ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich

Brett Edgerton at ESPN Research does an excellent job compiling college football notes from around the country. Here's an interesting one he wrote on Miami:

Remember when Miami was Miami? It wasn't that long ago. In fact, with College GameDay in Blacksburg in November 2005, the Hurricanes rocked third-ranked Virginia Tech by 20 points and moved up to No. 3 in the polls. Then it all fell apart two weeks later with a home loss to a mediocre Georgia Tech team. It hasn't been the same since. Starting with that stunning loss to the Yellow Jackets, Miami is an equally stunning 15-18 (.455). Against fellow BCS conference teams, the record dips to 9-18 (.333). Before that Georgia Tech loss? Well, the Hurricanes were a mere 63-8 (.887) during the decade.

Just how bad has it gotten? Give the Canes some credit for fighting back from a big deficit and nearly beating FSU Saturday, but the numbers don't lie. Since beating the Seminoles last season, Miami is 2-7 and has been beaten by an average of 19 points in those losses. The U has also lost six straight ACC games and dropped five straight home games to conference teams. And let's not forget what conference we're talking about here. Not exactly the SEC or Big 12. No, we're talking about the league where Duke is currently ahead of Miami in the standings.

Brett also provided this nifty note on North Carolina's Bruce Carter:

In case you missed it, North Carolina linebacker Bruce Carter blocked Connecticut's first three punts. You read that right. Not only that, but he blocked Miami's final punt attempt the week before, meaning Carter blocked four straight punts. No records are kept on consecutive blocks, but only three other FBS players in history have ever blocked at least three punts in one game.