Five Questions with Bill King, ‘The Voice of College Sports’
OXFORD, Miss. — Bill King has been a fixture in the sports radio talk world for decades. Known as “The Voice of College Sports,” he has hosted a three-hour weekday show on WNSR, Nashville’s Sports Radio, for over ten years.
Bill King, known as “The Voice, is our resident college football expert.
From 2005 to 2013, King served as a national host for Sirius XM. In his career, he has covered the BCS Championship and multiple Final Fours. Simply put, he is The Rebel Walk’s “go-to” expert on all things college sports.
We recently sat down with Mr. King to ask five questions on his opinions on the current landscape of college football.
THE REBEL WALK (TRW): Vanderbilt has been off for two weeks due to a COVID situation and an open date. Is it an advantage for the Commodores to have had time off or a detriment for not having game action in that time?
BILL KING: It is not an advantage for Vanderbilt. They are so roster depleted and lost so much, so I don’t see this as much of a game. Now, Vanderbilt does have a good quarterback from Texas, and they can score, but Ole Miss should be able to score much more.
TRW: Ole Miss had the unpleasant experience of a play that was not reviewed last week that was pivotal in the game and Arkansas has been a victim as well. What is your opinion of the current replay protocols?
BILL KING: I don’t know that the system is broken, but they (the officials) got (those calls) wrong. They should have stopped play. Certainly, in the Arkansas game it was a fumble. He (Auburn quarterback Bo Nix) spiked the ball close to having his back to line of scrimmage. The officials need to do better because these are just common sense calls the fans can see.
TRW: There are four new SEC head coaches this season – Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, Mike Leach at Mississippi State, Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri and Sam Pittman at Arkansas. At this point in their seasons, how would you rank them in order?
BILL KING: I would go Pittman as the biggest surprise in college football and his Razorbacks show a lot of scrap. They won’t win anything consequential, but I certainly didn’t expect them to play this well. Number two, Drinkwitz with the job he has done. He switched quarterbacks and that was a very good move. Then I would go Kiffin and Leach.
TRW: The Big Ten started play last week in hopes of getting a team in the College Football Playoff. The Pac-12 has yet to play. Is it too late for a Pac-12 team to be in consideration for the playoffs?
BILL KING: It’s probably too late because they only play six league games. Obviously, there can be cancellations, so there won’t be enough equality with the SEC, ACC, etc. Look, the Pac-12 is almost out of sight, out of mind, out there in a normal year.
TRW: There are some really good Group of Five teams. Heading into this weekend, BYU, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Marshall and now add Boise State to the list of unbeatens. Assuming the playoff committee will never select a Group of Five team, which one has the best shot at making a New Year’s Six Bowl?
BILL KING: I think right now, I’ve watched Cincinnati and BYU as much as I could, and Cincinnati is the most attractive at the moment. They do have the Memphis game coming up and that will be interesting. (Cincinnati coach Luke) Fickle got his start at Ohio State when the sweater vest (Jim Tressel) got fired. The they had a chance to hire Urban Meyer, but Fickel did a great job there. Fickle is a great coach and he has his team playing great football.
Tune in to The Bill King Show
To hear more of Bill, tune in Monday through Friday, from 6:00 – 9:00 a.m. (CT), to listen to the best college football talk on the planet. The Bill King Show is presented by The Omni Nashville Hotel. It’s easy to listen in to Bill’s show. Follow him on Twitter @BillisKing or download the WNSR app at the links below:
Download The WNSR APP & Listen FREE!
Android: https://t.co/jEgnHVJK9H)
iPhone: https://t.co/2ztVvY2kxk) pic.twitter.com/eF0u2bBhdY
— WNSR – Nashville Sports Radio (@NashSportsRadio) October 9, 2020
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
