The Big Boo Cast, Episode 511

The Big Boo Cast

In episode 511 of The Big Boo Cast, hosts Sophie and Melanie dive into the excitement of college football's return, sharing their contrasting experiences from the weekend—Sophie staying home in Birmingham while Melanie

Key takeaways

• Mississippi State's first-half performance against Louisiana Monroe was historically disciplined, with zero penalties and no turnovers for the first time ever.

Main topics

• Mississippi State's record-setting college football game
• Texas A&M's season opener performance

Notable quotes

"For the first time in my life, Mississippi State played a whole half of football... zero turnovers. Zero penalties. We scored 41 points."

Conclusion

The hosts celebrate the return of college football while raising important questions about fan

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) Hey everybody, this is Sophie and welcome to episode 511 of the Big Boo Cast. Tis the season for college football and that is what Melanie and I are going to talk about for a huge portion of this episode. She went to College Station this past weekend. I was here in Birmingham. We watched a lot of football. We have a lot of things to say about it. So you'll hear all about that on this episode. We also talk about my sister's birthday dinner from this past weekend and some questions Melanie has about the appropriate footwear for men and shorts. It's a far-reaching discussion this week. We would love for you to join us on Patreon. If you haven't done that yet, it's at patreon.com slash bigboo. Our most recent episode is our September Southern Living episode. And then in the month of September, we have an episode coming up with our friend Annie Downs. We have our annual fall festival episode that's always so fun to talk through the stuff we're looking forward to with fall and our live Q &A. Be sure to stop by our Amazon shop to see some of the things that we love and love to use. That's at amazon.com slash shop slash big boo. And as always, thank you so much for being here and we hope you enjoy episode 511. Speaker 1 (1:42) Hey, everybody. This is Sophie. This is Big Mama. Hey, it's Melanie. It's Big Mama. Well, this was just a 33-minute catch-up before we recorded, Speaker 2 (1:49) so it was actually really short. It Speaker 1 (1:51) was. It was brief. Well, Speaker 2 (1:53) because I felt like we had to hold in. I feel like we both have a lot of football-related thoughts. I have so many thoughts Speaker 1 (1:59) and Speaker 2 (1:59) feelings. I know. And so it's like we had to save them. We couldn't get it out because we have to save it for the podcast. Speaker 1 (2:07) I have so many thoughts and feelings, some of them very positive, some of them more negative than I'm willing to communicate on the podcast. Just because, you know, everybody's made in the image of God and whatnot. Speaker 1 (2:25) yada yada yada yada let me just start here I understand that the Mississippi State Bulldogs were playing Louisiana Monroe this past Saturday night I understand what we were up against in terms of not a top 25 team right yes yes But for the first time in my life, and I'll remember this for the rest of my life, for the first time in my life, Mississippi State played a whole half of football, Melanie. Yes. We had zero turnovers. We had zero penalties. We scored 41 points. We were not on the receiving end of any sacks. Wow. Speaker 1 (3:08) It was as close to a perfect game. The fact that we didn't have any penalties in the first half of the first game of the season might well be a miracle. We normally like to go for 11 or 12 penalties in the first half. But there was something about this past Saturday night for the Bulldogs. Again, I know that we were playing Louisiana Monroe. Yeah. Who gave it all they had and not to take anything away from them, but we weren't playing Georgia is what I'm saying. Yeah. But I was just, I was so encouraged. Yes, as you should be. I was so encouraged by Kamario Taylor and his leadership and all the different people who caught the ball and ran the ball. And it just felt like a disciplined effort. And Speaker 2 (4:00) that Speaker 1 (4:00) has not always been my experience when I watch the Bulldogs, particularly in the first game of the season. So I was really proud of them. And, you know, then the starters got to come out second half. We did have eight penalties in the second half. Oh, we also didn't punt in the first half. We never punted the ball. Speaker 2 (4:19) Wow. Speaker 1 (4:19) That's Speaker 2 (4:20) impressive. Speaker 1 (4:20) That's an impressive Speaker 2 (4:21) half of football. Speaker 1 (4:22) I know. I was just, I was so, so delighted to see them come out and play like that and to score points. That was, that was glorious. Because as you know, there would have been years where we would have probably. won that game regardless but we would have done it like 14-13 yes or uh seven to two you know we always we always like when we at least allow us safety so i don't know it was it was it was a lot of fun and i was really proud of the bulldogs and they also had 762 yards of total offense which was a record for the mississippi state bulldogs so congratulations thank Speaker 2 (5:05) you congratulations on a great opening game. I felt like I said before we went to our game, I said, I have to remember that I never think we look good the first game of the season. And I thought about Speaker 1 (5:16) that when I would check in on your game. I thought Melanie never thinks they look good. She always says, I have some questions or I have some concerns. Yes. And this year is no exception is what Speaker 2 (5:28) I'm going to say. Speaker 1 (5:30) Now I will say. I think that Coach Mike Elko halftime speech Speaker 2 (5:34) continues to be a barn burner because we were significantly better. It's Speaker 1 (5:40) a Speaker 2 (5:40) momentum shifter, I feel like. It is, which I prefer because we have had coaches in the past where I felt like we went to the locker room at halftime and they said, ah, that's good enough. So I appreciate, because Gully and I felt like when Coach Elko came leading the team back out of the tunnel at half, she said, I'm going to tell you that Big Mike's not happy. And you could just see it on his face. And so I felt like we made some adjustments. But I will say the first half gave me some concerns, specifically about our offensive line. But also, you know, there again, lots of new names, lots of new things. You're just, you know. Don't Speaker 1 (6:15) you think, like, if you have transferred in to A &M and, you know, you've been playing somewhere else, but you come to A &M and your first game there is a night game. And I mean, I would, I would personally, I think, find that to be a little overwhelming. That's, Speaker 2 (6:32) I said, when he, when, when, when 54 had like two different false starts, I was like, oh, he's excited. You know what I mean? Like you're adrenaline and you're going and like everybody's rowdy. And because I do think because it was a night game, everybody was, you know, it was, it was hyped up. So, I mean, and I think, you know, first half is you're figuring stuff out. You're in a real game situation. So we'll see. But I will say first game of the season is no exception for me every year. I'm like, huh, we'll see. You know, Speaker 1 (7:01) always. Speaker 2 (7:02) I Speaker 1 (7:02) have Speaker 2 (7:02) some questions. I have some questions. And like and we got to, you know, figure it out because September. I mean, next week we have Arizona State. Then we have Kentucky. Then we have LSU. Speaker 1 (7:12) So it's like we got to get this train on the tracks is what I'm saying. Speaker 2 (7:16) Now, Speaker 1 (7:17) I stayed home this weekend because I typically do not go to games in September unless it is some momentous event in the history of my alma mater because it's too hot. And I know that you went to the game and you were in College Station. I don't know if you've seen any footage from any of our friends at the University of South Carolina this past weekend, but apparently that was the hottest. Of all, I mean, every game looked burning up hot to me, but apparently that won the prize. Speaker 2 (7:48) And Speaker 1 (7:49) I saw a video of a guy who was sitting in the stands after the game was over, and he looked absolutely exhausted. And he was like, there were women, there were older women all around, like, falling out. Like, I don't know. I saw a video of a young mom who was trying to breastfeed. I don't know if she said the Georgia game or the South Carolina game. And one of those little metal things that you can walk into and breastfeed. But the air wasn't working. Oh, no. And Speaker 2 (8:19) she had Speaker 1 (8:19) taken like a, she said she had a $4 cup of ice and she was hanging on for dear life in there trying to, you know, do her, do her breast pump. But. I just, I don't know if we need to push this back a couple of weeks. Like, it feels like this past weekend, I was like, at some point, are we going to say, this is just actually not, this is not wise. Yeah. Yeah. It was 120 degrees on the field in Tuscaloosa. Like, at some point. Oh, my gosh. We just, maybe not 120. Maybe it's 112. But still. But that's hot. Like, at some point, I just feel like people are, are. playing loose and fast with life to go sit out there for you know three hours Speaker 2 (9:03) If there's anything I get so tired of, it's meal planning. But here's the thing. Hungry Root means not having to think about food logistics and meal planning and what do I need to buy at the store on top of everything else during the back-to-school madness and fall days when you would rather be focused on other things. Hungry Root plans your meals for the week. So it fills your cart. It delivers everything you need right to your door to eat healthy every day. It takes into account your health goals, your dietary preferences, your budget to curate a custom delivery for you every week. And then Hungry Root learns your taste and dietary needs over time so it tailors your deliveries accordingly. So if you have a favorite, it knows that that's your favorite. If you note an ingredient to avoid like gluten or dairy, it stays on your block list. Meal planning has never been so simple. And it just is one more thing that you can check off your list that you do not have to think about. You're going to love Hungry Root as much as we do. For a limited time, get 40 % off your first order. Plus, get a free item in every box for life. Go to HungryRoot.com slash Big Boo and use code Big Boo. That's HungryRoot.com slash Big Boo. Code Big Boo to get 40 % off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Speaker 2 (10:14) Now I will say that College Station, first of all, it was a night game. So the benefit of my seats, now listen, the birds are going to fly lower than I am in my seats, but I'm always in the shade. By 11.15 a.m., my seats are in the shade. So 6 o'clock, and here's the other thing. So we went, our situation was a little different because Gully and her husband John and Big. And I rode to the game together. Now, here's the deal. When you ride to the game with Big, he and Honey, their parking spot is closer to the stadium than I feel like Coach Elko's probably is. Sure. Like, it's, you literally pull up. And then Big had gotten us passes to the Letterman's Lounge because, you know, Big played football. So we walked straight from our pre... premium Speaker 1 (11:00) parking spot to the air-conditioned letterman's lounge which is a fine way to start a game day experience listen Speaker 2 (11:06) it was delightful i had we had a ranch water we sat and watched football on all the big screen tvs in the air conditioning hung out visited all of that and then the other benefit is when you're in the letterman's lounge when about 30 minutes before kickoff, you get the express elevator that takes us up to our seats. So what I'm going to tell you was something I never thought I could say is that on September 5th, 2026, I did not even break a sweat. Wow. I know. That is impressive. That's it. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. We see what Speaker 1 (11:42) the Lord has done for you. He really did. It encourages us that he might do the same. Speaker 2 (11:47) That's what I'm saying. Because by the time we got up to our seats and then it was like there was a nice breeze. It was shady. It was it was great. So I know that that was not everybody's situation. And had we like had to like tailgate like normal, of course, we would have wanted to die because it was the humidity was approximately 172 percent. Well, see, and I didn't realize that Speaker 1 (12:07) y'all didn't tailgate because when I saw the very cute picture of you and Gully that Honey posted of y'all before you went to campus. But Speaker 2 (12:16) I Speaker 1 (12:17) thought Melanie Shankle is so much braver than I am to wear that denim shirt because I like the back of that shirt would have been wet if I had worn it and tailgated, you Speaker 2 (12:25) know? Yeah. And so now, but now it all makes sense. Yeah. It makes sense. That's right. And I will say that denim shirt is more of a tinsel material. So it is very lightweight. It's not actually denim, denim, you know. So but saying but yes, I would have done a different situation had I thought we were going to be out walking around Aggie Park tailgating for sure. But I knew we were just going to be living, you know, the high life in the Letterman's Lounge. Speaker 1 (12:50) Well, good for you. We're so excited for you. It Speaker 2 (12:52) was delightful. So we had a great time. Kyle Field, you know, night game, first game of the season. There were 107,000 people there. It was rowdy. It was loud. We've added some fireworks around the top of the stadium, which I felt like was an excellent addition. Okay. to the game day experience. I thought everything, they said we had some new concession stand options. I didn't personally see those. I'm sad to report we are still serving Pepsi products. So that continues to be, you know, a black X on this, on the situation. Yeah, yeah, it really is. Speaker 1 (13:28) But we did have, when we were at Speaker 2 (13:30) the game, we had these little boys sitting behind us. And, you know, Gully loves kids and kids love Gully. And there were these little boys and they were seven and nine. One of them, it was going to be his seventh birthday the next day. And the dad had brought them with just the boys. They were in their Aggie jerseys. And the dad was like, this is their first Aggie game. And Gully was like, how is it? And the little nine-year-old, he's like, best day of my whole life. Speaker 2 (13:54) And so Gully would be like, she would like turn around. Like when we do something, she'd be like, let's get loud. And they would get loud and like high five and all this stuff. But I kept hearing the dad, like during the game, he kept saying, we're leaving after the third quarter. We're leaving after the third quarter. Like just, he was preparing them, you know, like, Hey, we're leaving after the third quarter. So the third quarter, the little boys kept going, how much more time? And he was like three minutes and then we're leaving. So the third quarter ends and the dad's like, come on, we're going. Well, Fourth quarter at Kyle Field, I mean, it goes dark. So they turn off all the lights. Sirens start going off, flashing. The fireworks start going off. And so the dad is starting to, and you hear this little boy out of nowhere go, oh, my gosh. And the dad was Speaker 1 (14:39) like, okay, we're staying two more minutes. Speaker 2 (14:45) One thing I've noticed about prioritizing health is that it's usually not one massive change, but it's small things that add up each day. So it's a little extra protein, it's supplements, it's that extra workout. Because the real health isn't built from one perfect decision, it's from small intentional choices. And that's why I love Branch Basics. 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