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Locked On Canes host Alex Donno joins The Joe Rose Show to break down the Miami Hurricanes' drop to No. 7 in the rankings and preview Saturday's massive ACC showdown against Manny Diaz and Duke. Donno and Joe Rose debate whether quarterback Darian Mensah is better than Cam Ward, diagnose the offensive line's pass-protection struggles against Notre Dame, question Damon Wilson's quiet stretch, and discuss how Miami replaces injured wide receiver Malachi Toney with Vance Spafford and Vandrevius Jacobs.
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00:00I'm Alex Dono, host of Locked on Canes podcast and a big, big part of WQAM throughout the
00:07years and always been one of my favorite guys.
00:10Dono, how are you doing today, bud?
00:12I'm better now, Joe.
00:13Thank you so much for saying that.
00:14You're also one of my favorites.
00:16No, I'm dead serious.
00:17I stir up trouble from time to time through the years, but you've always been solid as
00:23a rock.
00:24Hey, so you weren't one of these people that watched him drop from one to seven and got
00:29fired up, right?
00:30You tell me you didn't get like read into it too much.
00:33Just when you're frigging games, right?
00:35No, you know, I, you play it up a little bit because other people were surprised.
00:39Even Joey Galloway, who is a Miami hater was like, wow, that was harsh.
00:43But I mean, Joe, I said before the drop, I said, I think Miami is going to drop to seven
00:49or eight.
00:49So it didn't surprise me.
00:51Yeah.
00:52You know, you can still kind of talk about how this seems to happen to everybody, but
00:57the SEC.
00:58I mean, if this was a, an SEC matchup, Miami would have probably dropped one spot, but
01:03that's, it is what it is, Joe.
01:05And Miami controls their own destiny.
01:06If you keep winning, nothing else is going to matter.
01:09The committee cannot keep you out.
01:11That's right.
01:11The ACC and, and, and you're right.
01:14You win.
01:14And, and Mario said it best.
01:16The next three games are playoff games.
01:19And I think the most difficult of those three games is when you're playing 12 o'clock this
01:25Saturday.
01:25Are you with me against Manny Diaz and Duke?
01:28A hundred percent.
01:29And I give Duke so much credit, Joe, because I left them for dead before the season started.
01:33I just thought, Hey, you know, this team was a little, a little shaky last year, despite
01:38having Darian Mensah and Cooper Barcate, you know, Mensah was one of the best quarterbacks
01:43in the country.
01:44Even last year, Barcate had 1100 plus receiving yards.
01:47You're taking, you know, two of the best three players off of Duke.
01:50I thought Duke was going to go down the toilet this year, but they've actually been better
01:56so far this year, which is a testament to, you know, the way that team is being built
02:01than they were even to this point last year when they ended up winning the ACC.
02:06I mean, Duke's there, there are two losses and listen, one of their losses was bad.
02:10I don't know how you lose to Georgia tech.
02:12Georgia tech is awful, but their losses were by a combined seven points.
02:17Uh, so there are eight points away from being undefeated if you want to do it that way.
02:22And this running back, Nate Shepard, Joe, I mean, he, he is going to test Miami's rushing
02:27defense.
02:28Miami still has the best rushing defense in the country, giving up 64 yards per game.
02:33See what you can do against this guy.
02:35Cause he's 11 yards shy of 1200 already on the season.
02:40You know, it's funny you said that because the numbers, and then I wonder how much of the
02:44numbers do we read into the run defense has been good.
02:47But people have just had a lot of success the last month throwing the football, a lot
02:52of big, big numbers, no matter who you're playing.
02:55Yeah.
02:56Is Miami going to make a Walker Eget, the Duke quarterback, uh, who is, you know, he manages
03:01the offense.
03:02Well, he's got 10, 10, 10 touchdowns to three interceptions.
03:06He's doing fine, but he's not going off for these like 300 plus type of game.
03:11But Joe, we said the same thing about Billy Edwards from North Carolina, right?
03:14Before that, and he has a career game against Miami.
03:18So I think that's a big question.
03:20Miami always likes to stop the opposing team's running game, force the opponent to be one
03:25dimensional passing the football.
03:27I think one of the big questions here is how much pressure can Miami get on the Duke quarterback?
03:33Cause you didn't get nearly enough pressure on the Notre Dame quarterback.
03:36Can you make him uncomfortable?
03:38And can you force him to try to beat you from the pocket?
03:41He's not like a big runner or anything.
03:43So you don't have to necessarily think about that too much, but can Miami make Walker Eget
03:49look pretty pedestrian on Saturday?
03:51Hey, so the ACC, I'm glad you brought this up.
03:57SMU had a bad loss to Syracuse.
04:00I happened to catch the end of that game.
04:02They don't get a lot of respect and you don't have a lot of great teams is the problem.
04:08Like Duke, Louisville's playing better and Duke's a nice story and Wake Forest is clearly
04:14to me the second best team right now.
04:16Their one loss is to the Canes at home.
04:19Um, this is the way it's going to be.
04:22I think a lot of people think right now, the ACC is a fourth best of the, of the power
04:26four.
04:27Do you agree with that?
04:28Um, I, I tend to agree with that.
04:30Uh, especially since, you know, obviously Miami, Miami's really good and it's like people
04:36kind of disassociate Miami from the ACC when they're good.
04:39It's like, they kind of look at Miami as one thing.
04:42And then the rest of the conference is another thing.
04:44I mean, bottom line, Joe, the unfortunate thing about the ACC in recent years is
04:49their biggest football brands are never all good at the same time.
04:54I mean, can you think about how much better this conference would be if, you know, Miami
04:59is up right now, but Florida state, we'll see what happens when they hire their next coach.
05:05If they can climb back into it, Clemson's taken a huge tumble.
05:08So if you could actually get a period of time where Miami Clemson FSU are all really great
05:15for the same time as they should be.
05:17And listen, I'm, I'm not sitting all high and mighty on Miami because for about 20 years,
05:22Miami wasn't holding up to their end of that bargain.
05:25So Miami's up now.
05:26The other two are down.
05:27It really hurts the conference.
05:28Um, you think the idea is going to be the next coach at Florida state.
05:33They seem to be pretty open about here.
05:34There is number one choice.
05:37You know, um, I, I think they could do a lot worse, Joe.
05:41I mean, when I hear, when I hear all this buzz about, uh, Jimbo Fisher, you know, supposedly
05:47he's trying to put his staff together.
05:50I don't know if that means anything that could be his agent kind of throwing that out there.
05:54You know how this stuff, uh, uh, works better than anybody, Joe.
05:56So, I mean, I think honestly, you know, at their, at their current athletic department
06:01situation, like, I don't know if they're plucking the biggest names.
06:05I know Glenn Schumann, the defensive coordinator at Georgia is a hot name.
06:08I don't know if that's actually the job he would want, but you definitely make a call to
06:12him.
06:13Uh, I feel like a Jimbo Fisher return would feel a little bit desperate and those things
06:18don't usually work out that well.
06:20The second time, especially once, uh, once the transfer portal and NIL era begun, Jimbo lost
06:26his magic, like really, I think Manny Diaz could be a very good choice for them.
06:30I mean, Joe is a Miami guy.
06:32I have certain feelings about Manny Diaz, but I also admit he's become a much better head
06:37coach throughout these last several years.
06:40I would definitely take the Manny Diaz of now over the Manny Diaz of five, six years
06:44ago.
06:45I think he's a much better head coach now.
06:47Um, there's been a lot of, a lot of breakdown.
06:49Now I thought people have done actually a nice job of talking about the good and the
06:52bad of, uh, of the Canes and, and where they are right now.
06:56I think we've seen enough to get a pretty good idea where they are.
06:59Now we'll see how they play in the last three games, transfer portal, obviously with Mensa
07:04and Barkate and Weinberg and, and even Jacobs has been good.
07:08But we've got a lot of guys that, a lot of guys that just haven't done what last year's
07:14class was able to do when they had just all those transfer portal guys come in and just
07:19play at such a high level.
07:22Damon Wilson, um, the number one guy, man, everybody, and he has been silent and everybody
07:30thought he was going to be right there at the top.
07:33As far as pass rushers, what has happened with him from what you've seen?
07:39I can't explain it, Joe.
07:41I don't know how he goes from what four games ago now against Clemson looked like the best
07:46pass rusher in the country was unblockable.
07:49I don't know how you go from that to one tackle, maybe one pressure combined in your last three
07:56games.
07:57I really don't know how to explain it.
07:59I mean, I know a lot of people have pointed out to me and this is just something that
08:03happens that he's being held a lot, but that, that doesn't explain why he's never, you know,
08:08breaking through lately and making an impact on these games.
08:11I, I really don't know how to explain it.
08:14We know what he's capable of when he's on.
08:16Doesn't this remind you a lot of, uh, Tyler Barron from a couple of years ago, Joe, the
08:22transfer edge where he was really dominant for a couple of games and then he would disappear
08:27for three or four games.
08:28It's starting to remind me of that.
08:30But I mean, anytime now, if Damon Wilson wants to, wants to have big impact on a game this
08:35weekend, I'd, I'd welcome that.
08:37What are, what are you most concerned with of, of three areas I'm going to throw out the
08:41offensive line play, uh, the pass rush or the pass coverage in the secondary?
08:47What concerns you the most with this team right now?
08:51Offensive line play.
08:52Uh, I don't, they, they didn't do nearly enough good job, haven't done nearly a good
08:56enough job lately.
08:57I mean, they gave up, there were two different metrics on how many pressures they gave up
09:01last week.
09:02Both of them were bad.
09:03Uh, I think on three sports credited Notre Dame with 34 pressures, pro football focus
09:10credited them with 21 pressures.
09:12Either of those numbers would be the most Miami has given up in the Mario Cristobal era in one
09:18game.
09:18Like it's, it's not good enough, Joe.
09:20And I think, you know, at, at times, uh, we've seen Miami's pass rush, create some pressure.
09:27Um, you know, that Notre Dame that can never happen again.
09:29Six pressures, zero sacks was not good enough.
09:32But to me, the offensive line, when you're protecting arguably the best quarterback in the
09:37country, a Heisman candidate and Darian Mensah, who's so important to this offense, you've got
09:42to keep his Jersey clean.
09:43You've got to give him time to throw.
09:44So I would say it's the offensive line because even the secondary showed some signs in the
09:49second half of that Notre Dame game, they started to play more physical.
09:53They started to make some plays.
09:55I would say the offensive line, uh, is the unit that I look at right now and say, okay,
10:00especially on an Alex Mirabal, Mario Cristobal offensive line, we need to see more.
10:04You know, it's funny.
10:05I don't think late in the year, Mario's going to make any major changes.
10:08He's adjusted some playing time for certain guys that just can't do things over and over
10:13again.
10:14But, uh, it was a, he did mention a couple of guys that are going to play more, right?
10:19Spafford's going to play more.
10:20I think he talked about a couple of the receivers will definitely get more playing time with,
10:26um, with what they, from what they got a week ago.
10:29That it's good to see.
10:31He doesn't usually do that.
10:32Yeah.
10:33And the two guys you mentioned, Vance Spafford, who, you know, I can understand why we didn't
10:37really see him against Notre Dame because he's a true freshman.
10:40And that's obviously that that's, that's a game against, you know, one of the top five
10:44teams in the country on the road.
10:46But I think moving forward now that you have more time to kind of prepare your receiver
10:51core without Malachi Tony, because last week Tony got injured in the final heavy practice
10:56of the week on Wednesday.
10:57So you don't have a whole lot of time when you travel on Thursday to really revolutionize
11:03your receiver core or anything.
11:04You're going to have more time to integrate Vance Spafford, who's arguably the fastest
11:09player on the team, Joe.
11:10So we'd love to see more of him because right now, Dalen Upshaw is really the only guy they
11:15used in the slot against Notre Dame.
11:17He played 76 snaps, which I think was every single offensive snap in the game.
11:21You want to be able to use Spafford there in the slot.
11:23And then the other name, Joe was transfer receiver, uh, Vandrevious Jacobs, Dre Jacobs,
11:29who every time his number gets called number eight, the guy is making plays.
11:34He's either making catches or he's drawing pass interference penalties with his speed.
11:38Both of those things he made happen in the Notre Dame game.
11:41We've got to see more of Dre and Cristobal said we would.
11:44You think they can run the ball against Duke?
11:47Uh, especially by the way, down on the goal line, I don't want to see the quarterback.
11:52Nobody really said much about it because our offensive coordinator has done a great job
11:56this year, but how in the hell does Mallory, how do the two big guys not, not carry the
12:02ball and you let a quarterback get two out of three of those carries down inside the
12:06two yard line?
12:07Yeah.
12:08I thought that was too cute.
12:09Um, you know, to, to go for that, that third down, uh, play at the goal line inside
12:14the goal line against Notre Dame was, uh, was one of the bigger regrets that I have coming
12:19out of there.
12:20Um, you know, to answer your question though, I think Miami is capable of establishing a
12:24running game against Duke.
12:25You know, they do have a very good rushing defense ranked 12th in the country.
12:29Um, you know, again, I, I criticized Miami's offensive line earlier for the past protection.
12:34They they've been overall better as a run blocking unit.
12:37And, you know, you've got your two top backs, Joe are very good at getting through the first
12:43tackler at creating yards after contact.
12:45So, uh, I'd like to see more obviously of Mark Fletcher and JV and Mallory this week.
12:51I think, you know, in the second half of the Notre Dame game, kind of understandable why
12:55we didn't see more because Miami was playing from behind for most of that game.
12:59So you don't want to be, you know, 21 points down this week, Joe, where you kind of have
13:04to abandon the run.
13:05You hope Miami is either playing for the lead or playing in a close game.
13:09You can keep them going.
13:10But, you know, I, I think, I think the hurricanes are capable of running on just about anybody in
13:14the country, Duke included.
13:16I will tell you one thing you got, man, every week.
13:19And I know last week was a tough one is that it was a tough hangover there in the middle
13:22of the week when you lose such a great player like Malachi, but having minutes to throw the
13:27ball, even with somebody in his face or run out of bounds, he made that throw that throw
13:32at the end of the game.
13:34Catch or no catch was as good a throw as you will see at any level where only your guy,
13:41it
13:41didn't have to be a spectacular catch.
13:43I mean, you know, two hands that could get his hands on it, but he was the only one was
13:47going to have a chance on that fourth down throw.
13:49He is, uh, he's really impressed me even under pressure throws.
13:54He's able to make and, and, uh, his ability.
13:57He looks like a first round pick.
13:58He really does.
13:59Yeah.
14:00You know, Joe, Miami has had now three really good quarterbacks in a row that they brought
14:04in through the transfer portal.
14:05And I think this one is the best of the three.
14:07Like I, I really think Darian Mensah to me is the total package and you know, it's, it's
14:13going to be an interesting one for him on Saturday.
14:15You know, he was asked, uh, in his media session yesterday, he was asked a couple different
14:20questions about it.
14:21Cause I guess the reporter who asked the second question maybe was not satisfied with the
14:25original answer about him facing Duke this week.
14:28But I think Mensah's got the right attitude.
14:31You know, he's trying to treat it like it's any other game, but he did say, obviously it's going
14:35to be weird, like facing my former team.
14:37He didn't, he didn't deny that.
14:39Uh, he has done this before, you know, he was a former Tulane quarterback before he was
14:45at Duke.
14:45They actually went to Duke to Tulane last year, which is probably even weirder going
14:50back to the opposing stadium.
14:52But you know, that, that was, that was a game that Duke lost last year and he didn't play
14:56great.
14:56So hopefully he, he learned something from that.
14:59Um, but you know, he's got one of the most talented receiver cores in the country, even
15:04without Malachi Tony, Mensah has a lot of confidence.
15:07So, you know, I, I think once you kind of shake off that weirdness of seeing your former
15:12teammates on the other sideline, uh, I think Mensah can do great this weekend.
15:16So I just heard you say, okay, I'm more the first overall pick and you like this guy,
15:21uh, I more than numbers he's putting up.
15:23I, I, I, I got you, man.
15:25We'll, we'll see how it all ends, but Hey Donald, thank you, man.
15:28Really appreciate a lot of good stuff today, man.
15:30We, uh, we hit a lot of stuff there real quickly.
15:32I appreciate it.
15:33Oh, Joe, you're the best Hollywood.
15:35You're the second best.
15:36You guys rock.
15:37He's top four.
15:38Yeah.
15:38He's top four here at the station right now.
15:40Our boy is for no question.