The Low Tide S1.E12 - The calm before the Rose Bowl

[00:00:00] Speaker A: W Vua FM, Tuscaloosa. [00:00:17] Speaker B: Welcome into the low tide, usually here on 90.7, the capstone. But today we're doing a remote episode. We're calling in from different places. This is a first for the low tide. I believe we're on episode eleven now, so we're changing things up all of a sudden. But first ever remote show and our last show before the Rose bowl, so very interesting. I'm joined, as always, by Joe Schiatt. How are you? [00:00:46] Speaker A: I'm really looking forward to seeing how this works out and seeing how it comes out, because this is a very cool concept that we got going on here. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Yes. And Adam Hambright, how are we doing? [00:00:57] Speaker C: I'm all right. I'm a little nervous about this game coming up, but once I get out to Pasadena and just see the Rose bowl for the first time, I think everything's going to be okay. [00:01:08] Speaker B: Yes, it's very big, very interesting situation that we've got going on here. We're all calling in from different places, myself calling in from West Texas, Odessa, Texas. Joe, where are you coming in from today? [00:01:25] Speaker A: I'm right now at home in Maryland. I won't be home all that much longer, actually. My flight leaves in about 10 hours at 06:00 a.m. Eastern time. So I'll be getting to the airport around 04:00 in the morning, but as of right now, still in Maryland. So out on different time zone. [00:01:46] Speaker B: Oh, boy. [00:01:47] Speaker C: And Adam, I'm holding the fort down. Still in Tuscaloosa. I actually live here, unlike you all. But, yeah, I'll be flying out on the 31st out of Nashville, actually, at 06:00 in the morning. So that's going to be interesting. But I think once we all get out to California and have that nice California weather, we're all going to be living our best life. [00:02:15] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Personally, on my end, I'm flying out literally the night before the game at about, I think our flight leaves around five from Midland, Texas, flying through Vegas and on to LAX. So it should be an interesting day of travel and then all day at the Rose bowl, of course. So speaking of probably one of the most historic settings you could possibly ask for between the two most historic teams in the history of college football, obviously. Number one, Michigan, taking on number four, Alabama in the Rose bowl, the College Football playoff semifinal. On how, how incredible is this scenario, these teams, this setting, Joe? [00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's really interesting. I mean, I was looking before we went on, just kind of the history of who's been in the semifinals and if I can remember correctly, there hasn't really been a matchup quite like this one. Like you said, obviously it's in the Roseville, it's Alabama, Michigan, but it's two teams that one of them is caught up in a big sign stealing scandal and the other one didn't look like they were anywhere close to a championship team. And if you look back in the past, well, probably since the start of the CFP, really, there hasn't really been that type of matchup where it's two teams that are like, whoa, how did they get here? So I think it's really cool. It's a really interesting matchup to kind of break down because of that. And I have kind of been going back and forth as to which team, if you pulled the country, which team is more disliked. It could be Alabama who's dominated the sport for a decade and a half and everyone loves to hate, or it's Michigan who like, you know, is caught up in all this scandal. So I really don't know. But yeah, just kind of a fascinating look into just how, I think it kind of sums up how crazy the season has been. [00:04:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:42] Speaker C: And you know, you were talking about how these are two teams that are just hated this year, right. And it was Alabama with how dominant they've been, Michigan with how they have this whole sign stealing scandal that we're probably not going to hear the final thing from the NCAA about know, three, four years down the road. But probably the closest I could think would be the Alabama Notre Dame matchup back in 2020. But it was like Notre Dame is just like, people just hate Notre Dame. One of the more historic programs, just like Alabama and Michigan. But you always hear people just don't like Notre Dame. The private catholic school up north, they shouldn't even be good at it's. That was also in the Rose bowl, but that one was in, I believe, Dallas because they could not allow fans in the Rose Bowl Stadium that year with all the COVID stuff going on. Now with this year, obviously, first couple of weeks, Alabama did not look like a championship caliber team. They've improved as the years went on. Michigan has looked on the field as probably one of the four best teams. I mean, I know their strength to schedule wasn't there, but they didn't have any close games really until even like they only had two really tough opponents in the Penn State and Ohio State matchup. And they pretty much handled Penn State. I mean, in the second half, I don't even think they threw a pass. They were just able to run it down their throat. So with this game with Alabama and Michigan, what Alabama team shows up? Because Michigan's pretty much put out the same team every know you know what you're going to get. They haven't really had that let up game. Alabama struggled at times, obviously early in the season. You can overlook it with Tommy Reese trying to learn how to call an offense for Jalen Milro and then the game when Milro was benched against South Florida. Plus it was in a storm. But then you got later in the season. Most people point at that game at Auburn, which we know it's a rivalry game. We know that it's a lot more than just six win Auburn team going up against Alabama and stuff. But most people around the country are like, you had to have a miracle to beat Auburn. You shouldn't have even made the playoff. Well, Alabama played Georgia a week later and dominated them up front. Probably should have been a little more comfortable win. But Georgia was number one. They had won 29 straight games for a reason. And I think if you kind of look at how Alabama's line kind of dominated Georgia's line on both sides for the majority of the game, I get a good feeling about Alabama being able to hold up against Michigan's line and if they're able to do that, then it's who makes the most mistakes. Is it Milro or is it JJ McCarthy? [00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah. So we kind of got into it a little bit, but I really want to talk about both of these teams paths to getting here. To me, both of them are so absurd. It doesn't really feel like either of these. There's a serious argument that can be made. I should say that neither of these teams should be in this game. Alabama obviously has that early loss to Texas at home where they really just didn't look like they had a chance in that game really at any point. And then you go to USF, you start Tyler Buckner, who's now in the portal as a lacrosse player. I don't know if he's technically still in the portal. I think we know where he's going. But you nearly lose that game tied at halftime. Just a true all around disaster. Some people would say the worst game that a Saban led team has played in years and years, certainly at Alabama. And now they've come all the way. That last second miracle against Auburn against Georgia, you go to Atlanta, beat them in the SEC championship game, and then you somehow get into the College Football Playoff over an undefeated Florida state team, which I think our stance on that has been pretty clear, all three of us, but that's still very controversial nonetheless. Then on the other side, you have Michigan, who's been embroiled in this whole sign stealing scandal since a couple of games into the season. There were questions about what the NCAA was going to do, what the Big Ten was going to do. Harbaugh ends up getting suspended for about three games, I believe. Just true chaos all around. But the question that I'll pose is, which of these teams roads has been more interesting to you? Has it been Alabama's early struggles or has it been Michigan's just controversial path to get here? Joe, we'll start with. [00:10:22] Speaker A: I think. I think it kind of depends on whether you think of that in terms of kind of on the field stuff or off the field, because I think, not to be biased here at the University of Alabama radio station, but I do think Alabama's path has been a lot more interesting because we didn't really know, kind of like you mentioned, Nick, if they would even have a path to the could they won out. They did all that they could. Obviously there were a lot of hiccups along the way or near misses or near losses, but they still got it. I think, with Michigan, and we talked about it earlier, they just kind of went in, dominated everybody. All their problems were off the field, but they were still beating teams. I think the week that Harbaugh got suspended midseason, or at least the week that they were really investigating him, Michigan beat Michigan State like 49 and ten or something. It was not a very fun game to watch, except for the storylines around it. Whereas I think with Alabama, if you watch the whole season, not that maybe I'd recommend doing it, but if you watch it all in a row, you can see the evolution of this team. Know early in the season struggling. Tommy Reese maybe couldn't quite figure out what Jalen Milrow was as a quarterback and what he can do to kind of those last few games where they came back against Tennessee kind of through Millro and they were able to beat Jaden Daniels and Milro had, I believe it was four rushing touchdowns and he goes and gets that play against Auburn to win the game and then goes into Georgia and plays really well. Even if the stat line maybe wasn't all that crazy for him, he was able to throw a couple touchdowns and not turn the ball over. So I think Alabama's path has definitely been a lot more interesting in that sense because there wasn't really as clear of a path. I mean, with Michigan, even with the Harbaugh scandal, I think we kind of figured, especially after it got to a certain point, that there was not going to be a punishment this season. They weren't going to get banned from the playoffs. The first playoff rankings came out and I think they were number two or three or something. They weren't going to get out unless something dramatic happened. So I think with Michigan it was always as long as they won, they were going to be in, whereas I think with Alabama they had to win, but also they had to kind of figure out how to win. It wasn't as easy as playing, for lack of a better term, no offense to the Big Ten. Well, maybe slight know, you didn't have to play Rutgers and Indiana and Michigan State and Purdue or know, whatever else Michigan had to play in Minnesota schools. Like it was. You're going in there and you're playing, you know, at a m, ole miss, at home, at Auburn and then Georgia in the SEC championship. And that to me, just makes their path a lot more interesting and I think a lot more fun to watch. Even if I didn't go to the. [00:13:46] Speaker C: Mean like what you were. Michigan's schedule, I think our ball was suspended at the beginning of the season, but it was East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green, Rutgers, and then obviously you suspended at the end. Michigan's strength to schedule was in the know. We actually looked it up and like remaining strength to schedule. Once you got past that Purdue game, it was like, oh, now they have the toughest schedule out of the remaining ones because they had two top ten teams in the final three weeks. And then at Maryland, those were the only games that were really close all year. I mean, Penn State was a nine point win, but it was one of those games where nobody thought Penn State really was going to pull it out. Michigan was just able to do whatever they wanted. The Maryland game, that was a seven point win. Props to Maryland for keeping it close, but compare that to some of the teams that Alabama is playing this year. And then the Ohio state game is always tough. And that was two versus three matchup. I think it was at the time. Might have been a one and two. I can't remember the exact rankings that they had at the moment, but that was a 30 24 win. Then they go play, oh, Big Ten championship. It's Iowa, which I love their defense, but nobody really gave Iowa any shot in that game. And then it ended up being 26, nothing. Probably should have been closer. I mean, the only touchdowns Michigan scored was when they got the ball inside the ten yard line, which if Alabama's defense is able to kind of play similar. I mean, obviously Alabama's defense has been probably the strong suit all year. I don't know if it's as good as Iowa's, but also Alabama's playing probably some tougher offenses. So it'll be real interesting to see, after a month of preparation, how was Alabama's offense and Alabama's defense and Michigan's offense able to go at each other, especially if this was played a week after the SEC championship with Koolaid McKinstry? I think he's going to be 100% going into this one. He had the concussion in the SEC championship game, so that'll be good for Alabama, just having everybody healthy again. But Alabama schedule, when it was one of the toughest in the nation, you had the Texas game early, wish Alabama would have won that one and maybe they would be undefeated with the number one seed, and we could have just had this game in New Orleans and had a little home field advantage, but they lost. Everybody called for Jalen Milrow to benched. Some people calling for Tommy Reese to be fired after two games. And he's learned along the way that Jalen Milrow's improved. Jalen Milrow went from a guy who pretty much everybody in Tuscaloosa was calling to be bench to being almost a Heisman finalist. He finished six in the Heisman voting behind the four finalists, and then the fifth spot, which went Jordan Travis out of Florida State after he had that injury, which basically kept Florida State out of the playoff and allowed Alabama to be in. But even if. I don't want to really talk about Florida State that much, I don't think Florida State was really getting in with, like, even if Georgia had beat Alabama in that game, I think Texas would have still got in over. But anyway, just the roller coaster of a season that it's been, and even it wasn't really until what Tennessee, that it was like, okay, this team might be something. They were down. What was the score? It was 20 to seven or something. [00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah, 20 to seven. [00:17:46] Speaker C: Alabama comes back. So that second half against Tennessee was the first time where it's like, oh, this team might actually be, because that Arkansas game had the early lead and then allowed Arkansas to come all the way back, almost pull off the upset. But then Tennessee, LSU having to have the miracle down to Jordan Harris Stadium, which I know some of the Auburn people are still having fun about, like, oh, you needed a miracle to be the mediocre Auburn team. It's a rival. Don't a win's a win when it comes down to, you know, some people don't really see it that way, but it's been really a fun season, a very stressful season. But it's also been a very fun and rewarding season to watch for, you. [00:18:36] Speaker B: Know, look, Alabama's season has been nothing short of storybook worthy. There are going to be many stories told about this team and I'm sure a number of great books written. The ESPN 30 for 30 is going to be incredible. But Michigan's story has also been really interesting because you come into the season, Harbaugh is already suspended for a recruiting violation. I believe it was like buying a recruit a burger, which is hilarious in and of itself. And then a couple of games into the season, then this whole story starts to come out about sign stealing and how Michigan had a staffer, Connor Stallions, who lives forever in infamy as a meme in college football forever now was being sent to these games and recording the sidelines so that Michigan would be able to steal signs. And they had been doing this for, I believe it was, I don't know, like close to three years. I'm not exactly 100% sure on that detail, but there were a number of games. They had bought tickets to SEC championship games and to watch all kinds of opponents. And slowly, over time, it seemed like with every hour that passed, more and more details were coming out. The Venmo records, the videos of him on the sideline, including at a completely different college for one game. So it's just truly wild. And then as we got closer to the bigger games, at the end of the season, Penn State, Ohio State, will Harbaugh be suspended? Obviously, he gets suspended for the last three games of the season. Was the NCAA going to do anything? Well, no, they're not going to do anything. Was the Big Ten going to do something? And they kind of took the path of least resistance, even though pretty much everybody in the Big Ten was calling for them to do something, not much really ends up happening, but on the field they really dominated. Pretty much everybody they played saved for a couple of interesting games here at the end of the season. We can kind of talk about that, how their offensive production, especially the passing game, has gotten a little concerning here at the end of the season. Completely different paths leading into this game for Alabama and for Michigan. But it's just fascinating to me, just the fact that Michigan is even here, because as you remember, I want to say several episodes ago when this stuff was first coming out, I was one of the people who had left Michigan entirely out of my rankings. Now, was that fair at the time? I don't know. One day we're going to find out what the NCAA, of course, does end up doing. That's if the NCAA even exists by the time that they figured this out. But, yeah, just truly a crazy story. On that note, it's kind of interesting, right? Both of these teams are such historic programs with so many fans and haters alike. Which team in your mind? I will start with you. Joe has more to lose in this game. Alabama or. [00:22:29] Speaker A: Actually. Wow, that's a really good question. I think this is maybe my gut feeling and it will probably change. Maybe when I get over there, maybe when the game kicks off. But I think it would be Michigan. I think they have more to lose because this is. We kind of talked about it a little bit and joked about it with their strengths, the schedule, and how outside of Penn State and Ohio State, they didn't really play all that many good teams at all. In fact, most of their schedule was bad teams. But I think for Michigan, this is just a game in which they can prove that the team was better than the sign stealing scandal. I mean, imagine a world, and we might enjoy that world, but imagine a world in which Alabama goes out and wins 30 to ten and everyone's looking around and saying like, well, was Michigan actually that good? Or were they just getting an edge up on everybody by stealing these signs? I think in comparison, Alabama, and obviously we know the fan base, they expect national championships, they expect to win games and to win kind of the SEC and national championship every year. But I think for a lot of them, just Alabama kind of being here is in itself pretty ridiculous and pretty crazy in a good way. So I think Michigan has more to lose. Alabama is, this is not an Alabama team. That's. I don't even think they're favored to win, although I think whatever the line would be, is pretty close. But I think for Michigan, they have to go out and prove that they can do it without this sign stealing incident really being a factor. And the way that they've just kind of dominated these teams, they played in the Big Ten championship and Iowa was never, ever going to beat them. And for Alabama, they had to kind of grind it out against Georgia. And yeah, they kind of dominated the game, but they only won by four at the end. So it should be. I think in that question, Michigan would be my answer for who has more to lose just because of all this stuff surrounding them. But I can't imagine too many Alabama fans are going to take moral victories if Alabama does end up losing. [00:25:13] Speaker C: Know Alabama's standard has just know. So know last year when they made the Sugar bowl, which used to be, I know it's still in the like this year, it's part of the playoff and it rotates. But the Sugar bowl used to be a big deal, just like a bunch of these bowl games did. And now with the playoff and how it's been marketed. I believe you pointed out something about that on social media, Joe, where the marketing like during games has kind of diluted all games. And Alabama, they don't win the SEC, but they get the Sugar bowl. Basically, it's like, okay, you're finishing as the second SEC team even though you didn't make the SEC. But anyway, Alabama goes to Sugar bowl, they play Kansas State, they win. But a bunch of Alabama fans didn't even care about the game because it wasn't a playoff. And Nick Saban has now six national championships at Alabama. Obviously you want to get one more break know record at Alabama and stuff, but we have talked on this show a lot about how this might be, you know, best coaching job and if Alabama were to lose the Rose bowl. Yes, the know, they're probably going to know the same old fans they've always been of know this is disappointing, but they didn't win a national, you know, a bunch of people know how hard it was to actually get to this point. And Michigan talent wise is one of the four best teams in the nation right now. Who's to know how much of the sign stealing has helped them in the past or this season? But Michigan hasn't won a bowl game since 2016. The Citrus bowl against Florida, they won that 141 seven. They have lost every other bowl appearance that they've been in since then, including two playoff appearances against TCU and Georgia, where they got blown out by Georgia. TCU beat them 51 45 last year. You do have the one game against Alabama and Alabama won that 135 16. I know Alabama scored late to kind of run up the score a little bit on them, but not winning a single postseason game since 2016 and not winning a significant, like if you, if you want to talk about significant bowl games, the Sugar bowl that they won in 2012 before the, before the playoff, and you know how, I mean, how much can be lost with them never winning. But if you were to lose again, another playoff game in the semifinal. So three straight semifinal appearances, not making it to the championship and Harbaugh's, I mean, probably going to go to the NFL soon anyway. But with him never winning a bowl game or only winning the one, trying to remember what year he actually took. [00:28:30] Speaker B: Over as the coach, believe it was 2015. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:34] Speaker C: So he would have only had one bowl win as the Michigan coach. [00:28:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Look, I won't sit here and play devil's advocate and say that Alabama has more to lose because I don't think they do. We've already talked about that, about how difficult their road has been to get here and how excellent of a coaching job it's been from Nick Saban, possibly his greatest ever, regardless of the outcome of this game. I want that to be prefaced. But it's really Michigan that has the most to lose here. And more specifically Jim Harbaugh. Right. Look, the last two years they have been to the College Football Playoff and in 2021 they got smoked by Georgia, 30 411. That was tough. Who was really going to beat that team? And then in 2022 losing to TCU, who would go on to get smoked by Georgia in potentially one of the worst national championship games we've ever seen. But to be fair to TCU, who is really going to beat that Georgia team that year? Look, it has been tough for Michigan once they got to the big stage. They have not won a truly meaningful game in the postseason in quite some time and there is a real chance. So Jim Harbaugh has a ten year, $125,000,000 contract extension on the table right now. His current deal runs through 2026, but it also has this clause of where he could not go to the NFL for one year. I don't understand why it's only one year. That seems a little ridiculous to me. But there is the very real possibility that if they were to lose this game that Harbaugh takes off from Michigan. And honestly, I don't know that Michigan fans wouldn't be happy to see him go because at the end of the day, you can perform as well as you want during the regular season. Right. But really it comes down to national championships and playoff games, and Harbaugh has not been successful in that department. For Michigan, this also comes at possibly the most critical time for Michigan. If you're Michigan, this really genuinely, I'm being honest, if you're a Michigan fan, this feels like your best chance and maybe your best chance for a long time coming. Look, I don't know what college football is going to look like in a couple of years. It could look completely different. We've obviously had major changes with the playoff, going to a twelve team playoff, the SEC and the Big ten turning into the super conferences, the PAC twelve, basically not existing anymore. The whole landscape of college football is changing. Not to mention the fact that if you're Michigan, you have some massive sanctions coming your way. I think this is kind of being underplayed when all the details of the NCAA investigation come out, whether it is in a year, in two years, we know the NCAA is slow, but when that comes out, the penalty that we could be looking at for Michigan would be perhaps mean. You could be looking at that staff getting know, it looks like Harbaugh is headed out anyway, but you could be looking at a wipe some vacated games. Now granted, if Michigan was to win the national championship, it's not like we're going to look at that national. We may look at it a little bit differently, but everybody at the end of the day who won the 2023 national championship, if it was Michigan, it would always be remembered as Michigan, even if they had to vacate it later down the road. But really, if you're Michigan, this could be your last shot for a long time coming if the NCAA was to seriously crack down. So I definitely. It has to be Michigan, right? [00:33:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And just to kind of add on to that point, I mean, you talked know Jim Harbaugh potentially leaving and some of the staff might leaving. I mean if you look at Michigan's high impact players, Blake Coram, leading rusher is probably going to go to the NFL. Roman Wilson, their leading receiver is a senior, their leading interception guy, Mike, I think it's sinister. He's a senior. They are losing a lot of their impact. And JJ McCarthy, although I don't think he will, could very well go to the NFL. I would imagine if Jim Harbaugh is going to leave, you might see McCarthy leave as well. So, I mean, this is really, like you said, nick, this might be Michigan's best shot. I mean you have the last year of the 14 playoffs, so you only have to win if you want to win the national championship, you only have to win two games. Now next year it's going to be, I guess, I don't know, four or something depending I guess on your seating. Right. This is kind of, I don't want to say a down year, but it's very intense and close year for college football. I mean, Alabama is not the dominant program. You're not going into this game as a Michigan fan saying, oh man, it's a bummer we got to play Alabama because they have this dominant streak going and they're playing up to their standard. This is kind of a down year for Alabama, it's the other semi final games are Washington and Texas, which do not have a lot of pedigree in big games. And I think for Michigan this is kind of the only chance you're really going to get, I think at least in a long time, unless you can kind of figure out how to save yourself from an exodus of coaches and players and staffers and what have think. Go ahead. [00:35:22] Speaker C: I think that's a big thing that you just mentioned at the end right there is the players. So with Michigan, they've recruited really well. You would expect a program like that to just be able to have next man up because we were just talking about all these people that are seniors or people that are draft eligible who could leave. We don't know what the sanctions are going to be. I know there hasn't been the death penalty since the SMU stuff back in the when that happened, the players were able to leave. But if it wasn't something like that, there wasn't really anything that the players could do. Well, now you had the transfer portal. So as soon as you have sanctions like that coming on a program, you know, pretty much everybody that is a decent enough player is going to be transferring out somewhere and people are going to take them because they know how good of players they are. So Harbaugh is probably going to get out basically with nothing. When he ever goes to the NFL, the staff either going to try to get out of there before or they're going to get fired. But then all those players are just going to leave and maybe Michigan's able to build back up. But how long is it going to take? Who do they get in as a coach? Who wants to take over a program like that? I mean, people are going to want to take over Michigan, but who wants to come in as that first coach right after? I don't know. So this could be years before they're able to make it back to a playoff. And then with the playoff system, we know this year, we know the next two years, we don't even know what the playoff is going to be after these next two years of the twelve team playoff, it could stay at twelve, it could be more. But the contract is only through the next two seasons and then they have to basically figure out what they're going to do from there and then who gets automatic bids. Because I've been listening around some of the other shows and they're talking about maybe that the NCAA is not even involved at that point. It might just be the super conference thing that Nick was mentioning. [00:37:28] Speaker B: Yeah, it's truly a wild road. Got to mention a couple of things. So number one, Michigan this year, their recruiting class ranks number 20th. Yeah, they've had in the country. [00:37:40] Speaker A: They've had three straight top 20 classes in the country. I think in the last couple of years they've been in like top 15. So I would imagine you got to get some talent there and those guys might head out as well. [00:37:53] Speaker B: Like to Adam's point, twelveth in 2022 and 13th in 2021. So a bit of a drop off there. Be interesting to see where that goes. [00:38:04] Speaker C: It's not the top five classes that Alabama is used to, but that's still pretty talented players that they're getting right. [00:38:10] Speaker B: And then one other thing that I did not mention is if you're Michigan, you're the number one ranked team in the country. You're coming in undefeated. You are expected to win this game. Although we can argue about whether they should be expected to win this game or not. That's probably where we'll go next. But there's so much, this is a big game for Michigan really as a program, I think. But let's talk about that a little bit. Obviously, Michigan favored by one and a half points, a really, really close line. I would almost expect it to be Pickham as we get closer to kickoff. Who should be favored in this? [00:39:05] Speaker A: I mean, I think it has to be Michigan just because of how they've looked. I mean, this is a team that has one of the, I think the highest average margins of victory in the country. I mean, they've gone out and dominated and they've looked really good, albeit, like we've said, it has been weak competition, but they've looked impressive in those games. I mean, things that their dominating line of scrimmage and essentially every game they've played. So I think if you were to talk about which team looks better and should be favored, it's got to be Michigan because of how they've looked. But I do also think that for Alabama's case, kind of as a pro Alabama case, the Alabama wins are better. The resume of Alabama is probably a little better just in terms of who they've played. You've seen Alabama play Texas and Tennessee and LSU and Georgia and teams like that, and they obviously lost the first one to Texas. But just seeing them play against some of these teams, you can tell that they are a really good football team, especially how they looked against Georgia. But I'd still have to say Michigan would be favored. But I don't think it would ever get past like a point or two. [00:40:34] Speaker C: Yeah, it's interesting to look at, because if we're just going off of the rankings, the number one team, undefeated, you could say Michigan should be favored. But we were talking about overall, not just the last couple of weeks, but overall, the schedule was pretty weak. And with Alabama, it's a team that's not one dimensional. They're able to throw it, they're able to run it. I mean, I know some people said, and rightfully so, that Alabama's passing game has not been the same as it, you know, Bryce Young at quarterback or Mac Jones or any of the previous couple of quarterbacks, but they have really three to four running backs that can actually go out, know, you got, you know, Isaiah Bond, Kobe Prentice, Jermaine Burton at can. And a big thing about the offense was they were able, earlier in the year, they weren't really able to drive down the field, but they were able to get those big plays. And in the last couple of weeks, they were kind of showing you that they're starting to be able to just drive down the field. On some teams, especially against Georgia, I mean, they didn't hit really any other than I think that one touchdown at the end of first half to Burton, most of their scores, they were having to drive the length of the, you know, I think seeing that side of Alabama, just being able to dominate the line, move it down the field, and then defensive wise, I know Michigan faced an Iowa defense. Is Alabama's defense better? We don't really know yet, but I mean, athlete wise, I think Alabama's defense can match up with pretty much anybody. And especially if you have everybody in the secondary healthy. I don't really think Michigan's offense, we'll have to see what the game plan is. I just have a lot of faith in Alabama's defense to really contain the Michigan offense. So in my mind, I look at the improvement of Alabama and the not so great competition that Michigan played until the last couple of weeks. And I kind of lean towards favoring Alabama. But also I'm a little, look, it depends, what are we actually judging on? Should be favored. Should Michigan be favored when they've never won a playoff game? [00:43:22] Speaker B: That is fair. Sorry, go ahead. My fault. [00:43:27] Speaker C: I was just saying, I know a big part of the actual lines of everything is just making sure that the house wins. So even when you see a line move one way or the other, it doesn't necessarily mean that they actually think a team's going to win. People have just been putting more money on a specific team. So I don't know who should be favored. I know who I would put my money on. Even if I wasn't an Alabama fan, I'd probably still lean Alabama in the game. [00:43:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, first off, we're still adjusting to this new system. It is quite strange not being in the studio with everybody, but yeah, look, I think honestly, if you're going out there and you were to go ask these ods know fate of the universe on the line, who are you taking? It's Alabama all day. First off, Michigan's, and more specifically Jim Harbaugh's performance in these big time games hasn't been great like I detailed earlier. Also, look, Alabama has a pretty consistent record in these types of big games and it is very rare that Alabama has ever been an underdog in a game this mean. Obviously this year has been a bit different. They were an underdog against. I mean, for me, you look at both these teams form coming into this game, right? I don't even care so much about Michigan's strength of schedule, even though I have said previously on our other show that I was not really a believer in the Big Ten schedules and I thought they were very weak and that this goes for Ohio State and Michigan, that you never really got to see how good they were against other opponents, really, and you only got to judge them off of each other, which was always a problem. But I think Alabama has to be the favorite here, even if it is really close. And I do think that this is a pretty decently even matchup. Obviously we'll see what happens during the actual game, but I think this is a pretty even matchup. But I would still take Alabama just because it feels like there's so much going for them. Right? They're basically playing with house money. Nobody expected this Alabama team to get into the playoff, much less looking as good as they do. They're coming in hot. They beat the number one team in the country to get here. They've had storybook moment after storybook moment. Jalen Melro has continued to get better. You've had guys continue to step up. Michigan, on the other hand, hasn't looked really great coming in. Their offense has struggled, specifically in their passing game against Penn State. JJ McCarthy threw for 60 yards. I mean, Penn State should have won that game if it wasn't for Drew Aller being worse, having just a terrible game. The Penn State offense, oh, boy. So they barely escaped that one. Truly tough and not a good look for the Big Ten, then obviously a bit of a close call against Maryland, only 141 yards through the air, 148 against Ohio State and then 147 against Iowa. And obviously, I think one of their only offensive touchdowns came when they were like, they had crazy good field position. Their defense is carrying them right now. So it's going to be interesting to see that matchup, the Alabama offense against the Michigan defense in the game and vice versa. Going to be a great game, I think. But yeah, I think it really has to be Alabama the favorite here. Speaking of, what matchup in this game are you most looking forward to seeing out in Pasadena? What aspect of this game, of the onfield matchup or really any aspect of this game are you most looking forward to? Joe? [00:48:26] Speaker A: I think the thing that's going to really, in my opinion, at least dictate how the game is going to go is the Alabama kind of front seven know, the Michigan running Edwards, you know, kind of those two guys have been the bigger names here. But I think that is going to kind of help determine, because the game you brought up, Nick, that Michigan and Penn State game, I believe Michigan ran the ball 30 something. I think it was 32 straight times in that game and Penn state just couldn't really stop it. And I think for Alabama that's kind of what they have to do because I think we talked about it a little bit. JJ McCarthy is not exactly the most dynamic quarterback. Not to say he isn't good, but can he win a game with specifically just his arm, like take away the running game, the defense knows they're going to throw it. Can he get it done? And I don't think they've ever been challenged like that. And I think with Alabama, if they can kind of stop or slow down that running game, at least to a point where you get out and maybe Alabama is out to a 14 nothing or ten nothing or 21 to seven lead, something like that, then you're kind of forcing McCarthy to do something he hasn't done all year and play from behind and also not be able to just kind of hand the ball off and keep the drive on pace. So that's, in my opinion, the area that I'm looking forward to the most is what kind of impact is Dallas Turner going to have, Chris Braswell and a lot of that front seven? What are they going to be able to do against a very talented Michigan backfield headlined by Blake Coram? [00:50:30] Speaker C: Yeah, and we almost had the same exact matchup, except I was going the other way. I was going with the Alabama offensive line against the Michigan state line and linebacker with the improvement of Alabama's line, possibly the biggest improvement on the team this year, at least at a position group. I mean, we've talked many times about Jalen Milrow's progression, but the offensive line actually being able to protect him, the progression of Kaden Proctor over at left tackle, he's improved tremendously. And then you kind of all come together against Georgia to where they were really able to control the line the whole game. And I know a lot of people look at at the end it was only like two point something yards per carry. But I mean, Roy Dell Williams had almost five yards of carry. We had more respectable yards per carry average throughout the game until really the fourth quarter when they were just running the ball multiple times trying to get out of the Alabama's line. So a month prepare both sides. Is Alabama's line still able to take care of the line like they were against Georgia? Are we still able to run the they? Is Michigan going to then have to crowd the box to stop the run, which then opens it up for Millro hitting deep passes to Isaiah Bond or know it's going to be interesting. And then when it is, how much pressure can they get on? Know that was a big thing early, just how many sacks they were giving up. And now I think they've progressed enough to where we don't really have to worry about the offensive line as much. But Michigan's still very talented. They're a very good front. Just really, how does the game, because if they start getting penetration early and forcing Alabama into throwing the ball and being able to sit back and play defense, then it could know a troubling scenario. But I think it's going to be interesting to see. [00:52:39] Speaker B: Yeah, look, just before I talk about this, this game has the potential to be like an all timer right now. I could be saying this and this game could be a complete dud, but this game has all the makings of a game that we are never going to forget. It's Alabama, it's Michigan, it's the Rose bowl. It's two fantastic teams who have incredible stories coming in. The storylines could not be better, truly. Might break some records for amount of people watching. With that being said, for me, really, I'm interested to see what both of these offenses look like in this game. I think that there's a real potential for this game to become a defensive battle. Both of these offenses have shown their weaknesses. Obviously. Alabama start of the season against Texas, against USF, and going forward, that offense, you know, they have been prone to get out to slow starts. Milro obviously has struggled to make reads at points, struggled with some interceptions. It felt for a long time like you were always kind of waiting on that one or two big mistakes that he was going to make. They haven't looked great and the defense, especially in the second half of many of those games, carried Alabama to wins. That offense has gotten much better and obviously had to be pretty good against Georgia, but it has mainly been that defense that has carried Alabama to the playoff. On the other side, Michigan's defense has helped them weather the storm through the end of the know they had, like we talked about, several games where the offense did not look great, especially through the air. Obviously that Penn State game, I believe they ran it every single play in the second half against Penn State might have been one or two passes, but a rushing attack that you likely won't see in a game in this era. But Michigan's defense has really carried them through the end of the season and I really know, I hope that it's a fantastic game. I think that it's going to be a very close game. We'll get into our predictions here in a second, but I think that this has the potential to be an all timer. But we could also get a classic low scoring defensive battle in this game because it would not shock me at all to see both of these offenses struggle early and it's really going to come down to who can weather the storm the best and whose defense can give them just a slight edge. But the offenses are going to be fascinating to watch in this game either way. [00:56:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Just to kind of add to that, I think the really interesting thing to me is that you kind of mentioned it, maybe inadvertently, but both of these teams essentially want to play the same style of game just in two different ways. I mean, if you look at Alabama and how they want to play. Yeah, Jalen Milrow is kind of the main center point and obviously we'll get into this, I'm sure, but he's been the talk of the press conferences here today with some things that have been said. But this is a team that is still very much try to run the ball, get the ball ahead of the line, don't go backwards type of offense, and run the ball and get people forward and make it second, five, third and one, and then that's how he kind of moved down the field. I think with Michigan it's kind of the same thing, except you obviously don't have Jalen Miller Lezer quarterback. You have JJ McCarthy, who he's, I think he's kind of maybe sneakily fast, like he's maybe quicker than people give him credit for, but he's still not somebody who you really have to go out there and worry about his running attack. I mean, he has three rushing touchdowns on the year and under 150 rushing yards, albeit sacks are taken into account for that. So I don't quite know the true numbers, but these are two teams that I think if, like you said, nick, it could be a very defensive battle and the first team to hit like 24, 27 points is going to win it because the other team's offense might not be able to get there in that type of game. [00:57:55] Speaker B: Right. So also, the Pop tart bowl just wrapped up. That looks like an absolute blast. Can we start the campaign to get the Pop Tart bowl as one of the semifinals? [00:58:11] Speaker A: I would second that. [00:58:13] Speaker B: I need to see the giant toaster, the Mayo bowl. [00:58:17] Speaker C: I'll give it that. [00:58:20] Speaker B: Anyway, still waiting on the videos of them eating the mascot. But let's get into our predictions a little bit here. As usual, we won't go for an exact score. We'll say who wins and by how much, but we'll also say who do we expect. We'll kind of make this like the tiebreaker of sorts. Who's going to be the impact player in this game? And you are not allowed to say either of the quarterbacks has to be a player that is not one of the quarterbacks. So impact player. Outside of the quarterbacks, Joe will start with you. [00:59:02] Speaker A: So score first and then impact player. [00:59:05] Speaker B: Who wins how much and then impact player. [00:59:11] Speaker A: Yeah, to be honest, I think it's going to be a pretty close game like we have kind of talked about. I think both these teams are obviously very good and I don't know how many points are really going to be scored. So I think Alabama will win. I'm going to go like 24 to ten. No, sorry, not 24. I'll go 21 to ten. Alabama and I think my impact player. I'll go for someone you said not to give a quarterback. I'll go for someone who will stop the quarterback. I'm going to go, my impact player is going to be Koolaid McKinstry. I wouldn't be shocked if he has a really good game and is able to maybe pick off McCarthy once or twice. So that'll be mine. Yeah. [00:59:59] Speaker C: So I've been looking at the history of this album like you were saying, nick. Alabama, Michigan. It's a rose ball. These are two of the winningest programs in football history. Michigan at number one. Alabama at number two, and they've only played five times. And they played in 1988. Michigan won 28 24. They played in 1997. Alabama won 1714. They played in 2000 in the Orange ball. Michigan wins 35 34 in overtime with Tom Brady as their quarterback. Alabama misses an extra point in overtime is the reason they lost the game. And then the last two matchups in Jerry's world in 2012, where Alabama completely annihilated Michigan, 40 114. And then the game at the Citrus bowl in January of 2020 when Michigan actually had the lead at halftime, 1614. Alabama outscored them 21 nothing in the second half. Mac Jones had over 300 passing yards. Over 200 of it was to Jerry. Judy, Naji Harris had a bunch of running rushing yards. And you get into this game and it's like, is it going to be like the last couple of ones which haven't like, I mean, they kept it close for a half in 2020, but then Alabama was able to pull away. Or is it going to be like the old ones where it's just like really close most games, nail biters to the finish. And for me, I think Alabama, with a month repair Nick Saban, has not really had issues in playoff games. In the semifinal playoff game, other than Ohio State that first year, 2014, every other semifinal game, Alabama has been very well prepared. They've come out and they've pretty much dominated. It's really that national championship game when the games were a little close, a little less time to prepare. So with all that said, I think Alabama is going to win the game. I think it's going to be 14 or 17 points, and my impact is probably going to be Isaiah Bond. I think he's going to have a big mean. I know Ohio State had good receivers. Marvin Harrison Jr. Was able to do a little bit of damage against that defense. I think Isaiah Bond is going to do some damage in this one. [01:02:11] Speaker B: All right, so like I was saying, I think this is going to turn into a defensive battle. I think there are going to be very few points scored. I won't give an exact score. I'm horrible at doing those. But I believe that Alabama will win. Look, they've had so many storybook endings to games this year, but one thing they haven't had is a walk off field goal. [01:02:39] Speaker C: Win it. [01:02:43] Speaker B: I'm going to say that my impact player is going to be Will Rikerd. He's going to have his moment, and Alabama will win the Rose bowl by a field goal to walk it off. I think that would be a fitting way to head into the national championship game for Alabama, if that is what is destined to happen. But it would not shock me at all if we had some absolute chaos in this game. So now, before we get into Alabama basketball, can't wait to talk about that as sure the rest of the Alabama fans are going to talk about a couple of storylines headed in this game. Some news. Jace McClellan looks like he is going to be ready to go headed into this game. I believe he said that he was feeling close to 100%, which is good for Alabama, even though they have a really deep running back room. So it hasn't been like too big of a concern, but always good to have your main guy back. I don't know if you guys saw this, Alabama is taking some extra precautions with their game film this week. So usually the players have their own iPads where they can watch the game film in the hotel. But apparently this week they've done away with that and everything is extra locked down. Were you surprised to see this from Alabama? [01:04:29] Speaker A: I was a little bit, because to be honest, I didn't really think they would even. I don't know, I just didn't know enough that they even do the private film rooms by themselves. But I would say it's very interesting that if you kind of piece the timeline know Alabama hired a Michigan linebackers coach. It was only like maybe a couple weeks ago, it was after the SEC championship game, and now you kind of look into it and you're huh. I wonder if maybe that guy knew something about how maybe the operation is going. I don't want to speculate too much because obviously we don't know, but it's kind of fascinating to me know Alabama hires a guy from Michigan who worked under Harbaugh and now it's, hey, this film study is not happening. We're not going to let that go. So I am a little shocked, though that I'm more shocked that it was actually made public, to be honest. [01:05:34] Speaker C: So, potential triple agent on the Alabama coaching staff because he got his at Alabama under Nick Saban, then he ends up at Michigan. Now he's back at Alabama. Obviously Nick Saban wants any information can who knows how similar everything is still at mean, it's been a couple of years since he was there, but it didn't really surprise me that they're wanting to take some extra precautions, know, a program that was already having sign stealing scandal and everything. Well, I was more surprised that Alabama didn't take more precautions than Tuscaloosa. They didn't build up anything around the practice field with the condos across the street. I wouldn't have been surprised if Michigan there to scout out the practices, but it's setting up to be a real fun game with all the little jabs back and forth at each other. [01:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah, very interesting. I'd love to be some of the media people on ESPN and all that getting to talk about all this before the game. You have infinite source material to go on about. Also, big talking point today. So Jalen Milrow, in his press conference prior to the game talked about how former Alabama beloved offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien told him that he shouldn't play quarterback last season at Alabama. Just Bill O'Brien, the gift that keeps on giving him. All right. [01:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess we got to cancel a statue was. I was really surprised by that. Although if I remember correctly, going into that Sugar bowl last year, Milro was like practicing as a receiver. So I honestly think Bill O'Brien was very dead set on him not playing quarterback if he stayed, albeit, I don't know, going into that Sugar bowl, if O'Brien really thought he was really going to stay on the staff with how that season had. I mean, you got to consider the source. It's Bill O'Brien. I mean, this dude traded when he was the head coach of the Houston Texans in the NFL. He traded DeAndre Hopkins for, I think a backup running back and like a fifth round pick or something like this dude should not be in charge of football at any level. [01:08:04] Speaker C: Yeah, getting rid of your, you know, obviously DeAndre Hopkins and I think it was also, you know, I can't remember, but he got him out of the Bill O'Brien. You know, I could see having Milro at a different know. Obviously he's an athlete. He can know multiple positions with his skill set. Obviously Milroe wanted play quarterback and now when you're finishing six in the highest voting and you got your team back in the playoffs, it looks like a bad call by Bill O'Brien, which we would agree that it is. But also, most of the Alabama fans back in late August, early September were basically saying the same thing, that he's not a real quarterback. Some fans were even still saying it even after everything he's done. The difference is they're not an offense coordinator football team. But we did say once Millro did get benched, we talked about on this show how you still need to find a way to have him on the field. We were talking about possibly having him and one of the other quarterbacks on the field maybe having be able to do some trick plays. Out of that, which could have worked. But you see what happens when players are actually allowed to grow. And he was able to learn from his early mistakes. Offense coordinator was able to build an offense around him. Like if you're trying to put Milro in the Bill O'Brien offense, it probably doesn't work. You can't run the offense that you did under Bryce Young the same way that you do with Jalen Milro, Tommy Reese. After the first couple of weeks, he was able to finally start figuring that out. And now we see, you know, one of the better quarterbacks in the nation, in my opinion. And I think they put out early ods for next year's heisman, and he's like one or two on the list. So I'm glad Bill O'Brien's gone. I'm glad Milro is the starting quarterback at Alabama and hopefully he can bring home a national championship. [01:10:10] Speaker B: Can we really call what Bill O'Brien was putting out there on the field last season an offense? I know we joked several times that ask Madden could have called plays better, but Bill O'Brien, the gift that keeps on giving. So I guess now we get to get into Alabama basketball. Not the brightest of moments as of late. A lot of difficult opponents, a tough schedule, one might say. Joe, if you want to just catch us. [01:10:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I will do the unfortunate part of catching people up on the Alabama basketball team. Now I will know. Like you mentioned, Nick, so Alabama pretty much has lost three of their last four. They beat Eastern Kentucky last week. It was before Christmas, kind of. That was a game that I think NATO probably wouldn't say it, but that was scheduled to kind of boost morale after their three toughest games. And it did, and they played really well. But yeah, Alabama, over this kind of Christmas period, they played Purdue in Toronto, which for those of you who don't know, Purdue has know kind of a consensus top maybe one to five players in college basketball, this. But, and he's from Toronto, so this was essentially his homecoming. It was a Purdue home game at points, and Alabama competed. They had a nine point lead in the second half, about midway through it in this game, but then Purdue Zach Edie had, I believe it was 34. I'm pulling up the stat. He had 35 points, had eleven free throws. Alabama, people are going to read into it and you can read it on social media. The refs were a bit of a controversy in this game with how I believe Purdue didn't have an offensive foul in the second half until there was about like four minutes left in the game, which know that shouldn't have, then, you know, they, they kind of picked themselves up and then they had know if you want to sit down and watch like a really good basketball game, the Alabama Creighton game following the Purdue game was really good basketball. Alabama had two of their starters in double digits, four players in double digits. Creighton had four of their five starters in double digits. It was a really good game. Alabama ended up dropping it 85 to 82 on just a heartbreaking shot by Mark Sears. It essentially was halfway in the basket and then rolled out. And that's how Alabama lost. It would have forced overtime. So, yeah, that was kind of a difficult one to swallow. And then they played Arizona and Phoenix. By the way, sorry, I failed to mention that Creighton game was at Creighton or it was in Omaha, Nebraska. It wasn't quite at the campus, but essentially a home game for Creighton again. And then Alabama played Arizona and Phoenix and kept it close for a long time before Arizona kind of pulled away late. It was 41 to 40, Arizona at halftime and then it got to about a 13 point lead later in the game. Alabama was kind of down double digits the last maybe five minutes, but ended up dropping that 187 to 74. And Alabama, I'll mention the eastern Kentucky game, Alabama won 111 to 67. It was never really close. Not a whole lot of maybe talking points from it besides the fact Alabama did what they were supposed to do. But now Alabama is seven and five on the year, kind of right before they have one out of conference game left. And that's liberty, which they play in Birmingham on the 30th at 01:00 p.m. Central time. So that's their last non conference game. But this is still Alabama, seven and five. Last year they didn't even lose five games. I don't think it was a tough stretch for them. The season is definitely not over, I'll say that. And in the latest ESPN kind of bracketology rankings by Joe Leonardi to kind of see where Alabama seeded, they're still a 6th seed, so they're hosting or they're a home game or the home team in the tournament still. They're still at number six. I think this team is going to be a little bit of, at least record wise, what the team from two seasons ago was kind of before the Brandon Miller hype last year. If you remember that year, Alabama lost, I believe, eleven games and they ended the year really poorly. But they were still a five seed in the tournament and lost to Notre Dame in the tournament. Who was an eleven seed, so I think this team will be a little better. It's just been tough sledding for them. It's hard to play three top ten teams, really even top maybe five teams all in road games and win any of them. But I think for Alabama, you would have liked to win one. I think that the Creighton one is maybe the one that stings the most just in the way that they lost. But this is still a high powered offense that against most of the competition that they're going to play, they're going to be better. Then they're seven and five in record only. And when they start the SEC play, they have at Vanderbilt, South Carolina, at Mississippi State, Missouri, and they could very well be four and in that stretch, and they go from seven and five to twelve and five and are right back in the hunt for a top seed in the tournament. So not quite the panty button just yet. Just maybe a little concerning that they lost those three games in a row. [01:16:41] Speaker B: Yeah, really interesting. Ken Palm has Alabama as the 8th best team in the country right now despite having five losses. [01:16:55] Speaker A: Yeah, the analytics love the tide. [01:16:57] Speaker B: They do. [01:16:58] Speaker A: Any analytic you look at, it's Alabama somehow like top ten. [01:17:01] Speaker B: But here's the key. Alabama's adjusted offense is ranked number one in the country at 123 points a game. Their adjusted defense is 93rd in the country. It's very obvious what the problem with Alabama has been so far. It's also very obvious that it would seem that NATO believed that Charles Bettyako was going to come back this season. Obviously that Purdue game was supposed to be built around Bettyako and Edie playing in Canada, which obviously didn't happen. But I think for anybody who's losing faith in Alabama basketball, weather the storm, because the analytics see this team as still very good and they have played a lot of tough opponents so far. [01:18:04] Speaker A: Yeah. And to kind of go into their analytics and that kind of the problems that they've mean, if you look at the Purdue game and really those three games in a row, the Purdue, Creighton and Arizona game, and both of those games, or in all three of those games, you had multiple foul outs on the inside. The Purdue game, both Nick Pringle and Mohammed Waggy, who started the game at center, fouled out in that game, and both of them had five fouls. And Pringle at a point, he didn't do it against Eastern Kentucky, but he fouled out in all three of those games at one point. That's just something that can't happen. And that's something NATO has said. You can't win games, especially against teams that have good inside presence with essentially knowing or believing that your two centers are going to foul out. And at some point in the game. And their defense has been pretty rough throughout this season. They gave up 92 points to Ohio State. That was their first loss. They gave up 91 to Oregon in the game they won. Clemson was able to pull away and Alabama in the last four minutes. And Nate Oates has said this. I don't know if there's a specific number to back it up, but through the first, I believe he said, 36 minutes of the game, they're one of the best in the country. And the final four minutes of the game, they're one of the worst. And that's very true. They've just really had problems and really struggled to close out these games and it's something they can learn from. And like I said, their next maybe super anticipated game is not for about a month when they go to Tennessee on January 20. But this is still, like you said, nick, and like a lot of people are saying, the season is not over. I mean, this is still a very capable basketball team. And if anything, I'm more confident in this team turning it around than say, the team a couple of years ago that I mentioned that kind of ended the year very poorly. This team, Aaron Estrada is a veteran guard and has been at a couple of different schools and has started to kind of put it together here. And Mark Sears has played at Alabama for two a, you know, kind of a super senior as it's, it's Grant Nelson has been here a while. Nick Pringle has been on the team for a while. This is a group that has played a lot of basketball. Maybe they haven't played it all together, but they've played a lot of basketball in their careers and they can just as easily turn it around for this season. [01:21:02] Speaker C: Yeah, the thing about that team, a couple of years ago, they started off really hot and then they got SEC play and that's when everything started going downhill and they beat Gonzaga in Seattle and that was like, oh, they've arrived. This is going to be another year like the year before where they had made this week 16 and then late in the year they lost multiple games down the stretch. They go to the SEC tournament, either lost the first or the second game, I can't remember, but then they go to the NCAA tournament, they play Notre Dame, and you thought they might be able to make a run just with the athletes on the team. And then Javon Quinnerley tears his ACL in the first half and who knows if they would have made a little run if he's healthy. But last year you had Brandon Miller, who's obviously, he was the number two pick in the draft. He was up for the Mazemith player of the year. You also had Noah Clowney, you had Charles Bettako, all them going off to the NBA. And then this year you have a bunch of transfers coming in. You have some people that have stayed, some people transferred know pretty much a whole new team. Other know Sears and Pringle and then all your assistant coaches gone. And then all the games that they've lost. One, the defense has not been good in any of them. Four of those five losses, all those teams are ranked. Obviously three of them were in the top ten when Alabama played them. Clemson, who beat Alabama, is now ranked and Ohio State is receiving votes, so they're not losing to bad teams. Now, you hope that, like we've said on this show multiple times that the defense will come around and we can easily say, well, they've improved after this game because they only gave up 67 to Eastern Kentucky or they only gave up 46 to South Alabama. But it's the big games. That's when the defense isn't showing up. And it's like the team just kind of thinks that they can outscore everybody at this point. They know they can't. They know that they have to play defense. And there's been certain stretches in these losses where the defense has played well, but it hasn't been the whole game. And then at Arizona, I know it was a mixture of good defense and poor offense on both sides, but that first half, it was pretty low scoring until late, and then all of a sudden they just exploded. And then all of a sudden it's 41 40 at halftime and then Alabama still gives up 87 points in the loss. So I don't think, and I could be wrong, I mean, there's really good SEC teams. Tennessee is good, Auburn looks pretty good. You have Arkansas. But I don't know if any of those teams are as good as the three teams that Alabama just faced. And obviously none of them have a seven foot four Zach eedy that's just going to be able to get the ball, do whatever he wants, hit people in the head with his elbows and not get a foul called. But if Alabama is able to defend without fouling and actually get some calls to go their way, I don't know what it is. I don't know if we just foul that much. Or if any game that Doug Shooz is a ref in, anytime that it just seems like we always get way more fouls called than any other team when he's ref and it's been multiple years. We used to just say it was just because he know something against but and now it's know years since John Petty left and still not getting the calls with him. So maybe we can just work to not have him refer to the games. Maybe things will go our way. But I don't know. They got to figure something out. Hopefully over these next few games before they start getting into some real tough SEC games, they can figure it out. [01:25:18] Speaker B: Have some faith in Alabama basketball. [01:25:22] Speaker A: Everyone, and I will say, just to kind of cap off maybe the discussion here, they've gotten some really good performances lately from kind of these depth guys that they've been waiting to get on. I mean, Sam Walters, who's a true freshman 610 kind of forward who had really good, we talked about this on our show during these exhibition games. I think he put up 30 points against Wake Forest and was having a really good shooting day and hadn't quite got it going through the season. But these last two games against Arizona and Eastern Kentucky, the Arizona game was probably a little more impressive because you're playing Arizona. He's put up double digit points. He had 15 against Arizona, was 60% from 350 percent from the field. And then against Eastern Kentucky he had twelve points, six rebounds, three assists in 21 minutes, shot 80% from the floor. They're getting performances from him. And Ryland Griffin has also had a couple of really good games. Had a really good game against Creighton, had 13 points. And then against Eastern Kentucky, all of a sudden he just decided to shoot the lights out. He had 19 points, 64% from the floor, six rebounds, three assists. So I think for Alabama, getting anybody outside of maybe Mark Sears, Aaron Estrada and Grant Nelson going is going to massively boost this team because that was kind of their problem. In those three games against the Purdue, Creighton, Arizona was Mark Sears and Estrada and Nelson at points had to just carry the team. And that really can't happen when you're playing as good of a team as they were in those top ten opponents. So I think for Alabama, just getting, like I said, griffin, walters, even Nick Pringle, wagy going, those guys, it's going to help dramatically. And hopefully these last couple games, like I said, for Griffin and Walters is a sign of things to come and they can finally get maybe a full five going or at least five players going at the same time. [01:27:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Really? Like I was saying, have faith in Alabama basketball. They're coming along, and I'm sure we'll figure it out. [01:27:55] Speaker A: And to be like, listen, if you were to tell an Alabama basketball fan, like, five years ago that Alabama would be a consistent tournament team and play the likes of Purdue and Creighton and Arizona and play them mean, that would be a dream. So just pump the brakes a little bit on the, like, it's going to be okay. NATO is not that bad of a coach to just dramatically drop off after a season. So Alabama, I think, will be just fine and going into SEC play. [01:28:23] Speaker B: All right, so real quick, before we get into our big announcement, rest in peace, the pop tart mascot who has now been loaded into the toaster, toasted and then eaten on national television. Truly a sight. [01:28:41] Speaker A: I wonder what the guy did in the mascot. [01:28:46] Speaker C: No, he's dead. [01:28:49] Speaker A: He was eaten. Sorry. [01:28:52] Speaker B: He took one for the team. He took one for the team. Never forget the pop tart mascot who was holding a sign that said, dreams really do come true as he was lowered into the toaster, which, if the pop tart bowl is not in the expanded college Football playoff, what are we doing? Am I right? [01:29:16] Speaker A: Yeah. We need that game to be that and, like, the Mayo bowl to be. Imagine it on campus, too. You get the pop tart. Could you imagine pop Tart on campus? [01:29:28] Speaker B: The marketing campaign would go insane. You'd eat so many pop tarts the week of that. It would just be. Anyway. I don't know that it's more fun, but more fun for us. We are going to be recording as going to be a first for us, first for the podcast, an episode of the low tide from the Rose bowl the day of. Pretty soon after the game, we'll be recording it, and it should be up by the next day. So that's very exciting for us. I know we're all excited to get down there to the Rose bowl. [01:30:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm pretty excited. I'm pretty sure this is the first time in the station's history we've been able to do something like this. So very cool. And it should be a lot of fun and probably a little better weather. [01:30:24] Speaker B: Yeah, just a little bit. [01:30:29] Speaker C: First thing, we just got to make sure we all get there in one piece. I don't know about you all. I am flying on spirit airlines. [01:30:37] Speaker A: We will say a prayer. [01:30:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:30:40] Speaker C: Flying out of Nashville on the 31st. It is a direct flight. I don't know how I swung that one, but going from Nashville, to LAX. Hopefully we all get there in one piece and I don't know, are we going to dress up for it or. [01:30:57] Speaker A: I don't know, do we all wear the station shirts? [01:31:02] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. To be determined. There's a lot of things to be determined. Where will we record from? To be determined. How long will we speak? Probably depends on the outcome of the game. [01:31:19] Speaker C: Good luck with Nick trying to fly out of Midland. Don't wear any Odessa shirts. Over. [01:31:24] Speaker B: Yeah, true. Truly tough sledding because it's totally like you can tell a massive difference between Odessa and Midland. It's not like the airport is like directly in the middle of both. [01:31:36] Speaker C: I watch Friday night lights. I know how, I know how rough it is. Over. [01:31:41] Speaker B: Cultured. He's cultured in the West Texas experience. Yeah, it should be interesting. Hopefully we will all get there in one piece. Joe, I know. I think you will be the first one there. Leaving, what, tomorrow morning? [01:32:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I leave for the airport in about 6 hours. [01:32:06] Speaker B: The countdown is on. [01:32:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I got to get there. So my flight takes off at 630 eastern time. And it's really weird flying directly from Baltimore to California because I leave at 630 Eastern and I land at like 930 la time in the morning. So I don't know how I'm going to do that. But yeah, it should be quite the trip and I guess I will be the first down there, so I'll see how the weather is. Yeah. [01:32:39] Speaker B: So hopefully, safe travels for everyone. I can't believe that the next time that we will be on the air will be front. Well, on the air in spirit. Right on the air will be from the Rose bowl in Pasadena and hopefully we will be raving about what a fantastic game it was. Until then, it's been low tide on 90.7. Thank you for listening.