College Football Best Bets: Alabama vs Georgia Saturday Night

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00:00The early game of the year of college football is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

00:07Roger Hoover, of course, is a host for the Crimson Tide Radio Network.

00:11Also, he doesn't want to give himself credit, but does a great job at play-by-play for all

00:15different sports across the network.

00:17I'm going to give him the credit.

00:18Roger and I go back to his days doing play-by-play for baseball in the Marlins organization,

00:25but he's gone on to have a wonderful career and still continues to do it.

00:28He'll be in the house Saturday night when the game goes off.

00:30Roger, great to catch up with you.

00:31Thanks for coming on our show.

00:32Yeah.

00:33Thank you so much, Greg, for having me.

00:34I really enjoyed my time in Miami and South Florida covering baseball with you, but doing

00:39well here in Alabama.

00:40Now, I'm just ready for, as you mentioned, a huge football game coming up on Saturday.

00:44All right.

00:45So, it's been years, four years, since Alabama's played Georgia during the regular season,

00:50and it's a really early matchup for this as well.

00:54Two teams that have playoff aspirations for the first time.

00:56And it would appear that the team that loses is still in the mix, by the way, for the college

01:00football playoff with the addition of 12.

01:03Bulldogs spread-wise, one and a half, two-point favorites.

01:07I mean, look, in the SEC, when Titans match up, it does tend to go down to like the last

01:13possession of the game.

01:15You have a much better read, certainly, on this than I do.

01:19How do you think this game plays out on Saturday?

01:20It's going to be really interesting because normally when we talk about an Alabama-Georgia

01:26matchup with Kirby Smart versus Nick Saban, you're essentially seeing the same team play

01:30each other in terms of playing styles, in terms of athletes they're recruiting, because

01:34players typically go to either Georgia or Alabama.

01:37Kirby Smart, obviously, with all the years he's spent on Nick Saban's staff, recruits

01:40the exact same player to Georgia.

01:43Things have changed a little bit with Kalen Laborde taking over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

01:46He has a different philosophy on offense, different philosophy on defense.

01:50So, this is really the first time we've seen a matchup like this where you're not necessarily

01:54preparing for that same heavyweight style bouts where the game will be played in either

01:58the teens or the 20s, and you know the defense is going to dominate.

02:02There's a lot we don't know, I feel like, going into this matchup, but we do know that

02:06the Crimson Tide have been off to a really good start this year, a 3-0, maybe had some

02:10tough moments against South Florida, but still put that game away with a 28-3 scoring margin

02:15in the fourth quarter, and then looked really explosive against Wisconsin as well.

02:20Georgia hasn't been as explosive.

02:22They really struggled against Kentucky a couple weeks ago.

02:25Their offense just hasn't had the same rhythm that we saw a year ago with Carson Beck or

02:29especially during those back-to-back national championship years.

02:32So, even though it's two familiar brands, still two teams at the very top of college

02:36football, this is a little bit different of a matchup than we've seen in the last few

02:40years between Georgia and Alabama.

02:43Yeah, and certainly, you know, Roger is broadcasting for the Crimson Tide radio network, so he's

02:48not going to have necessarily the same things to say about the point spread like I can,

02:52which was in the offseason.

02:54The lookahead line was Georgia being a much more significant favorite.

02:56To Roger's point, Alabama has played better than Georgia in the month of September, which

03:02is why I think that this is a lot closer than it has been.

03:05So, Roger, you know, you've certainly seen Nick Saban around as a coach, and now it's

03:12Kaelin DeBoer's show, so I guess let's go there.

03:16How different has it been for you seeing him around as opposed to Coach Saban, who,

03:22you know, of course, I know here from being in South Florida as the head coach of the

03:25Miami Dolphins as well.

03:27Attitude-wise, you know, we heard Kirby Smart say earlier in the week that they're preparing

03:32for a different look defensively.

03:34It's going to look much different than it did when they faced off against Nick Saban,

03:38so what is the breakdown with him as opposed to Saban going into a big game like this?

03:43Well, for Coach DeBoer, he's just very comfortable in his own skin, and he has been just, you

03:48know, very even-keeled for every moment.

03:50He has been head coach of the Crimson Tide from first day getting the job back in January,

03:54only a couple days after Coach Saban retired.

03:57He has been able to put his own spin on the program a little bit while not changing too

04:01much from what Coach Saban liked to do and what Alabama football has always been known

04:06for.

04:07But again, he's just been very comfortable, and he's kind of talked about the fact that,

04:10yes, it is a big game, the eyes of the college football world are on this matchup, but we're

04:15still going to do what we're going to do, and I think the players have really taken

04:17on that attitude as well.

04:20So it has been a lot different.

04:21Again, everyone seems a little bit more relaxed around Tuscaloosa.

04:25Coach Saban certainly had a very disciplined structure, and you kind of knew what you were

04:29getting each and every day, and so far, it's been similar with DeBoer.

04:32It's just been a little bit more loose and relaxed, and I think people have certainly

04:37enjoyed that.

04:38I mean, of course, I want the winning thing we saw with Coach Saban for all years, certainly

04:42want all that to continue moving forward, but it's been refreshing, and again, for Alabama

04:46to look so good in the first three games of the year, I think it's really helped the

04:50fan base rallying around Kalen DeBoer, and now they're just excited to see what SEC football

04:54is going to look like for him.

04:56Yeah, I think it's all fair, and again, not to bring up the ghosts here of Coach Saban,

05:02but it's definitely a different look completely for the University of Alabama as it pertains

05:07to it, and I guess to kind of take it a step further, Roger, sort of as we dive into it

05:13here, I do think what's sort of odd here is that, and maybe not fair to DeBoer, too, is

05:18that if Saban was still the head coach of the University of Alabama right now, NIL stuff

05:23nonwithstanding, I think most people probably would pick Alabama to win this game, but because

05:29he is not, it's almost like people have slanted their view to Georgia, and I'm not sure that

05:33that's necessarily fair.

05:36I would certainly agree with that, especially with what we've seen on offense from Alabama,

05:40because this team looks a lot better offensively than they did a year ago, certainly upgrading

05:44the receiver position.

05:46Jeremy Bernard transfers over from Washington, and then maybe the best young player in college

05:50football, 17-year-old Ryan Williams, leading receiver so far for the Crimson Tide, and

05:55not just huge home run plays from Jalen Milrow downfielded him, but even in the short intermediate

06:00passing game, Ryan Williams has been a good threat, and I think Jalen Milrow is a vastly

06:04different player than he was a year ago, even going back to the SEC Championship game, where

06:08he played well against the same Georgia Bulldog team.

06:11He's making some really good decisions, I think the offense is really designed for him,

06:15he's already had two rushing touchdowns in each and every game, so he has six touchdowns

06:20already on the season, just looks very comfortable, so again, I think this Crimson Tide team,

06:25the main question mark is the defense and the secondary, it's not been tested that much,

06:29and this is also a Tide team that's been giving up a lot of yards on the ground, certainly

06:33can't afford to have that come up tomorrow.

06:35Yep, would agree.

06:36All right, can't wait to catch it, Roger.

06:38Hey, it's been great to see you, man, and great to catch up, and really appreciate you

06:41taking some time to come on the show, and thanks again.

06:44Yeah, thank you so much, Craig, for having me on, hopefully we can do it again, maybe

06:47talk about Alabama and Georgia, I don't know, in the SEC Championship game, or the college

06:51football playoff down the road, we know the Tide will be a part of it.

06:55I mean, they could play three times.

06:57Three times with one team.

06:58That'd be fun, we're ready for it.

07:00It could happen.

07:01All right, Roger, thanks again for coming on the show.

07:04Catch Roger this weekend on the Crimson Tide Radio Network, hosting and getting you ready

07:08for the big matchup against Georgia.

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