Let’s have a bye week Football Friday on “The Joe Gaither Show on BamaCentral” as we help you get through a bit of a slower week. Mason Woods joins the program to help look at a summer list we threw together as we named the top 10 football players on the Crimson Tide.

How many players in the summer list have lived up to expectations? We identify four players that haven’t had the strong season that we were expecting and highlight several that have pleasantly surprised us.

After moving four players out of the top 10 and four players in, Woods and Gaither re-order their lists and compare and contrast. Could a true freshman be the best player on the entire roster?

The show takes a detour into Alabama’s offensive philosophy and wonders if the Crimson Tide coaching staff had a bit of a breakthrough against Missouri.

Lastly we turn our attention to this weekend in college football as the final month commences. It’s not a great bye week slate of games for the Alabama fans to enjoy as there are only a handful of ranked matchups. Will Penn State defeat Ohio State? Can Vanderbilt go into Auburn and win? And will a former Alabama quarterback keep his team undefeated and in the College Football Playoff hunt?

The show can be seen on the BamaCentral YouTube channel. Keep up with each show on YouTube,Facebook and Twitter. Shows can also be heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

WHAT: Georgia Southern (5-3, 3-1 Sun Belt) at South Alabama (4-4, 3-1)

WHEN: 6:30 p.m., Saturday

WHERE: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile

SERIES: Georgia Southern leads 7-2

TV: ESPNU

LINE: South Alabama by 6

THIS GAME WILL DETERMINE IF: South Alabama can get over the .500 mark for the first time all season and stay in the Sun Belt West championship race

South Alabama running game back on track behind Kentrel Bullock

THREE THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1. Will South Alabama end its bizarre up-and-down streak?

Dating to the end of the 2022 regular season, South Alabama has not won or lost more than two consecutive games at any stretch. The Jaguars began this season with two losses, followed by two wins, two more losses and then two wins. A victory over the Eagles would give South Alabama its first three-game winning streak in more than two years. The Jaguars would also stay in the hunt in the Sun Belt West, where they are one of three teams (along with ULM and Arkansas State) a game back of first-place Louisiana.

2. Can the Jaguars’ running game shine once again?

South Alabama ran all over Louisiana-Monroe to the tune of 355 yards, the most in program history against an FBS opponent. Georgia Southern is better against the run than the past, but it’s still likely the Jaguars will keep it on the ground at least in the beginning in order to keep the Eagles’ explosive passing game on the sideline. Look for a steady dose of Kentrel Bullock, Fluff Bothwell and maybe even Braylon McReynolds in the first half on Saturday.

3. Which Georgia Southern team will show up this week?

The Eagles have been even more Jekyll-and-Hyde than the Jaguars this season, looking dominant against the likes of Georgia State and James Madison, but needing a second-half miracle to beat Marshall before getting throttled by Old Dominion last time out. Georgia Southern doesn’t air it out quite as much under new offensive coordinator Ryan Aplin as it did in previous years, the Eagles have a tendency to turn the ball over (13 times in 8 games).

KEY MATCHUP

South Alabama QB Gio Lopez vs. Georgia Southern secondary

The Eagles have allowed a Sun Belt-worst 2,180 yards and 15 touchdowns through the air, but do have seven interceptions this season. Lopez has thrown just one pick all year, and could test the Georgia Southern secondary early and often with both his arms and legs.

BY THE NUMBERS

+10 — South Alabama’s turnover margin this season, second-best in the Sun Belt and tied for ninth among 133 FBS teams nationally.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Alabama Forestry Commission has issued a fire danger advisory for all counties in Alabama.

The advisory will remain in effect until we receive enough rain to improve the drought conditions.

Shelby County forester Dave Holley said this isn’t a burn ban, but a recommendation to not burn during this time because of the dry conditions we’re experiencing.

Foresters say during this time, think twice before starting a fire.

“You want to make sure leaves are raked up or mowed. If you have leaves on your roof or pine straw in your gutters things that can bring the fire from the forest to your house,” Holley said.

Holley says certain fuels can cause a wild fire to spark up and spread easily.

“We’ve had a lot of beetle kill this year, pine beetles have infested a lot so there is a lot of dead timber but really the most significant is the leaf fall this year,” Holley said.

And open fires or fires left unattended are discouraged during this time. “A BBQ grill or a contained fire in a barrel or something perhaps, but still that’s not something you want to leave unattended with the dry conditions,” Holley said.

Holley says just in the last 30 days, 246 wildfires have burned nearly 3,000 acres.

Fire safety tips can be found here.

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