Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya and his teammates know what is at stake Saturday night against No. 12 Florida State. To win, the Canes know they have to play better than they did last week in a loss to Cincinnati. Kaaya talks about the issues his team has faced, and what they need to do to fix them.

You have talked about the team leaders stepping up and talking about what needs to be corrected. What are the biggest problems?

BK: A lot of it is penalties, honestly, and discipline. In the Nebraska game, there were a lot of penalties in the second half, and they took a lot of points away from us. We had two touchdowns called back, a lot of penalties in the red zone, penalties on third down that hurt us. That’s been a huge focus. Penalties kill us. We have plays for third-and-5 or third-and-6 or second-and-8, but it’s harder to scheme up a play for second-and-20 or third-and-15. It’s a lot harder.

Penalties have been an issue over the past several years, and coaches said in the offseason they were a point of emphasis. But mistakes keep happening. How do you go about correcting them in-season while trying to install the game plan?

BK: Have zero tolerance for it, that’s the biggest thing. If a guy goes offside or a guy’s misaligned, he’s got to run during practice. We can’t have any tolerance for it, because we’re getting to that point in the season where it’s ACC play now, these games really matter for us. It’s a one-game tournament each week, so it’s really time to crack down on it honestly.

Are you frustrated?

BK: A little bit. Just because I feel like there’s a lot of plays that could have been made and helped the offense and helped the team that penalties negate or certain drives that get killed because of penalties. In that sense, yes. I’m not frustrated at any one person, just at the fact that there are a lot of plays that have been left out there.

Another area has been the third-down conversion rate (24.5 percent). As coach Al Golden pointed out to reporters, it’s hard to convert on third down when penalties are happening on first down. How much has that frustrated you?

BK: Each week, our game plan’s been pretty good. This week’s game plan should be good, too. It’s just a matter of doing the right thing and staying smart and disciplined. We have plays for first-and-10, second-and-8, second-and-5, third-and-10 all the way through. It’s hard to get a guaranteed 20 yards when the defense knows 'hey we’re playing the sticks here. It’s third-and-forever, third-and-13, they can’t really get past the sticks here' so it’s a lot harder. A defense is dropping eight guys in coverage, dropping their defensive ends in coverage because they know it’s going to be hard getting a first down running the ball.

Killing ourselves on first down makes third down a lot less manageable. Say we stay on schedule, let’s say it’s a 3-yard run on first down, all right second-and-7, we get a quick slant for 4 yards, that’s going to make it third-and-3. Whereas first down, it’s a clipping call and we’re in the red zone. Now it’s first-and-25. Instead of first-and-10, you have a pass play and it gets batted down. Second-and-25, we have two downs to get 25 yards. It’s a lot harder than staying on schedule.

Is it making too much out of this game to say it will define your season?

BK: This is a huge game for us. Without a doubt, we’re going out to win this game. We’re going to do our best and give our all, but this team can respond to adversity either way.

How much have you guys paid attention to the criticism of your coaching staff?

BK: Most of us block it out. I tell guys get off Twitter, get off Instagram. I usually don’t look at it. People saying that the coaches let us down -- honestly we’re the ones who are enacting the game plan. The coaches aren’t out there playing with us. Our coaches are doing a helluva job getting us a good game plan. We just have to execute it and do our jobs. The coaches are doing their jobs right. It’s just we have to cut down the penalties and just execute. We need 11 guys each play doing the right thing on all sides of the ball.