Akron

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Lopez, Wake Forest Get Off to a Fast Offensive Start in 38-16 Win Against Akron to Open the Season - Atlantic Coast Conferenceour readThe Buffalo rivalry

Mid-American · Joe Moorhead, year 5 (14-36) · InfoCision Stadium · 30,000 · 10,032 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#62 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #128 (-21.4) · FPI #127
The marketMinnesota by 24at Minnesota · our model 33% Akron · a number, not a pick

LastW 45–10 vs Robert Morris · Sat Sep 12 · Cibastian Broughton 227 pass yds, 4 TD, 71 rush yds

Nextat Minnesota · Sat Sep 19 · 12 pm ET · Huntington Bank Stadium · Minnesota by 24 · first meeting on record · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureRegional Program V#198 all-time– holding
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 45-96 12 seasons
Best season 8-5 2015
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 5-7 '15 8-5 '16 5-7 '17 7-7 '18 4-8 '19 0-12 '20 — '21 2-10 '22 2-10 '23 2-10 '24 4-8 '25 5-7

Akron's 2014–2025 record is 45-96. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.319
Ranked seasons (AP)
0/12
Best AP finish
—

Program outlook

Akron produced a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer. In 2025, the program still made national news for a completely different reason — the first FBS team barred from the postseason over academics since 2014.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

Start with the real thing: Jason Taylor started at Akron from 1993 to 1996, still holds the program's all-time sacks record, and went on to fifteen NFL seasons, mostly with the Miami Dolphins, before a first-ballot 2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction — the first and only Akron player enshrined in Canton, with a 2026 MAC Hall of Fame induction still to come. It's as good a credential as any MAC program can claim.

The team-level peak came almost a decade later and hasn't repeated since: 2005, J.D. Brookhart's second season, a 31-30 win over Northern Illinois at Ford Field for the program's only MAC title, followed by a 38-31 loss to Memphis in the Zips' first-ever bowl game. Twenty years on, it's still the ceiling.

2025 gave the program a stranger kind of headline. Joe Moorhead's fourth year produced a 5-7 record, but the season's real story broke before it even mattered on the scoreboard: Akron was ruled ineligible for the postseason regardless of its final record, over an insufficient Academic Progress Rate — the first FBS team to face that specific penalty since Idaho in 2014. The Zips also lost the Wagon Wheel back to Kent State in overtime, a year after winning it 38-17. Between a genuine Canton legend and an academic-eligibility headline that traveled further than the win-loss record, 2025 was a season that said more about the program off the field than on it.

On the field

A program whose defensive standard was set by Jason Taylor's era and has been chased, with mixed results, by every staff since — no fixed modern scheme identity has stuck across the coaching changes between the 1990s peak and now.

program outlook · as of 2026-07-03

All-time record · Akron

Akron has won 37% of its games since 1913 — 50% at home, 25% on the road.

187-320-4 all-time · 64 seasons · 1913–2026

Home 116-113-1
Away 68-205-3
Neutral 3-2
1 g 1910s
1 g 1930s
1 g 1940s
5 g 1960s
44% 1970s
48% 1980s
36% 1990s
43% 2000s
30% 2010s
25% 2020s

Coaching Era · Akron

Joe Moorhead

Joe Moorhead has held the program for 5 seasons — the era is established.

Era Joe Moorhead · 2022–presentPrev: Oscar Rodriguez (2021)DC: Tim TibesarPrev DC: Matt Feeney (2019–2021)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
5 years · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

2005 MAC Championship Game

Akron beats Northern Illinois 31-30 at Ford Field for the program's first-ever conference title

2005 Motor City Bowl

Akron's first-ever bowl appearance ends in a 38-31 loss to Memphis

Heartbreak

2017

Jason Taylor's Hall of Fame induction

Taylor is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot, the first Akron player ever enshrined

2025 APR postseason ban

Akron becomes the first FBS program since Idaho (2014) ruled ineligible for the postseason over Academic Progress Rate, regardless of its 5-7 final record

Wound

Moment of the season — so far · Akron · 2026

Won 45-10 vs Robert Morris

Week 2 of 2026. A statement margin. Recruiting boards re-rendered overnight.

Decisive Margin

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 1-1

Akron is 1-1 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Joe Moorhead2022
  • Hired Oscar Rodriguez2021
  • Tom Arth departs3-24, 3 seasons
  • Oscar Rodriguez departs0-3, 1 season
  • Hired Tom Arth2019
  • Terry Bowden departs35-52, 7 seasons
  • Hired Terry Bowden2012
  • Rob Ianello departs2-22, 2 seasons
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

Akron’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2018 · A. J. Milwee2019 · Tommy Zagorski2020 · Tommy Zagorski / co-Bryan Gasser2021 · Tommy Zagorski2023 · Billy Fessler
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2017 · Chuck Amato2018 · Todd Stroud2019–2021 · Matt Feeney2022–2026 · Tim Tibesar
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

Jason Taylor's Hall of Fame Legacy

since 1993

more

Jason Taylor started at Akron from 1993-1996, still the program's all-time career sacks leader (21), before a 15-year NFL career mostly with the Miami Dolphins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 on his first ballot -- the first Akron player ever enshrined in Canton -- and is set for the 2026 MAC Hall of Fame as well.

The 2005 MAC Championship

since 2005

more

In coach J.D. Brookhart's second season, Akron won its first-ever MAC title and first-ever bowl berth -- a 31-30 win over Northern Illinois at Ford Field in Detroit, followed by a 38-31 loss to Memphis in the 2005 Motor City Bowl. It remains the only conference championship in program history.

Zippy

since 1953

more

Zippy, a female kangaroo mascot, is one of the few female mascots in college athletics -- symbolizing the Zips' agility, distinct from nearly every other program's mascot conventions.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2015-2017): 1-1

Most recent: 2017 — loss 50-3 (away). Last 5 postseason: 1-1.

20172015
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

247
[Postgame Thread] Buffalo Defeats Akron 23-22
Dec 2022 · r/cfb
189
[Postgame Thread] UAB Defeats Akron 31-20
Sep 2019 · r/cfb
170
[Postgame Thread] Akron Defeats St. Francis 30-23 (OT)
Sep 2022 · r/cfb
139
[Postgame Thread] Akron Defeats UMass 44-10
Nov 2025 · r/cfb

All-time top community posts · ranked by upvotes

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