Week 8 continued...

Hate to do that to y'all, but I'm a busy man. Not really...

Florida State's win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill was a bit of a mixed bag of emotions. On one hand, you have a defense that is beyond awful and there's no way it'll be repaired by the end of the season. I've asked this question before and I'm going to stick with my original answer...is it coaching or talent?

To me, it's absolutely coaching. Missed tackles and assignments are basic fundamentals that should've been remedied after the first couple of weeks, and especially during FSU's bye week. I keep hearing how dumb the defensive ends were for crashing inside on every play. It's not the ends doing it on their own. You think Marcus White likes being flattened on his belly? The scheme called for the ends to crash in making monster lanes on the outside for the Tar Heel backs to run through. What exactly did Andrews see to continually allow his defensive ends to get killed still boggles my mind.

On the other hand is Christian Ponder. Yes, you're sick of me talking about him, but the kid put on a passing clinic against one of the best defensive teams in the country. And before you go crying, "Oh, but who has UNC played to make them one of the best D's in college ball?" remember, that's not FSU's problem that statistically the Tar Heels are good at defense. Just like it's not Florida State's problem that they have an excellent quarterback that isn't being recognized for anything when he clearly needs to be, but I digress... Ponder tore through them with ease in the second half.

UNC gave that game away though. They ran the ball willingly and decided to try and throw the ball late in the game giving FSU a chance to win. If you give a team with their back's against the wall with a chance to win, they'll capitalize.

I'm too disgusted to give my take on USF's "play dead" style of football against Pitt. The Panther's punched the Bull's in the mouth and USF never got up.

Great coaching, Leavitt.

Will the real Miami please raise your hand?

Unbelievable how inconsistent this talented ball club is. Even more unbelievable how inconsistent Jacory Harris is. The kid hits receivers in stride one play and directly to the opposition in another. It's almost as if he's constantly looking for the deep ball. The highlight reel, if you will. He misses his underneath routes and check downs, and by the time he notices that they're open, he's either sacked or a defender steps in front of his pass.

And with three or four highly talented running backs on that squad and a massive offensive line, why aren't they running it more?

Clemson used everything at their disposal on offense to win that game and their offense just out-skilled Miami's speedy defense. Reverses and screens worked to the tee against the Hurricane defense and there were little to no adjustments. They also struggled to slow down Harper, Clemson's athletic, but young, signal caller. On the game winning touchdown in OT, Harper threw a strike across the middle to his wide receiver, Ford, for the game winner. Ford blew by two or three defenders to victory.

Miami's defense is bad. Not FSU bad, but still bad. If the "All 'Canes Conference" wants to be taken seriously, play better defense.