The Low Tide S2.E15 - Hello 2025!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. [00:00:16] Speaker B: We are back. Welcome in to the first low tide of 2025, the first one in the new student media building. You know, things are not completely set up yet. I wouldn't even say they're partially set up, but we're here and we're recording. I. I'm Nicholas Purley, joined as always by Adam Hambright. Elliot Miller. Gentlemen. How. How are we doing? [00:00:39] Speaker A: Well, I feel like we haven't had a show in about a year. You know, it's been. It's been a while, and now we're in the new building. We. We've been off for several weeks. But, you know, it's a good thing we didn't have any shows earlier than this because I might have still been a little heated and we might not have been able to actually air it on the airwaves. [00:00:57] Speaker C: You know, I can resonate with that. Speaking of setups, I think you're a little generous in saying set up, considering I'm the only one who has a non functioning microphone, so. Or actually, I'm the only one. Yeah, yeah. I am the only one that has a non functioning microphone. You guys are fine. I don't have to use the one on the headset. So. I mean, I don't know. We could have left this part here in 2024, but I'm glad that the. [00:01:19] Speaker B: Low tide was brought into 2025, you know, that's. That's so true. And we're gonna get it all fixed. You know, we're gonna get it all figured out. We're in a nice new building and a nice. [00:01:27] Speaker C: We'll get back to you, gu. Three months. [00:01:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, we'll be. We'll be back, ready to go. We'll have, like, one final, like, episode before the graduation of, like, well, technically only one third. It's just you. Yeah, it's only. Yeah, I'm out the door. So. Obviously a lot has happened since we last came on. I think our last show that we did, we were like, just finding out that they were going to the ReliaQuest bowl, all that stuff. I don't even believe we ended up doing a preview for that bowl game. Obviously not the result we were looking for. Of course. Unfortunately, I had to be there. So I witnessed it in person. Just as bad in person as you would have realized. So I guess just some general thoughts on that game. I know they're not going to be positive. We've had quite a few weeks to kind of mellow out. But, Adam, you want to try and, like, not get us kicked off the radio. [00:02:25] Speaker A: Well, see, Nicholas had to be there. I chose to be there. I made it my duty to start off 2024. Watching Alabama lose in the Rose bowl in California against Michigan and then losing on the last day of 2024 in Florida, you know, at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Raymond James Stadium. You know, that game, you know, it was. It was bad, right? I mean, defense played really well. You had. Was it three turnovers in the first quarter. Defense was able to hold them to only one touchdown out of those three possessions. You know, Michigan got it off first early field goal turnover, another field goal turnover again. That's when they finally scored a touchdown and then a turnover and field goal. So it could have been a lot worse than what it was. 16. Nothing in the first quarter hung in the game. Alabama only ends up losing 19 to 13 and had a chance there at the end, just unable to complete that pass. You know, it was just. It was very sloppy play calling. It didn't look like anybody on the offensive side of the ball really showed up to play. They kind of heated up at the end of the first half, but, you know, they weren't able to keep it. Especially like they got into the third quarter and it really looked like no adjustments were really made during the half. So for me, it's just we've. We said this probably, you know, at every single game that they've lost. You know, the inability to make those adjustments in game and, you know, you don't have to wait till halftime, but after halftime, you. You actually got to come out, you got to put something together. And I think that's been the case this year. I don't know how much that won't improve going into the next season. You know, it's something that I know there's the rumor out there that Ryan Grubb, after being fired by Seattle, that Caitlin DeBoer is going to offer him the offense coordinator job back. But I don't know, I would like to see a little bit more stability. This would be four different offensive coordinators in four years if a new offense corner was, you know, brought onto the staff. [00:04:27] Speaker C: Sure. I think that watching this game kind of encapsulated every single problem that we saw over the course of the season, but wrapped up in a nice, big gift bow for the holiday season, as you pointed out, Adam, super sloppy, kind of in all phases. I think it's hard to win a game when you spot the other team 16 points. And to the defense's credit, it was only 16 points, it could have been a lot worse. The score on paper, it certainly does not feel like it was that close. But the biggest thing for me at the end of the day is that there is absolutely no reason that the offense is that anemic. I mean, that is almost an embarrassing level of, you know, you have all of these playmakers, even though, like, like, yes, some people had. Are opted out, they were gone or something, you know, but you know, Jalen Milroe, it's not like he opted out. He played in the game. Right. Ryan Williams played in the game. Jeremy Bernard still played in the game. You know, they still had Jam Miller. So there was a lot of people who played like that are just normal starters. And Michigan had a couple key defensive players out and you would have expected them to put up more than 13 points. And so I don't know, it's just one of those things that. I don't know. I struggle with understanding the game plan going in. I struggle with seeing any adjustments because there were no. Doesn't seem like there are many adjustments made. I mean, they scored those 10 points there in the second quarter, but I mean, then they got three after that. [00:06:02] Speaker A: Yeah, one thing that you had kind of mentioned, you know, after Ryan Williams and Jeremy Bernard, you know, they were. They were still in the game, but then you had the next three main receivers throughout the season, you know, they've all, you know, announced that they're transferring. Some of them already have those other schools. So it was really after those two. I mean, Michigan, you know, they did have defensive players out, but then they were kind of able to kind of focus their defense. Like, hey, these other guys, they've hardly played all year long, so we're going to make them make the plays. And you know, Rico Scott, you know, he had a pretty good game, but maybe at the end, you know, he was the one that was kind of open on that last play, but he kept fading away from the way that Jalen Milroe was rolling. If, you know, if he had had a little bit more in game experience, maybe he starts coming back to the ball earlier, could have made it. But yeah, it was, you know, it was something that you did not want to see, especially with how many players did announce that they were coming in the game. I know a bunch of us thought it would be like that Sugar bowl, you know, a couple years ago with Bryce Young and Will Anderson and, you know, they just kind of, you know, laid an egg in this one. Now we've had one player, you know, announce that they Were we probably had more. I'm, I'm thinking of one in particular that announced after that game, Elijah Pritchett, you know, he's transferring out. He was getting beat, you know, all game. And it was something weird because earlier in the season, you know, he was a little hurt. They had form being there and you know, everybody was like, for me, can't block anybody. You get Pritchett, you know, he's played decent, but then in this game, you know, against a depleted Michigan, you know, defensive line, he was getting beat like almost every drop back pass. You know, on the, I think it was the, the first drive where Alabama was kind of moving a little bit. That third down play, you know, he just gets shoved right back into Jalen Milro and it's like, you should not be getting driven back like that bad, you know, off the line for somebody that's been a starter, you know, for most of the season. [00:07:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I think, you know, really kind of like you said, obviously at the beginning of the year, Michigan beats Alabama in a heartbreaker. Really tough loss. You probably had a good chance to win the national championship had they won that game. A fantastic picture that Adam's showing us from his rainy view, which he originally didn't even have, but he actually. You got a better ticket, right? [00:08:15] Speaker C: Yeah. You lobbied for that, right? [00:08:16] Speaker A: You know, so I don't know how, how it ended up working out, but. So this was the second year in a row this. So last year in Pasadena, you know, my ticket was like the last row that was reserved for the Million Dollar Ban. And you know, that one, they were kind of just like, we'll give you another ticket. But luckily some people just didn't show up. I was able to just move one row back and just stay right there. This year, once again, my ticket and many other people's tickets were in a section that appeared to be reserved for the band. Again, guest services gave us tickets. I ended up getting, you know, a ticket probably around the same row. It was just moved over a little bit so that I'm not having to look through the tuba section of the band trying to watch a game right in front of the battleship that, that they have down there. You know, I like the view. You know, it was a nice ticket. Apparently later, like, because there were so many people that were supposed to sit over there, they actually did tell the band, hey, you're not supposed to have the entire section. You're only supposed to have these, you know, rows. So they moved them there, allowed other people to sit. But I'm Like, I'm kind of glad I'm not having to watch it through, you know, all these instruments, you know, that they're going to be, you know, blaring the whole game. [00:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah, you got. Yeah, I feel like that was. That was pretty good fortune for you there. So, yeah, like I was saying, obviously you start the year, you lose a heartbreaker. And to close the year, really, I would say mostly disappointing year for Alabama. Obviously you had the highs of beating Georgia, you know, really, you know, when you look back at this season, they could have lost that game as well. And I feel like we would think a lot differently than we do even now against this team. Highs and lows from the season, and obviously you have a horrible loss to kind of end it off, send everybody off with the sour taste in their mouth. Really unfortunate against a Michigan team that had already been pretty bad the entire year. Offense terrible. Absolutely terrible. And, you know, I'd love to sit here and compliment the defense. And obviously, you know, they were handed some really unfortunate circumstances. A lot of short fields for Michigan, a lot of should have been freebies. And for any offense that was even competent, they probably score there. So I don't know. You know, I don't want to get too high on the defense because this is a Michigan offense that was unable to throw the ball, like, at all for the entire season. Obviously, you know, they thought Alex Orgy was going to be the guy coming into the year. Didn't end up working out. He obviously came into this game in the latter half. But you had Davis Warren, who obviously was a walk on at one point. Great story there, but not as good. Obviously, Michigan had a big win against Ohio State late in the year, and that looks. That win looks even better now that the Buckeyes are headed to the national championship. But, you know, everything had to go wrong for Ohio State for Michigan to even have a chance to win that game. Michigan played as well as they possibly could have. Ohio State probably played as poorly as they could have. This game just felt like it just leaves such a bad taste in your mouth, not only for, you know, the fans, the people who had to watch it, but also, I would imagine, for the players and for the coaches who had to coach in it. I mean, you really. This has been a very disappointing year. You had big hopes. You were the number one ranked team in the country at one point. You then lost to Vanderbilt. It was tough. Then you went on the road. You know, you lose to Tennessee. Oh, but you still have a chance. Up you lay, you know, an absolute egg against Oklahoma on the road. Another team that was seriously injury depleted and has not lived up to expectations. [00:11:55] Speaker C: This year, lost to Navy in their bowl game. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it was tough. So not, not a good set of circumstances and certainly not the way that you want to end off the year. I mean, this game was just. It felt weird the entire time. You know, obviously you had the rain there in the beginning that was coming down pretty heavily, as Adam can attest to. Doesn't make up for the fact, you know, you shouldn't have. What do they have, three turnovers during that time? [00:12:21] Speaker C: Milroe turned the ball over. I think three. Or he was responsible for, I should say one of them is really rain in like infused because it kind of just slipped out of his hands. [00:12:30] Speaker A: Yeah, the. So the first turnover, it's literally Michigan just scored. Alabama's going to get the ball back. Starts pouring down like slip, like bounces off his. It was snapped. Slips out of his hands. Like you were saying, next possession you. [00:12:42] Speaker C: Get strip sacks or. Yeah, that was the. [00:12:45] Speaker A: Whatever order it was. But the strip sack, Rob Utes, you, you know, just missed his guy. You know, he, he was trying to push something outside. I guess he didn't really miss him, but not a very good block. Gets to Melrose, trips it. Then on the interception from the right hash, they call a combination route all the way to the wide side of the field, making the ball have to travel 40 yards in the air. And you know, if you're looking at it right when he throws it, you know that defender is on the early, you know, receiver. And it's basically like whichever one he's lined up on, throw to the other guy. Milro does that, but as he's throwing the ball, he moves to the other guy and then it's just got to travel so long, it's like, why are you calling that play right now? You know, we've had a struggling offense. Let's call, let's call some screens to, you know, avoid that rush, you know, and you know, just get some more quicker passes and don't throw it 40 yards for a ball that's not even going to get past the first down marker. [00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it was wild because it almost felt like, you know, at the beginning of the Georgia game where it was almost like an out of body experience where you're like, is this really happening? Like they're really on fire. This was the complete opposite of that. This was. Is this really happening? I cannot believe that they're just getting like, I mean, this is just compounding mistakes, you know and they just keep building. What else? I mean Ryan Williams a non factor in this game completely. I think nobody really would have expected that. [00:14:09] Speaker A: Can they. Can they bring back the. The push out rule, you know where receivers in the air. He's clearly going to come down inbounds but the defender just pushes him out of bounds while he's still in the air. Can we. Can we bring that back door? That's going to be a completion. [00:14:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Obviously you had the, the big. What was it? Sideline interference call which came up again in the playoffs. So for anybody who watched this game, you already knew what was going on there. Big sideline interference call that really. Alabama got a big time sack and then that was completely wiped off the board. First down Michigan off of just. I feel like that's almost symbolic for the whole year. It's just like things that should not happen just happen. [00:14:53] Speaker C: Sure. And to the to I mean to your credit, Adam, you're right. I mean like so the one fumble that Milro had. Right. It's true that that's a freak weather incident. I don't really think that that occurs if it's not pouring down rain strip sack, you know, missed block. That happens. I will say that I play call regardless. Thought it was a pretty bad throw. It seemed pretty telegraphed. But the guy was able to just immediately move off of where he was to just go pick that off. I wasn't a big fan of that one. [00:15:19] Speaker A: Well, yeah, you know when you're calling it to where you're to the wide side of the field where it's like I'm going to have to throw this ball 30 to 40 yards in the air. He like even if it wasn't, I mean you're looking at one side of the field. It's literally two guys within one eyesight. So he's clearly going to throw it over there unless he comes off of him. So the defender is able to read it and then as he's throwing it to the deep guy all the way on the sideline, you know it. There's just so much time to where he's going to be able to react to it. Now could he have gotten a little bit more on it, got it over there faster maybe. But I'm just like if we're going to call that, you know, especially right after it stopped raining, you know, you don't know how. I'm not saying that he threw it because the ball might have still been wet, but I'm just saying with the Circumstances that have already happened in the game. I'm like, let's go short side of the field. Let's do some, you know, quicker passes and not, you know, and if we're going to throw it 40 yards, let's throw it 40 yards vertically. [00:16:09] Speaker C: Sure. I just think even outside of the three turnovers that we saw, thought it was a pretty lackluster game overall. Even if you ignore, you chalk it up to, you know, missed block weather conditions, bad play call in a certain area of the field. I just really. It really didn't feel like. A lot of times it felt like on the broadcast, it's like, oh, you know what? Like, Alabama, this is Alabama. They're going to bounce back, they're going to adjust. Just never happened. It seemed like the offense was kind of just. They were just. They were shaky the whole time. They had that one. Like I said, they had that one spurt where they scored those 10 points in the second quarter. And outside of that, I mean, it was pretty much nothing. I mean, all was quiet on the Western front. [00:16:52] Speaker B: And, you know, you said something there that really. I feel like it was symbolic for the whole season where you're like, this is Alabama. Like, they're going to come back. Like, this isn't going to happen. Right. A lot of un. Alabama things happened over the course of the season, and they were happening at the end of Saban's run. Obviously, in that last year, there were a lot of things that we felt were uncharacteristic. You know, even the season before that, you know, the amount of penalties, those sorts of things, little things that, you know, for so long never happened to Alabama. Right. Those were things that were always under wraps. So I think maybe one thing that you can take away from that is obviously, this is a new Alabama. Right. I feel like the. Maybe not the expectations, but. Well, yeah, I guess you would say maybe you can't expect as high of things from this Alabama team. Right. It was an impossible situation that they were coming into. Obviously, you're Greg Byrne. You have to replace the greatest head football coach of all time. And I think he did a good job. And I'm not sitting here dunking on deboer. I think he's done a fantastic job given what he had to undergo. You know, he comes in, he take. He has to take all the harm from the transfer portal, but can't take any of the benefit from it. He manages to keep Brian Williams here. That's massive. And, you know, I feel like he still put together a decent team with the cards that he had in his hand, right? He just had a bad hand. But the other thing that I will say, right, is I feel like all season I have been Milroe's biggest defender, right? There have been many games this season where I thought, you know, he was thrown under the bus for things that were not his fault. Okay? And I think that there has been a lot of hate directed at him that has not been deserved. Right? People are just quick to say, oh, Melrose, the worst quarterback Alabama has ever had. That's just true. Fundamentally, straight up, not true. Right? Don't go on Yik Yak, right? Twitter's a cesspool. Stay off there. But there is one thing that is absolutely 100% true, and that is that this Alabama team, their ceiling was basically what Melro could deliver. They were almost, for lack of a better term, they were handicapped by having Jalen Milroe at quarterback. And here's the problem, okay? Basically, what teams figured out over the course of the season was if your defense was good enough to not have to stack the box, to not have to load the box, you could play two deep, three deep safeties, and you could still stop the run. That's how you beat Alabama, right? Like, that's the whole. That's the whole playbook. That's how you defend Alabama. Jalen Melrose struggles very clearly to read zone defenses, and it is the number one thing that when teams are looking into drafting him, that is going to be the number one thing that he struggles with. That being said, now, we could talk, you know, maybe a little bit about the draft, all that fun stuff, but it's very clear that that was this Alabama team's issue. You saw there were times when teams could not defend, you know, his running ability. When they were able to get things going, they flowed excellently. You look at the first half of the Georgia game and you say, hey, that team can beat anybody, right? But, you know, when you play teams that have better defenses that are able to stop the run without having to really, really commit to it, that. That's just. It's what's going to happen, right? You're going to get beat. Alabama offense was not very good. If you could stop the run. [00:20:20] Speaker C: And I want to. I want to kind of hit on that point. I know that there were times during the season, I believe we could probably go back and run the tape on what I said whenever the LSU game happened, right? You know, we were running off that high of, like, you know, wow, they put up a ton of points they walked into Death Valley, absolutely smoked them. And I believe I said, let's hold our horses real quick because this LSU team had a known track record of having an issue stopping mobile quarterbacks and like stopping the run. And then what happened immediately after that, Right. LSU goes down the toilet. You know, they just kind of. I don't know what happened. They just kind of felt like they threw in the towel to a certain degree. [00:20:59] Speaker A: But. [00:21:00] Speaker C: But then OU took that formula that like Vanderbilt had or whatever, stopped the run, didn't let him go anywhere. And you're absolutely right, Nick. Alabama's offense lived and died by how effective Jalen Milroe was from both a running perspective and if he was able to run that kind of. Then they had to stack the box. You're not playing so much of that zone defense, able to play, you know, that one on one. Okay. I got Ryan Williams, one on one. I'm throwing it down to him. He's going to beat his guy. That works only so many times. And I think that's the biggest problem that we solve. The offense, it's one dimensional. Once you figure out how to beat it, you're toast. And I think maybe, Adam, that might be that lack of adjustment, because that's it. That's all there is. There's nothing more to it. That's. That's all you can do. [00:21:46] Speaker A: Well, I mean, also when you have an offensive line that, you know, should be the strength of this team. Right. And we saw it throughout the year. I, I don't want to say for sure, but I believe. Pff. Put out that thing that had. Where the right tackle, Elijah Pritchett, had given up 31 pressures from his position. I don't remember what everybody else is, but it's, you know, when Jay Lero had time to throw, you know, he could get it, but there were many times where he did not really have time. Like in, in the Michigan game specifically. Right. You know, he was under pressure almost the. The entire game. And then. Okay, well, let's, let's get. Let's get the running game going. And then it's like, you know, he wasn't able to get the running game going. Part of that might be him making the wrong read on a play. Other part might be the offensive line not really getting on their defender quick enough to stop them from getting to him. And it's just, you know, I'm hoping, you know, with, you know, the people that are returning. Right. You know, you have, you know, some of the offensive line going to return to a Bunch of people on the defense saying that they're going to come back that now with a full off season, able to pull in, you know, more people from the transfer port, only you're able to get an actual recruiting class in. And then I know there's already been a couple of changes to the coaching staff. Hopefully, you know, by next season you have a much more, you know, Caitlin DeBoer team than what you did have this year. And maybe we can see improvement. I'm not going to give any kind of predictions on, like, what we should expect for next year, but we need to see some type of progress. [00:23:23] Speaker C: I think whenever you say what to expect next year, and I'll leave, I'll leave it on this. Right. I do not think if you are Caitlin DeBoer, I do not think you can have a second season that ends up like this. I just, I do, I do not see that lasting here. [00:23:40] Speaker B: Well, the. Yeah, you know, I think you're right. Right. Like, let's be honest. Like, and when we say you can't have another season like that, it's like, hey, like multiple, like horrible losses to like unranked teams. Right. I think that that's what I'm referencing. That's what we're going to talk about. Okay. But there's also one thing that I like, one caveat that I have to put on this. This is not what a Calum DeBoer football team looks like. [00:24:03] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:24:04] Speaker B: Let's be 100% real here. He was, I mean, impossible situation. Not only do you have to come and take over for literally the greatest football coach of all time, you have to come in, you don't get to take advantage of the transfer portal. Meanwhile, everybody on your team can get up and out of there. Right. [00:24:26] Speaker A: The only players that he could pull from the portal were from other coaches that left so from Washington when he left from Arizona, when their coach went to take the Washington job, you didn't have that full, you know, portal cycle that you could actually recruit through. [00:24:39] Speaker B: Right. And even then, you know, he was able to make some impressive things happen. Right. Obviously, he brings over center and a wide receiver for from Washington, who both played big roles on the team this season, were both fantastic pickups. I think everybody would be like, yes, those, those were good moves. And then, you know, obviously, you know, a lot of people are going to say, oh, well, you had a Heisman hopeful dropped in your lap. Okay. Yes. But also one that is very clearly limited. Right. Even with, you know, this is a guy who turned. I mean, this is somebody who has been known. I mean, he turned Michael Penix from a guy at Indiana that was struggling into somebody who like damn near won the Heisman at Washington. Right. They made a big run. Known for being able to turn around quarterbacks. Right. Even with that. And I feel like Milroe got a lot better over the course of the year, Right. Quote, unquote. You know, even if that's, you know, maybe you disagree. But even with that, right. Heisman hopeful, whatever, right. Very clearly limited in certain aspects of his game, which came back to haunt Alabama. Right. They had had a full season of, okay, we know who Jalen Monroe is. We know how to game plan for him. Certain people figured it out. Certain people didn't figure it out. Right. But yeah, I mean, this is not. I mean, he obviously, he was able to keep Ryan Williams, which he should be like, mega congratulated from that because I'm sure there were some absolutely insane offers being offered up and I'm sure that Alabama gave him a very similarly outlandish offer, I would guess. Right. But able to keep a lot of players, able to bring in who he could. Right. And I would say, given all those circumstances, had a somewhat decent season. Right. You know, you do beat. He beat Georgia. That was a big game that everybody thought that they were going to lose. It was almost penciled in as a loss in most people's minds, right? You have all the highs. Yes, you had some very bad losses at the end of the year. But, you know, if things go differently in Oklahoma game, maybe we're talking about a team that lost in the first round of the playoffs, right? [00:26:56] Speaker A: And, you know, we won't get too much into it, but, um, it. It puts a. Probably a worst taste in our mouth because of the Michigan loss in the bowl game. But this was a team that did finish in the top 12. If you did not have conference champions, the four power four, and then one group of five automatic qualifying, this would have been a team that was in the playoffs. Would they have won a playoff game? Who knows? You probably wouldn't have had all the people that it did transfer. I know it wasn't like the whole team, but you had, you know, three receivers that were your three through five that were already transferring out. You had Justice Haynes already transferring out before the bowl game. So this would have been a team probably. I think it would have been, you know, the Notre Dame matchup. I might be. Might be mistaken. [00:27:43] Speaker C: Well, what I thought it was penciled in Notre Dame at one point, I think with the. [00:27:48] Speaker A: With the final ones, it would have been at Texas. We would had the. The 12 seed, but it would have been a road playoff game. Do they win? We don't know. But this was a team even with the three losses, I guess, you know, the weight from the Georgia win, you know, kind of carried that. But this was a team that did finish in the top 12 in a year of a 12 team playoff. So they didn't make the playoff because of the way it was set up. And we don't know any kind of success that it would have been. Elliot's over here making faces about it. [00:28:17] Speaker C: Accidentally kick Nick's foot. [00:28:20] Speaker A: But yeah, this was a team that I thought did pretty well. I think we're talking about it a little bit differently if the losses are to different teams. If it's not to tennis, like, yeah, the Tennessee loss and then the other two were, you know, unranked teams. Even though the, the loss to Vanderbilt probably, you know, that one Alabama probably played the best in, I would, I would say offensively. Right. You know, Milro had like 300 passing yards. They put up 35 points in 17 minutes of play. And that was the same team that only lost by three to Texas. So a team that, you know, did make the playoffs. So, you know, Vanderbilt might have been the best loss of the year. [00:29:04] Speaker B: Texas, I'm sure we're going to talk about them. Look, one, one final thing before we get into like, we're going to do some quick, like Alabama New Year's resolutions, if you may. Um, and we'll just go one from each of us. Look, I want to say, like, I don't want to be too negative about Jalen Moreau because he gave his absolute all for this team. And I think that he's, he's getting a lot of crap from people who should not be giving him crap. Right. Very difficult situation. [00:29:33] Speaker C: Yeah. Couch coaches. [00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot, A lot of couch coaches out there who don't know what they're talking about. Hope all goes well for him in the draft. He's going to play in the Senior Bowl. I'm sure he's going to have a absolute game there. You know, I think that'll go well for him. He's going to be a monster in the combine, obviously. [00:29:55] Speaker A: Definitely. One, one thing about like, you know, just the quick. You know, this is a guy that's had three different offensive coordinators. Obviously two years of starting different offensive coordinators here. Hopefully, you know, not, not wishing anybody to drop farther than what they should. But with how the season ended up this is a situation where he might drop to a team that has a little bit more stability coaching wise and where he can actually sit and learn instead of being thrown out in the fire. Like some of these quarterbacks are, you know, pretty early and written off in their first season. So. [00:30:30] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I think he has a lot of positives going for him in the draft. Right. He's the type of guy who is always going to be drafted off of potential. Not like anything you really saw out there. Obviously you know who he is, you know his weaknesses. Right. And maybe a coach thinks that he can really level up his game. We'll see. He's going to tear up the combine. You already know he'll do great at the Senior Bowl. And a lot of coaches are going to say, I mean, look at the first half of that Georgia game. There's, there's his peak, you know, like, can we unlock that guy now? Do I think he projects as anything more than probably a utility guy in the NFL? Maybe not. I mean, worst case scenario, I think he's Taysom Hill. Chase him Hill. [00:31:12] Speaker C: Pretty, pretty accurate. [00:31:14] Speaker A: You know, I'm. This, this hurts me to say because of, you know, being a Steelers fan in the NFL, I just know this. [00:31:23] Speaker C: Is going to be an atrocious. [00:31:24] Speaker A: No, but just, just saying, you know, seeing what Lamar Jackson's been able to do at Baltimore, you know, obviously Lamar Jackson is, was a Heisman Trophy winner in college, multiple MVP award winner, and this might be the year that the Ravens win another Super Bowl. You know, don't say that. [00:31:42] Speaker C: Well, we, we did not bring that energy into 2025. [00:31:46] Speaker A: Well, I'm just saying, you know, if, if you're going off of history, they won in 2000 with the 28 year old quarterback, 2012 with the 28 year old quarterback, and now 2024, they have a 28 year old quarterback who might have won his third MVP. We'll see. But if he were, if Jayla Milroe were to get drafted by Baltimore, they've got the guy that they're going to have as a starting quarterback and with these similar play styles, obviously not exact. It might be somebody. If they, if they're trying to just use that running ability and then improve the passing game, that might be a good situation for him to go to. [00:32:20] Speaker C: I mean, that might be a good situation, but like, it's hard to envision Lamar not playing at minimum like five more years. [00:32:29] Speaker A: Well, yeah, well, yeah. Time to sit and like learn that kind of system. [00:32:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that. And also this is a Guy who's had some seasons where he missed a lot of games to injury. [00:32:39] Speaker C: Right. That's fair. I just, I don't, I don't like drafting, you know, a rookie and then you intentionally sit him for like his entire rookie contract. Plus if you take him in the first round, potentially the fifth year extension, I just, I don't know. [00:32:54] Speaker B: Well, ask the Falcons how that ended up. [00:32:56] Speaker A: So, you know, they've, I'm just saying, you know, they, they might not have to draft him in the first round. If you know how some of these people are talking about it and have been, you know, I haven't seen the latest. [00:33:07] Speaker C: I do think he's a late first round pick and B, kind of based on what Nick said, raw potential. I think he's got a lot of great athletic traits. He has, you know, a glaring weakness that we've pointed out. But I think, you know, there are going to be coaches out there that are going to say, you know what, I can fix it. [00:33:20] Speaker A: Well, then, you know, you. [00:33:21] Speaker B: Or you're going to have a guy who says, like, hey, I see some potential for this and like, I know exactly how I can use him. And like, somebody's going to light bulb is going to go off and then we could be looking here and saying like, yeah, okay, yeah, I see the vision now. Right. [00:33:39] Speaker A: I would also say, you know, not to compare, you know, the franchises that much, but Green Bay notorious for taking quarterbacks when everybody's thought that they shouldn't, especially in the first round. And then it's worked out pretty well for him with the last two guys they had. Obviously Jordan Love is not to the caliber that Aaron Rodgers was yet, but it's, it's a guy that's been pretty solid as a starting quarterback. So I just would not be surprised if a situation like that late in the, like, I was thinking more like a second round, but if it's late first round and the Ravens are just like, well, we can have him as our backup, you know, if Lamar gets hurt and, or we could like sit him for a while until we need them, you know. [00:34:17] Speaker B: Well, the Ravens always had. Who is Lamar's backup for the longest time? Tyler Huntley. [00:34:24] Speaker C: Yeah. Snoop Huntley. Yeah. Yeah. [00:34:25] Speaker B: Like, I always, I always thought he was like Lamar Jackson light. So I mean, maybe that's a potential role. You could see like maybe just going down that wormhole. We'll see. [00:34:37] Speaker C: We're just yapping. This is low tide after dark at this. [00:34:40] Speaker B: We'll see how it ends up. [00:34:41] Speaker A: You need a pack up Corner quarterback. And if you're the Ravens, you don't want to go from an offense that can run with Lamar Jackson to having somebody like Joe Flacco again. [00:34:49] Speaker B: No, I like the idea. I like the idea. Trust me. I hope he ends up somewhere great. I hope he does great. [00:34:54] Speaker C: I see the vision, Adam. [00:34:55] Speaker B: Nothing gave me. Nothing was greater to watch this season in the NFL than like, Bryce Young completely turning it around and going from everybody's like, oh, this is the worst first round draft, or like, worst, worst first pick ever to, like, oh, my gosh, Bryce Young, you're the greatest. Like that. That's been absolutely fantastic. Okay, now, quickly, to close out a single new Alabama New Year's resolution, we're going back to the. What was it? The. The podcast format that we were doing, like on. On the phone. Some infamous. Some fantastic editing. Yeah. In those episodes. Okay. All right. A single New Year's resolution from each of you for Alabama football in the new year 2025. They are undefeated, in case you didn't know. [00:35:46] Speaker C: Yeah, we'll bring that positive energy. I'll go first, I guess. My one New Year's resolution. Diversify the offense. I want to see the playbook open up. I would hope that whichever quarterback winds up being the starter, you know, there is a wide variety of ways that you can go. It's not going to come down to, you know, if the opposing defense can figure out this one neat trick that they find on, like, YouTube shorts, then it's. Then it's cooked. I'd like to see more of a mix of everything rather than just the similar plays over and over again. [00:36:19] Speaker A: And for me, you know, it's kind of. Kind of similar, more, you know, with the. With the. With the coaching and everything. Just, you know, make adjustments and you don't have to wait till halftime. You can do it middle of the. [00:36:31] Speaker C: First quarter, nobody's stopping you. [00:36:32] Speaker A: You can do it at any point in the game, but actually make adjustments. And because they're just too many times, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan game, just unable to make adjustments at any point in the game. Just do that. And how about we beat who we're supposed to be? You know, obviously Tennessee made the playoff. Maybe that's one that on the road, they weren't going to win. You shouldn't lost to Vanderbilt. You shouldn't have lost Oklahoma, even though Oklahoma was the widest margin. That game should not have went the way it did. You know, just do your job. Do your job as coaches and don't lose to unranked teams. [00:37:10] Speaker B: Yeah, Mine was kind of going to be a little bit of that end. So I guess I'll. We'll blend it into one. Right. Consistency. You know, obviously I'd like to see some of the staff stick around, right. So that we don't just have this constant rotation of like, oh, you get one year as an offensive coordinator, you're out. I'd like to see somebody stick around long term and you know, be able to use some of the pieces, right. And you know, not have to make these big changes. Which I think having a guy, an offensive focused Coach like Kaylin DeBoer, obviously you're going to see a little bit more help out of that. [00:37:45] Speaker A: I just want to bring up one thing, you know, with, you know, possibly a new offensive coordinator. We don't know yet. That's just kind of the, the Twitter rumors going around that Ryan Grubb's going to in. But whoever the offensive coordinator is with, with the quarterback room, you got Ty Simpson, you have Austin Mack, and then you have a Keelan Russell coming in. For me, if Keelan Russell is anywhere near where Simpson and Mack are, I feel like you got to start him, especially with today. You can't risk him going in the transfer portal if he's as good as what he has been in high school. [00:38:20] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I a hundred percent agree there. I mean, for a lot of like top tier schools, it's just going to be impossible. I think I want to say, like Kirby Smart said something about this. It's just impossible with Nil and the transfer portal to have the depth that you used to be able to have. [00:38:35] Speaker A: Pre. [00:38:36] Speaker B: Transfer portal. Pre Nil. Or like when I say transfer portal, like as bad as it is now, right? Pre Nil, where you don't have guys offering your backup millions of dollars to go transfer somewhere. And then the other thing, it's kind of off a little bit back. What you were going to say is just be who you're supposed to be, right? Don't lose any stupid games. Don't shoot yourself in the foot at the end of the season because you put up three points on the road against an Oklahoma team that was missing like half their wide receivers, I don't think that's too much to ask for. You know, like, honestly, like looking back, right, if you can flip things and you say, okay, they don't beat Georgia, but they, you know, they beat, they beat Oklahoma, they beat Vanderbilt, we're maybe talking about a different situation. I don't know. [00:39:23] Speaker A: I mean, probably would have still made the playoff at that Point, you know, two losses both to ranked teams. You know, you can lose to rank teams, thundering teams you can't lose to, you know. Yeah, like I don't want him to lose any games but the self, really. [00:39:37] Speaker C: Really the selfish fan in me says I don't want them to lose. [00:39:40] Speaker A: But, but, you know, if, if, if Alabama just takes care of business to the teams that they're expected to be, you know, they're in there in the playoff. Especially now it's 12 team playoff. We'll see what changes come in the future, if any. But yeah. [00:39:55] Speaker B: All right, so when we come back here on the Low Tide, we're going to talk a little bit about the College Football Playoff. I'm sure all of us will have thoughts on that and then we'll touch briefly on Alabama basketball. People are saying they might be good. [00:40:09] Speaker C: Streets have said. [00:40:10] Speaker B: Streets have said. We'll be right back here on the low 10. This show is a sports production of WVUAFM 90.7 the Capstone, a division of student media at the University of Alabama. Support us by leaving a review rating or following us on XVUAFM Sports. Welcome back into the low tide here on 90.7 the Capstone. Nicholas Adam Elliot talking college football Playoff. I'm going to try not to sound too much like an ESPN advertisement, but the first 12 team college football playoff is almost finished. We've got a national championship game set to be decided. Ohio State, Notre Dame certainly, you know, headed into the playoffs maybe after that Michigan loss. This is definitely not the playoff, the final that we thought we were going to get right. But a lot of thoughts, a lot of stuff to talk about. So who wants to go first? They just general, like overview. You know what, I'll take it. I'll take it. Okay. The biggest thing that I have learned from this College Football Playoff is that I didn't actually hate Notre Dame. I hated Brian Kelly. Right. Because I've got to say, like, Marcus Freeman has to be one of the most likable head coaches in like all of like, sports. Honestly at this point, right? Nothing sold me on this fact more than that, like sick, where they were quote, unquote, going to, going to punt and then they like ran the offense out there and drew the, the offsides to get a free first down. Fantastic. I was like at that point I was standing up from the couch, I was clapping. Fantastic. I love to see that kind of stuff. It's fantastic. Also just comes across as a super likable guy, obviously. And Notre Dame's been fun to watch. I mean, honestly, in my opinion, certainly a lot, a lot better than in the past because I'll be honest, headed into the season, did I believe in Notre Dame? Absolutely not. But, you know, they almost have the, the Penn State problem where they were like, you know, the Cowboys, like, you felt like you knew what you were going to expect. Penn State still sucks, by the way. James Franklin, always who we thought he was, still does not have a big win despite, you know what people say, two free playoff wins. Garbage. Where was I going with that? [00:43:00] Speaker C: No idea, man. [00:43:01] Speaker B: This was, this was Notre Dame. Oh, yeah. So like, yeah, I, I'm, I'm in on Notre Dame. Okay. I'm full steam ahead rooting, quote unquote for them in the national championship game. I don't, I don't really care. I think I care. I'll have potentially something to say and beef of the week about that other part. But yeah, that's been my big takeaway. [00:43:25] Speaker C: Sure. I think when I try to lump. I'm trying to make this as quick as possible, like kind of hitting every game. When I think about the whole 12 team playoff so far in general, it showed that there were a lot of things that need to be tweaked. Not that they were bad or anything, but something tells me that this automatic bid, conference champion thing and then also who gets the first round bye, like factoring that in just shouldn't be like that. Nothing against the teams. I actually thought that, I thought Arizona State played very well having. Getting their first round by Boise State for about, about a half. Maybe, maybe a quarter and a half. We're pretty okay. But man, the teams that got that first round by, ooh, outside of Arizona State, that was a tough scene. And also I thought that the first round matchups, like, yikes, yikes. Okay. Tennessee, Ohio State snoozer. [00:44:34] Speaker B: They definitely got bailed out like recently by a couple of good games. Because if it was not for like two specific games, like, the whole thing would be a snoozer and we would have some serious like, well, trust me. [00:44:47] Speaker C: I'm getting into, I'm getting into these smu. Penn State snoozer. Okay. [00:44:52] Speaker A: You don't have to go through the whole list. [00:44:53] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Notre Dame, Indiana, snoozer. Clemson, Texas was a snooze. Kind of a snooze. [00:45:00] Speaker A: It was okay. [00:45:01] Speaker C: It was okay. Mid at best. And quite frankly, I'll be honest, Arizona State, I thought that that game was over at like halftime. The fact that they even crawled their way back into that Game. Hats off to you, Kenny Dillingham. That was amazing. I actually was rooting for you guys the minute you guys stormed all the way back and tied up that game. That was amazing. Cam. Scatteraboo is going to be a menace in the NFL. Mark my words. Book it. Okay. Put it down on your betting sheet somewhere. But there are things that need to be tweaked. There are just some game. Most of the games kind of like how Nick has alluded to, were bad. Actually, they weren't even bad. They were just awful to watch. I mean, this was like, I can turn this off at halftime. I can probably predict what the final score is going to be, and I'm not going to be surprised. Unfortunately, that is a bit of a problem. I think, in my eyes, I'm happy that it seems like we might have a competitive national championship here, but this is maybe. Well, this is yet to be determined. Okay. I'm sure we'll do our score predictions later, but I don't know. I think it's. It's hard. It's hard to evaluate some of these teams. Right. Because take Georgia, for example. Backup QB that they're playing with. Game wasn't necessarily out of hand the whole way through, but was it really? Like, is that really good to watch? Also. Also. Oh, my other thought. Wow, sec, y'all really. Y'all really wet the bed. You dropped the ball on this one. Everyone's talking about, oh, the Big Ten in the sec, like, they're going to. [00:46:31] Speaker B: Get all the bids and not just in the playoff. [00:46:35] Speaker C: No, this was across the board. I'm talking bowl games, just in general. [00:46:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:40] Speaker A: What happened? First thing I'll say, you know, I don't really think we can use the bowl games anymore to really assess conferences because, you know, some teams are going to have team, like, guys that say, you know, I'm here to play for the team and stuff. And then you're going to have other teams that have half the team, you know, sitting out. Like Oklahoma, bunch of people sitting out. You know, Alabama had some people sitting out. Maybe not as much, but even, like, on both sides. I don't think you can use bowl games that aren't in the playoff to really assess. You know, how conferences match up with each other anymore with the state of college football today. Did you have anything else you wanted to say? [00:47:16] Speaker C: No, I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm good. [00:47:19] Speaker A: I wanted to make sure. [00:47:19] Speaker B: Can I add some things? Okay. First off. Okay. I feel like, obviously we knew that, like, the buys like, stunk, right? Or like, who was getting the buys kind of stunk, right? But it's not like nobody was, like, sounding the alarm. I feel like there were a lot of people when the playoff format was first introduced that was like, yeah, the buys thing, like low key, stinks. And the way that they're doing it is absolutely terrible. Second, obviously it is very clear that getting the buy is actually like one of the worst things that can happen to you. Seriously, Oregon should have thrown the Big Ten championship game. I will stand behind this. You, like, are cold for forever. You've got to play a team that just played. And then most of the time, like, you know, the matchups aren't even really favorable, right? It's kind of. It stinks. It stinks. It reeks. The only way that I think you can really fix this without, like getting rid of the buys entirely, which receding after might be. Well, not even that. Not even that. It's like you have to make the second round home playoff games. That's the only way. You gotta make it sooner. [00:48:31] Speaker C: It was like a week and a half to two weeks after. [00:48:32] Speaker A: So, so, so here we go, right, with the buys. One, it should just be the top four. It should not be the top four conference champions. It should just be top four teams. They get the buy. Now if you even want to do buy, you, you see, you said something that I'm going to touch on. Do the buys make sense? Now you could make the argument that two of those teams that had the buy were ranked lower, so they weren't expected to win. One of those teams actually put up a better fight, you know, but no matter who it was across the board, you had, you know, I think it was Arizona State and Boise State both went down double figures, like early in the game before they woke up. You had Oregon, seemed like they never woke up. You know, they were down 31 nothing at halftime. And then you had Georgia, the only game that was really, you know, close the whole first half. And it was because Georgia had like a 3 nothing lead. And then Notre Dame scored 17 points in a minute and a half, you know, from the end of the second to the beginning of the third. Now, why do we have bye weeks in, you know, the NFL, for instance, right? You have the end of the regular season and then you have the next week is the playoff after that. So you get a bye week to rest up. People in college football, the way it. [00:49:41] Speaker C: Is set up, it's like a month. [00:49:43] Speaker A: You're already sitting a month, and then you Give teams a tune up game to then go play the teams that had the bye week. Do it right after conference championship. Have the conference championships. The next week the playoffs should start because I don't want to have the playoff lasting until January 20th because we decided not to start until almost the end of December. [00:50:01] Speaker B: You know, the one thing that I will add to that is that you are going to have a lot of people who that gives Notre Dame an even bigger advantage than they already have. [00:50:09] Speaker C: They're not in a conference. [00:50:10] Speaker B: Notre Dame not only not in a conference, did not have to play conference championship game. They also get to keep all $20 million that would normally go to their conference since they made the national championship game. Do they know the meta that's what people are saying. [00:50:24] Speaker A: I will say everybody should just go independent. [00:50:26] Speaker C: Yeah, well, speaking on that real quick, I think I have said it on this show before. Just going to throw it in again. Notre Dame, join a conference, guys. Okay? Just join a conference. It's really not that deep. You guys beat up on ranked teams already as is. Just join a conference. [00:50:39] Speaker B: Well, this is like my mom was like asking me the other day, she's like, well, why isn't Alabama just an independent? And like other than me sitting here and going like, oh, but it's something about the media rights. Like there's. [00:50:51] Speaker C: They could pay the bio for sure. [00:50:53] Speaker B: It's all of it. Like, it does stink. And I think honestly we're not going to have to deal with it that much longer because I think the NCAA as a college football governance thing lasts for maybe another three to four years before somebody just says, okay, yeah, we got to do something different. If it's not the SEC and the Big Ten that swing first and just say adios. Let's see what else. Very unfortunate for all the teams that ran into the absolute buzzsaw that is Ohio State. They roster one of the best rosters in all of college football, finally played how they should have played, right? [00:51:31] Speaker C: Well, it's almost like money buys wins or something like that. Isn't that what somebody said in the. [00:51:36] Speaker B: Movie once Quinton Judkins, like, finally showed up, like, has been an absolute non factor all year, finally shows up looking like the guy who, you know, looking like it was worth it to leave Ole Miss. Right? But yeah, like everybody who had to play them, like Oregon, that was just tragic. I don't know that I've seen an absolute bigger beat down in the first half. I mean, literally the game was over in the first half. Like sometimes I'm like, oh, this game's over. Right. But there's a chance. There was not a chance. They were dead. [00:52:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:52:10] Speaker A: Here's the question here. Now that we're talking about Ohio State, you know, we have Ohio State and Notre Dame, national championship game, two teams I don't really care for. How will we live with ourselves if Ohio State is the team that wins the first ever four team playoff and the first ever 12 team playoff? [00:52:30] Speaker B: Well, you know, first off the Michigan fans, that's best possible outcome. Right. Other than the fact that you have to be like, oh okay, Ohio State one sucks. Right. But also you beat them and then you beat Alabama maybe. Can you do that? Can you pull like a UCF and like claim like some random national championship? [00:52:51] Speaker A: I mean, I'm sure they could. [00:52:53] Speaker B: You know, especially theoretical national player. [00:52:55] Speaker A: They're going to get awarded the, the barstool national champion. [00:52:58] Speaker C: Nit national title. [00:53:00] Speaker B: We should have a college football nit. Could you think about how fun it would be discussion? [00:53:04] Speaker A: You know, I think it'd be sick. It would be interesting because I know we've, we haven't talked, I don't think we've talked about it. But other people have brought up how, you know, if the power conferences end up, you know, trying to make a new league out of the like away from the ncaa or they might even do it within the ncaa. But will they have like a group of five playoff to where they could have like a group of five national champion? That would be interesting to see especially. I saw one person, there's probably been more, but I saw one person share their idea for the re, you know, reformatted 12 team playoff and it was just the top four from each of the Power Four conferences. Like you play basically a play in to the conference championship and then the conference championship was the quarterfinals and then you go to your semifinal spots with the champion from the four conferences. I don't think that's going to happen because you have to get, I believe every conference to agree, including the group of five commissioners. But you know, well, something is going to change. We're obviously not going to go. I think this would have been a, you know, a great year for maybe a 16 playoffs or like an 18 playoff. I don't. But it's 12, it's here to stay. [00:54:17] Speaker C: And hopefully not for too long. Hopefully. Yeah, it's downsized a little. [00:54:22] Speaker A: If anything with the people making the decisions that they're going to make it bigger. Absolutely. [00:54:27] Speaker B: We're going to have a 64 team college football playoff. It's Going to start halfway through the regular season. The one thing, the one asterisk that I will put on the Group of 5 playoff thing. If you do that, you are signing everybody who is not in the SEC and Big Ten's fate for like being basically at the like FBS level, like you're just going to create a new level. There will be a Division 1 of division, like yeah, sure. Comes with its own issues. [00:54:55] Speaker C: Oh, I had one more comment. It's actually in relation to the Texas Arizona State game. I wasn't going to make it my beef the week because I've complained about refs before but holy smokes guys, you cannot have like a, you cannot make a call on the field and then review it, overturn it and then literally every other analyst who knows the rules say, you know what, man, you made the wrong call and you basically determine the outcome of the game. Now massive ball don't lie moment with Bert Auburn missing the field goal. But that non targeting call, I, I cannot stress enough how much of a textbook targeting that that hit was on that receiver. Not that Arizona State should have won the game off of that drive. Who knows what would have happened? But there I understand that the refs are in a lose, lose situation, right? You give them the targeting call, then it's like, okay, well we gave this a game to Arizona State, right? They're going to go down the field, they're going to kick a field goal at the end. But then on the other hand, well, I don't want to get involved. I don't want to, I don't want to determine the outcome of the game. So I'm not going to call it, brother. That ain't a solution either. [00:56:06] Speaker B: You know, you cannot call penalties on the field differently based on the score of the game. Every decision that you make on the field should be the same decision that you would make regardless of the stakes, regardless of what's happening. [00:56:21] Speaker C: And I know that one of the biggest arguments was that they felt that there was a, A lot of Texas fans felt that there should have been a targeting call on the hit on Isiah Bond. However, the key difference, that guy led with his shoulder and if you watch, he hit Bond in the shoulder pad. The hit looked more vicious, but it was actually completely clean. The hit that Taffy laid on that receiver, that was straight crown of the helmet into the guy's head. Yeah, it looked absolutely nasty and the guy literally hit the ground. I saw a quick little fencing position. I'm like, that brother's out like a light. So like you cannot be making decisions like that. I know that the committee would have loved to have a Texas Notre Dame national championship. I know that would have fed families for the committee. [00:57:12] Speaker B: We need accountability for referees. Cece, Josh Pate's thoughts on refereeing. Go, go listen to his thoughts because I'd share the exact same things. Okay. Alabama basketball. We have not had a podcast since I checked December 10th. So that would be right before the Creighton game. [00:57:31] Speaker C: So a month's worth of basketball. [00:57:33] Speaker B: Yeah, Alabama basketball is good. [00:57:36] Speaker A: I mean, that's really all you need to know, right? [00:57:39] Speaker C: Well oiled machine. I said that off air. I'll say it again. They're a well oiled machine. I'm impressed. I'm excited. [00:57:47] Speaker A: I think, you know, we've mentioned it a little bit, you know, mostly, you know, me and Nicholas over the last, you know, two, three years. But it seems like the national media is now coming around to like, Alabama doesn't have to make three pointers to win games. Really? [00:58:06] Speaker B: Really? [00:58:06] Speaker A: They, they. Because half their points come right next to the basket. More come from the free throw line and they play defense, guys and rebound. Oh my goodness. [00:58:16] Speaker B: You mean they don't live and die by the three pointer like everybody on the planet will tell you? [00:58:22] Speaker C: I mean, like I've said in the. [00:58:23] Speaker A: Past, he has said it and I. [00:58:25] Speaker C: Have said they have changed their offensive philosophy. I will say in years past that is how it has been. [00:58:33] Speaker A: I think the offensive philosophy is the same. It's just now you have a big man in the middle that you can. [00:58:38] Speaker C: Yeah, well that now you're actually able to score at that level. It used to be that was a non factor to not rely on it. [00:58:44] Speaker B: Shout out Nate Oates for being an absolute alpha and taking his entire starting lineup out of the game because he was mad about the defense. Not many people would do that. [00:58:54] Speaker A: And so we. Well, y'all had the, the, the show around Creighton. I was currently on vacation and I was unable to be a part of that show. But since then, you know, they've won every game they played. You know, very good offensively. The defense still needs like a little bit of work. They're obviously doing enough they need to do to win over the last three games. I'll go over the last three games, right. Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas A and M, Oklahoma, South Carolina, they played very well in the first half defensively and then, you know, it seems like they couldn't stop anybody in the second half. Texas A and M, they were just pretty much on fire. The Whole game. Alabama did enough to win with that one. I think the big thing they pointed out were Alabama had over 20 offensive rebounds in that game. You know, both, both teams had over 20 offensive rebounds. But Alabama able to out rebound Texas A and M and right now only two losses, still undefeated. There's. They're one of only three teams undefeated in SEC play. Ole Miss and Auburn being the other two. They play Ole Miss Tuesday, 6:00. So that'll be interesting matchup. Hopefully Alabama keeps it rolling because right now it's setting up for that. Obviously SEC basketball really good this year. Every game is going to be important. But February 15th, Auburn in Tuscaloosa. [01:00:16] Speaker C: Happy Valentine's Day to all you couples out there. Not me though. But for all of you who are in a happy relationship, have fun at that game. [01:00:25] Speaker B: Oh, wait for it. Wait for it. Yeah. Wait, can we get the. [01:00:30] Speaker C: Oh my goodness. Valentine click. [01:00:32] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. [01:00:34] Speaker B: Oh, man. Yeah, I missed the soundboard. I really did. [01:00:38] Speaker C: I missed the soundboard too. Can we add the soundboard as like a fourth person on this, the soundboard. So you have to introduce yourself like Nick. [01:00:46] Speaker B: Oh, we have the soundboard. [01:00:47] Speaker C: Nicholas. Firstly, Adam Hambright, Elliot Miller and the soundboard. [01:00:50] Speaker B: And I just play like some random sound effect. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, that would be good. Also Alabama beat Texas A and M. You love to see that. Always. [01:01:01] Speaker C: I, I personally love to see that one. [01:01:04] Speaker B: Yes. [01:01:05] Speaker A: One thing that is interesting, I can't. I think it was the six week mark of the season. You know, people bring it up every year. Whoever's in the top six at the six week mark, one of those teams ends up winning the national championship. Alabama was in the top six at that moment. They're still there. Number five. We're waiting on the new rankings. See, you know how far Tennessee falls with that loss to floor or Florida. But yeah, this is a team that as of right now, you know, as long as they stay healthy and they keep doing what they're doing and improve a little bit on the defensive end, you know, they've, they've had, they haven't put together a full game defensively against one of their bigger opponents. So hopefully they can, you know, start showing improvement in that soon. But you know, I know we said before the season, you know, this year has to be the year like last year, they made the final Four. Nobody really expected this year. It's almost, you know, final four bus with the roster that they have on this team. [01:02:01] Speaker B: Please, I cannot go all four years without a national championship. And something just make it make it basketball would be sick. Two things before we kind of. I know you're going to talk about gymnastics a little bit. Yeah. [01:02:16] Speaker A: Give a little bit of update. [01:02:17] Speaker B: Okay, so first off, SEC tournament looks like it's going to be absolute appointment viewing. Could be seriously big. Also second, do not check the Alabama vs Texas women's basketball score. Don't do it. Don't do it yourself. Bounce back, win against Ole Miss and you got a big matchup against South Carolina. Maybe you can flip things. Do not look up the score. [01:02:37] Speaker A: I will say Alabama women's basketball, you know, they played a lot better this year, especially against those ranked opponents. That Texas game was not one of them. But I've been impressed with how the team has played barring that game. And they're some injury issues and stuff that hopefully they've got the one bounce back win. Hopefully they can keep playing well throughout the rest of this. [01:03:03] Speaker B: You truly hate to see it happens to the best of us. We are big supporters of Alabama women's basketball. [01:03:09] Speaker A: Now for gymnastics, you know, they had their first match of the season. It was really funny for me because my sister in law went to North Carolina. First matchup of the season, Alabama, North Carolina in gymnastics, you know, we already had the win over them in basketball. We got the win over them in gymnastics too. Final was 197.025 to 195.225. Now wins and losses of gymnastics, if you're unfamiliar, don't really matter all that much. All that really matters is that score because that's how your ranking is done. And you have to be, you know, ranked a certain amount to get into those regionals. So Alabama starting off with the 197first match of the year, very good. You really like to see that starting off especially with all the people that they did lose off of last year's squad. One of them being Luis Luisa Blanco who was honored before the match. And then, you know, in this one, Alabama claimed all five event titles. There was only one where Lily Hudson tied on one of the events. I believe it shared the title on the balance beam. Every other event, Alabama had the highest score and Gabby Gladio took home the all around champion in that event. They also had five Alabama gymnasts scored a 9, 9 or higher. And one of them, Peyton Walker, freshman, 9, 9 on uneven bars. And this was a team, you know, losing luisa Blanco, losing McCarthy dog, you know, they lost some people. But it's seeing how well the freshmen were in that first match. Like I'm not going to go out and predict anything but scoring 197, the first meet of the year. I'm really confident in their ability to go forward and do some things. And the next home meet is against Oklahoma, who has been, you know, the dominant program in recent history. So hopefully they're able to do it again once Oklahoma comes into town. [01:05:10] Speaker B: You'd love to see it. You know what's next? It's beef of the week. And it's not only beef of the week. [01:05:17] Speaker C: We brought beef of the week into 2025. [01:05:19] Speaker B: We absolutely did. It's the very first beef of the week of 2025. So I'm sure we've got some things that have been stewing over Christmas break. All sorts of things. So when we come back, beef of the week. We'll see you on the other side. Children are the greatest joy and our best hope for a better future. Friends, they are the future. But did you know that millions of kids are facing hunger every day? Food is not just food. It's energy, health, confidence, hope, and even love. Yes. Love. [01:06:07] Speaker C: Thank you. [01:06:09] Speaker B: Learn more about how no kid hungry is helping end child hunger in [email protected] welcome back into the low tide here on 90.7 the Capstone. Nicholas Adam Elliott closing things out for you here on the very first episode of the low tide in 2025. It's beef of the week. You already know what's coming. I feel like we have not missed a beef of the week in. Well, I mean, like, every show that we've done has had one. Right? It had some, you know, some bits and pieces in there where it came and went, but it. [01:06:55] Speaker C: A brand new segment. [01:06:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we got the brand new segment. Yeah, I'm just gonna. I'll think up on that. I'm gonna, like, change the name by, like, one word. [01:07:04] Speaker C: Okay. [01:07:05] Speaker B: Beef of the week or something. Like, I'm not even gonna say of. [01:07:07] Speaker A: Beef of the month. [01:07:08] Speaker C: Beef of the month. [01:07:10] Speaker B: Okay, who wants to start? I'll start. Okay. You know what my beef of the week is? Like, I cannot stand scalpers. Okay? So scalpers, obviously, the people who buy way more than they are ever going to use of any product. Right. For me, it's like Pokemon cards. Right. Way more than you would ever need. Take everything that's on the shelves at Target, wherever, right? And then they go online and they resell it all for obscene amounts of prices. Right? These are not people who are enjoying that. Things that are meant to be the way they're meant to be enjoyed Right. They're not buying these cards for their personal collection. They are buying them to sell on the Internet for even higher prices. And this problem has been exacerbated by people on TikTok who everybody and their grandma thinks that they can own a card shop now, which is infamously one of the most difficult businesses to keep alive, where they just go online and they list the stuff that they bought that they stole from some poor little child at Target for, you know, four times msrp. If you are one of those people, you are absolute scum of the earth. [01:08:22] Speaker C: Retweet. Loud Retweet. [01:08:23] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's all I have to say. And it could be for anything. It doesn't have to be for cards. It could be for people who were buying PlayStations right. When all that was coming out, all that kind of stuff, the big Christmas toys. [01:08:33] Speaker C: Me personally, I run into this issue. I'm a Lego collector. If you guys didn't. Oh yeah, okay. This happens frequently as well in the LEGO community. It's terrible. Actually ran into a scalper at the store one time. Hilarious story. For legal reasons, I cannot repeat it on air. [01:08:48] Speaker B: So it will go on the non existent low tide after dark. [01:08:53] Speaker C: Yeah, you guys will. You guys will hear it later on outside after dark. [01:08:58] Speaker B: Okay, who wants to go next? [01:09:00] Speaker C: My. Am I going next or you want me to. [01:09:02] Speaker B: We're going to have to flip coins from now. [01:09:04] Speaker C: You know what, Adam, you can go. [01:09:05] Speaker A: All right, so. [01:09:06] Speaker B: What a gentleman. [01:09:07] Speaker A: You know, know, it's really, you know, I had. I have many things that I want to have maybe for the week. I'm just going to go with one that kind of gets, you know, a few of them out there. But it all started right. So the, the break started good. Like we ended classes. I go on a cruise for my vacation. Went to a couple of different countries. It was nice, had a good time. I come back and then I decide that I'm going down to Tampa for the Alabama Michigan game and make good time going down there. Able to, you know, take a little nap on the side of the road the night before. This is actually two days before the game. I'm getting down there and I'm like, I'm going to go to Busch Gardens, right? Go to Busch Gardens. I get, I'm like, I stopped for my nap the night before about an hour and a half away. Wake up, go there. I'm the last two miles of my drive, there's a wreck. I'm in traffic for another hour and a half. Like at basically the gate of Busch Gardens, you know, trying to get in there, get in there. Then there's a line till I actually get in. Then I'm like, I want to go on some rides. I don't want to pay the hundred and eighty dollars to get the, you know, where you skip the lines or go into the shorter line. I was there from about noon to 12:30, all the way to about 9:00 at night. I went on two rides. [01:10:38] Speaker C: That is tragic. [01:10:40] Speaker A: The shortest wait time I saw was 50 minutes. And when I got there, the ride had to be shut down for maintenance. And then it was closed the rest of the time. Most of the other ones it was like a two hour wait. So anyway, I went on two rides there. I had also already paid to have the all you can eat, which you have to eat and then wait 90 minutes and then go somewhere to where you can get it again. All the lines for those almost as long as the ride line. So hardly ate that day. [01:11:09] Speaker C: She could eat, get back in line to eat and then by the time he got back, probably. [01:11:13] Speaker A: But anyway, I just waited till it was later in the day. I ended up getting, you know, two which would have been like $30 meals, you know, at the, at the end of the day. But anyway, already paid for it. So that was fine. Go to my hotel. The hotel was nice. The hotel is under construction, so my room was okay. Fitness center was closed. Basically half the hotel was closed, their kitchen was closed. So the breakfast I paid for it was like, okay, you can have this tray of like an apple and Jimmy Dean's breakfast sandwich and some other things. Then I go to Raymond James Stadium and watch that game and get rained on and have where I think I'm going to my seat. Oh, the band's here. And then they eventually move the band. But I, you know, I did get the upgraded ticket, so, you know, happy holidays. I got moved over and then, you know, watch the game. Anyway, game ends. I literally right after the game, got in the car, I drove straight from Raymond James Stadium to Tuscaloosa. I made it back with 30 minutes to spare to spend the ball drop New Year's Eve with my wife once I got back. So that was nice. That was a nice ending to the trip. But also, can Alabama never play another game in Raymond James Stadium? We have the Michigan game this year. We have the South Florida game last year and there might be one in there, but I vaguely remember, you know, somebody by the name of DeShawn Wall Watson beating us in a national championship in that same stadium. So can we just boycott Raymond James? [01:12:49] Speaker C: This, this was a Clark Griswold esque like story that I just. [01:12:54] Speaker B: I gotta say two things here. A props for actually making the drive all the way back. I tried, I tapped out. Ended up absolutely horrendously for me. I may have told you all the story. I honestly could have told it on beef of the week, but I've demonstrated incredible growth over the last few weeks and have decided not to air out my feelings on certain hotel brands that will now be named. Also second, the way you were telling that story, I thought you were about to tell me. Like you opened your hotel room door and you fell into a sinkhole on the ground and fell 40 stories down. Like, that was just how that was. [01:13:29] Speaker C: I'm telling you, man, Clark Griswold esque. [01:13:32] Speaker B: It was truly like a parlay of like the worst possible things that could happen. [01:13:36] Speaker A: Yeah. If, you know, if they could have just rewarded me with an Alabama win, you know, it would have been a. [01:13:41] Speaker B: Little bit better, but that would have been too good. [01:13:43] Speaker A: I just had to wait for the. How long is that? Eight and a half, nine hour drive back. Yeah. But I actually, like, I got in the car trap. Props to whoever came up with how to get out of that stadium. Because that was one of the smoothest getting out of a parking lot. Like, because I'm. The game ends, I don't wait for the celebration. I'm immediately going to the car. You get in the car, I'm out of there. We're on the road. You know, there's hardly any traffic because they've literally shut down all the lanes just to let people out. But anyway, I got in the car, it said, you'll be home at 11:41. And then I actually, I made two stops, ended up gaining, you know, like 15 minutes. Got there before 11:30, so. [01:14:27] Speaker C: Wow, someone was speeding. [01:14:29] Speaker B: I have some off the air thoughts, Elliot. [01:14:32] Speaker C: I have two beef of the weeks, of course, my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, who started off the season 10 and 3. I'm not even going to comment on what happened in those last five games, including the wild card. I want Arthur Smith and Terrell Austin on the first plane to Guantanamo Bay to Gitmo. Okay. Goodbye. Lock them away. I do not want to see them ever again. [01:14:57] Speaker B: Are you still trying them for war crimes? [01:14:58] Speaker C: I'm trying them for war crimes. I do not want them near my beloved football team any longer. I cannot have another Mike Tomlin winning season in which they go down by 20 plus points in the first half. I cannot watch it again. [01:15:11] Speaker B: And you didn't even get, like, a Nickelodeon game to, like, you know, take a little bit of the edge off? [01:15:17] Speaker C: No, there was no Nickelodeon game. It would have been better if it was in the toy store format. I'm gonna hit the surrender cobra position in the booth right now. Okay? I have no words. My second beef is actually with the communication on the border between Louisiana and Texas. Okay? I don't know. [01:15:40] Speaker B: Well, now we're getting political. All right? [01:15:43] Speaker C: And also, all of the construction workers that were out there that day forgot what the day was. I don't have the date in my mind right now. Okay, all of you, watch out, okay? There's gonna be coal in your stocking in an upcoming Christmas once I figure out who you are. Okay? But I was making an absolute fantastic time on my drive home from Tuscaloosa to College Station. And for some odd reason, I'm on the phone with one of my good friends, you know, one of my roommates, and then the call cuts out and I'm like, well, that's awesome. And then all of a sudden, traffic just slows to a halt, and I'm like, well, what's going on? I was stuck in the same two mile stretch on the border for two hours without explanation. They weren't doing construction on that road. There were construction workers out there. Nothing was closed. There was no accidents. They literally just bottlenecked it and were like, oh, you guys just can't get past. That's it. [01:16:50] Speaker B: What a travesty. [01:16:51] Speaker C: It was a travesty because I was trying to get home, okay? So. Because I didn't want. It's a nine to ten hour drive as is. Okay? Man, I was. I was cruising. It's the middle of the day. There's nothing around. The sun is beating down through the windshield on my face. I have a headache. I'm tired. Okay. [01:17:13] Speaker A: I got. [01:17:14] Speaker C: I got to go to the restroom, man. I got to pee. I've been drinking Red Bull, bro. [01:17:17] Speaker A: And that was at the border. [01:17:18] Speaker C: It was at the border. [01:17:19] Speaker A: You still had, like another three to three and a half hour drive. Exactly. [01:17:23] Speaker C: What's up with that? [01:17:24] Speaker B: So the moral of the story. Count your days, construction workers. [01:17:28] Speaker C: Yeah. And. And specifically, I want to make it very clear. Clear, you know, the. [01:17:31] Speaker A: The. [01:17:31] Speaker C: The normal route that I go, you know, up, up, like through Madisonville and everything. Up. And I take that area by Shreveport. Excellent. Never had an issue. Shout out to you guys. Okay? Bossier City 2 in Louisiana. [01:17:44] Speaker B: Some great people. [01:17:45] Speaker C: You guys are awesome. Firehouse subs In Bossier City. You guys make my day every time I go over there, okay? You guys are awesome. [01:17:53] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [01:17:54] Speaker A: See that right there? [01:17:55] Speaker B: That comment right there is how, you know, we've gone, like, at least an hour too long, okay? [01:17:59] Speaker C: But whenever you take that route, you know, and you go down through Baton Rouge, okay, you kind of strip past New Orleans and you have to go through Houston. No, never again. I will never again go that route. [01:18:13] Speaker B: You tell them. [01:18:14] Speaker A: I've only made the drive to College Station once, but that was. It was already a miserable drive for me. At least Alabama won that weekend. [01:18:22] Speaker C: Well, College Station's a miserable place to be, so. [01:18:24] Speaker A: Oh, it's just. It's just so long, and there's nothing to see, and then you got to deal with construction workers on your way, so that was. I felt bad for you, but at. [01:18:31] Speaker B: Least Elliot's there sometimes there occasionally. [01:18:35] Speaker C: Streets have said that I reside there. [01:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah, well, the low tide crime counter for 2025 has gone up to two just in this episode between speeding and random. [01:18:49] Speaker A: Okay. Alleged. [01:18:50] Speaker B: Alleged. Alleged. [01:18:51] Speaker A: Allegedly speeding. Actual threats. Okay, sorry. [01:18:54] Speaker C: I said I was going to put Cole in there. [01:18:56] Speaker B: Sorry. Alleged. [01:18:57] Speaker A: You also said watch your day or count your day. [01:19:02] Speaker C: Hey, hey. But you know what? I better get. I'm going to get some nice presents for those firehouse workers in Bossier City. [01:19:11] Speaker B: All right, all right. We're cutting this off. We're cutting this off. Thank you for listening to the very first low tide of 2020 25. We will see you next time. [01:19:35] Speaker A: WVUAFM, Tuscaloosa.