Al Golden has quite a few bad losses in his tenure at the University of Miami.

But losing to a 2-2 Cincinnati team playing with its backup quarterback and 10 days to prepare for it all? Fair to say its inexcusable -- especially against a Bearcats defense that gave up 53 points in a loss to Memphis last week and lost to Temple at home earlier this season.

The Hurricanes (3-1) head to Florida State next week and haven't beaten the Seminoles in their last five tries. Was Thursday's loss just the beginning of another depressing downward spiral?

Golden better hope not. While UM's administration hasn't come out and said Golden needs a certain win total to keep his job, athletic director Blake James has said repeatedly he wants to see improvement. That's going to be tough to do if things get away from Golden and the Canes quickly.

"I just told [the team] we have to stay together," Golden told WQAM after the 34-23 loss to the Beacats. "We haven't played an ACC game yet. We still have all our goals in front of us. Everyone is really disappointed. But I loved our approach, the way we came out. They made more plays than us. We have to fix what we have to fix. But I know we have the leadership to turn this thing around."

Some observations:

> The Hurricanes are now 3-19 all-time under Al Golden when trailing at the half. If ever there is a damning statistic about halftime adjustments and coaching, that's it.

Offensive coordinator James Coley can wear this one. His unit was facing a Bearcats defense that was shredded last week at Memphis. Miami managed only three points in the second half.

More importantly, UM had a 20-17 lead in the second quarter and back-to-back possessions with good field position and couldn't capitalize with more points. They actually went on back-to-back three-and-outs with the ball at the UM 33 and Cincinnati 34 (kicker Michael Badgley missed a 51-yard field goal). That's on Coley and the offense.

> Miami's third down (4 of 15) and red zone woes (two fourth quarter drives resulted in only three points) continued. It's been the theme to the offensive struggles for awhile now. Miami is now a whopping 13 of 53 on third downs (24.5 percent).

> Quarterback Brad Kaaya had his streak of throwing a touchdown pass in 16 consecutive games snapped. Kaaya finished 24 of 39 for 255 yards, but missed guys who were open at times and couldn't connect with his receivers when the Canes needed it in the red zone late (he was 0 for 4 in the red zone passing). His receivers let him down too with a handful of drops including a tough one on a diving attempt by sophomore Tyre Brady near the Cincinnati goal line.

> Sophomore running back Joe Yearby (17 carries, 113 yards, 1 TD) eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark for the third week in a row and at times put the team on his back. But the Canes inexplicably went away from him in the red zone. Of his 17 carries, only two were inside the Cincinnati 20-yard line (one went for a touchdown).

Freshman Mark Walton had four carries for 15 yards and a score in the red zone. Walton, though, still isn't ripping off long runs. He finished with 12 carries for 34 yards (2.8 average).

> Miami's offensive line was penalized a handful of times in key situations that hurt them on promising drives:

- Right tackle Sunny Odogwu was flagged for clipping on the opening drive, it wiped out an eight-yard Joseph Yearby run to the Bearcats 10 (Miami settled for a field goal).

- Left guard Alex Gall was flagged for a false start at the Cincinnati three-yard line the second quarter (UM ended up scoring anyway on Yearby's eight-yard run to take a 20-17 lead). Gall later gave up a tackle for loss on a key 3rd-and-1 play on the opening possession of the third quarter when he was destroyed by Cincinnati's Alex Pace at the lane.

- Left tackle Trevor Darling picked up two on one drive in the third quarter and gave up a quarterback hurry.

"We killed ourselves on drives with operational penalties up front," Golden said. "We shut the drive down. Just disappointing."

> The costliest penalty was a holding play on freshman Jaquan Johnson. It wiped out Corn Elder's punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter. Elder has now had two punt returns for scores wiped of the board. UM had two touchdowns called back also against Nebraska.

> The Canes gave up their fourth sack of the season (center Nick Linder and Danny Isidora) when Cincinnati was rushing only three defenders. It led to a missed 52-yard field goal.

> Kicker Michael Badgley had two misses (51 and 52 yards), but still finished 3-of-5 on field goals. He's 12 of 15 on the season.

> Miami played without starting safety Deon Bush and backup safety Jamal Carter in the first half because of targeting penalties two weeks ago vs. Nebraska. You can blame UM's terrible play on defense in the first half in part to that (UM held Cincinnati to one first down and five yards on its first four second half possessions with Bush back out there).

But the play of fifth-year senior Dallas Crawford at safety killed the Hurricanes all night. He was lost in coverage when Cincinnati quarterback Hayden Moore connected with Mekale McKay on an 11-yard touchdown in the first quarter and was beaten badly in coverage late in the half on a long completion that led to another Cincinnati score. Then, in the fourth quarter when UM needed a stop, Crawford came up and whiffed on a Hosey Williams 17-yard run. Two plays later, the Bearcats scored the clincher.

Rayshawn Jenkins, meanwhile, missed a tackle on a long Williams run early in the game, but came back with his third interception of the season. It's clear that he and Bush are UM's best options in pass coverage. Yet, Crawford continues to see the majority of the snaps. Puzzling.

> Linebacker Jermaine Grace injured his ankle in the first half and returned to action. But he didn't play in the second half. Sophomore Juwon Young got the bulk of the work with Grace out. The Hurricanes could ill-afford to lose Grace, who was hurt in the Nebraska game too.

> Miami's pass rush in the second half was much better and a big reason the Hurricanes had success. Trent Harris had a stellar sack in the third quarter when he ran right over the left tackle and got to Moore. Sophomore Chad Thomas had a quarterback hurry at a bat-down of a pass at the line.

> Ultimately, Corn Elder, who has been stellar for the most part this season, gave up the biggest defensive play of the game when he was beaten on a 52-yard pass play before Cincinnati went in for the decisive score.