Miami Hurricanes Poised to Join College Football Elite
![MIAMI GARDENS, FL - NOVEMBER 05: Head coach Mark Richt of the Miami Hurricanes looks on during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium on November 5, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) MIAMI GARDENS, FL - NOVEMBER 05: Head coach Mark Richt of the Miami Hurricanes looks on during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium on November 5, 2016 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/51e702fa1ddbfbfa90b147fb29f035f82e6a9be3d483d5cba185815ff85ad44c.jpg)
The big takeaway from the chart above is how consistently Miami held opponents below their norm in rush defense. One outlier appears to be the game against Virginia Tech.
While you wouldn’t want to remove this game from the data, this game was played with only four days between their last game on a Thursday night and injuries left Miami very thin defensively for this contest.
Offense
On offense, Miami also enjoyed a solid season, as the table below shows:
Opponent | Yards Per Rush | Yards Per Pass | Yards Per Play | Standard Dev. |
Georgia Tech | 4.22 (5.09) | 12.68 (6.84) | 7.72 (5.93) | 1.21 |
Florida State | 2.21 (3.32) | 6.69 (6.98) | 4.60 (5.12) | -0.27 |
North Carolina | 3.86 (4.21) | 7.00 (7.19) | 5.34 (5.17) | 0.11 |
Virginia Tech | 1.45 (4.13) | 8.50 (6.17) | 5.45 (5.02) | 0.23 |
Notre Dame | 0.51 (4.16) | 6.86 (7.89) | 3.97 (5.60) | -1.39 |
Pittsburgh | 4.94 (3.62) | 7.57 (8.26) | 6.43 (6.24) | 0.16 |
Virginia | 5.29 (4.50) | 7.86 (8.59) | 6.34 (6.06) | 0.21 |
NC State | 4.03 (3.24) | 7.53 (6.65) | 5.93 (5.06) | 0.55 |
Duke | 5.73 (4.70) | 11.31 (9.39) | 8.74 (6.61) | 1.32 |
West Virginia | 2.38 (4.08) | 8.29 (6.93) | 5.34 (5.46) | -0.13 |