When the University of Miami hired Bill Young as defensive coordinator last winter, there were high hopes the long time coaching veteran would be able to turn a struggling defense into one of the nation's best again.

But after an impressive performance at fifth-ranked Florida and a win on the road at Texas A&M, Miami's defense has gone from being one of the ACC's best to not being able to make a key stop when needed. The Canes gave up two late passing touchdowns against North Carolina to squander a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and then surrendered 281 yards rushing to Florida State Saturday.

On Tuesday, Young, who hasn't spoken to the media much since his arrival, took most of the blame.

''We're not all on the same page as a defense and obviously that's my responsibility,'' said Young, 61, who turned Kansas in six seasons from one of the worst defenses into the nation's fourth-best scoring defense (16.3) and fourth-best at creating turnovers (35) a year ago.

``We're making a few mental mistakes at the wrong time and when you do if your not in the right position bad things can happen if they attack that area. That's one of the biggest issues and it's something we identified a long time ago and worked extremely hard on it. Coach [Randy] Shannon has provided all kind of time on it, particularly the red zone where we've had all types of issues and on third down where we've had issues. We've had that in our practice day in and day out. We just have to continue to strive to get it right.''

KEY MOMENTS

The Hurricanes allowed Florida State to convert on 11 of its 17 third-down opportunities Saturday, including what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown on 3rd-and-goal from the UM 20 when Antone Smith split Miami's defense on a draw play and scored.

''Anytime an opponent has success whether your first down, second, third or fourth down you're disappointed as a coach and it's our job to get those things corrected without question,'' Young said. ``The play of the game was 3rd-and-20. They're trying to setup a field goal because they don't want to give up the interception and we give up a touchdown. It's frustrating. But we got to get that corrected. And we will. We're working hard at it.''

Opponents are now converting on 50 percent of their third down chances this season against the Canes and have scored all 16 times they've been in the red zone. UM has given up 14 touchdowns on those red-zone visits. The Canes have also struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks, failing to get a sack against FSU and netting only two against North Carolina.

Shannon said Tuesday morning that red-zone defense and third-down defense would be the point of emphasis this week as UM (2-3) prepares to host the University of Central Florida (2-3) at 3:45 p.m. Saturday at Dolphin Stadium.

''That's the thing killing us right now -- third-down defense. As you can see, were stopping them on first and second down,'' safety Anthony Reddick said. ``Most times it's third and long. We just have to find a way to come together and for everybody to suck it up and come off the field. I think the past two games we lost, third and long killed us. If we get out of third down, were in a different situation right now.''

Young said repeatedly Tuesday he doesn't want his players to take the blame, especially the young ones.

OUT OF THE PICTURE

UM has lost three key veterans to injury in the past month. First, it was veteran safety Randy Phillips. This weekend it was learned linebacker Colin McCarthy and defensive end Eric Moncur are likely out for the season. Miami is expected to put more and more freshmen and redshirt freshman in the mix to replace those players, including linebacker Arthur Brown, whom Young said Tuesday has been elevated from the practice squad to second team behind freshman Sean Spence at weakside linebacker.

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