Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
Okay, I think we're back. All right, welcome into the low tide here on 90.7. The Capstone, Nicholas Pursley joined by Elliot Miller. Mr. Adam Hambright's not here.
The house is on fire. How are we doing?
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Everything's burning.
You know, I'm like that dog in that meme that's like, everything's fine. Like, I'm fine. That's what I feel like right now. Everything's falling apart.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Hey, you know what? But we are making it work. And here's the most fun part, is that Basically, we get 60 minutes of free yap time.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Can we call this the low yap?
[00:00:54] Speaker A: No, Absolutely not.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: The yaptide.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: Man.
Man, we might get into some serious weather conversations later. If you're a weather, just wait 20.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Minutes, and we're gonna be talking. We're gonna be analyzing weather patterns by the end of the night.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Yeah, it's gonna go crazy.
But you know what else went crazy? Alabama's 34 nothing win over Mizzou on Saturday. Finally, we don't have to wake up on Sunday and come in here and talk about a disappointing win or a disappointing loss. This really felt like a lot of things came together for Alabama.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. And I think as happy as I am for what happened, because, trust me, I am. I will pump the brakes ever so slightly. In a sense, this is probably the most complete game that. That we have seen since the first quarter of Georgia out of Alabama, just as a squad, as a whole, on the defensive side, on the offensive side, they kind of finally got back to the roots of, hey, maybe we should diversify the offensive scheme a little bit. Maybe we should, you know, do some different things on defense that might, I don't know, confuse the quarterback, which surely Drew Pine looked very confused for a good portion of this game.
But the reason why I say pump the brakes is that this Missouri team clearly is not in a good spot right now. It was obvious that Brady Cook was plain injured, very painfully evident. And then they swapped him in for a guy who. I'm not sure what he was looking at. It's like trying to give somebody. Let's say, hypothetically, you're sitting in Spanish class and the teacher drops in front of you a book, but it's in Chinese, Okay? I don't know what that brother was trying to read, okay? But it just was not working. I mean, his. His passer rating is 29.4 on the college scale.
That is impressively bad.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Look, it could have been worse. It could have been the Tennessee backup who had the negative 200 passer rating for one pass attempted one interception.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah, but at least that one was in the general zip code. It felt like these interceptions that were thrown, trust me, the defense, outstanding, played very well. What was most impressive to me was the goal line stand that was made at the end to preserve the shutout. However, the interceptions were gift wrapped. I mean, USPS priority mail Express shipped directly to the defense. I don't think there is any other way to describe them. I don't think there was a receiver in the area unlike any of these.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it was concerning, to say the least. I feel like, like if I'm a.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: Mizzou fan right now, like I'm not just concerned, I'm like I'm in shambles.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it was truly tough. I've got to say what else was tough was watching like the first quarter of this game an absolute snooze festival. But I think you kind of started to see things come together for Alabama and they were able to close this win out in a way that they haven't been able to close things out in the future. You kind of talked about, you know, they were about to give out, give up the shutout. They get the stop on the one yard line on fourth down. They actually put the starters back in for that fourth down.
A little crazy, but you know, I definitely do respect it. This is the first shutout we've seen from Alabama since that first game against Western Kentucky. Obviously this is a whole different kind of class of opponent. You know, one of the things that's so impressive for me, and I'm sure we're going to get into the offense, but I just want to touch on the defense here for a second. You have a guy who is a projected first round pick in Luther Burden who gets held to three receiving yards. On the day.
They tried to go to him six times. His longest reception was 4, 3 yards. He got some rushing yards. You know, they tried to kind of get the ball to him kind of like, you know, Alabama will do with law, that sort of thing.
But he was really ineffective on the day and they were trying to go to him early and often as he would expect them to do. But Alabama's defense was able to completely shut him down and shut down that part of the offense.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Absolutely. I think especially the past defense was pretty good. Now granted, like I said, the rotisserie chicken combination of Brady Cook and Drew Pine when a whopping 13 for 2472 yards, three picks which is if I was looking at my scale of how I cook chicken, it's burnt. Okay. It's terrible. That is gone. Toss it out. That is not being sold at Costco.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: It's not just barbecue chicken. It's burned.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: This is charred.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: It's going to the trash.
We're done. You know, so let's kind of get into Alabama's offense here. Obviously, you kind of saw early in the game they kind of struggled to get some things going that first drive. Only end up with a field goal, which Alabama made two field goals early in this game. It was nice to get some points on the board. The big thing for me, they averaged seven over seven yards a rush. That's something that we haven't seen from Alabama, especially from the two running backs who we thought was going to be this dynamic duo, Jam and Justice. You know, coming into the season, I felt like we thought that was going to be a strong point of this team. And really the only way that they had been able to run the ball so far was with Jalen Milro in this game. Jalen Milro, especially in the first half, was not willing to use his legs very much, if at all.
But that kind of duo was able to get things going, especially as you got later into the game. You know, you start to wear down the Missouri defense and who's a good defense, by the way.
But you were kind of able to get that going. And I thought you saw a really balanced attack from Alabama. That was the thing that was the most impressive to me. You know, you had four different receivers catching a pass of 20 yards or longer. Like I said, they averaged 7.3 yards of rush. They scored all four touchdowns on the ground. Three different guys scoring touchdowns.
This is something that we haven't seen from them since the Georgia win. And I think that that is a massive thing that needs to be celebrated going into this LSU game going into the bye week.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it absolutely needs to be celebrated because that just shows that they're starting to win a little bit more up front with the offensive line. They've had their struggles as of late. Now, granted, it's still in pass pro.
Still. Still not as excellent as you would hope for it to be now. I mean, the 7.3 yards is really good. That might be a little bit of a misleading stat, just simply because there are two players who are averaging 21 yards a rush in the game. Kendrick Law, 1 for 21. Obviously, at the end of the game, Young had three. He ripped off that enormous 1 for 62 so, you know, you have two guys at 21, but even then, when you look at the top three rushers, sans the two 21 yard and 21 yard of rush people, you know, Justice Haynes averaging 9.9 on the ground, Milro 4.5, Jim Miller 4.4. That is still, by any metric for any team, pretty good. But that's kind of what I was saying. Get back to the roots of what you're good at, the things that you're doing. You don't need to force feed somebody all the receivers. Speaking of receivers and like the force feeding thing, I took a huge issue whenever Ryan Williams was just being peppered with targets like every. It felt like every single play, right?
This really demonstrated there are other playmakers that are capable and are willing to get down and dirty to help the team win. Okay, Jerry Bernard is a very good playmaker. CJ Dupree is a very good playmaker. Kendrick Law is a very good playmaker. And I can go on, and I can go on, and I can go on. But like, as you said, more balanced. Spread the love, man.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: And I think that something you see is when, you know, you kind of spread the love around, you know, get the ball to different guys, that opens up opportunities for your number one guy. It makes the offense kind of sing better when, you know, you're not just going at one guy. You know, Ryan Williams still gets eight targets, still the most of anybody on the team.
But, you know, it wasn't 18. It wasn't overkill. They only throw the ball 26 times, which is something that, you know, two thumbs up for that.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: I'm very pleased that it was only thrown 26 times.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. And, you know, I think still in the first half of this game, you saw Jalen Mulro very hesitant to use his legs and run. And as soon as they come out of the half, it's like, okay, fine, you know, he brushes one for 32 yards, you know, completes a big pass and then, you know, runs in the touchdown.
I think that, that.
What's the right way to put this?
He was almost. It felt like it was kind of a last resort kind of thing, right? It was like, first, you know, we're looking for the pass first half, you know, we're going to try and get it done through the air and on the ground besides, you know, Jay Lemuro running. And then in the second half, it was like, okay, I'm just going to, I'm going to put this to bed. Let's just do this you kind of saw them get back to the things that were making them really strong. You know, they get in the red zone and what do you see? Kind of a QB power with Jayla Murrow, the staple of this offense, in the red zone for the first couple games that they've kind of got away to. And I think in my mind, you know, I was of the opinion. I don't think I said it on the air last week when we were on, but I was of the opinion that Jay Lemaro was not at 100%, and I don't think that the team or he would tell you that, but it was. It was clear in that Tennessee game. You do not draw up a game plan with Jalen Monroe throwing the ball 50 times, just 45 times, whatever it was. I think that's pretty.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: I think. And as much as I agree with you, but I think if somebody is not 100% and then you're like, okay, well, my game plan is I'm going to overuse a trait that maybe isn't what he's known for. Right. Jalen Milro is more known for, like, that option, like, big, powerful runner, not necessarily throwing it. Like, there have been inconsistencies in the past. You almost have to just wonder, man, would it have just been worth it to put in somebody, like, who's fresh so I can have my fully balanced game plan instead of pigeonholing myself and to force him to make a bunch of throws in a hostile environment? Like, for me, that would be a conversation that I'd have to legitimately have. But what I was a little bit. If there's any concern that I had. And it was kind of in the first half, I think it was pretty much until you said snoozer first half, especially the first quarter. But it. I mean, Sands. I think it was the Malachi Moore pick that was like within the last two minutes or whatever of something like that. It was like, at the very end, because that's how they got that touchdown right before the half, like, it really seemed like the game plan was very hesitant to let Milroe throw the ball down the field. There was, like, maybe two shots that I can remember that were taken, which.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: This is a guy who is one of the most talented deep ball throwers. Exactly.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: And I thought that was a little.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Bit odd, you know, but here's what I'll say. I don't. I don't hate it. You know, I don't hate it.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: I just thought it was weird. And so for me, as a Fan. And as someone trying to objectively watch the game too, it's like, okay, well, is the problem that is he a still not 100% and maybe it's something that has to do throwing wise because he threw his arm off, you know, throwing it like 45 times against Tennessee. Or is it more of, you know, we're trying to instill a little more confidence back. Right. Take the easy short pass, the check down, you know, and let's go from there and open it up a little bit. I don't know what camp is in. I don't think I'll ever know what camp it truly was in. But I mean, that's just where we're at. Yeah.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: You know, in my opinion, I think I tweeted this out at the time. I said, you know, it felt to me like that first drive was a, you know, getting your comfort back. You know, doing things that are easy. You know, you're running lots of, you know, we're gonna attack the side, we're gonna attack the sidelines. You know, we're gonna do lots of short passes, lots of screens, that sort of thing. Make it easy and just go get points on the first drive. You know, it wasn't a touchdown, but they also didn't take a lot of risk. You know, I think one of the biggest passes that I would have to pull it up kind of like you were saying, no real deep shots in the beginning. But they kind of, let's see, like the first, first play of the game, six yard pass, then they go run pass for four yards. Kendrick Law, the jet sweep that went for 20. You know, that was big time. Another three yard pass, another two yard pass, run on third down, just get points.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: And I think that, you know, part of that's the game plan because it's just like, hey, you're playing a Missouri team who is injured to say the least. Obviously, you know, Brady Cook, last week they beat Auburn. You know, perhaps little, little golf clap.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Real quick props for that.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Brady Cook literally goes to the hospital. You know, they check him out and he comes back into the game, which is just incredible. But, you know, he's not going to be 100% going into this game.
I think the mindset is just, you know, we just got to score, put some pressure on and the defense played absolutely fantastic in this game. They get a three and out on the very first drive of the game. Offense gets the ball real safe. Let's just get some points, some easy stuff to do.
You know, I thought, I thought it was super solid. And what you would want to see now, they weren't taking those chances, you know, that you saw from Alabama early in the season, you know, the deep balls, that sort of thing. But, you know, I think in the beginning that's okay.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: No, I absolutely agree. I think in the beginning you have to do that. But I guess my bigger, my bigger question at large, right, is this necessarily, are we trying to reinstall confidence or is this just maybe the new strategy game plan to operate under? Because this is more effective than, let's just throw it down there, let's see if somebody's going to catch it.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Well, I mean, part of the problem is that I think you just weren't having. You weren't having success throwing the deep ball there for quite some time, especially after that last game, you know, that Tennessee game. You would imagine that that would kind of shake your confidence. You know, you throw the ball 45 times, I believe. What did he throw two interceptions in that? In that game?
[00:15:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: You kind of lose some confidence. So, you know, you come into this game and you just want to get back to the bread and butter, the things that work. You want to make sure that you establish the run early, that sort of thing. Lean into your defense, which obviously they haven't been able to do, in my opinion. The defense has turned the corner since that Vanderbilt game where they give up 40 points. They've looked like a completely different unit, played well enough to win the Tennessee game, got the stops when they needed to, and in this game, they got every stop that they had to, which was really impressive, even if it was against a backup quarterback. Even when Brady Cook was in there, they were getting stops. They were doing some nice things.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, you know, the defense played well with a backup against the wall. I kind of mentioned it last week. This is one of those games that it did, in a sense, feel like a do or die. Simply from the perspective of if you lose this game, you're now three losses into SEC play. That will probably effectively eliminate you from any hope at the playoff right now. Granted, we'll see in a future matchup against LSU that is also looking like a do or die game for both teams from that perspective. Although LSU felt like a rock after their recent loss to A and M.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: I'm sure we'll get into that.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: I'm sure we will get into that.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: I'm sure we'll get into that at some point. A and M rocking their Permian Panthers jerseys, almost identical if you, if you put them side by side. With a picture. It's hilarious.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Sure. So, like, love what I saw from the defense this past week. And you really just want to see that moving forward. Now. If there's one thing that I would. Actually, I have two things. If there's two things that I would really want to improve out of anything.
One of them, some of the penalties, man, got to clean up some of the penalties. I mean, in a lot of them, it takes away these huge gains. Or either maybe a scoring play or it's like a significant chunk yardage play. You, like, got us, like. I don't. I don't know. I don't know how to. I'm sure in the heat of the moment, it doesn't seem like that's going to occur, you know, like. But like, so some of them are just head scratching.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: Yeah. You have so seven penalties total on Alabama in this game. You have false start, a holding kick, kick catch, interference, which was just a complete head scratcher on that one. You see him call for the fair catch well before anybody even gets remotely close. And that kind of goes sideways. A chop block. I mean, personal fouls, just real head scratchers. Things that you do not want to see from a disciplined football team.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Sure, absolutely.
The other thing that I would say though, is the third down conversion rate. This is something that I feel like we haven't talked about enough.
It's been lower than what I would have expected. Only two for nine in this game.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Well, and here's the worst part, is that Alabama did not convert a third down until the fourth quarter of this game. It just so happens that, you know, they weren't.
They weren't really having to, you know.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Exactly. And so it's one of those things, though, like, I was a little concerned there in the first half. The snoozer, as we've called it already a couple times. You know, you get down there in scoring position and it's like, okay, well, time to kick a field goal. And you get down there again. Well, looks like it's time to get cafe goal. That can only go so far against certain teams, you know what I'm saying? Like, that is something that you definitely would want to extend some of those red zone opportunities or even close to the red zone opportunities into, like, into six instead of just three. Yeah.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: But at the same time, you know, just getting some points in there regardless is always nice.
And you know, you weren't.
You weren't really forced to have to have your offense, you know, just go to be super red hot in this game, especially After Brady Cook goes down. You know, it's very, very similar to the Wisconsin game earlier in the year when Tyler Van Dyke goes down, you know, early in that game and, you know, you're not really having to do much. We knew Alabama struggled on third down coming into this game and Missouri had one of the best third down defenses in the country also coming into this game.
And I think that's kind of what you saw play out. But the difference was is that Alabama's defense was able to get off the field a lot more often. They were able to get a lot more stops and Alabama wasn't so behind the chains. There were times when they had some massive penalties, including that like absolute head scratcher when they on the punt with the kick catch interference that seemingly took five to seven minutes to figure out.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: Well, I guess on that one I think you were obviously up in the, in the press box a different perspective, it seems like, because there were. They were technically not. Not offsetting because they didn't technically like. Well, they didn't really offset because they applied both of them or whatever. But I was like, it's like they went to Deborah saying, oh, by the way, there's two penalties. You want to accept or deny yours without telling them. Well, there's only actually one of them that you can accept or deny. The other one is on you.
So it was just a really, really weird situation. But I don't know that one was.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: It was so questionable for me and I was so confused just sitting up there the whole time. I was like, what is, what is going on here? You know, I think on a larger scale in college football this season, there have been a lot of problems with refereeing.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: I've noted that in beef of the.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Week extensively, especially if you've watched any Miami football game. Don't get me started on that.
I think there are some larger issues that need to be fixed. But you know, obviously that it didn't feel like the game needed to be stopped for like seven minutes also.
I know we've hit on it so many times, but the fake injury thing has to be fixed. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Every time that somebody starts to get a little hot, somebody goes down. I mean, it felt like it happened so many times with Missouri in this game. And I can't even sit here and blame them because nobody's doing anything to try and fix the issue.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: Sure. I think if anything, it's almost like, please, ncaa, listen to me as a fan here.
I do not want to sit and bake in the heat. Like, I'm a cookie in the oven, like, longer than I need to. Just because every single other play, you know, one team's getting the doors blown off of them, and so they decide to go down every play, like, afterwards. And then we have to take a whole time out and just to watch the guy hop up immediately and just run and just run off the field.
Like, I just. I don't know. Like.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you would. You would hope that something's going to get done, but, you know, in my opinion, you know, if you're going to go down, you at least got to sell it, right? You got to, like, get up and, like, pretend like something's hurting.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Yeah, man, you jammed your finger, man.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: Like, but, like, getting up and jogging off the field is just it.
It's so bad. Something's got to be done. Hopefully they would fix this.
I think it's going to be something that we're going to have to wait. Absolutely. But, you know, I can dream right now.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Tangentially. You know what else is bad? In my humble opinion?
The new AP poll that just dropped.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, Missouri's still ranked.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: I didn't even get there.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: Who had to pull the strings for that one to happen?
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Do we want to get into that?
[00:23:32] Speaker A: Yeah, let's go for it.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: All right, so I'm just. I'm just kind of looking at this. Okay, So I feel like it's been established that Vanderbilt is not a pushover team 100%. So I'm a little bit confused as to why Texas ended up swapping with Miami.
I understand that Texas struggled in the game, but as we've pointed out, Vanderbilt is a solid team. They still won on the road.
But Miami, well, they. They sure did beat one, and now one in seven Florida State. So they deserve to swap places. I. I don't. I don't understand that one personally.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: That game is on espn, by the way. Like, in the middle of the day.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I.
No one, no one's watching that.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: We got to have the option to, like, you know, flex that one off and get another game in place. But, yeah, you have.
Sometimes I don't understand the logic behind the AP poll because you will have a team that is ranked below another team. They lose to the team who's ranked above them, like you would expect, like, should happen. And then you drop both.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: They both drop.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Drop out. Like, I don't understand how Missouri in this poll is ranked over Vanderbilt.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: We'll get there. I mean, we aren't even out of the top 10. Yet.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: We'll get there. We'll get there.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: I mean, like, when you look at these other teams, though, right? Penn State struggled with Wisconsin for a good portion of that game. Not saying that they needed the drop or anything, but then, like, by the same logic, okay, Ohio State struggles with Nebraska. They narrowly win. But why did Texas drop? Because they. Because they almost lost the Vayner. Vanderbilt was a ranked team. Nebraska was not even close to sniffing being ranked. Okay.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: It's like the same premise. Like, why are we dropping one over the other? This is not. This is coming from a person who.
I would not say that I'm a Longhorn fan. Okay.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Yeah. It just feels like it doesn't make any sense, Right? Like, if. If Texas is going to drop, then Ohio State should have dropped, too, just based on what happened in the game. And you could. Both these games were extremely similar.
And you have two completely different things come out from the ap, which. Just a head scratcher. I don't. I don't really know how to describe it other than that Notre Dame comes up four places after they beat down on Navy. It was. It was brutal. You're. If you're watching this game, like, the very first. Very first drive, Notre Dame drives down easy. Touchdown. Okay. But you're like, oh, well, Navy's gonna install their sweet offense, which is just so much fun to watch, by the way. And then I believe. What was it, a fumble on the first play?
[00:26:17] Speaker B: First turnover since, like, the third quarter against, like, it was like a. Was it an FCS team? Yeah, yeah.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: First game of the season.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: And then the second one, I believe on the second drive, then you have a fumbled pitch. Like, things just start going sideways in a hurry. And this game, like, I was done watching, like, by the time I was, you know, headed to Bryant, Denny, all that fun stuff. And then I, like, later on, just look at the score, and I'm like, oh, boy, they lost 51 to 14.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Obviously, I'm okay with Notre Dame moving up. You know, they beat a ranked team pretty, Pretty handily. You know, four may be a little steep, but I can.
I can see it.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: I mean, this is a Notre Dame team whose only loss is to Northern niu, But since that loss, they've looked very good, haven't looked back since then. This is a Notre Dame team that can very easily sneak into the playoffs if they were to finish out the year.
BYU jumps up two spots. They continue to look strong in the Big 12, and now whose only loss.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Is to Notre Dame, whose only loss is To Northern Illinois.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: So transitive property. NIU is like the king of the college football world.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, we haven't even gotten into the A&M LSU game, which I'm sure we will shout out Clemson and Iowa State for dropping because they didn't play.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: This is fantastic.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Indiana, who beats a conference opponent by two touchdowns does not move.
So not really sure what's up with that.
Oh, hey, look, there's Alabama Moving up 1. Moving up in the world.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: Right above Boise State.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Right above Boise State.
Lsu, like I said earlier, dropped like a rock. Rightfully so on that one.
And then. Then things start getting a little strange.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Kansas State.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Kansas State. They win, but narrowly. They narrowly beat Kansas in a battle of the plains, I suppose in state.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Rivalry, but not a good Kansas team in the by any stretch.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: This is not the imagination team that I thought was going to show up this season. I actually had Kansas as a potential Big 12 threat at the end of last season and that just did not pan out. That's okay. I'll eat crow on that one.
But I mean, they narrowly win, but they still win the rivalry game and they drop.
And then we have my father's alma mater, the Pittsburgh Panthers, who might I say put on a defensive clinic on Thursday night. The better Thursday night football game out of the two that we're on. Okay, Kyle McCord through how many picks? Let's count them. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: And still through for 300 yards. That's hilarious.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Three were pick sixes.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: 60 passes in this game.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: Just insane.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: Okay, so we're going to be right back here on the Low Tide. We're going to take a short break. Thank you for listening. We'll be just back.
This show is a sports production of WVUAFM 90.7, a division of Student media at the University of Alabama. Support us by leaving a review rating or following us on X at WVUAFMSports. Welcome back into the low tide here on 90.7 the Cavstone. We got everything fixed. We're back in order.
No comment.
We're. We're so back.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: We're so back. And I'm back to complaining about the AP poll.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: You know. Yeah. That the whole pit situation was scary. But then. Okay, here's something I agree with. Ole Miss. They struggle against an Oklahoma team that still doesn't have its top five wide receivers. 6. Now they fired their offensive coordinator. This was a game like early on.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: No, see, like this is fine. And then I watch smu. Okay. And I watched the Duke Blue Devils blow Not one, not two, but, like, three separate chances to win this game. And SMU wins. And they moved up two spots.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Well, did you see how the win, like, happened at the end? Duke's lining up for a field goal, and the whole middle of the offensive line just, like, stay down in their posture. And I don't know if that's a. That's a coaching thing. If they were coached to do that. It looked absolutely horrifying.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: I just feel. Goal gets blocked, doesn't make sense. And then, like, okay, Illinois gets shellacked by Oregon. Sure, drop them. But it. Granted, this is the number one team in the country.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: Hey. But very quickly. I have been on the SMU Mustangs since, like, the beginning of the season. They're 7 and 1.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: Okay, well, you know what's going to be cinema this upcoming Saturday, isn't it Pitt.
[00:32:00] Speaker A: Sm.
I will be tuning in. We will be watching.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: You know who will be tuning in in person?
Mr. Michael Miller himself will be making an appearance.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Is he? Actually, yeah.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: My parents are driving up to Dallas to watch this game.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Hey, you know what? It's in Dallas.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: It's in Dallas.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: Oh, man.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Nick is trying to think about how he can go back for.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: I'm actually.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: We'll discuss this on Low Tide After Dark, our nude podcast that you can exclusively listen to on Spotify.
No, instead of talking weather, we'll be talking airfare, potentially.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Oh, man. Don't even. Yeah, don't even get me started on that. Army still undefeated. Unfortunately, we're not going to get our undefeated Army Navy matchup.
[00:32:54] Speaker B: It was. It was fun while it lasted, which is tragic.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: Washington State, if you're a Washington State fan. Okay, we got to talk about this. Colorado just magically pops into the AP poll at number 20.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: I want to point out that. What is Cincinnati's record?
I forget what the record is. It can't. I don't think it's that good.
Well, anyway, point being, like, what exactly did Colorado. Who did they beat to get in here?
[00:33:27] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: Like, I just. I'm really. I'm scratching my head. I'm looking at the. The first teams out here.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: They were sent. The Cincinnati Bearcats are now 5 and 3. They're 5 and 3. Colorado beat them 34, 23.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: But, like, Cincinnati, though, was 5 and 2. Probably wasn't sniffing being ranked.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: But here's the thing. Okay, here's the one defense that I'll give of Colorado being 23 in the AP poll. Other than the fact that they had perfect timing.
They're four and one in the conference, in the Big 12 and a Big 12. That has by no means been decided yet. They're very much in this. You could very much see Colorado play themselves into the Big 12 title game. And, you know, if they were to upset a BYU or an Iowa State, you never know what could happen. All of a sudden you could see Colorado find their way into the College Football Playoff in a. Into a 12 team playoff. And I think that's something. I think that's one of the best parts about, you know, conference champions getting buys regardless of their record. You know, because like, Colorado, the way that they're playing right now, you know, unless they were to win the Big 12, 0 chance of getting into the College Football Playoff. But all of a sudden you could see them just pop in there.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. But I think the biggest travesty of all here is the fact that, no, I'm not even like an avid, like Missouri hater. Like, I actually am so unmoved by like playing Missouri. Like, in terms of all the other Alabama opponents you can think of, you have Tennessee, you have Auburn. Okay, you, you have lsu. You even have Ole Miss to a certain grade. You have Georgia, and now Texas and Texas A and M think they're, they're new kids on the block, but they're trying to join in on the fun. I am so unmoved by Mizzou, but it actually angers me that they are even still ranked after they got.
They didn't just get beat. They didn't just get blown out.
They didn't get shellacked, they didn't get cooked.
I mean, this is a, this is like a nuke worthy pick. Putting them here after they lost, what was it, 41 to 10 at Texas a and M. And then they also lost 34 nothing to Alabama. The corpse of Brady Cook helped them beat a lowly Auburn team. Okay, why are they ranked? Their point differential has to be almost negative against SEC opponents.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, I don't know. It's. It's so tough for me to defend the AP poll and maybe the AP at this point. You know, you're not allowed to use the term dingers anymore.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: Yeah, what's up with that? I saw you guys beefing on Twitter about that. I would get involved, but, like, I'm not like a big writer guy, so.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: Stakes in the game.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: I have no stake in the game.
[00:36:38] Speaker A: Yeah, you can't call anything a disaster now, which I think Missouri is an absolute disaster at this point.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: They legitimately. I am actually so Serious, when I say this, they have such a neg. Such a big negative point differential against SEC opponents. It's crazy. They beat Vandy by three in second overtime. They beat Auburn by four in regulation. Right. So seven plus seven.
They lost by 31 to A and M. So put that at negative 28 now or. No, not negative 28. Negative 24 now. And then they just lost by 34. So they are in the hole. 58 points to SEC opponents.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: Yikes. And I think that that's so disappointing for a Missouri team that was ranked inside the top 10.
[00:37:30] Speaker B: Not even just the top 10. They were like top seven, six.
[00:37:36] Speaker A: Let's see.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: Six, seven.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Let's see.
Okay, I will look that up. But let's see.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: They are eighth in the SEC, by the way. Eighth in the SEC and they're ranked 25.
So like, if I look up the SEC rankings, which I will also, I'll filibuster real quick and look up the SEC rankings while Nick looks up what.
What they were at the beginning of the season. But okay.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: In the preseason they were ranked 11.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: Oh, okay. I thought they were a little higher than.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: I will check on the official AP website. Let's see.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: They were surely higher than that.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: They were 11. I think they. I think they moved up, like very quickly. Oh, it was like after they were nine in week two.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: Oh, because the. Okay. Because I think, like, wasn't.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: They were six in week three.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: That's what it was. Okay, so the teams in front of them now, obviously some of these characters and we'll get into one of them, especially in Texas A and M, obviously at the top. Only team undefeated in SEC play so far. A and M, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, lsu, Alabama. No surprises there.
They are actually behind Arkansas out of all. Out of all teams. Okay. Arkansas is 3 and 2 in conference play and they are tied with Ole Miss, Vanderbilt in Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in Florida.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: Like record wise.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Record wise in the conference.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: Yeah. It's just so disappointing because this is a team, Brady Cook, Luther Burden that people saw as being very dangerous in the SEC and definitely in contention for, you know, potentially one of the four SEC spots that could potentially, you know, be given going into the college football playoffs. So I think that's just such a disappointment. But like you were mentioning, we've got to talk about A and M who have been the surprise of maybe college football this year.
Marcel Reed comes off the bench. He runs for three second half touchdowns against A&M or against LSU and just completely blow them out of the water. This looked I mean, this game, I believe what they were up 17, LSU was up 177 going into the second half. And then all of a sudden just.
Things just went wild. They got the clip of.
Who am I thinking of their backup quarterback, Wegman, Connor. They get the clip of Mike Elko telling Connor Wegman that, you know, he's going to like, a sorry man. Like, we're putting Marcel in.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: And apparently, you know, apparently they have just made the wrong decision all along because Marcel Reed comes out, they look like a completely different team.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: I wouldn't even say it's the wrong decision. Marcel Reid has had moments where he's flashed and I, I saw it whenever he played in the bowl game last year. He was like, he was red shirted, but they threw him in there because of all the injuries that they had. And like he sat his flashes. But he has played in a couple games and like, they struggled a little bit in those games offensively and people were wondering, okay, well, is A and M, like legit or not? Are they okay?
Obviously Wegman comes back from his injury, all is fine and well and dandy with the world, but he just. Wegman just didn't have a good game. And they put Marcel Reid in electric. I don't know what happens. Like, they flipped the light switch on or something.
And quite frankly, and as much as this pains me to admit it, Texas A and M looks like they might be the team to beat in the sec.
I am almost convinced. I think Texas A and M, they might win by double digits against Texas whenever Texas comes to Kyle Field. Kyle Field is such a. It is such a tough place to play. I've emphasized this a lot. I know. I've been told that that is a crazy take before.
[00:41:29] Speaker A: I don't think so.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: As somebody who lives in College Station and knows the fans and like, knows like, how that works. Kyle Field, and this is the one very good thing about the NCAA 25 game. Kyle Field is by far the toughest place to play in college football. That place gets raucous. And the way that I've seen Texas get a little bit rattled even at home, I do not see a world in which they survive that game against A and M. Yeah.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: You know, I think honestly, here's something that could have happened. You know, I don't know if I, if I brought this up last week.
It really felt like Texas had played nobody up until, like, really Georgia. Yeah, until they played Georgia and they.
[00:42:19] Speaker B: Got demolished and then they struggled against Vanderbilt, another quality opponent. Their next one on the schedule they struggled, but that's one of those situations in which I really felt like, you know, Alabama didn't win that game, had opportunities to try to claw their way back. Right. But Texas really prevailed against Vanderbilt pretty much from a talent perspective. They just have. They just have the higher, maybe higher paid players, more talented players. And that's really what it came down to at the end because they didn't make enough back breaking plays to lose the game. So talent prevails. It's the same principle. I've been talking to people with Notre Dame and Navy. Navy is still a good team. Don't discount them. They were ranked for a reason and they had an undefeated record for a reason. Right. But at the end of the day, the athletes at Notre Dame, no matter what happens, are going to unfortunately outclass the athletes that you get at Navy. That's just how, that's just how it works, especially in the modern day and age of college football. Right. So yeah, Texas, I'm really not wholly convinced of Texas either. The only team that has looked very solid in conference play. I'll say two teams have looked relatively solid, A and M by far. And then I'll say Georgia. Georgia's had their moments where they struggled, but then they've also shown.
[00:43:36] Speaker A: Hey, and we're just saying in the sec, right?
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Just saying sec.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. The good thing is that it looks like this Texas, Texas A and M matchup that we're finally getting back is going to be absolute must. Watch television. They're going to break the attendance record at Kyle Field. It looks like it's going to be incredible. And potentially that game could be like getting into the sec. Like that's going to be an SEC championship kind of deciding game.
[00:44:04] Speaker B: Well, for me, when I looked at, we talked about this last week, Texas A and M has a pretty easy schedule from here on out. The only tough game they really have left is Texas. Well, even if Texas A and M loses the game to Texas, their only loss would be to a top five or top six Texas team. So it's going to be a hard sell to not put them in the SEC championship.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So here's the one thing that I will say, this A and M team has had some moments where they have not looked so great. Okay. Obviously they lose to Notre Dame. You know, they only win by six against Bowling Green.
Very narrow victory against Arkansas, a 10 point win against Mississippi State. They go to South Carolina, they go to Auburn. That place has got some voodoo magic under that field.
They have a couple of games on the schedule that are not Gimme's and they're going to be going with, you know, they've got a new starting quarterback presumably now as it should be.
There are some spots.
There are a couple of things that could trip them up. But assuming that they get through those and if they look half as good as they did against lsu, they're going to win those games very easily.
Kind of everything sets up for this Texas, Texas A and M matchup that's going to be almost an SEC championship semifinal game.
[00:45:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: And you know, I think not. There wasn't a single person who expected Texas A and M under Mike Elko with a brand new head coach, kind of felt like they had to do.
[00:45:42] Speaker B: A reset at least at minimum a one year reset.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: Right. But now they're right in the hunt for an SEC title. They're five and oh, for the first time in a billion years. I mean, I'm trying to. Let me see if I can find. If I can find this.
Let's see. Yeah.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: So I mean, but I'll allude to another game that's uber important.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: Oh, they've literally never been five and oh. In the SEC the last time they started a season five and oh, they were in the big 12.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: Sure. And like. And so that is that this is, well, historical.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: Right.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: But the other thing to note, not that it really decides the championship, but so you have that interesting matchup that will probably decide the SEC championship and will have playoff implications for sure. Just from a seating perspective.
Right. I don't anticipate Texas and Texas A and M both missing the playoffs at this point, but the one that will have playoff implications that I see in the near future and we'll hit on it real quickly.
Alabama, lsu.
So now you watch LSU slide. So they've had their moments now where they've kind of fallen off a cliff. You know, they blow the game with usc, they blow the game here with.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: AM against the USC team that now has four losses.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: And don't look good at all.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: No. And, but the thing is, is that in a similar vein, you could make the argument that Alabama has let the games that they've lost kind of slip through their fingers as well. Right. So now you have two teams. Not only is this important, they are fighting for their lives to stay in the playoff hunt. They're both two losses and granted LSU only one of their losses is in conference.
Okay. Alabama has two. So if you're a tied fan, and I told people this, as much as it might have hurt just due to the scheduling of everything.
Alabama really needed LSU to win that game.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:38] Speaker B: Because the problem was, is that I've seen Texas now play the legitimate opponent again. I'm not convinced they'll beat A and M. So really, you were banking on the fact that A and M had to lose to either LSU or Texas. Now that I don't think it was Texas, I was like, well, now I have to root for lsu, unfortunately, because that's the only hope to get Texas A and M to have a loss. The only way for Alabama to have a fighting chance in this. In this horse race is that everyone has to have a loss at some point. But if A and M's only loss comes to Texas, you now have to root for Texas to win that game. Because I do not see a world in which A and M loses to the rest of their schedule. I mean, who is it?
[00:48:13] Speaker A: Is it South Carolina, New Mexico State, Auburn? The only games that matter are South Carolina and Auburn. Yeah.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: So, I mean, South Carolina, I mean, they could put up a fight. I mean, they put up some interesting games, some really good, some really bad, like Auburn. That's not gonna.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: They have to go to Auburn.
[00:48:34] Speaker B: They have to go to Auburn. But you've. You've seen Auburn. I mean, like, this is not. This is not the perspective of an Alabama fan dogging on Auburn. I mean, they just haven't been good. They haven't played well, they've been poorly coached, and they've been bad in all three phases.
And so I don't see that. I don't see them losing even on the road over there. So, yeah, it's coming down. You got to root for Texas. But then the problem is Texas also only has one loss. Right. So it'd be super, super nice if you're Alabama, if Texas loses a second game, because then. Because Texas lost to Georgia and guess who beat Georgia?
Alabama beat Georgia. Right. So it's just this interesting kind of mess in which it seems like A and M really is insulated because they just haven't. They haven't had to play as many heavy hitters, if you will.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: Yeah. And sometimes that's just how the schedule falls.
[00:49:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Credit to A and M for winning the games that they've been handed.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: This is nothing against A and M, if anything. I am saying this is me being positive and spreading the love out there. Handled business. You took care of it, and you deserve to be where you're at.
Right. But if you're the rest of the sec, I'm really concerned because now they have a lot of confidence.
And honestly, if I'm another, if I'm in the playoff hunt currently, I'm concerned if I have to play A and M on the schedule now.
[00:49:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd be honest. But at the same time, you know, if you're a South Carolina, if you're in Auburn, you can ruin A and M season with one game.
[00:50:06] Speaker B: Yeah, you have more fire if you're Auburn or South Carolina. But also like I said, if you're, if you're another playoff team and you're looking in on who you might play and you think A and M might be on the docket, I would be horrified to walk into Kyle Field and play a playoff game. I would be absolutely horrified.
[00:50:23] Speaker A: But I will say that if they were to win the sec, which we think is their route into the playoffs, they would not, nobody would have to go to Kyle Field. This would only matter if like, you know, maybe there's a world where they lose the SEC title.
[00:50:40] Speaker B: What if I, what if I leave you with this little tidbit? Let's say hypothetically they lose the Texas, the SEC championship winds up being Texas and Georgia a rematch.
But A and M doesn't make the SEC championship because they lost to the team that was ended up and they weren't going to duplicate in back to back weeks. Right. Then they would not host the home play. Well, they would host a home playoff game, but they wouldn't have like that buy because they didn't win their championship because he didn't play.
[00:51:08] Speaker A: Yeah, but. Okay, but here's the question that you got to start getting into is an A and M team that lost to Notre Dame who would presumably be in the playoffs and they lost to a Texas team with no other staple win. Like where is their, the, where is their staple win other than lsu?
[00:51:27] Speaker B: That, that's. I would just argue they handled business. They have a better conference record than everyone else.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:51:36] Speaker B: That's definitely something to be debated on. Low tide after dark, that's something that.
[00:51:41] Speaker A: We'Re going to talk about and I think next week, you know, bye week, other than just previewing lsu, we're going to be able to take a look at the larger picture with another week under our belt to kind of see how things are shaping up.
Election night, not only are we going to get election night, we're going to get the first college football playoff rankings, the first rankings of the 12 team era. It's sure to be exciting.
So I think that's pretty much it. I think that's going to do it for us here on the Low Tide. Thanks for sticking with us through all of our technical difficulties. Technical difficulties? The fun, you know, our endless first yap session.
But it was fun.
[00:52:23] Speaker B: It was fun. Wait. But we could. We could extend the fun on Spotify.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. On the Low Tide After Dark, which is exclusively where. On Spotify or Voices. Ua. Edu. Shameless Plug. Thank you. You just teed me up. You threw me at like 20 mile an hour. Me ball right down the middle.
[00:52:40] Speaker B: And you're just sh. Otani.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: With non injured shoulders.
[00:52:43] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. I was about to say that. All right, thank you for listening. We'll be back same time next week here on 90.7. The capstone.
