On a day that included few defensive highlights, Brison Burris came up with a big one.

Burris intercepted a Dalton Williams pass on the last play of the game Saturday, preserving the Miami University football team’s 56-49 triumph over Akron before a crowd of 8,211 at InfoCision Stadium.

“It was basically the last moment of the game that you can make a difference,” Burris said. “It was real fun. All games are fun. I don’t look at any game as draining.”

The Zips were at the MU 38-yard line when Williams heaved a pass toward the end zone. Burris picked it off at the 1 and made a 5-yard return.

“I just saw nine seconds on the clock, and I was like, ‘We need to get off the field,’ ” Burris said. “He underthrew it a lot. I said, ‘Just catch the ball and let the time run out rather than just slap the ball down.’ ”

The RedHawks allowed 629 total yards, 446 from the arm of Williams. Miami coach Don Treadwell said he’s sure his squad has work to do defensively, but he also credited Akron and its team speed.

“I don’t think it was just a matter of the defense not playing well per se,” Treadwell said.

Gaining ground: Quarterback Zac Dysert set a MAC record with 624 yards of total offense. Included was a 14-carry, 108-yard rushing performance.

He had run for triple digits only one time before, gaining 107 yards against Kent State in 2009.

“That definitely wasn’t part of the game plan,” said Dysert, who had a 40-yard scamper in the third quarter. “I saw a couple openings, and they were in man. When they’re in man, they’ve got their backs to us, so it made it pretty easy to get some of those runs.”

Treadwell praised the offense in general and Dysert in particular.

“It’s just great focus,” Treadwell said. “You have to give credit to Coach (John) Klacik and the rest of the staff putting the game plan together to hopefully be able to take advantage of what Akron was going to do. Zac was not only locked in like he always is, but he was pretty much on fire with a lot of his throws.”

Dysert said the back-and-forth nature of the contest pushed the offense to answer Akron’s points.

“In a way, you’ve always got to have that mentality,” Dysert said. “Today, everything was just clicking. All week we talked about starting fast and finishing strong, and we did exactly that today.”

Treadwell said the offense was a calm group throughout the day and especially on the 89-yard drive that produced Justin Semmes’ game-winning touchdown run with 1:04 left.

“There was no panicking,” Treadwell said. “I think the guys honestly were just, ‘Hey, do we got enough time? Yeah we do, here we go.’ ”

The last time Miami scored more than 56 points was Oct. 11, 1997, when the RedHawks defeated Kent State 62-26.

Kicking game: Kaleb Patterson was 2-of-3 on field goals for Miami, connecting from 43 and 26 yards away and missing a 35-yarder. He made 4-of-5 extra points.

Zac Murphy punted only once for 40 yards.

Getting a chance: Erik Finklea got his first carries of the season for MU. He had a 17-yard burst, finishing with 16 yards on three runs.

Alvonta Jenkins also caught the first two balls of his collegiate career, totaling 23 yards.

Injury update: Strong safety Justin Bowers left the game with an injury in the opening quarter and did not return. Treadwell said it was a leg injury, and the extent of that injury was unknown.

Wide receiver Nick Harwell and defensive tackle Austin Brown sat out for the third straight week.

On deck: The RedHawks will play their final nonconference game of the year next Saturday when they visit Cincinnati at 7 p.m.