Hello All!
I am definitely not a linux guru. I'm still a newb to compiling the kernel. After a few days of trying to get my sound to work, I finally have it sounding wonderful (no pun intended).
So I just want you all to know what I did. Take all sound configurations for your system, and compile them as modules if possible. After a reboot, run alsaconf. Alsa will find the sound modules, and install them for you.
If you compile sound options in the kernel, Alsa may not be able to find them.
Hope this helps someone out there!