The area that truly stands out in these results is in the area of rushing per play, as Miami took a massive step forward by allowing only 3.52 yards per rush against P5 opponents. While in 2015 the defense allowed a miserable 5.49 yards per rush.
In 2016, their opponents averaged 4.58 yards per rush against P5 competition. Miami allowed 1.06 yards per rush fewer than these same opponents accomplished against other P5 opponents.
In 2015, their opponents again averaged 4.58 yards per rush against P5 competition. Miami allowed 1.01 yards more than their P5 opponents otherwise averaged per rush. An astonishing improvement of 2.07 yards per rush year-over-year.
The run defense is the foundation for which a defense is built. Their improvement in per-play metrics was tops among all 64 P5 teams for 2016.
The table below better illustrate the data on a per-game basis for the Defense. Parenthesis denotes the opponent performance in games against other P5 opponents:
Defense
| Opponent | Yards Per Rush | Yards Per Pass | Yards Per Play | Standard Dev. |
| Georgia Tech | 4.94 (5.33) | 4.95 (11.20) | 4.95 (6.54) | -0.75 |
| Florida State | 3.88 (4.83) | 7.27 (8.25) | 5.36 (6.44) | -0.89 |
| North Carolina | 3.77 (4.66) | 6.50 (7.96) | 5.18 (6.46) | -0.67 |
| Virginia Tech | 5.70 (3.92) | 8.00 (8.11) | 6.71 (5.65) | 0.96 |
| Notre Dame | 5.10 (4.00) | 6.92 (8.03) | 6.13 (5.93) | 0.10 |
| Pittsburgh | 3.82 (5.68) | 7.97 (8.77) | 5.96 (6.79) | -0.50 |
| Virginia | 2.48 (3.49) | 6.09 (5.22) | 4.31 (4.44) | -0.16 |
| NC State | 4.10 (3.68) | 4.77 (7.71) | 4.51 (5.54) | -0.84 |
| Duke | 3.04 (3.91) | 6.32 (6.52) | 5.20 (5.25) | -0.04 |
| West Virginia | 2.44 (5.48) | 5.15 (8.03) | 3.52 (6.52) | -1.86 |