Akron Zips:
Joe Moorhead is in his third season at Akron and has a 4-20 record, which is a slight improvement over the 3-27 mark for the previous three seasons.
Moorhead, a former head coach at Mississippi State and offensive coordinator with Oregon, Penn State, and UConn, will likely be serving in both roles this season as several offensive assistants have departed. Moorhead received some interest from the NFL in the offseason as well for some position coach jobs but elected to stay at Akron.
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The lack of victories is likely to continue with the Zips making road trips to Ohio State, Rutgers, and South Carolina in the non-conference portion of the schedule.
Offense
There is plenty of roster attrition for this group as QB DJ Irons, plus leading rusher Lorenzo Lingard and the Zips top three receivers, must be replaced. Ben Finley, who has four combined starts at NC State and Cal, comes in to compete for the quarterback job with Tahj Bullock, who started the final two games last year. Bullock is the more mobile of the two quarterbacks for Moorhead’s RPOs, but the Zips could play both with regularity.
The running game ranked 131st in the nation last season and slot receiver Alex Adams is the leading returning rusher (188 yards). Plus, the Zips replace three offensive starters. If the running game does not improve, you could see this unit rely more on Bullock who finished 2024 with 62 rushes, 165 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, but completed just 39.6 percent of his passes for 271 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Defense
DC Tim Tibesar (DC stops at Oregon State, Purdue, and Kansas State) had a unit that was the team’s strength last season and probably will be again. The Zips rated 32nd nationally in yards allowed last season but just 81st largely due to an anemic offense leading to a minus-9 turnover margin.
Three starters are back on the defensive line, led by All-MAC first-team defensive end CJ Nunnally IV (7 sacks). The linebacker corps is also a strength with Bryan McCoy (95 tackles) and Antavious Fish (94 tackles) back.
Akron’s top four tacklers return including Nunnally, but the secondary is primarily all new and will rely on transfers who could not break through as starters at their previous programs like former four-star safety Daymon David (mainly a special teamer at Oregon), Aman Greenwood (Syracuse), and Elijah Reed (Kentucky).
Outlook
Akron was not good last season but did lose three overtime games (29-27 at Indiana in 4 OT, 13-10 vs. Buffalo, and 30-27 at Eastern Michigan in 2 OT). Even if the Zips get a couple of due breaks, this schedule is one of the tougher slates in conference play, plus the three non-conference games on the road will be sure losses. The defense should be solid up front and the team will be slightly improved, but there are too many questions on offense to see much of a jump.
Pick: Under 3.5 Wins
