FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Tiger Talk Overtime w/Doug Holton 9.12.2024 w/guest Brian Brinsfield, Coach Fred Riley, and Tailgating with Stu Donald
It's time now for Tiger Talk Over Time. Time. We should embrace playing the gold standard of this conference right now. You should welcome that. You should want that. You should want that experience. It should burn within you to say, I won't that opportunity. Nobody's flipped. Give the ball up and over. And even if I believe it, let me know. Put that over. Lower your second upper by both guys. And he just got hit behind the line of scrimmage. Everybody, they know what's coming. Alabama, they know what was coming. Both guys can just on the jury effort. Got it now. Now the shotgun, Patrick Nick. Alabama bringing everybody. Nick's is going to blow one for Sanders. Sanders. Oh, he caught it on the move. And he died, damn it. Touch that Auburn. Touch that Auburn. Oh, my goodness. Cornell Williams at the tail back. They'll hand it off to Williams up the middle. 25, that's an inside. 30, 35, 40, there goes Cadillac to the 50, to the 40, to the 30, to the 20, to the 15, 10. Go crazy Cadillac, go crazy. Touch that. There goes Davis. Oh, my God. Davis is going running all the way back. Auburn's going to win the football game. Auburn's going to win the football game. He ran the best field. Go back. He ran it back a hundred and nine yards. They're not going to keep them off the field tonight. Road, home, dirt, grass, it don't matter. Just give us that opportunity. That's the fire that is within us. First down in 10, just inside of midfield. Here's Tim on the fake, right up the middle, breaks the tackle. At the 40, stays on his feet. 35, 30, 25, 20. Peter Sender one man to beat at the 5, he is in. Touch that Auburn. Flash that smile, Cam. Fire wipes for the snap in the place. There it is. The kick is up. The kick is good. Auburn wins. 22, 19. Tiger Talk Over Time is presented by Will To. Number one in quality and safe work for industry. To be a part of the show, call the Morgan Bradley Alpha Insurance Tiger Line now at 3, 4, 3, 0, 1, 0, 6. Now, here's your host, Doug Halton. OK, thanks very much. Welcome into the show tonight. Everybody, Tiger Talk Over Time on a Thursday night. As always, we are glad you're with us for talking about Auburn Football and Auburn Athletics for the next hour. We want to thank our great sponsors. As you heard for being with us and keeping us on the air, a lot to talk about tonight. A very disappointing effort last week against the Cal Bears. Auburn was a favorite. Auburn didn't look very good. All eyes this week will be on a number of things, but specifically the quarterback situation. And we're going to talk about that with former quarterback and longtime coach Fred Riley, who would join us in a little bit here on the show. Also, in just a couple of minutes, Brian Brinsfield, former Auburn Tiger, former Fair Hope Pirate, will be with us on the show. And we'll talk to Stu Donald a little bit later on about Deuce Knight and where he stands, maybe waning in his commitment to the Auburn Tigers now. And of course, Stu will have a little tailgating tip for us. As we get close to a night game with New Mexico, this weekend, a 6.30 kickoff at Jordan Hare Stadium. You heard the comments last hour on Tiger Talk from the Auburn Network. The most impressive thing to me Monday at Hugh Freeze's Press Conference, and I played this week on War Eagle TV and really on our Twitter or X page at TV_War Eagle at TV_War Eagle if you want to join us there. But this is the thing that stood out to me the most on Monday at Hugh Freeze's Press Conference. As we focus, we're forced to focus this week during the New Mexico game on the quarterbacks and how does Peyton Thorn perform? Does he stay in the game a long time? Do we see Hank Brown? Do we see Walker White? Probably not. Do we see Holden Garner? So those are the things that the majority of the Auburn fans are going to be looking for this week. Here's what Hugh Freeze had to say Monday that stood out to me about Peyton Thorn's performance last week. There was some really good calls made in that game and we had people running wide open and Peyton missed three of those that I think changed the game in the first half. He's the highest performer in practice in preparation which obviously has led to us giving him the starting nod and but there's got to be carry over into the game and I think it was John Wooden that once said that he spoke directly about this and honoring the practice and stuff. But again, sometimes adjustments have to be made and I assure you we're prepared if that continues it has to we have to go another direction. All right, let's welcome into the show former Auburn Tiger, former Fair Hope pirate Brian Brentsfield is with us this evening. And Brian, great to have you with us. You're up in the great state of Tennessee where the voles were getting ready. And I guess I have to say you called it a couple of weeks ago when you were on the show. You said you thought cow was going to be a pretty good test for us and as it turns out, they were a really good test for us. - You know, it was something in my gut and I think it was because I couldn't beat him on PlayStation. I told you that back in the early summer I could not beat cow on PlayStation, all EA sports. And for whatever reason that game on the calendar scared me to death and low and bold. This is what makes me feel good though, Doug. - Is Nick Saban on college game day? I don't know if you saw it said, Hugh Freeze has got Auburn exactly where they need to be. There's going to be a team to be reckoned with and the SEC and beyond. So, you and I both predicted Auburn to win. I know as much as Nick Saban. So that makes me happy. I'm as good as Nick Saban. - Was he trying to jinx us or is that something we should think about never trust Nick Saban? - Maybe he was trying to pull the wool over our eyes. But everybody, everybody on that panel, even Michael Phelps and he's an incredible, incredible college football prognosticator I'm kidding, picked us. So, it's a game that we should have won. We can talk about the X's and O's and Jimmy and Joe's and we will probably during this broadcast, but a game that we should never have lost. - On your video game, when you're playing Cal, did you have receivers running wide open in the quarterback midst of it? - Yeah, yeah. It was my fault on offense because I couldn't hit wide open receivers. And especially in the first half running down the sideline. You know, it's, it goes back to last year and it's kind of the same thing and me and I don't know. I really don't know what to say. If that's the best we got, then we're in trouble. - Yeah, and it was an interesting game to watch. I mean, I guess you had to focus in on the quarterback. There were other glaring weaknesses as well. The offensive line, I didn't think Jarquez ran very well. The quarterbacks obviously didn't play very well in the first half or a number of things to look at. We'll talk about those, but as far as the quarterbacks, what did you see in Peyton and do you agree with Coach Freeze this week that obviously you can't agree with the practice thing that he's the best player in practice 'cause we haven't been there. But should he get another shot to start this weekend? Coach Freeze kind of left the door open for Hank Brown, but should he have already made a decision after that game or do he let this drag on? - No, I don't think he let it drag on. And I hate to say that because the young man is obviously works hard. He's been a starter in college football, I think for now four years, three or four years. Well, I guess four years, two at Michigan State and two now at Auburn. And he's probably a very nice young man, but he's just not getting the job done. And I don't know if last week, before setting him up for failure because he thought I can do this no problem and everything is gonna be wide open down the field. And maybe his eyes were looking down the field where he should have been looking intermediate or short. It's some of the reads that, and that's maybe where he missed them, I don't know. It's hard to dissect it during the game and not having the benefit of being able to reverse and reverse and reverse and seeing the route concepts and things like that, seeing who was open. But it just seemed like he was trying to make things happen that weren't there. And that's four interceptions is what happens when you try to force the ball or when you're not accurate with football. - Yeah, and you mentioned it about the beginning of that game and the, I'm not sure what the word is, but just coming off of that Alabama A&M game. - Yeah. - All the fans were excited. Everybody was saying we're back, we're back, we're back. And I kept saying it's Alabama A&M. What can we tell from Alabama A&M? That kind of seems where the team was in the first half Saturday against Cal. They seemed, when I was sitting in the press box, I said they're sloppy and they're flat. - Yeah, and you asked me a question, going into the first game, what do I want to see out of the Auburn Tigers? And I said, energy, excitement, have fun. And they didn't look like they were having fun. They didn't look excited. It's a 230 game on ESPN. Yeah, it's Cal, but boy, we won't make that mistake again or we shouldn't make that mistake again. And it's college football. Yeah, I was thinking about this today, driving up here in Knoxville is that Alabama A&M, they're still good athletes. So what was the difference? What did Cal do differently on defense that Alabama A&M didn't do? I know that there's a difference in athleticism, but it's not a huge difference. There is a difference and there's probably a difference in coaching, there's probably a difference in skiing. But what did they do that different? It wasn't disguising, it was a pressure. What was it on defense that had patents so rattled, had the offensive lines so rattled, they weren't passing off T&E stunts or E&T stunts. I don't know. And then what were we doing on defense? My buddy David Fulford made a good point. The first weekend and last week is we didn't get pressure on the quarterback. And we hadn't got pressure on the quarterback in the first two to ball games. And what are we not doing on defense? So that kid went 19 of 21 for 203 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. I mean, we made him look like the husband drove a candidate. And he was in a quarterback battle. Definitely have to get better on defense and really obviously on both sides of the football. More with Brian Brentsfield, former Auburn Tiger, as we continue along on Tiger Talk over time tonight. Fred Riley later in the show, coach Fred Riley, and Stu Donald coming up later as well. Glad you're with us. We'll be back with more of the show right after this short time out. (upbeat music) Welcome back to Tiger Talk over time. Presented by Will2, number one in quality and safe work for industry. To be a part of the show, call the Morgan Bradley Alpha Insurance Tiger Line now, 3, 4, 3, 0, 1, 0, 6. (upbeat music) Now, back to Don Colton. And welcome back everyone, visiting with Brian Brentsfield, former Auburn Tiger on the show. Tonight later in the show, Fred Riley is gonna join us and also Stu Donald, so make sure and stay tuned for that. And Brian, I wanted to talk a little bit more about what we were mentioning before the break. And that's the lack of execution, I guess you'd call it, the lack of efficiency offensively and defensively last week. Coming into the end of that ball game, Auburn was down. And I felt like we had scored a touchdown on the first try, but the second touchdown, we had a couple of favorable calls there. I almost felt like they gave us that touchdown. And then I mentioned the first touchdown, which I think was the first drive. I mean, we had to pull some things out of the hat there to get a touchdown and it winds up a great throw and a receiver going out of bounds, coming back in bounds and making a great catch to get seven early in the game. - Unbelievable catch. And if I'm not mistaken, I've watched so much football over with pro and college football over the past week that wasn't their drive, their first drive pretty long for a sustained drive. I can't remember. - I can't remember the yardage on it, but. - But it just seemed like it just went on forever and the kid picked us apart. But we couldn't run the ball. That sets up for not being able to throw the ball. And it goes back to what Nick Saban used to do, what coaches died and Bear Bryant, all these coaches used to do, they just said, "Okay, we're going to run the ball down your throat until you can stop us." And then once your safety's come up and you load the box with eight, we will throw the ball and attack it. And if you can't, we obviously couldn't run the ball. I don't know if it was Jack West. I don't know if it was our offensive line. But we came out throwing and it wasn't there. - Best thing with Brian Bransfield tonight, Ladger with us here on the show. And Brian, to a couple of your points, the offensive line, it seems like Cal really wanted to test them and put pressure on them and see what they could do. And obviously two tall had a little bit of an injury, wasn't a hundred percent. And they really affected the offensive line. And the running game, as you mentioned, I didn't think we ran the ball very effectively, but at the press conference this week, you freeze said we did average seven yards a carry, I think running the football, which a lot of people mentioned to me, we need to run downhill more. Why aren't we running the football more? Which is a lot of Auburn fans say at every game, but what did you think? - Yeah, I wish I knew the stats, the total, the total rush yard stats. It may have been one rush for seven yards. No, I'm kidding. But you know, I don't know. I really don't know what we need to do with the run game. The run game now in college football is a lot of something. It's a lot of gap scheme, which means you're pulling guard, you're pulling centers, you're pulling tackles, you're pulling the F or the tight end. If he's in an H-back or an F-back situation, or pulling multiple guys, and you're gap scheming to the other side of the ball once the ball snaps. And it just doesn't seem like we're getting there. And also, I see a lot of teams that are very successful in two of the teams that I saw were very successful in doing this, and double teaming, and coming off to the second level of linebackers was Georgia Tech against Boston College, I think, and in Boston College against Florida State. - Yeah, Georgia Tech against Florida State also. - That's right, in Boston College against Florida State. Boston College's offensive line, just annihilated Florida State's defensive line. And just did it by a lot of double teaming, and then rubbing off to the second level linebackers. But I don't know what we need to do. I know we need to run the football, but I don't know how. Do we need to get it in space with our wide receivers, with speed? Do we need to get some jet motion, some, you know, and hand the ball off and get it in space right now, or throw what we used to call a now screen. You know, if you've got the slot out there on either side of the ball and the safety's playing off, throw it right now to the slot and just let 'em go. Run some wide receiver screens. I don't know, I don't know what the answer is, but. - That was one thing I thought during the game is, they're coming with more guys than we can block. - Get the ball out. - So why don't we let 'em come and throw it over their head? - Get the ball out right now. And screens, you know, even middle screens or running back screens help that a lot. If they're coming, let 'em come. You're in shotgun, you bat battle. You know, you kind of what we call O-lay block. You matadore block, fake block on the offensive line and then screen the ball to the back and. - Or the HVAC or whoever. - Whoever, use their leverage against 'em. But if they're coming, we have to get the ball out. And another thing that does Doug is it gives the quarterback confidence. If he's having to make quick, you know, look, people get on bow next, about his complete, the highest completion percentage of any quarterback in NCAA history last year. But people say, well, he threw 15 yard passes, 10 yard passes, five yard passes, so what? And, but it gave him so much confidence. And when you have a quarterback that is struggling, give him some confidence, confidence building throws. But even the hitches and some of the slants that were there last week, we couldn't hit, so. - Yeah. Yep, I think it would be nice. We do have a quarterback that's struggling. The other thing I noticed in the game, and I mentioned Jarquez a little bit. I didn't think he was a hundred percent energy. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong on that. I just had that feeling. And it felt like to me that when Damari came in, he gave us a burst of energy, but they didn't leave him in the ball game. - Right, right. - Anyway, go ahead. - No, you go. - Well, one of the things that I saw, and I had said this to my dad, sitting there watching, was our defensive backs. They threw a lot of balls, back shoulder or deep, and our defensive backs, what we call, they were in phase, meaning they were fried for stride with the receiver, but they did not look back for the ball. Three times that I remember, just so vividly that I remember saying, Dad, they didn't look back, they didn't look back. And I don't know if that's coaching. I don't know if they had lost the receiver and had to catch up with them, but they were what we call in phase, which means they were hip to hip. All he had to do is now look back for the ball. And you can tell when a receiver is about to make a catch, because his eyes get big, his hands come up, so that's when the defensive back now swivels, turns his head and gets ready to deflect the pass, or try to intercept it. - Nora, I say this all the time, and you tell me what you think, but a lot of people today, I think, teach defense, the cornerbacks, when you see those eyes get big, or when you see his hands come up, that's when you try to swat the ball down, or get in his vision, or whatever you do. And a lot of people don't teach to turn your head around anymore, but on the back shoulder throw, you have to be aware that that's coming somehow, either you have to be swaddening it with your hand, or turning your head around on a swivel one or the other. - Yeah, and that's why you can't, is the defensive, listen, playing defensive back, I think is probably the hardest thing to do in sports. And it's one thing, I was at Navarre, I shared an office with our defensive back coach, and I coached eight years there, and I never understood the secondary. And I sat there in meetings every Sunday, and was at practice every single day, and never understood the secondary and coverages. It's incredibly complicated. And to be able, the receiver knows where he's going, and to have to adjust on the fly to where he goes, and to react to that, I don't know how they do it. But yeah, and now they have the back shoulder stuff, and the stops, and the double moves, and things like that. So, but at some point, you have to look for the ball. You have to look for the ball. And you have to stop, that was on their touchdown drive, one of those that I'm thinking of. Yeah, you have to stop them on third down somewhere along the line. But visiting again with Brian Brentsfield, former Albert Tiger. All right, Brian, as we were talking a second ago, before we came on, we're playing one of those teams like Cal again this weekend, a no-name team that we should beat, New Mexico. We've got a quarterback situation, we've got Hank Brown getting some reps in practice this week. We have Peyton Thorne, who is the best practice player at quarterback we have. We have Walker White. If you're Hugh Freeze, what are you thinking? I'm thinking you go to Hank Brown. Didn't Hank encourage me if I'm wrong, didn't Hank play in the bowl game? He did, and he looked good, although the game was out of hand. It was out of hand. But I think the team responded well to Hank. I'd just like to see how the team responds to him in a game situation. I know he came in at Alabama A&M. I think he threw a touchdown late, but maybe he didn't, I can't remember. But I'd like to see how the team responds to him coming off that, last year we came off Cal with a win and then came back home and lost to New Mexico State. Boy, we have to win this ball game coming up this weekend because then the SEC starts and it's Arkansas at home, it's Oklahoma at home and then we go to Georgia. We've got to have our quarterback play. It's solidified going into Arkansas. Yeah. And that's in two weeks. I remember I said it a couple or three weeks ago that I thought maybe there would be somebody different playing quarterback going into the Oklahoma game. You did. And I don't know if that's gonna happen or not now with what I heard Monday at the press conference, but I think it needs to happen for Auburn to have a chance. So if we lose to New Mexico State last year, New Mexico this year, you got to think there's some kind of jinks going on, right? Yeah, maybe we need to build a desert Auburn, Alabama, we lose Saturday. Practice in the sand. Practice in the sand, absolutely. All right, well, we'll see what happens this weekend. A night game at Jordan Harris Stadium. Brian, always good to visit. It's my pleasure. - Great stuff from Brian Brentsfield, former Auburn Tiger. Always good to have him with us on the show. When we come back to the Horizon Financial Half-Time report, we'll visit with coach Fred Riley and get his comments on the quarterbacks and more when Tiger Talk Overtime continues in just a minute. (upbeat music) Welcome back to Tiger Talk Overtime, presented by Will2, number one in quality and safe work for industry. To be a part of the show, call the Morgan Bradley Alpha Insurance Tiger Line now, 3, 4, 3, 0, 1, 0, 6. (upbeat music) Now, back to Doug Holton. - And welcome back to the show. It's time for the Horizon Financial Half-Time report brought to you by Horizon Financial. Come with us and experience the Horizon difference. We want to welcome into the microphone now on Tiger Talk Overtime. Coach Fred Riley, coach, great to have you on in War Eagle. - War Eagle, good to be here. - Of course, you are a former graduate assistant for Coach Die and a former quarterback at North Alabama. So we want to certainly pick your brain on what's going on with the Tigers last week and going into this week. Tell me a little bit of what you saw last week and your impression of what Auburn is doing offensively right now. - Well, and as you said, I played quarterback. I also, you know, at 42 years of coaching, coach quarterbacks from 40 of those. And a good batter ugly that I have had my hand involved in that position most of my life. And, you know, the quarterback, and the backup quarterback is the most loved guy on the team when things aren't going well. It's from the media and from the fans. You know, and what we did last week was very RPO heavy. It was very, and then it was play action, Chuck it deep heavy. I didn't see a lot of things that were just no brainers for the quarterback. Easy throws, I always wanted to get my guy six or eight throws early in the game and he didn't think about anything. I mean, we should say, you know, you'll catch the ball and throw it to Leroy. You know, and Leroy's gonna make, if Leroy makes one miss and runs for 50 yards, you're one for one and 50 yards. And if he doesn't, you're one for one and five. And I don't think the kid got enough of that early in the game. I think it was very RPO heavy. He missed some throws that were theirs. Not that his thing was wrong with the schematic. He just didn't make those plays. And then pushing the ball down the field. Later, I think got us in trouble where we didn't show a lot, in my opinion, enough just no brainers or underneath shallow crossing top grasses to get the ball in somebody's hand or running full speed and let them make a play. And then you combine that with, you know, third quarter, we ran the ball down hill and has some success, but you've got to run the ball down hill if you're going to be an RPO team, anyhow. You've got to run the ball between the tackles to convince the defense. And, you know, we did not do that enough during the ball game, I don't think. And there's nothing that their coaching staff don't obviously know. And obviously the kid, you know, Peyton Thorne, obviously in practice has executed their offense. And executed their RPO game probably extremely well. Why he didn't do it last week? You know, I don't know. I mean, I have one game that I play that I remember that I was blind. I could not see anything. And I couldn't explain it. It was just you couldn't get locked in. Everything was just sort of fuzzy. And kids have games like that every now and then. And I'm certainly hopeful that maybe that's just what happened to him. Maybe he just had one of those fuzzy days and I'll snap out of it this week. - Yeah. I know we texted a little bit during the game and you mentioned the running game. We were talking about screen passes, but it was interesting to me Monday at the press conference that Coach Free said they averaged seven yards a carry running the football. So I would think we'd see a little bit more of that. Like you said this week, but as far as Peyton is concerned, I also, I thought about the question Monday, he's a fifth year senior. He's played quarterback at the major college level. He's the best player in practice. But at this point in his career, is there, can it still click in? Is this, can it still work at this point? - Sure, it can, but I don't know the show, man. I mean, I'll say the same thing you see with my remote man and does he have it? And some guys that play quarterback have it. You know, they just make the play at the right time. They have that whatever. You can't put your finger on it, but you know what, when you see a guy that's got, he gets the team in the end zone. You know, me, Jay Pope, who coached for me for years, would always say, well, the team has got the best quarterbacks going to win. And we're going to win this week, Coach. And, you know, and there's a lot of truth to that, but being the best quarterbacks, not necessarily being the most talented guy, not being the most accurate thrower. I mean, it's decision-making. It's, you know, I had a talk with a guy from North Alabama this week. Their quarterback has turned the ball over. He's a transfer from Stanford. Big old, good-looking kid, but he's turned the ball over seven times in three games. Can't do that. I mean, it just cannot turn the football over. Can't throw it to the other team. Anybody, we were, what, minus five and turned over differential. You're going to lose 100% of those games. I mean, that is just impossible to overcome. So, you know, controlling turnovers and managing all that stuff, does he have yet? I think this week we'll find out if he's got it or not. I mean, in order to decide, you know, you've got to go a different direction before you get involved in the conference schedule where, you know, it could get ugly. - Yeah, Bing, I was going to ask you, Bing, a guy that's coached quarterbacks and played quarterback. You've seen it on both ends of the spectrum. We have New Mexico this weekend and then you get into the SEC with Arkansas and Oklahoma. I know you can't put yourself in Hugh Freeze's shoes, really, but do you think it's good timing to make a switch heading into this game or would you kind of wait and see what happens this week? - You know, and, you know, we discussed a little bit last weekend and before we came home, I mean, the team across the state, last year was in the same position. They were in the same spot a year ago and everybody was clamoring for the backup. So they said, you know what, that's what we'll do. We'll let you see the backup. Here he is and all is glory. And we can, you get to see him as a fan and also we get to see how the guy who we believe the starter responds to this. The backup, stunk it up. Nobody asks for him anymore. I mean, that ended that conversation and the starter carried himself like a champion, won the team if there were guys he hadn't already won off the field and they go on a run. I mean, those type of things can certainly happen, you know, I did it at one time years ago as a high school coach and was gonna, you know, set the starter aside, put the backup in, let him play a little bit and then reinsert the starter in the backup plate. So good, the starter never got his job back. I mean, so it can go a lot of different directions when you do that. I think, you know, if you win the game at the end of it, which they did, it's a win win by making that kind of decision and doing that 'cause you sort of pacify a lot of people and you get to see how your guys respond to what you've just done. So I believe that's a win win. - Yeah, has a lot to do with chemistry, I would think. - It does. - At this point, tell me a little bit about-- - It's hard enough to get close to these guys now. I mean, you're meeting with these guys, they're kids and you've been rooting for them, you've been pulling for them. I mean, you know, setting a guy aside, who is a tough business decision? I mean, it is a business decision. It's a tough thing to do. And you know, you're gonna see that kid every day at practice and those things are tough to do, but I also bet my own kid as a coach, you know, 10 years ago, and it was a tough decision. It was a business decision, but at that time, it was the best end of some our team to do that. You gotta make the tough calls. - Fans, here's an event you're gonna wanna be a part of. Henry Hardy and the team at Horizon Financial have partnered with show Special Humans Outreach and Wellness to make a positive impact on the lives of individuals with special needs. So Horizon is hosting a golf tournament at Timber Creek in Daphne, September 24th at 1 p.m. Two ways you can get involved become a sponsor or participate by forming a team for the four-person scramble, which welcomes players of all skill levels to come together, have fun, and contribute to a fantastic cause. Proceeds support shows efforts in Baldwin County, which play a vital role in covering cost of life-changing care for individuals with special needs, a cause deeply cherished by the Hardy family and by Horizon Financial. To get involved, call 256-504-8951. That's 256-504-8951. Show your colors with Horizon Financial's September 24th at Timber Creek Golf Club. And a few more minutes with Coach Fred Riley here on the Horizon Financial Half-Time Report in Tiger Talk Overtime. Coach just wanted to get your impression of the first couple of weeks in the SEC. What sticks out to you about who is playing really well? - You know, Texas is very good. I mean, Texas, looks like they've been built the way Alabama was built when they really got it going. I mean, they're big, they're physical, they're fast. They can run it, they can throw it. They're kicking games outstanding. I mean, they look really good. I wasn't surprised. My Susan was, I told her you watch Houston, Houston, what might be the Oklahoma, and if not, it's gonna be really close. That's Willie Francis, just such a good football coach. He's going to manage the game and do that. So it's hard to tell how good Oklahoma is yet 'cause you have to get Houston some credit. South Carolina doing what they did last week was really surprised me to go into Lexington and just drill them, which makes the next game with LSU really interesting as far as South Carolina back at home, but South Carolina's one of those historically teams that'll play great one week and lay an egg in the next. They've always struggled having two good games on a row. And I can't can they do that. I don't know. It's gonna be the winner of the league. Nobody ain't nobody going undefeated. If anybody goes undefeated, it'll probably be Texas. But it's gonna be, there's gonna be three teams you make the playoffs. They're gonna have multiple losses. And I can't, I forget George. I mean, I think about the, they're just so dominant. You can forget about it. I mean, they just want people 47 to nothing and make it look easy and they're in here, but they're built the same way. I mean, they're there, those two teams are built. The way football teams need to be built. And I think we're all sort of trying to catch up to them. - Yeah, it looks like if you had to pick right now, Georgia, Texas in the championship game, if you had to think about it right off the beginning of the season, what do you think of the job that Beemer has done? Obviously, it's successful last week. They've had their ups and downs. Is he a guy that can stick in this conference, you think? - You know, he's got good bloodline, obviously. And so there's gonna be some mental toughness about him because of where he comes from and how he was raised. He's a coach's kid. You know, it's like everybody. I mean, can you win with an average quarterback? - Well, yeah, it makes you start all you want, David. You guys with the best quarterback teams are the best quarterbacks. You're usually the best teams. - Yeah. - And so how does, and he had Spencer Rappler there for a little bit. He's gone now that, you know, and finding a way to execute on offense with the guy that you have when he's not a five star blue chip guy, you know, Georgia Tech did a good job there first week and then turn around and we'll lose the next week. You know, it's just hard without that, that guy that can separate you from everybody else. So it handles the ball every time. You know, that's the, he's the difference maker. And so finding a way to win the games you're supposed to win, but also win those 50-50 games with that guy that's, you know, not a difference maker, but man it can manage the game and make first downs and not turn the ball over. Who can do that? South Carolina's sort of one of those teams. - Did you ever, when you were playing in North Alabama playing quarterback, did you ever go through something a little controversy, a little up and down or was it kind of clear sailing for you there? - No, I was the backup and the starter got hurt. - Okay. - And the starter got hurt and I took his job and then when he got will, he couldn't get his job back. We won, we won upset Troy and the first time, you know, they were nationally ranked. We win the conference championship, all that stuff. And, you know, I go from the backup to all those things and the guy that backed me up actually dropped out of school for a year so he wouldn't lose a year of eligibility. And, because he knew I was gonna beat the guy the next year, then he came back and did a great job there. But, so I was that guy. I mean, that was just, you know, took every rep like I was a starter, every like I was gonna play. So, if I got a chance, I was gonna be the best I possibly could be and things worked out. - Should be an interesting week in the SEC and coach, I know we wanna wish you safe travels and it's gonna be an exciting time. Alabama, Wisconsin, I think you're gonna see the Packers at Lambo Field too, right? - We are, we're looking forward to that. Gonna see a little golf championship on Friday. And so we've got a big weekend. I am blessed that my wife is a beer sports fan that I am. She loves it, so it is really cool. - Coach Fred Riley here on Tiger Talk Overtime, always appreciate coach Bing with us. When we come back a few minutes with Stu Donald, as we fire up the tailgate for Auburn and New Mexico, Saturday at your Terrace Stadium. Stay right here, we'll be back in just a minute. (upbeat music) Welcome back to Tiger Talk Overtime, presented by Will2, number one in quality and safe work for industry. To be a part of the show, call the Morgan Bradley Alpha Insurance Tiger Line now, 343 0106. (upbeat music) Now, back to Doug Colton. - Welcome back everyone, final segment here on a Thursday Night Tiger Talk Overtime. Glad you're with us Stu Donald is on the line with us now from the Sip and Chew with Mike and Stu show, and Stu great to have you. I know you got a good tailgating recipe whipped up for us this week and we really need one. We need something good to eat before the game to motivate the fans and the team. - Yeah, well, if the game doesn't go well, at least the food will and ultimately isn't that what's important. - I think so, I think that's the thing we had to rely on. - You lose the kids game, wife goes on. You don't eat, you start to death. - That's right. What do we got? What do we got going on? - I think I got a little southern boy chips and queso. - Yeah. - Now this is going to be different is the chips are fried dill pickle chips. And the queso is good old pimento cheese. - Wow, that's a combo. - And maybe, yeah, and you just dip the fried pickle chips right into the pimento cheese. It's a fantastic combination. I've done that flavor as a couple of variations. I used to do a burger that had pimento cheese and fried pickles on it with comeback sauce and lettuce and called it the old South burger. I've also done a canopy, which if you don't know, is a tiny little bite-sized sandwich that you get at weddings. And that's where I did. It was a pass around at a wedding. And I would do crestini, the pimento cheese, a fried wickles pickle, and wedged in the middle would be a piece of crunchy bacon. So it's all one bite. You got all of those flavors in one bite. - Yeah, finger full. - That is a spectacular little hors d'oeuvre there. So I'm just kind of making this a little easier. And then I'd say do half the pan, have a big platter, put a bowl with the pimento cheese in the middle, half that platter, have your fried dill pickle chips. And then the other half have like a crudate. Celery, carrots, some bell pepper strips, stuff like that for people who, if they don't care for fried pickle chips, they can still have some of the pimento cheese, maybe put some crackers down there as well. - Yeah. So how do we do the fried pickles? Do I haven't done that before? - Pretty much one of the easiest things in the world, 'cause you're not cooking until you're done, you just got to get them crunchy. So when I was with Winslow's Oysterhouse was the first place that I did them. And they use a, what we call an egg wash in the industry, which is usually milk and eggs, make the wits together. But theirs was buttermilk and eggs. And then like much Cassidy's just uses buttermilk with no eggs added to it. So you, but however you like to do an egg wash, just dump the pickles into the egg wash, into your breading. And usually you're gonna wanna use a seafood breading or a chicken breading, whatever you use for that. And then into the fryer. And as soon as the batter is crunchy, they're done. Because you know it's already cooked in, cooked food by them. So all you're really doing is cooking the batter. - So you put them in an air fryer or in the pan or what? - Put them in a deep fryer. - In a deep fryer, okay. - Yeah. Or if you want you could do like a kind of a deep skillet with about a half inch or so of oil in it, maybe to an inch. And you just wanna make sure the pickles are completely submerged. Now what you can do is cook them off the day before in the skillet. And then when it's time for party time, throw them into the air fryer and bring them right back to life. And it'll be just like they came out of the fryer. But it will help expel a good deal of that oil that got into it from the deep frying process. - Yeah. - Okay, so we're gonna put pimento cheese on them. - Yeah, just in a dip bowl. And you just run your pickles right through the pimento cheese just like it was chips in queso. - And you're gonna add whatever you want to your pimento cheese, I guess. - Right. And you can also buy them. There's some decent brands and there's some that I don't care for. And to me, there's one ingredient that sets it off. - It's either gonna work or not work. If for some ridiculous reason, they have chosen to put sugar in their pimento cheese, it doesn't taste very good. Just, there's really only three ingredients necessary. A little bit of mayonnaise, sharp cheddar cheese and diced pimentos. That's pimento cheese. You want just enough mayonnaise to be a binder. And what I like to do is take about 3/4 of that mixture, put it in a food processor or a blender and get it smooth and then fold in the last quarter of it wasn't. So you've got a little bit of chunk in there, but mostly it's smooth. - Right, right. Sounds like a good blend. - Yeah. - I guess we don't need sugar anyway, do we? - Right. Now, I like to personally, I had finely diced jalapenos in there as well. - Yeah. I was gonna say that. - I like the flavor. I'm not really going for heat from it. It just adds a really nice fresh flavor to it. - Yeah, that sounds good. Okay, well, that sounds like a winner for the tailgating now, as far as a winner for the game. What'd you think last week? And what do you think about what's coming up this week with New Mexico and the quarterback situation and whatever you can think of? - I think the best word is frustrated. - Yeah. - Absolutely frustrated in. I mean, it's time to start having some serious discussions now because in our last five games, we are one in four with three of those losses being three of the most embarrassing losses in program history. - Yeah. - The other loss was to our arch rival and we lost it on the last play of the game when we had them 31 yards away from the goal line. - Yeah. - And we gave up a touchdown. - Yeah. So what, I guess the overarching question this week is it looks like we're gonna have Peyton Thorne starting the game again. Hank Brown is the backup. He's getting some reps in practice this week. Do you agree with that decision? Would you have gone in a different direction? - Yeah, I would have, if it were me, and this is probably why I'm a chef and not a head coach, Peyton Thorne would be third string on my roster this week. - Yeah. You'd play Walker and... - Hank Brown and then I wanna save that red shirt on Walker if I can, 'cause we're about to not have a quarterback coming in this class. But just saw where Deuce is no longer interested in Auburn. - Oh, you think he's going in a different direction too? - Yeah, I forget who it was. I think it was Auburn live. It just said that his interest in Auburn is waning. And I don't blame it. I saw a picture. - Laning to Ole Miss. - Laning anywhere but Auburn would be my guess. - Yeah, yeah. - But I saw a picture of him and Alvin and-- - Henderson. - And yeah, Alvin Henderson, and I think it was Tavares Dyson, the picture. And it was from the game Saturday afterwards and none of them looked like they were happy to be there. - Well, there wasn't a happy day to be at Auburn in general. So you could understand that. But those kids are, you know how they are. They're this one day and this the next day. So all right, it's too fun to visit. We'll see what happens this weekend at around the SEC. And then Auburn, hopefully the Tigers can get a win over New Mexico and avoid the New Mexico State like last year. - Yeah, it sure would be nice for us to be the team with the winning record, wouldn't it? - Yeah. It'd be nice to win four in a row going into an off week. - Yeah. - So, I don't like that face you're making. - Yeah, me. - All right. - Good deal, War Eagle and we'll see you next week. - Later on in War Eagle. - It's due Donald, you can catch their show Sunday here on FM Talk 1006 5. Don't forget to join us all through the week for Auburn coverage War Eagle TV.com and our X page at TV_War Eagle. That's all the time we have. Enjoy the ball game everybody. And until next week, Doug Halton, War Eagle. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)