Western Michigan at Akron
Western Michigan (6‑3) at Akron (1‑8) — no line posted yet, but the model favors Western Michigan (86%). Akron’s offense is at the 9th percentile on explosive plays; Western Michigan’s defense is at the 80th.
How they got here
Last three games
Western Michigan · 6-3
Rated 24th in our preseason ratings, 51st now.
2-1 in its last three — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.
Last three games
Akron · 1-8
Rated 58th in our preseason ratings, 159th now.
Three straight losses.
Biggest mismatch: Akron’s explosive plays against Western Michigan, 71 points
Each row ranks the two sides among all teams. The longer the line, the bigger the mismatch.
Akron’s explosive plays against Western Michigan’s defense
Akron offense, 9th percentile · Western Michigan defense, 80th
Western Michigan’s EPA/play against Akron’s defense
Western Michigan offense, 43rd percentile · Akron defense, 9th
Akron’s passing EPA against Western Michigan’s defense
Akron offense, 21st percentile · Western Michigan defense, 52nd
What’s at stake
Western Michigan
- Western Michigan is 1 game back in Mid-American with 2 left to make it up.
- Lance Taylor is ahead of Tim Lester’s year-4 pace (6-3 vs. 4-2) — a win here widens the gap, a loss narrows it.
Akron
- A win would be one of Akron’s biggest of the season — a 108-spot gap in the power ratings.
The series
Western Michigan leads the series 16-4
20 meetings since 1975 · Western Michigan has won the last 3
- 2024Western Michigan 34-24
- 2021Western Michigan 45-40
- 2020Western Michigan 58-13
- 2017Akron 14-13
- 2016Western Michigan 41-0
Each line is Akron’s chance to win through that meeting. Older meetings have no play by play, so no line.
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Western Michigan
The chip · vs the national mediaBronco fans are sick of being a punchline about a coach who left and a rowing slogan he took with him. They say a program picked seventh and crowned champion proved Kalamazoo can win on its own terms — and that nobody's laughing now.
What this game touches
The nine years chasing 2016. P.J. Fleck went 13-1 and reached the Cotton Bowl in 2016, then left for Minnesota and took 'Row the Boat' with him — and Western Michigan spent the next nine seasons as a good MAC program that never quite got back to the top, the breakthrough always one game short.
Akron
The chip · vs the national mediaAkron fans know Jason Taylor is a first-ballot Hall of Famer who wore their uniform, and that the program has real history -- but 2025's APR ineligibility is the kind of story that travels further nationally than any of it, and fans are tired of the program being a punchline for something that isn't about football talent.
What this game touches
The 2025 postseason ban over Academic Progress Rate. Akron was ruled ineligible for the postseason in 2025 regardless of its final record due to an insufficient Academic Progress Rate -- the first FBS program to face that specific penalty since Idaho in 2014. A 5-7 season was already unlikely to reach a bowl, but the program lost the choice entirely, and the story became about APR rather than football.
Best players
Western Michigan
- Justyce Betts (LB) · 66 tackles
- Domanick Moon (LB) · 49 tackles
- Dillon Moore (LB) · 49 tackles
Akron
- Donelius Johnson (LB) · 80 tackles
- Dwight Nunoo (LB) · 57 tackles
- Jordan Gant (RB) · 726 rushing yards
Weather at kickoff
Typical at InfoCision Stadium: kickoff time makes little difference, scores run 88 to 91
Western Michigan at Akron · Tuesday, Nov. 10 · 7 pm ET · InfoCision Stadium.
Weather score: 0 to 100, higher is better, for the first 3 hours and 20 minutes of the game. Ideal is 100, Comfortable 90 to 99, Mixed 75 to 89, Rough 50 to 74, Harsh under 50.
If it kicked off at
Typical at InfoCision Stadium: noon Saturdays score 91, 3:30 pm 88, 7:30 pm 89.
- noon: 91, Comfortable
- 3:30 pm: 88, Mixed
- 7:30 pm: 89, Mixed
Typical weather score at each kickoff time.
Typical means the average of regular-season Saturdays at this stadium, 2018 to 2025. It is not a forecast for this game.
Home field
Akron is worth +3.4 points (±3.9) more at home than on the road since 2018 — middle of FBS, 36th percentile.
18% at home, 13% on the road against FBS opponents (7-31 home, 7-47 away).
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads -1.8 at home vs. away over 98 games — inside the ±6.0 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.
Night kickoff — historically worth about half a point more to the home side against the number, and not much more than that. The visitors travel about 227 miles to get here.
Season profile
Week by week
Akron
- Wk 5Lat Central Michigan17-41
- Wk 6Lvs Eastern Michigan23-25
- Wk 7Lat Miami (OH)14-34
- Wk 8Lat Kent State20-35
- Wk 10Lvs Ohio20-28
Western Michigan
- Wk 5Wat Buffalo20-17
- Wk 6Wvs Kent State38-7
- Wk 7Wat Central Michigan21-14
- Wk 8Lat Toledo38-45
- Wk 9Wvs Bowling Green23-10
Power rating by week
Western Michigan is rated 9.3 points ahead as of week 10. Our power rating by week; higher is better.
Conference standings
Going into this game: place in the conference, then conference record.
- Akron13th0-5
- Western Michigan3rd4-1