- 3 hours ago
Can the Hurricanes beat Notre Dame without Malachi Toney? The Heisman Trophy winner and legendary Canes QB Gino Torretta weighs in.
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00:00Gino Toretta is on the Toyota of Hollywood hotline.
00:04The Heisman Trophy winner joins us each week.
00:07He's on the call this Saturday for Kentucky and Tennessee for Touchdown Radio.
00:12That can be heard nationally.
00:14And Gino is brought to us each week by the Plumbers Local 519.
00:18Local 519 members are proud supporters of South Florida, the Miami Hurricanes, and the community.
00:23For more than a century, Local 519 has been protecting the health of our communities
00:27while helping build South Florida.
00:30And if you're ready to build a career you can be proud of,
00:32join the next generation of skilled union professionals at UA Plumbers Local 519.
00:40All right.
00:41Next man up.
00:42Crowder and I were laughing earlier.
00:44How do you next man up when it's Malachi Tony?
00:47Like, it doesn't, that doesn't really compute.
00:50I didn't know if you were talking about me and my toe tendon injury or Malachi Tony.
00:59Like, there's certain players who go down and you go, well, next man up.
01:03And there's certain players who go down and you go, hmm.
01:07Who do they have?
01:09I think this one might alter the plans a little bit of what we're going to try to do on
01:16offense.
01:16You know, listen, he is, it's, is the most dynamic playmaker, you know, on UM's team and probably in the
01:24country.
01:26The return game, he's been a spark.
01:29He was a spark, you know, when they need him.
01:32And, and he's been a security blanket.
01:35You know, I remember a few weeks ago, what'd I say?
01:37I said, the only thing I'm concerned about, they target him 16 times a game.
01:40The next highest wideouts, like three.
01:43And what happens when you need to spread the ball out more?
01:46So not only does the ball need to spread out more, you lose a guy that the defense, it, it,
01:54it had to change Notre Dame's defensive game plan going into this.
01:59Cause now they don't, they're, they're going to go into it saying, okay, we don't need to double coverage.
02:04We don't need to figure out exactly where this guy is on every single play.
02:10And, you know, maybe it makes us more balanced.
02:14But yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be difficult.
02:17It was going to be difficult with him, more difficult without.
02:22Do they, cause like you're saying, I, I see what they do when they send Malachi down, act like he's
02:27blocking the DN because now you really can't press him.
02:29And now he releases out like they use them geniusly.
02:32Do they even try to put somebody else in the Malachi situation?
02:35Or do you, like you said, do you totally just, Hey, let's run normal plays.
02:38Cause we don't have this guy.
02:40Well, I think you're probably going to run the same type of plays, but I think what.
02:45Mensa would have to do is you're not throwing to a window where you're just like, Hey, I really don't
02:51need to be that accurate.
02:52Throwing the ball.
02:53Cause Malachi is wide open.
02:55Um, so I think he's going to be, have to be on point throws throws because it's going to be
03:01the same concepts in the same place, but he's going to have to be real accurate with the ball.
03:06I think they're going to have, they're going to have to rely on the running game.
03:10The offensive line has got to play their, their best game.
03:13And, and really Mike, you know, I mean, obviously the Malachi issues is big, but man, our defenses has struggled,
03:21you know, the last few weeks.
03:22And it's, it's been a game, uh, a lot of missed tackles, you know, guys shuffling around in the secondary
03:29and things like that.
03:30So, you know, those are all things that, uh, that the defensive side probably concerns me more than the offensive
03:37side, because we still have Mensa and he's going to, you know, figure out the right guy to go with
03:43the ball.
03:43But, you know, yak yardage and like, holy cow plays, I were, are going to be probably a lot less
03:50without Malachi out there.
03:52Are the, the fighting Irish better this year, Gino, than they were last year?
03:57I understand the hurricanes got them on week one and that was CJ Carr's first opportunity to start.
04:03So he's got more experience and the numbers this year are decent.
04:06He's not turning the football over, but are they a better overall football team than they were a year ago?
04:10So I can't imagine when you lose, what was it?
04:14The third pick of the draft at running back and then the backup running backs, 30.
04:19I mean, it was like two first rounders in the backfield.
04:22I thought that they handcuffed Carr the first game last year.
04:27I didn't think they were aggressive enough.
04:28I think they were afraid because he wasn't freshman.
04:32And once they were behind and they were like, Hey, uh, let's put it on the quarterback.
04:38He brought them back and made it a close game.
04:41And, and that's, those are things, you know, coaches at times they make some head scratching decisions.
04:46I mean, they didn't, they weren't given love the ball really in the first, it was like, what are you
04:50doing?
04:50Your best player on the team.
04:52You find a way to give them ball, whether it's a throw it, toss it, whatever, just get the ball
04:57in his hands.
04:58He'll make a play, but, uh, I can't imagine they're a better team.
05:02I think they will be a better team because it's at home and it's going to be 40 degrees.
05:06And we don't have the advantage of high heat and humidity.
05:10Like we did a season ago.
05:12I, I, I doubt they're going to be eating popsicles in the third quarter, trying to rehydrate like they were
05:18down here last year.
05:20And, you know, there's, I got to ask this question.
05:22I'm going to ask you when you're having those struggles in the secondary, like the Kings are and there's injuries
05:27and, you know,
05:28uh, I think Josie was explaining it to us.
05:29He's like, there's a lot of injuries.
05:31They're moving guys around and that's what it is.
05:33But you have a very good quarterback in car and your DBs aren't as good.
05:37Do you put pressure on them or do you try to like, let them die slow and play coverage?
05:41Like what approach would you have if you were Heather?
05:43Well, one, I think you have to mix it up.
05:45And I, and I don't know if Belichick was taking a shot at our defensive guys, because after the game,
05:51he just, he was like, well, they did what we thought they were going to do.
05:54They just kept running the same thing over and over again.
05:56And I'm like, okay, well, that's, that doesn't bode well.
06:00Um, I, I just, you know, you know, when you have a defense and you watch them and it's just
06:05like, for whatever reason, and they're, they're all good players.
06:08And you're like, damn, they made that many missed tackles.
06:11Like how did, I don't know how that happens defensively.
06:14I don't know if it's a confidence thing that, that guys aren't coming in aggressive or there may be a
06:21half click late on their read and making sure they're in the, they're in the right gap and things like
06:26that.
06:27And I'm filling in the right spots.
06:28But, uh, let's not, I always think if you just play one thing and play fast, you got a pretty
06:37good chance.
06:37The question is, is, is that going to be good enough?
06:40Cause if they play one thing, cars experienced enough that, you know, he'll move the ball around and, you know,
06:45he's been in hostile situations, obviously down here, you know, BYU brought them back.
06:50And they probably should have had another play to, to win that game and, uh, and didn't get it.
06:56So I just, I don't know where the missed tackle stuff comes from.
07:00I, you know what I mean?
07:01I would take your advice on that to just say, how does it happen?
07:05I think it's just mentally it it's guys are a half click late on, Hey, if it's this and this
07:12formation, I know I have to fill this hole.
07:15If they're just a half step late and then you're coming up to make a tackle on a good player,
07:19that good player.
07:20It gives you, you know, a, uh, a Heisman or it gives you a stiff arm or you hit them
07:25in the thigh and bounce off of them.
07:28What, uh, and I'm not asking you to give a score prediction.
07:32What do you anticipate happening Saturday night with the Canes in South bend?
07:38Can they do this without Malachi?
07:41Hell yeah, they better do it.
07:43I mean, you know, I, I obviously, I think Notre Dame is if they lose, they're done.
07:50They have no chance to get back in the playoff hunt.
07:52They don't have a conference championship game.
07:54They have no chance.
07:55They, they played basically two good teams.
07:58If, if they lose to Miami, they would have lost to BYU.
08:01They would have lost to Miami and they don't have really a signature win on their, on their resume.
08:06So they, they know that I think they, they are obviously that they know they didn't get in the playoff
08:12game last year.
08:13So there's a lot on the line there, but can Miami do it?
08:16Yeah.
08:16I, I most definitely think they can do it.
08:18I think you have, you still have the quarterback guys, you know, 70 or 80% completions.
08:24He doesn't make mistakes.
08:25Um, it might look different.
08:27It might look ugly.
08:29It might be a ball control kind of move the chains and, and, you know, really the game that Mario
08:36wants to play, ground it and pound it on the ground, take time off the clock.
08:41You know, maybe the end of the Clemson game where they essentially took like 10 minutes off the clock.
08:47They didn't throw a pass in the fourth quarter.
08:49That's, you know, it's not, they're not fun to watch for me, but that's what he's going to want.
08:54That's what, that's how they would, that's how they would win the game, shorten the play complimentary football, shorten the
09:01game for the defensive guys.
09:04And, and basically put it on Mensa to make a couple of clutch plays.
09:08And, and you got to have some, listen, next man up.
09:11It's just the next guy's got to make some plays and, and we'll see if they, they can do it.
09:17And, you know, the Canes are the dogs, you know, even though they're number one in the nation, but they're
09:21going up the South bend.
09:22And if they do lose, knock on wood, I'm not hoping it.
09:25Cause I'm a cane when you're number one, I cheer for anybody in the nation, but if I'm a fraud,
09:31if they do lose, now they struggled against Florida state.
09:33They struggled against UNC and now they lose to Notre Dame.
09:36How bad are the polls going to kill them?
09:38Do you think?
09:39Um, they'll hit them pretty good, but you know, who knows that the polls this, this week were terrible.
09:44I mean, they, they overranked Alabama, but like it's the first poll of the year.
09:49So first off the CF people doesn't matter.
09:52We know there's going to be teams in those top 12 that are no chance of making a playoff.
09:57What I don't understand is you always say it's about the games plate.
10:02How, like, how do you, they have Alabama eight spots or nine spots in front of Tennessee who beat the
10:09hell out of them a couple of weeks ago, beat the hell out of them.
10:11Now they have the same record.
10:13Now, how, how does that work?
10:15Like, like to me is okay.
10:17I'll put the undefeated teams first, the one loss teams and the two loss teams.
10:21And people are like, you can't do that.
10:23I'm like, why is UCLA?
10:25Do I think they're the third or fourth best team in the country?
10:27Probably not by the end of the year, but they're undefeated.
10:31You can't penalize the kids.
10:33They're only playing the schedule they were given and they're in one of your quote unquote power conferences.
10:39So let the season play out, but you can't, what the committee did last week, last night or Tuesday night
10:45in the, uh, making this, this rankings is they project where they think the team's going to end up instead
10:53of just saying, Hey, this team's got one loss.
10:55And they should be here, which is better than a two loss team in the same conference.
11:01Is there a schedule different?
11:02Sure.
11:03But in four weeks, it's all going to come out in the wash.
11:06I just don't understand why they would even open themselves up.
11:10And you know, the, the rankings that they had were, were just, just absolutely ridiculous.
11:16This may sound like a ridiculous question, Gino.
11:19And I understand it considering Cristobal has won two PAC 12 championships.
11:22He was in the damn national championship game a year ago, three playoff victories.
11:26I realize that, but considering the circumstances, no Malachi, Tony on the road against Notre Dame, two top five programs
11:33with the chance to now cement an undefeated season.
11:38Would Saturday be the most impressive victory of Mario Cristobal's career here in Miami?
11:46Oh, I would think so.
11:47You know, I, I would think that would be the highest ranked team that, that he's faced and, and beaten,
11:52um, to do it on the road.
11:56Uh, it would be, I, I think so.
11:59I think more impressive than listen, Ole Miss.
12:02I think we got them.
12:02Keywon Lacey got hurt and, and they were a different team last year.
12:06And listen, that's part of the game.
12:08We won the, we won the festival.
12:10I think Ohio state, you know, was kind of somewhat banged up.
12:13We, we, we got them, but I would think that this is a game that's been talked about.
12:18I mean, hell, it was talked about when the schedule came out, this was supposed to be the game that,
12:23that did it.
12:24And, and it's, you know, you bring back all the memories, Catholics versus convicts.
12:28I mean, like our team priest getting spit on by, by people up there in South Bend, the good, the
12:34good Catholics are telling him to go.
12:36The hell and things like, I, like there, there, there's, I just get fired up talking about it.
12:41Cause there is no, absolutely no love lost here.
12:44And, and I wish Tony was, was a hundred percent, but you know what?
12:49It'll be even sweeter because they won't have one goddamn excuse when we go up there and smack them and
12:55beat them down.
12:57That eighties cane just came out of Gino Joretta right live on the air, live on the air.
13:04I felt like I was in 87, 88, 88 calendar.
13:10Yeah.
13:10He's still got it.
13:11He's still got it.
13:12So what happened?
13:13Gino, you had a bad, uh, McRib.
13:15It was terrible.
13:16You know, I was just, I was like, I was like, ah, you know what?
13:20I'll go and went over across the street from, from campus by the old Denny's.
13:24You know, now that's a McDonald's and, uh, yeah, I was just, you know, you and I are on the
13:30same side of the McRib.
13:31I, I, I, listen, the fries were not fresh, definite thumbs down.
13:37And then the Coke I got did not have one ice cube on it.
13:41And it was a bad mixture.
13:43You know, when the bubbles are bad, the caramel's bad and whatever, all the, all those tubes going in, it
13:48wasn't mixed.
13:49Right.
13:50And then I must've had 15 pieces of onions in the box somewhere on this, on the, uh, on the
13:59sandwich, which I thought, okay.
14:01I like onions, but it's a little much.
14:03And then the bun, you know, when you microwave bread and then it gets hard after about 45 seconds.
14:09I mean, I was trying to chew through that thing.
14:11I could, I could have pulled out my shotgun and did some practice skeet shooting with it.
14:16It was rock hard.
14:17I can't believe this.
14:18The way I know I recorded the podcast with Stugatz this morning, but Stugatz recorded a segment for Stugatz and
14:27company, or maybe for Fox sports radio.
14:30We, Hey, we don't know.
14:31We're just, it's just content for Stugatz.
14:33I don't know where it goes.
14:35Nobody knows.
14:35Nobody knows.
14:36All I know is you should be buying merchandise at Hawklovesavocadotoast.com.
14:42But regardless, I got off the air audio sent to me by Stugatz of Gino getting ready to tape this
14:51morning.
14:52The great Mark Hockman would like to, uh, let me, what would told me to let you know that he
14:57changed his time with me.
14:58So you could, uh, you could do 10.
15:01You tell F***ing Hockman I had a F*** McRib value meal yesterday and it F***ed sucked.
15:08He's very disappointed.
15:09I will tell him that.
15:10I mean, just terrible that he likes that.
15:13Absolutely disappointed.
15:14I'd love him too, but they're terrible.
15:17Yeah.
15:18Bro, why you gotta make me look bad?
15:20You know what?
15:20I don't know how to talk like that when I'm being recorded.
15:23But I mean, that's, that's just wrong.
15:28I have a reputation to, to, to uphold.
15:32I, you know, we heard that late eighties Gino come out during this segment.
15:37I think we know, I think we know who the true Gino is.
15:41How I ended that Solana was I should have went to the bell run for the border and had a
15:47Mexican pizza.
15:48That's how I never failed.
15:51The old standby.
15:52Gino Toretta.
15:53He joins us on Thursdays and he's presented by Plumbers Local 519.
15:58Local 519 members are proud supporters of South Florida, the Miami Hurricanes and the community.
16:03For more than a century, Local 519 has been protecting the health of our communities while building, helping build South
16:10Florida.
16:10And if you're ready to build a career you can be proud of, join the next generation of skilled union
16:16professionals at UA Plumbers Local 519.
16:20Thank you as always, Gino.
16:22Go Canes.
16:23I hear you.
16:24Kick that ass.
16:26There we go.
16:28Gino's like the incredible Hulk.
16:30Like you get, he's fighting it, but it's all coming out.
16:34He saw him build it up.
16:35It's all coming out.
16:36Oh yeah, it was good.
16:37They're cussing out people.
16:40They don't have a goddamn reason.
16:42Like what?
16:45We'll see you.
16:46We appreciate it.
16:46See you guys.