First, the good news for the University of Miami: Despite missing nearly half the starting defense and being outgained by Maryland 499 yards to 367, the Canes were in a position late in the game to come out with a victory.

With three key defensive starters returning for Miami's next game against Ohio State Sept. 17 and an off week to improve the defensive game plan, the Canes have a pretty good chance of improving on Monday night's disappointing performance on defense.

But as head coach Al Golden put it after the game, "There are no moral victories."

"The things we could control today, the penalties and turnovers, we did not and it cost us the game," Golden said.

Miami committed four turnovers, two returned for scores, and was flagged for 10 penalties, including the rare back-to-back delay of game penalties in the fourth quarter.

Those penalties and turnovers were especially galling when put into context.

Perhaps the biggest mistake of the game came on a play that was nullified by penalty. An illegal procedure penalty negated a Lamar Miller first-down run that would have set up the Canes with a first and goal on the Maryland 4-yard line.

All Miami had to do was make sure one of its receivers was lined up within a yard of the line of scrimmage. The line judge is required to tell the receiver who is supposed to do that whether he is close enough to the line.

But rather than getting three more tries to crack the goal line from short range, Miami's drive stalled, and the Canes had to settle for a Jake Wieclaw field goal.

What could have become a five-point lead was instead a one-point lead, allowing Maryland to kick the go-ahead field goal on their next drive.

Morris' pick-six a few moments later put the game out of reach.

It was a bitter outcome to a hard-fought game, but the Canes hopefully learned a tough lesson Monday night: It's hard to win a race when you keep shooting yourself in the foot.