00:00Gino Toretta. We see the smiling face of Gino Toretta on our video stream.
00:06He, the Heisman Trophy winner, he comes to us on Thursdays
00:10courtesy of the local 519 Plumbers Union.
00:13In football and in life, it's about being on the right team.
00:18Join the winning team at local 519 Plumbers Union.
00:21A proven path to a strong career.
00:24Visit plumbers519.com.
00:27Gino will be on the call Saturday.
00:30Georgia and Auburn on Touchdown Radio.
00:35What's your eating plans up in, where's that game?
00:37Auburn, Alabama?
00:39One of my favorite Italian restaurants in the country is in Atlanta, Georgia.
00:46It goes by the name of La Grada.
00:49And it is, I will be heading there Friday evening
00:52to indulge in some veal toscana, the big pounded out veal chop
01:00with some arugula tossed on top.
01:04It's, yeah, it's the best.
01:07Have you tried their spaghetti and meatballs?
01:11You know what?
01:11I don't know if I've even seen a meatball or spaghetti
01:16at this fine establishment.
01:19Well, then they're not an Italian restaurant.
01:21That's ridiculous.
01:22You called it a fine Italian restaurant.
01:24If they don't have spaghetti and meatballs,
01:25I mean, what have we even doing here?
01:27I've even checked luggage just to bring my homemade limoncello
01:32to treat the maitre d' and the people that take care of me
01:36when I go up there.
01:39Hey, Gino, stay in Atlanta because it's not much in Aspen's.
01:42You're not going to find fine Italian in Aspen's.
01:44Auburn, Auburn.
01:44This one's at Auburn.
01:45Hey, I'll just tell you this much.
01:48If I do a game at Auburn or Athens, I'm staying in Atlanta.
01:57Gino, so the Canes, they had the nice win over FSU last weekend.
02:01They're on the bye this week.
02:02Carson back through for four touchdowns.
02:04Could you make the case that UM should be ranked number one
02:07instead of number two in the nation right now?
02:10Yes.
02:10I don't think there's any question.
02:12Really?
02:12I think that they've been tested as much, if not more, than anybody.
02:17I think that some of the teams we thought were going to be very good
02:22coming into the season, we've seen their offensive lines suck,
02:26like Texas or LSU.
02:28And if you look at UM, it's just them big boys up front on offense.
02:35They just maul the other team.
02:37They wear down the other team.
02:38And then you got Mesidor and Bain on the other side of the ball that are,
02:44I mean, Bain's rushing the passers as well as anybody and blowing up the run.
02:50And they're doing it.
02:53And when you can own the line of scrimmage, you can go on the road and do that.
02:59And that's very hard to do.
03:01And I would say, based on right now, what they've done, I think, yeah,
03:06I like not being number one because I think it's easier as a player when you're
03:12not number one and you feel you are the best.
03:14They just give you the chip to basically go out there and, okay,
03:20you don't think I'm that good?
03:21I'm going to go out there and show you I'm that good.
03:24And, Gino, that game, I watched the whole game.
03:26I was at a bounce house with my kids in Orlando or Fort Myers somewhere.
03:30They could have got kidnapped because I was watching the game.
03:33But it wasn't a six-point game.
03:36UM dominated that game.
03:37They let them sneak back in early.
03:39And you know the criticism is always going to be, we know the four-minute drill.
03:42You're up in the game, run the ball, run the clock out, shorten the game
03:46and get out of there with a win.
03:47But then sometimes it bites you in the butt and people criticize Mario on both
03:51sides.
03:52Should the Canes just, I guess, put a nail in the coffin, just go ahead and run
03:56the score up on people?
03:58Me?
03:59Yes.
03:59I would like that to where your blood pressure doesn't go up at the end of
04:04games and things like that.
04:06I think that especially when you have the opportunity to just go pedal
04:11and score.
04:13I mean, I think that I would have liked to see that.
04:16I don't think a lot of fans would have liked to see that.
04:18I mean, you know watching, you know, it probably happens more in the NFL where a
04:23team doesn't finish a drive and they finish with field goals.
04:26And they can be dominating the game and it comes down to the end, the team gets a
04:30couple of cheap scores and all of a sudden, you know, they got a chance to win.
04:33So I would not have liked Florida State to be in the game there at the end or even
04:39close enough to make it a game.
04:42But yeah, it's just, you know what, they're getting it done all right, though.
04:47But yes, yes, I would have liked to have seen them pull out the starters and make it a little
04:53easier on the fans, if you will.
04:55But Gino, I'm going to say this with a ton of respect, because I think anytime we talk
05:01about the grace of UM, people get upset and they point to your era, the mid, early 90s
05:09and then the early 2000s.
05:11But last year, there was a case to be made that Cam Ward had the best single season of
05:18any Hurricanes quarterback ever.
05:19There was a case to be made.
05:20Like, are we in the territory with Reuben Bain, where we're putting him with the Ed
05:25Reeds, with the Ray Lewises, like with the Sean Taylors?
05:29Is it fair to do that?
05:30Or does postseason success, a championship, is that what dictates where like he'll rank
05:37in the all-time greats, with the all-time greats?
05:41I think that that's always part of it, like where you rank, you know, and when people ask
05:48me last week, they're like, well, what about the Florida State game?
05:51I'm like, I will forever be remembered by most Miami fans as you were quarterback in
05:58wide-right one and quarterback in wide-right two.
06:01And, you know, they will remember plays from that particular game.
06:06So I think, and then you win a championship.
06:09Then, yes, that is obviously, you know, puts a feather in your cap.
06:14I think that for what Reuben has done so far this season, I mean, maybe premature to say,
06:23but he's having a season.
06:26I mean, when nationally people are talking about you in the Heisman Trophy discussion and you're
06:33a defensive lineman, I mean, listen, there's only one guy that I played with that would ever
06:38like that, and that was Sapp.
06:40And I think that if you can be that dominant, and then all of a sudden, man, when you got big games,
06:47you just, you know, you dominate even more.
06:50Which he has.
06:51Which he has, yeah.
06:52Yeah, and it bodes well.
06:55Like, man, I'll tell you what, when they showed him after the game, he was wore out.
06:59Because I don't know, I mean, that dude puts every ounce of energy into Saturday performances,
07:04and it's just fun to watch.
07:08And I would say, it's funny, Shalala, you're like, okay, you got the 83 team there the best,
07:13or the 80, you know, and it's just like, you know, just watch and enjoy.
07:18And know that you're watching one of the best players in college football,
07:23and a guy that may be one of the most dominant players, defensive players ever to play at
07:28University of Miami.
07:30And, Gino, along that same thought process of just greatness, I don't want to say Andre Johnson
07:36and those guys, but we were concerned about the receivers.
07:40We're locked in now, right?
07:41C.J. Daniels and Malachi.
07:43Malachi, Tony, that touchdown they called back.
07:46He called a check down and got the hell on through the entire secondary.
07:50I was like, I don't give a damn it didn't count for six.
07:52That was an amazing play right there.
07:54But these are all American-style receivers that Miami has right now.
07:59Yeah, C.J. has been great.
08:01I think Malachi is just, he's been unbelievable.
08:04You know, people are like, man, he's faster than Kevin Williams.
08:06And I'm like, you know, I saw K-Dub run a 4-2-8.
08:10I'm not sure anybody's faster than that.
08:13But that dude, when he caught that little dodge route at five yards and turned around,
08:18and there's eight people chasing him, and he's just standing still.
08:23And then he just started running faster.
08:26I was like, wow, he went from like zero to 60 in 0.0.
08:31I mean, he was full speed in a couple steps.
08:34And you know what I love?
08:36I love the passion of which he plays.
08:40And it's like, guys that I played with, you know, you make a play, you're Randall Hill.
08:46I mean, hell, Randall would catch a six-yard hits pass and start dancing up and down on the sidelines.
08:52LT would take off his helmet, you know, and pretend like he wanted to see his mom, you know,
08:57see him on TV, even though she was in the stands.
08:59He was just trying to make sure the girls knew what he looked like, you know, on Saturday night
09:04in the last few years of our college career.
09:07But I just love the passion in which he plays and kind of the swagger.
09:12And, you know, he's learning.
09:15Crap, he's learning from the best.
09:16Michael on the sidelines is going crazy.
09:20He wants to suit up, man.
09:22He wants to be out there.
09:25Hey, Gino, quickly before we run out of time.
09:27Bill Belichick, there's now a whole bunch of talk about UNC looking to get out of this.
09:33He might be looking to get out of it.
09:34They gave him, you know, a vote of confidence yesterday.
09:37They sent out a press release.
09:39They gave him a vote of confidence.
09:40You think Belichick lasts the season?
09:45And do you think there's a second season for Belichick at UNC?
09:50You know, I don't know.
09:53I just, to me, is when a team has to answer a bunch of questions that aren't about how they play
10:01or their opponent and how they're performing and how they're preparing for just the game,
10:07I think it wears on a team.
10:09And I think that they are so distracted as players that the preparation part of the game,
10:17it's almost more like, you know, they're watching a Netflix reality show in the locker room
10:24and on the field every day.
10:25And, I mean, James, but, you know, good or bad, I mean, I'm sure, you know, when you guys
10:32were having that horrible season, and I remember you said Cam wanted to go in the stands and
10:36watch the game in case he wasn't going to be on the sidelines.
10:39Like, some of the story, like, you're wasting your mental resources on just BS that have nothing
10:48to do with winning the game.
10:49And at some point, they've got to pull the plug.
10:54But, you know, I'm not so sure this isn't a situation where, listen, if you have not embraced
11:01that it's not enough to recruit a kid and say you're going to get a great degree from this institution,
11:08have a chance to win a championship, okay, there's that.
11:11That was the recruiting pitch.
11:13When I came out, Channing came out, it was you get a degree from here, you get an education from here,
11:18you get a chance to win a championship, play in this conference, okay?
11:23Every kid now is, yeah, well, how much money does that come with?
11:27And that's what it is.
11:29And if you haven't embraced that, it seems to me like North Carolina didn't embrace it.
11:34Well, you're, you're, you know, you're dead now because you can't go play, you can't cut guys,
11:41you can't, you know, pay them.
11:43And it seems like whoever was in their personnel department or as they're making the change,
11:48everything is changing so fast in college football, they didn't change fast enough.
11:53And, you know, for whatever reason, it comes down always to the guys that they're trot out on the field.
11:59And they don't seem like they got a lot of talent.
12:01It doesn't matter.
12:02Vince Lombardi, we dug him up and put him on the sidelines.
12:05It don't matter who's, who's coaching those guys.
12:08They, they just don't have a lot of talent.
12:10And, you know, what I tell people this all the time, coaching college is 30 times harder than coaching NFL.
12:17You're a boss telling your employees what to do in the NFL.
12:20In college, you got to worry about guys getting suspended.
12:24You got to worry about trying to transition these kids.
12:26You got to worry about parents calling.
12:27You got to worry about so much more.
12:29In the NFL is football.
12:30In college, you got to worry about these kids' lives and try to get a football team ready to go.
12:35And there, there are a ton of distractions and, and it's like, you know, it's why Saban, trust the process.
12:41Like just bring it down to one game at a time and that, and, and I think that they're, they're at a point at it right now where there are so many things going on.
12:52I mean, for God's sake, the joke, the jokes are pretty good though.
12:55I mean, Brad Johnson's kid, the quarterback is, you know, Brad and I played together in Minnesota.
12:59They're the same age, he's the same age as Belichick's girlfriend.
13:06I mean, I can't, I can't, I seriously, I still can't imagine when I was at Miami, like, you know, seeing Dennis Erickson's wife on the sideline or the other coaches, like that's such a new, like a just strange thing to me.
13:22Like, man, when you're in the locker room, you don't want to worry about anything else.
13:27When you're on the field, you just want to go out there.
13:30You're not doing this for anybody other than the dudes in the locker room and that coaching staff.
13:35And it's just like, when you have all that other stuff, you're like, who is this person?
13:39Like, who is that?
13:40I, you know, it's, it's Chaney.
13:42I would like, I did the UCLA Penn state game, greatest game in college football last weekend.
13:47Crazy four touchdown underdog wins.
13:50I go over to the U S UCLA facility Friday.
13:53They can't bring 11 guys out on a special team, like walk through, like they, they were in disarray, fired the offensive coordinator that week.
14:01I go in the football facility.
14:04Guy starts talking.
14:05He's friends with Jesse arm said, okay, well, you know, and, uh, you know, their football ops guy was here at Miami.
14:10And I said, Hey, who's that?
14:13Oh, that's Nico's agent.
14:14They, they just, the agents of the players cruise.
14:18Like, I'm like in the NFL, which was your agent just cruising the locker room.
14:23Hell no.
14:24You don't even allow that.
14:25Like I, so many things are just, just foreign to me.
14:29And it's just like, I just kind of shake my head.
14:31I'm like, wow.
14:32Am I that?
14:33I guess I'm that old.
14:36Different world around us.
14:37Yep.
14:38Totally.
14:38Totally.
14:39Totally.
14:40Totally.
14:40Totally.
14:40Totally.
14:40Totally.
14:42Gino Toretta.
14:43He can be heard every Thursday with us, courtesy of the local five, 19 plumbers union with all the changes and how America does business.
14:51You can count out one thing, the union trained plumbers of local five, 19, join a winning team today with local five, 19 plumbers union, a proven path to a strong career.
15:03Visit plumbers five, 19.com.
15:08As always, Gino, I hope you get as good a game as you, uh, as you had last week.
15:12It was, uh, yeah, it was crazy.
15:14I hope I get some sleep.
15:15I took the red eye back from Vegas last night.
15:18So, you know, I'm too old that, you know, I used to do it as a kid.
15:21This, this, this isn't, uh, isn't wearing on me right now a little bit more.
15:25And red eye gives you a long day though.
15:27Red eye gives me a long day.
15:29Yeah.
15:29It gives me a long day that I could take a nap.
15:31You know, do you, do you play the, the slots inside the actual terminal?
15:37Cause they always get me there.
15:39Absolutely not.
15:41Absolutely not.
15:42Are you a gambler?
15:44I, I, I lost like 300 bucks playing three car poker, but this is my gambling of three car poker.
15:50There's like four bets.
15:51I put four bets down and I never even look at the cards and I just hope like one of them comes out as a straight and I get like six to one or 50.
16:00You're just trying to hit the progressive.
16:01You don't care about that.
16:02Anything but trying to get a jackpot.
16:04I'm just trying to get a free beer, you know, and it cost me a few hundred bucks.
16:07I mean, that's, that's kind of.
16:09Not a slow play.
16:11Slow play.
16:12Penny slots.
16:13Penny slots.
16:14I don't seriously.
16:15J.D., you don't get a headache on those new slot machines.
16:18There's like the LCD and the ding, ding, ding.
16:20I like all kinds of crazy noises.
16:23I mean, it's just, it's too much for my, uh, my brain to wrap around.
16:26Yeah.
16:27But the, but the tequila and vodka usually slow it down for me.
16:32Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
16:35I need green rose with bars and cherries and lemons.
16:39Hey, there's a, they got people running around.
16:41I'll tell you what, if you're having tequila and vodka, then jumping on a red eye, you're
16:47really not feeling good the next morning.
16:51I need to be three days to recover.
16:53We'll see you next week, Gino.
16:55Yep.
16:56There you go.
16:57Gino Toretta, the Heisman trophy winner.
17:00Do not go anywhere.
17:01We have more stuff to come here on the Hockman Crowder and Solana program.
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