommitting from Georgia and going to Vanderbilt.
When's the last time that happened, Joe?
Probably about the time dinosaurs roamed in the earthquake.
Yeah.
Now, this is pretty wild, and it's going to be interesting to see.
I mean, this was a perfect storm for Vandy.
This kid was right in their backyard.
They'd had a relationship with him.
They could stay up with him, and they made this happen.
Is this an isolated thing?
Is this going to be, you know, in the NIL era, is it truly going to be a free-for-all where Vandy can sign great players and Georgia might lose players to Vandy?
See, it feels more like a one-time thing, but let's hold the phone and check.
Who is the best hire in the SEC?
Lane Kiffin at LSU, John Summerall at Florida, Alex Golesh at Auburn, Brian Silverfield at Arkansas.
People forget about Pete Golding at Ole Miss.
And now, officially today, Will Kline at Kentucky.
You know, it's going to be interesting.
I really like Summerall.
I think Florida was a little bit down in the mouth over losing the Kiffin sweepstakes, but they may have just fooled around and gotten themselves a coach who will fit their program better in the long haul.
That's the one that stands out.
Honestly, other than Golding, I think everybody makes a lot of sense for their respective teams.
And Ole Miss is kind of between a rock and a hard place, and that's why they end up with Golding.
But that's the only one I really would say I don't like.
I think all the others are certainly defensible.
Obviously, Kiffin, LSU, got the guy they wanted.
Now, will it do them any good, or will he win one and then be fired two years later?
You know, that seems to be kind of the rhythm they move in over there.
But I like what Florida did.
That's my one biggest takeaway, probably.
I agree with you.
I think long-term is the right move.
I don't think he won the press conference, but who cares?
Press conferences, like footprints in the sand, they'll wash you up pretty quickly there.
Your thoughts, will it work at Ole Miss under Pete?
Can you imagine Alabama fans saying, huh, Pete Golding is going to be a head coach in the SEC back when he left Tuscaloosa?
Will it work there, and will the crazy Hollywood marriage work in Baton Rouge?
Well, you know, I don't think that either one of them is on great standing.
I think LSU has a better chance of working out just because they're going to throw the absolute kitchen sink at this money-wise.
Right.
I just don't like the fit with Golding.
I mean, Ole Miss got where they were because of the offense, and I understand that a lot of those guys jumped on a plane and headed to Baton Rouge.
I understand even why Golding is the interim coach.
I understand why he's going to coach the team in the potential playoff game.
What I don't understand is just shutting it down and saying, we're done, that's our coach.
I would have said, interim coach Golding here, and who knows, maybe they pull one out of their head and they win a couple of games in the playoff,
and you think, well, this is the guy, but it wasn't a decision that I think they had to rush into.
I think they, as many did, probably got caught up in the emotions of the moment and felt like they had to do something drastic, and I don't think it'll age well.
Your thoughts on Alex Golesh going to Auburn.
He is resurrected South Florida.
Has he won a championship there?
No.
Certainly was the offensive coordinator with Josh Heupel at Tennessee.
Did some good things there.
Another offensive-minded coach, of course, the last three at Auburn have been, and you see where that worked out.
But he's a little bit, again, it's not so much the Russia connection.
He's just a little bit of a different guy in a different breed.
Can Alex Golesh finally get Auburn to winning some games and somewhere down the road a championship?
You know, I think he can.
I'm going to say this.
I think a lot of the schools probably ended up doing as well on their second try as they would have overall.
Talked about Florida earlier.
Here's another one.
Summerall would have been fine there.
I think Golesh actually might be a better fit to have an offensive guy, a guy who's also been in the SEC a little bit.
And, you know, the thing everybody tells me about Alex Golesh is he's not going to be outworked.
And I think that's a big thing at Auburn.
I think they need that kind of dedication.
And maybe that can help.
And then throw Kentucky in there because I think they really would have wanted Summerall, and the timing just didn't work out.
But I think they might have made a better move with Will Stein.
I think an offense guy there makes sense after the problems they've had.
Now, he's never been a head coach.
It's a little bit of a dice roll.
But at Kentucky, you're going to have to roll some dice.
You know, I think all of those schools ultimately may look back and say, you know, it wasn't exactly what we thought, but we did pretty darn well.
I would have thought that, speaking of coaches, that Coach DeBoer would be in the SEC championship game after game one.
Everybody kind of thought the dogs would be there, but that's the situation.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
The rest of the league is throwing millions of dollars to get to the SEC championship game.
And while they're seeing two old dogs back in it, what happens this weekend in the rematch?
Oh, it'll be a good one.
Yeah, I mean, go figure.
Here we are talking about how different the landscape is.
This big recruit's going to Vandy.
Yeah, I got a feeling those teams from Alabama and Georgia are still going to stick around.
I think they'll still be up there when the push comes to shove.
Really excited to see this.
I think Alabama might have a little bit more on the line.
I think it would be hard to knock Bama out of the playoff for losing this game, but they definitely would be in more jeopardy of that, say, than Georgia would.
I'll be interested to see, you know, if that kind of motivational aspect makes any difference.
Georgia has played some of its best football down the stretch, so I would give them kind of the immediate, you know, knee-jerk reaction to go for them.
But maybe Alabama's motivation will be a little stronger and help them overcome that.
Joe, what do you think Clark Lee's going to be saying tonight after the rankings are unveiled again?
Committee, what about us at Vanderbilt?
10-2, 6-2 in the conference.
We up Tennessee's butt.
Just dominated them in the second half.
Say what you want to about Pavia.
He deserves to be a finalist for the Heisman in New York in a couple of weeks.
Joe, what about Vandy?
You know, I think they're going to end up left out, and it's a shame because they've really done everything that anybody could ask of them.
I think Pavia's Heisman candidacy might be, you know, kind of the crumb they're thrown.
But it just doesn't shake out like they're going to end up in that field.
And, you know, admittedly, some SEC bias is going to show here.
Would I rather see Vanderbilt in that field than Notre Dame?
Heck, yes, I would.
But I don't think we're going to see that.
And, Joe, just quickly, what about Oklahoma?
And, again, they've done nothing but win, beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
10-2, 6-2, I don't know how many people predicted that at the beginning of the season.
No, I think they were probably a team that was thought to come in a little closer to 500 than where they've ended up.
And they seem to be on the right side of it.
I think they're in good shape.
And, you know, we can go cross-eyed trying to figure out if their 10-2 is really better than Vandy's 10-2.
But that's why they pay all those ADs and decision-makers all those millions of dollars.
So, we'll just have to leave it to them, I suppose.
Joe, great stuff, as always.
You came pretty close to a lot of the teams predicting the season record way back in August.
Joe, where can we get online and get all the good stuff with you and the team?
Yep, check us out, SaturdayDownSouth.com.
Yeah, my perennials are over for the season, but I've got to feel it we'll have some more stuff.
Adam Spencer and I will put our heads together and come up with something fun to pass the winter months.
And then there's that round ball sport coming up, too.
So, we'll have some things to say about it.
Joe, stay as warm as you can up there.
And thanks so much for your time today, buddy.
Always glad to talk to you guys.
Take care.
Thank you, Joe.
Came right back at you.
Joe Cox, fine columnist, called Saturday Downsouth.
A little bit warmer down in Orlando.
Matt Merchelle, he knows Auburn's new top target by as well as anybody, anywhere.
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The score.
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The score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in, in case you missed it earlier.
The fellow who follows this show, I think his name is Paul, announcing he will not be running
for that Tommy Tuble vacated seat there in a Senate in Washington, D.C.
B.B., can you confirm or deny that Matt Merchel may be sliding into that position?
Matt Merchel is one of the most talented people I know on this planet, but I'm going to guess
that running for Tommy Tuble's vacant Senate seat is not on his wish list.
He's probably waiting to get the call from Jimmy Sexton to get one of those jobs out there
in coaching.
Or, in the meantime, do his job there as a college insider with the Orlando Center on his podcast,
the Gridiron 365.
Matt, welcome in.
Are you still in Orlando, or are you on the way to D.C.?
How are you?
Yeah, I'm doing well.
You know, I think politics, I'm staying out of politics, so you don't have to worry about that.
You are a smart man.
You are in Orlando, of course.
And if it's not rush hour traffic, it's not that far of a drive over to Tampa, where the
new top Tiger comes from, to Auburn.
What can you tell folks about the new head coach of the Auburn Tigers from South Florida?
Well, you know, I think Alex Golesh is obviously the up-and-coming coach.
You know, he's a guy who really kind of embodies a lot of the things that, you know, make coaches
great.
You know, he came up, you know, with a good background.
You know, he got into his coaching and, you know, was being an offensive coordinator at
several spots.
You know, he was at UCF for one season, went to Tennessee with Josh Heupel, was there for
a while, then went to USF, and he did a really good job at USF.
You know, he basically has kept that program, you know, relevant, you know, over the last
couple of years.
And in fact, they're wearing the mix for the American Athletic Conference Championship.
They're wearing the mix for a possible G5 spot in the college football playoff, except
for a couple of bad losses late in the season.
But he's a guy who's going to be an offensive-minded coach, a guy who's probably going to check
all the boxes that Auburn is looking for when you talk about, you know, what they want
in a coach.
So he's a guy I think is not going to jump from job to job.
You know, he's going to take his job very seriously, and I think it's going to be interesting
kind of his approach to when he gets to Auburn, you know, how he wants to make things work for
them.
You know, I mean, he understands, I'm sure, what the job is in front of them and what the,
you know, when you look at what fans expect from Auburn, you know, I mean, he understands
that very well.
John Summerall was not the number one choice for Gator Nation, Lane Kiffin was, and right
now they've got the consolation prize.
We're quite familiar with him, Matt.
He may end up in the long term being a real win for the Gators.
What are you hearing from Florida fans, Florida media, as far as John Summerall taking over
in the head coach with the Gators?
Well, you know, I think in John's case, you know, he obviously understands he wasn't the
first guy.
You know, most of the fan base really wanted Lane Kiffin.
Like a lot of the boosters wanted Lane Kiffin.
And he comes in now and he has to win them over.
You know, he had his press conference the other day, talked about how important winning is.
He talked about the history of Florida.
You know, he said all the right things that, you know, coach is supposed to say when you're
standing in front of, you know, the people that you're trying to press, but that's all
good.
That's all said good.
But, you know, Billy Nater did the same thing.
You know what?
Four or five years ago, three or four years ago, what it was when he showed up.
And I think, you know, for John, it's going to come down to they need results on the field.
You know, I mean, I think one of the things that he said that really got, you know, people
keyed in was this idea that offense is supposed to be going to be important.
You know, they need to score points.
That's something that Florida struggled with, you know, they need to develop a quarterback.
That's something they've struggled with over the last couple of years.
So if he could do that, you know, when he gets there and he could start winning some
games, especially the games that, you know, Florida fans really want them to be in, you
know, Georgia, you know, you know, LSU, you know, when you play Auburn, you know, games
that, that really matter, you know, I think he is going to win over the fan base, you
know, again, if he goes out and struggles and it's going to take some time, you know,
yeah, there are a lot of good pieces at Florida, it could take some time for him to
get that going.
But, you know, I mean, that, that's where I think it's going to be the big job ahead
of him.
It's a PR campaign for him right now, because he's nothing, you, everything you say
could be great, but if you aren't showing results, whether it's recruiting and the
transfer portal, all those things, that's when fans just kind of put on the empathy hat
and just decide that that's what they're going to do.
Matt, Michelle, the Orlando sentiment, have you considered moving jobs and being the
beat writer for LSU next season?
It should be spicy, should it not?
It should be spicy.
I have no desire to be at LSU.
Okay.
We got that cleared up.
This is, I'm going to say this, this, this to me is a head scratch because you, if you're
LSU, think about this guy, you know, was it two, three years ago, they made a huge splash
by bringing in Brian Kelly.
They spent a lot of money to bring Brian Kelly in and everyone said, this is the best hire
that's ever been made at LSU.
Ever.
Ever.
And it wasn't.
And then all of a sudden, you know, now it's like, okay, we're going to bring in Lane
Kiffin and this is going to be the best hire that we've ever had.
This is.
I don't see it.
And, you know, that to me, that's, that's a concern because again, you know, I saw some
things about this job that I just didn't think if I was Lane Kiffin, I'd be interested
in it.
I mean, the first and foremost fact is the fact that you've got a governor of your state
who's basically been chomping at the bit to tell you that he's going to be in charge
of doing the contracts for his coaches and he's going to be in charge of making sure this
works out well, you know, all that.
You don't need any of that as your head coach.
You don't want to interfere from politicians and people who have nothing to do with the football
program.
You want a good athletic director who's going to come in and help guide you and work
with you, help build this program.
I'm not sure if he's going to get that at LSU.
Granted, yes, he's going to get a lot of money.
He's going to get a lot of opportunity.
He's going to be a face on TV a lot of the weekends in the SEC, but he's got to have just
like, much like I mentioned with John Summerall, he's got to win because if you don't win
and you don't make an impression and you're not competing, I just think you're going to fall
in that trap that he's fallen in his career where you've made these moves and all of a
sudden things have not worked out the way you expected.
And the thing is, I mean, the perfect marriage, there'll never be another scenario.
You talk about the perfect fit was Mal Moore and Nick Saban.
Anyone who covered Mal knew he was the most humble guy, most competitive guy, but had an
eye for talent.
He hired Nick, he gave him what he wanted, then he got out of the way and said, do your
job.
I don't think you'll ever see that scenario again because these guys got big egos.
And I look at Lane Kiffin, the difference between Lane, he's got a mind, but he just doesn't
strike me as being the hardest working guy out there.
Meaning of all the coaches, he's got to go out and hire an all-star, five-star staff.
He's done some of that with the wives coming over, but your thoughts just about from that
standpoint, and if you are a coach with choices, what are you as far as wanting to go to work
for a man who basically preaches one thing on Sunday and practices another on Monday?
Yeah, I mean, very much so.
I mean, this situation was, I mean, think about this.
He blatantly was out looking for jobs.
You know, he was interviewing for jobs as he's leading a team that is contending for the
SEC.
Three wins away from a national championship.
Three wins or four, whatever it is.
And then he's surprised, mind you, surprised when, you know, Ole Miss says, no, no, no, no.
You know, we're not going to let you coach the rest of the season.
You know, you've been out looking for jobs, you know.
Excuse me.
We, you know, we can't allow you to do this.
We want, you know, we want a coach who's committed.
And then just kind of goes, okay.
And then not only does he get on a plane to go to Ole Miss, he brings half of his offensive
staff with him because these guys are going with me now.
And, you know, he's got players from Ole Miss who are probably thinking, okay, well, I'm
going to jump in the portal.
I'm going to fall into LSU.
So, I mean, it's not exactly, I mean, and I get the timing.
The timing wasn't going to be perfect.
There was no way that LSU was going to sit back and wait, you know, to the end of the
college football season and then try to go through all this.
Not with the portal opening up and recruiting and things like that.
But to me, this is where I think, and this is a bigger, this is a therapy session, really,
where you're talking about Blaine Kiffin as just looking at how he does things.
I mean, throughout his career, I mean, the joke about, you know, like I saw it on social
media where Lane doesn't just burn the bridge behind him.
He burns it when he's on it.
You know what I mean?
You're not even giving yourself a chance, you know, to leave a program.
There could have been ways he could have left Ole Miss and things would have been perfect
and they would have said, hey, thanks for all the things you've done and we appreciate
it.
No, they're pushing his clothes out on a rack out of the parking lot of the Ole Miss
complex, you know, because they want him gone.
So, again, these are things that I think that could have been done differently.
And I think it's a lesson for coaches that, you know, just trying to climb that ladder,
sometimes, you know, it's better to sit back and really take what you're doing rather
than trying to reach for the next job.
Matt, one of the quietest coaching searches, and it's still going on, has been Penn State.
Yeah.
As far as who's going to replace James Franklin, who, of course, has gone to Virginia Tech.
Kalen DeBoer had been rumored to be, quote, on a short list for a while.
And we've heard some other names.
Matt Campbell at Iowa State was another one I'd heard early, but Kalani Satake, the head
coach at BYU right now, according to multiple media reports, may be the number one candidate
that they're looking at.
He's 83 and 44 at BYU, widely respected, got a rematch with Texas Tech this week for
the Big 12 championship.
Matt, would he be a fit at Penn State?
You know, I'm not sure.
When I saw his name pop up, I was a little surprised by that.
I mean, listen, I think he's got a pretty good thing going at BYU.
You know, you talk about the money situation.
You know, obviously, BYU has a huge fan base with ties with the church.
They have a lot of money that's flowing in that program, you know what I mean, that you
can do some things with NIL.
I know there's obviously the religious aspect that's tied in, the missions that they have
to do.
As Mormons, you know, they're tied in with the program.
But he's had success there for the last couple of years.
I get the frustration, maybe, of being the Big 12 and thinking, okay, if we go and win 11
games this year, we may not even get into the college football playoff.
But, I mean, I don't necessarily know moving to Penn State is going to be the best fit for
you, you know what I mean, because now you're going to have to find, again, you're going
to have to raise money, you're going to have to do a better job of trying to find the pieces
you need to have success.
The Big 10 is a big step up, not that I'm saying he couldn't do it.
But it's interesting, when you mentioned this about this job, right, it's about the fact
that there have been a lot of names tied to it, but no one has really stood up and said,
I want this job.
You know what I mean?
So it makes me wonder what's going on behind the scenes that, you know, you don't get coaches
who are basically clawing over each other to try to be a candidate for this job.
You're hearing more and more guys who are saying, I don't want to be a candidate for
this job.
So you wonder what's really going on behind the scenes.
I'm not saying there's issues, but maybe there's some ties with how, you know, with the athletic
department, maybe with boosters, I mean, how do they want it done?
So we'll see what happens.
I am a little shocked taking this long for that job to get filled.
Maybe they talk with James Franklin to get the inside story there.
Matt, what's going to happen this weekend in Atlanta when Alabama and Georgia play again?
Yeah, you know, I think this is a tough game for Alabama.
I mean, Georgia's played really well as of late.
I know Alabama has too, you know, but I mean, it's tough when you sit back and think about,
you know, what these two teams have been able to overcome to get back to this championship
level, you know, to be playing for another SEC championship.
I like, you know, I like Georgia a little bit in this game.
I know they lost the first time around to Alabama, but ever since that loss, they've played really
well.
And this is going to be an opportunity for them.
You know, you want to get a, you want to get yourself situated in a good spot for, you
know, the playoff.
You've got to have a win.
So I think it's Georgia, but I think it's going to be close.
I mean, I don't think it's going to be a blowout, but it's just so tough in this league, I
think, week in and week out to try to repeat and try to find ways to win, especially in a
neutral fight.
Matt, when the rankings come out again tonight, I think we know who's going to be number one.
Ohio State just drubbed.
Michigan held the Wolverines to 163 yards.
Ohio State, Indiana this week for the Big Ten championship.
Matt, does Ohio State beat Indiana in a fairly close game?
You know, I like Indiana a little bit in this game.
I mean, I know they haven't, you know, you look at the way that they've played and they
haven't been challenged at times, but this has been an impressive team to me.
I mean, a team I'm not sure you want to end up facing in the college football playoffs.
So I know Ohio State has played really well right now.
I mean, obviously they've marched through this season.
You know, just based on that, I would think that you've got an opportunity to win that
game, especially the way they've been coming off things.
I mean, I do think Indiana's got a good chance here.
I think it could be a close game.
I mean, again, if Kurt Signetti could get that Big Ten championship ring in year two at
Indiana, I'm going to tell you right now, they'll put a statue up out in front of them
that blew me up tomorrow.
I mean, if they do that, because that's how, that's an oppressive feat to have
happen in Indiana.
And then to go off, and if you could even compete for a championship, national
championship, I mean, you'd be the governor of the state by the time it's all over.
So it'd be impressive, but we'll arrange to be seen.
Ohio State's a tough team to beat when it gets to the playoffs.
No question about it.
It should be a fun week, National Sunday Day, hard to believe, again tomorrow, my friend.
Matt, where can we get online and get all your great stuff?
Yeah, you can go to OrlandoSentinel.com to check out the latest, or you can follow me on
social media, OS and Matt Rochelle.
Matt, as always, good to hook up with you, man.
Thank you so much for your time today, and stay warm down in Orlando, okay?
Do it for us up here.
Thank you, guys.
All right.
Thank you, guys.
We're busy there with the Orlando Center.
BB, obviously, when the poll comes out tonight, what do you expect?
Will there be any flip-flopping going on?
I've heard some rumors today that Alabama may move up one or move past Notre Dame.
I'd have to see it to believe it.
And by the way, Harold Bugg, I saw earlier today, why do people want Alabama in the college
football playoff, the most watched teams for 2025?
Number three was Tennessee with 7.03 million.
Number two is Georgia with 7.35 million.
The number one watched team in the country, according to the Nielsen ratings, Alabama with
8.14 million viewers.
Let me tell you, from a fellow who has a little bit of a background in TV, one rating point
can be worth millions and millions of dollars.
So don't think that they don't kind of look at that.
Again, the poll coming out later on tonight, coming up tomorrow, National Signing Day.
Got you a bonus hour coming up.
If you love recruiting, go ahead and mark it down.
11 to 2, bonus coverage tomorrow right here on 93.9 The Score.
It's going to take care of this for now on behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew
here.
Harold Bugg, thank you so much for your time today.
All right, 11 to 2 for the Boom Home Bug Show, back here on Sports Radio 93.9 The Score.