00:00Our friend Alex Dono is on the Toyota of Hollywood hotline before we talk a little Canes with him.
00:07I remind you the best place to get geared up with Canes gear is Caneswear in Davie or online at caneswear.com.
00:15Alex Dono hosts the Locked On Canes podcast, fills in for us occasionally as well.
00:21He'll be filling in for us one day next week and we always enjoy talking football with him.
00:26What do you think the line would be for Canes at FSU?
00:31I'm just spitballing here.
00:32I have no idea if I'd be in the ballpark or not.
00:35There was a publication that put a line out.
00:39I don't think you can actually bet on it right now on the Hard Rock app or on a sportsbook,
00:43but somebody put out a number that was around six or seven, six and a half or seven in Miami's favor.
00:49But again, I don't put a whole lot of stock into that until I see how Florida State looks against Virginia
00:54because that's going to tell us a lot.
00:57And I give FSU a lot of credit.
00:59Week one, Bama didn't know what hit them.
01:01Like they smacked Bama in the mouth.
01:03But since then, they've played East Texas A&M and Kent State.
01:07Then they had a bye week.
01:08So I expect them to beat Virginia, but I think Virginia is off to a pretty good start,
01:13especially on offense.
01:14So I'll probably have a – I'm sure the handicappers will have a better idea after the Florida State UVA game.
01:20Not a fedora?
01:21You got a fedora on, big man?
01:23I don't know what you call this.
01:24It's like a – well, I don't think it's the fedora, but it's some kind of –
01:29I just – I want to try to look as Italian as possible for you guys.
01:32That was my mission today.
01:34Flat hat?
01:34It's too early to drink spritzes.
01:36Flat hat?
01:37Is that a flat hat?
01:38The flat hat.
01:39Hi-yo.
01:40Got my flat hat on.
01:41I love a flat hat.
01:44The Canes are legit, we know.
01:46Is Florida State legit?
01:48I don't know.
01:49That little quarterback is fun to watch, but I don't know if that's going to take them over the edge.
01:54I mean, I know that the little quarterback, as you call him, Tommy Castellanos, is like really –
02:00he's really excited to be with Gus Malzahn because that's who recruited him out of high school,
02:05recruited him to UCF.
02:06And so Malzahn, who's the OC now at Florida State,
02:09obviously thinks that Castellanos is the perfect quarterback to run his offense.
02:13They've been running over people so far.
02:15I mean, again, take it with a grain of salt, but they had eight touchdown runs against Kent State the other day.
02:22So they've been having a lot of fun.
02:23And Castellanos has hit a lot of like deep balls.
02:26They haven't really had much of an intermediate passing game.
02:29But to answer your question, I don't know what to make of Florida State.
02:32Like it's obvious they're dramatically better than they were last year because last year they probably beat Kent State by a touchdown if they played them.
02:39They were so bad last year.
02:41But I don't know.
02:43How quickly can you really turn a team from 2-10 into a team that can legitimately contend for a conference championship and a playoff spot?
02:53If Mike Norvell actually did that, then it's like one of the greatest coaching turnarounds in history.
03:00I know it's easier now, I guess, with the transfer portal and stuff.
03:03But I don't know.
03:04Like I find it hard to believe that Florida State is really as good as they've looked so far.
03:07I guess we'll find out.
03:09Somebody text in, by the way, the early line on FanDuel is Canes minus four and a half.
03:15Okay.
03:16So there is a line on there.
03:18I don't know.
03:18An early line, who knows?
03:20Again, there will be some changing.
03:24That'll change a little bit leading up to the game, obviously.
03:26Let me ask you what I asked Crowder and Solana at the beginning of the show today.
03:32We saw yesterday College Game Day on the UM campus last Saturday, the second highest rated game day in ESPN history, regular season history.
03:41So I was asking them, how do you extrapolate that?
03:44What does that mean to you?
03:45What does it say to you?
03:47I was saying, for me, it says, hey, there is a national appetite for a successful Miami Hurricanes football program.
03:56Solana pointed out, Crowder pointed out, there's also a little hate watching, too.
03:59I think people want to see a sparse crowd at the campus, a fan base that doesn't particularly care because they don't have a stadium on campus.
04:09And they got the exact opposite.
04:11I'm curious what it means to you to know that this matchup was the second highest rated game day in their history.
04:18I think you're both right.
04:19I think there's a lot of people who, for positive reasons, have been waiting for Miami to be good again because it's exciting when Miami's good.
04:27People remember, you know, even some of like the kids who weren't old enough to watch the 2001 team.
04:32Like they've seen the U documentaries, like people are aware of the history.
04:36But then to Solana's point, it's a lot of hate watching going on.
04:40But Miami brings that out in people.
04:42Like and it's not just the Hurricanes, it's the city of Miami, but it's especially the Hurricanes because people love to hate on them, especially in the Jimmy Johnson days.
04:50And also, Miami's just it's a beautiful place.
04:54Like the campus is beautiful, looked great on TV.
04:57You know, the McAfee high dive thing was hilarious.
05:00I thought Chuck did a really good job as the guest picker.
05:04Like it was it was a really entertaining episode of College Game Day.
05:07Like I I go out of my way every Saturday, maybe not to watch the whole three hours, but I watch at least a few segments every week of College Game Day.
05:14And some of the episodes are really forgettable.
05:17I thought that was a really good episode overall.
05:20So I'm not surprised it did well.
05:21But I mean, Miami is a team that, you know, even when Miami isn't good, you always have the national media roles with their narrative of, oh, they win one big game.
05:32It's like the Canes back is Miami back.
05:34And then as soon as Miami loses a game, the media just dumps all over Miami.
05:38Like it's people used to do the same thing with Texas, right?
05:41When Texas was sort of maybe on the way back or the Longhorns back and then they're not.
05:46I mean, look at the way people are piling on Arch Manning in Texas right now.
05:49Like Miami is one of those programs that I just think even when they've not been good for the better part of the last 20 years, they're still relevant.
05:58Like people still think about Miami and they pay attention to Miami.
06:01Dono, through four games, what's one thing?
06:04I'll give you an example.
06:05I knew up front, the trenches, the Canes were going to dominate because everybody, including you on Locked on Canes, has been adamant.
06:12Like, hey, Mario's got his guys up front on both sides of the football.
06:15But I was taken aback at how great the receivers have been considering you lost really good receivers last year, either to the NFL or to the transfer portal.
06:24And I just wasn't sure.
06:25New quarterback, new receivers.
06:26How is that going to work?
06:27But what's like one thing that you're surprised or shocked at how great it's been for the University of Miami football team?
06:35Because I think there's a lot of places you can look on the field and say, wow, they're exceeding expectations here.
06:42Well, since you brought up a couple of good examples, I'm going to go a little off the beaten path.
06:47They've really impressed me on special teams so far.
06:50You know, part of it is their transfer kicker.
06:53They have two transfer kickers.
06:55And the one who won the job is not the one I expected to win the job.
06:58Carter Davis, who transferred from FAU.
07:00This dude's been perfect so far this year, including 53.
07:04Yeah, a 53 yarder just made against Florida, made the 48 yard game winning kick against Notre Dame.
07:10He was four for 11 at FAU.
07:14Like, I mean, how is he doing what he's doing right now?
07:17And it's also the coverage and it helps that Davis has been booming everything through the end zone.
07:23So Miami gave up two kickoff returns for touchdowns last year, which was kind of embarrassing.
07:29The punting's been really good.
07:30The coverage has been really good.
07:32So I would say special teams because special teams, people didn't talk about it that much because the defense was also not good.
07:38That was a more obvious thing.
07:40But special teams was also a liability last year in a lot of ways.
07:43And they've looked really good so far this year.
07:45And I know just the additions, like the bringing in Cam Ward for a year, Heisman Trophy candidate, bringing in Carson Beck, Heisman Trophy candidate.
07:53And now you're saying like a transfer portal is changing things.
07:56But I keep telling people when they ask me, look around the team, look at the O-line, look at like they're building from within.
08:04And Mario's building from within where you want to look at the big names coming in.
08:08But these trenches are killing people like they know I get excited.
08:13Like, yeah, my yeah, I almost get a little excited when Reuben Bain's name get brought up because he's he might be the best player in the nation at what he does.
08:23Like the overall, the big names are there.
08:26But overall, this roster has been adjusted.
08:29Like you said, how long does it take to change the roster?
08:32It took what?
08:33It took Mario three years, four years.
08:35Now they have some dogs out there.
08:37Yeah, and it starts up front, like you mentioned, Crowder.
08:40And one of the reasons why I think Miami's one of the two or three best teams in the country right now.
08:46I mean, the AP's got them in number two is because when you've got a strong offensive line and a strong defensive line and a strong running game, like that stuff travels really well.
08:56And it's a good thing to lean on.
08:58Like when things were starting to get, you know, looking a little dicey against Florida when the momentum was going over to the Gators after they scored a touchdown and back through the interception.
09:06The next time they get the football, Mario Cristobal is going pound the rock.
09:10And they they run 10 times in a 13 play touchdown drive and just really just out out muscle the opposition and wore them out.
09:18And we've seen them able to do that.
09:20They did it against Notre Dame.
09:21They did it against South Florida.
09:23You know, with doing Cookman, if that even counts.
09:25But they've been doing that all season long.
09:27And then you talk about Bain and he's having himself a season, Crowder.
09:3122 quarterback pressures already had 10 against Florida.
09:35And like Florida's offensive line had actually graded out pretty well before the Miami game.
09:40I'm not saying their offense is good, but their offensive line had had graded out pretty well.
09:44And Bain was in the backfield constantly.
09:46He was against Notre Dame as well.
09:48And I think it also it really helps Bain that Akeem Mesidor also on that defensive line is having like almost as good of a season as Bain is.
09:57So you can only double him so much because if you pay too much extra attention to Bain, then Mesidor is going to kill you and vice versa.
10:05So just the group has been really, really exciting.
10:09I mean, you know, we saw some miscues with the passing game against Florida, which Miami is going to try to correct again before they take on Florida State.
10:16But when you can lean on the trenches and lean on a good running game, you can go pretty far in college football.
10:22Dono, do you remember the name of Renshaw's cat?
10:26Nova.
10:27Yeah, very good.
10:28I wanted to see if that was something.
10:30Never forget.
10:30Yeah, you'll never forget, right?
10:32If I say to you, is that my cat in here?
10:35You get the shakes?
10:36Like, is that a PTSD moment for you?
10:39I do.
10:40That that happened.
10:40I want to say it was 2013.
10:43It was like 2014.
10:45I think 2013.
10:45So we're talking 12 years.
10:47I remember that whole show like it was last week.
10:52Like, I just I can just picture myself back in the old what you used to call the dying space capsule, the old WQAM Studios.
11:00Yeah, the Apollo 13 dying space capsule studio.
11:01Is that my cat over there?
11:04Did you know when you walked in that day that it was going to be a rough day?
11:07Was he in rough shape?
11:08Yeah, when I saw him come up the stairs and he was like talking to himself going up the stairway, I knew we were in for a day.
11:17Have you spoken to him since?
11:19Have you have you spoken to Renshaw at all since that day, Dono?
11:22No, I haven't.
11:23I mean, I'm not opposed to it.
11:25I just I honestly I don't know.
11:26Like, I got I've no ill will.
11:29Like, it's I just haven't spoken.
11:31Like, I just want to make that clear.
11:32Like, don't think I don't like the guy or something.
11:33Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody has an off show every now and then.
11:40What about Suge Knight?
11:43You remember him?
11:44You remember the Suge Knight?
11:47Of course I do.
11:48Suge Knight and what was it?
11:49Cleland?
11:50Cleland Farrell?
11:54Had to bring that up, huh?
11:57The award-winning golf updates.
11:59Yeah, we have to do a B on B Horschel.
12:04Everybody remembers, Hawk.
12:06Everybody remembers.
12:07We have to do a segment one day of just Dono, you know, radio memories, radio nightmares.
12:14Because I've always maintained my Mount Rushmore of radio moments on WQAM are all you.
12:22None of them are me.
12:23And they're my own.
12:24I was just a bystander, though.
12:25Like, I was just saying, it's you and Red Dog.
12:27Well, the ambient thing, I had something to do with that one.
12:29It's you and Suge Knight.
12:30It's the ambient thing.
12:32All my great radio moments are just me laughing at your moments.
12:37America.
12:39I mean, I feel like I should write a book, but I think only Mark Hockman would buy the book.
12:44I don't think anyone else would buy it.
12:45I would pre-order it on Amazon right now.
12:47We'll put it up there.
12:48I would pre-order it.
12:48You'd be the only one.
12:49Alex Dono, maybe Nova the Cat could do the forward.
12:55Alex Dono, check out the Locked On Canes podcast.
12:58Dono will be filling in for us on Thursday next week as well.
13:01Thank you, Dono.
13:02Thanks, guys.
13:04There you go.
13:04Alex Dono, man.
13:05He is fun.
13:06I have so many memories, and they're all his.
13:09I just bogarted all his radio memories and made them my own.
13:14And he's such the nicest person in the world and gets caught in this.
13:19The nicest person in the world, and he is caught up in just the biggest radio nonsense.
13:27He's like, finally, I got past the Renshaw thing.
13:31I'll be fine.
13:32Here's our new sports anchor guy.
13:34Be on.
13:36Be Horschel.
13:40What did I do?
13:41At least Renshaw was on drugs.
13:45I was sober.
13:49Renshaw had an excuse.
13:52I walked in.
13:53You were on top of your game.
13:58I was on a juice cleanse.
14:00I was in there like as sober as I've ever been.
14:05Yeah, I don't know who these guys are.
14:07Really?
14:08I'm finally past the Renshaw.
14:13Stooge Knight.
14:14Cleveland.
14:16What's his name again?
14:18For all you hip-hop fans out there.
14:20What's his name again?
14:23Poor Donald.
14:24Cleveland.
14:25War stories, man.
14:27Donald's got war stories.
