Head Coach: Joe Moorhead is entering his 4th season as the head coach of the Zips with an 8-28 record. This is a rebuild that is a long grueling process, and progress began to be made last season with a 4 win season. They made a big move for Joe Moorhead and they’re giving him the time to try to make this work.
Program Outlook: Akron football faces one of the bigger uphill climbs, including in this new era. Historically basketball is the program’s priority which isn’t the case for most of the MAC. In this new era where programs must select which sports to prioritize, football will continue to be challenging. The other challenge is that academic issues have made Akron ineligible for a bowl this year. All of this being said, it’s possible to succeed here, just as recently as 2017 the Zips reached a MAC championship. It takes a lot of work to succeed here.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Akron ranks 113th in the country returning 40.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players starts with QB Ben Finley, he’s an experienced vet and most importantly this is the first time in the Moorhead era that the Zips actually have some stability at the position. There’s some weapons to work with, they return a lot of experience at receiver and a good safety blanket in TE in Jake Newell. WR Alex Adams has really struggled to stay healthy, if that can turn around this offense has some pop. The defense will be led by the linebackers, Shammond Cooper ended up barely playing due to injuries last year so he’s a great addition if he’s back and Gage Summers showed a ton of potential with a ridiculous game to end the year against Toledo. Justin Anderson will lead the secondary and Elijah Reed is solid as well. Kiawan Murphy is a bigger meatier man on the inside of the Dline who will help the Zips against the run. The question marks starts with the offensive line, they need to see improvement there especially getting a push in the run game. The defense needs to figure out the pass rush, and the starters at the safety spots.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Akron’s schedule is not favorable this year. The non-conference does feature winnable games against Wyoming, UAB and Duquesne who was a top team in the NEC last year. They do have to travel to Nebraska but what I really don’t like is that despite the longer calendar Akron doesn’t have a real bye week! They get a slightly longer week between Buffalo and UMass but that is all. Their season just ends on November 18th and they have a bowl ban so that’s just the end of their season, not even a bye week! For what it’s worth, the MAC schedule isn’t bad. Sure there’s Toledo, Buffalo and Miami but everyone else they face in conference play is breaking in a new coach. The schedule does make a path for 6 wins and a what could have been.
Final Thoughts: Akron is such a hard luck program that I can absolutely see this being the year where they break through and get 6 wins. The majority of their opponents are beatable, especially if the Zips turn around last year’s ugly -10 turnover margin. It’s still an uphill climb with no bowl to play for and basically no bye week this year.
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