Image via Eastern Michigan Athletics
Akron: How’d they get here?
In seven years of Terry Bowden-led Akron football from 2012 through 2018, Akron had two winning seasons. It won seven games through the regular season, then it won its bowl game over Utah State.
In 2017, Akron’s 37-34 upset over Ohio helped the Zips win the MAC East division title with a 6-2 league record. Akron lost in the MAC title game 45-28 to Toledo, then got spanked 50-3 in its bowl game against Florida Atlantic (played in FAU’s home stadium).
After a 4-8 season, Bowden was let go for Tom Arth, who, judging by the way things went for him at Akron and his current career trajectory, will presumably never coach college again. (Not this level of college, at least.) He went winless as a freshman coach, 1-5 during Covid, and went 2-7 in his third year before being fired with three games left on the season.
Joe Moorhead, a Pittsburgh native, has brought steady improvement to the program.
2017 (Terry Bowden): 7-7-0 (6-2-0 MAC); MAC East champions
2018 (Terry Bowden): 4-8-0 (2-6-0 MAC)
2019 (Tom Arth): 0-12-0 (0-8-0 MAC)
2020 (Tom Arth): 1-5-0 (1-5-0 MAC)
2021 (Tom Arth): 2-10-0 (1-7-0 MAC)
2022 (Joe Moorhead): 2-10-0 (1-7-0 MAC)
2023 (Joe Moorhead): 2-10-0 (1-7-0 MAC)
2024 (Joe Moorhead): 4-8-0 (3-5-0 MAC)
2025 (Joe Moorhead): 5-7-0 (4-4-0 MAC)
Like Arth, Moorhead (13-35 overall, 9-23 MAC) is quarterback-minded. Moorhead has been a head coach at Mississippi State (only two seasons) and previously at Fordham (38-13 from 2012-2015), and has led offenses at Penn State and Oregon, too. Didn’t hurt that Moorehead already had spent time as a receivers coach and offensive coordinator for Akron in the mid-2000’s (J.D. Brookhart, Akron’s current WR coach).
Moorhead’s Zips have played its way into closer games over the years, but hasn’t always turned those into wins (21 one-score games in four season, 7-14 record).
In 2022, Moorhead’s Zips scored 213 points in MAC play, then that total plummeted to 120 in 2023, then up to 184 and 188 the last two seasons. Its 705 total points in league play is second-least in the MAC over that span. (Kent State scored 685 points). (No, I didn’t include UMass in that math.)
This year, Akron’s thinking it should have an even bigger playmaker through the air at QB than it had in Ben Finley the last few years, and maybe just enough ability on offense for Akron to have its best scoring year of the Moorhead era.
But, if you’re going to win in Akron (or Kent State), then that means you must win the Wagon Wheel. Moore lost his first try 33-27, won the next two over Kenni Burns (31-27, 38-17), but lost last year 42-35 in OT to first-year head coach Mark Carney.
In last year’s Wagon Wheel contest, Akron had 530 total yards of offense and needed to rebound from a 35-17 fourth-quarter deficit to tie the game up with 2 minutes left in regulation.
Akron’s bound for success, but losing that game cost Moorehead’s team a trip to a bowl game, and this year’s team might also be a Wagon Wheel victory away from getting to six wins on the year.
PLAYERS OF NOTE
QB, Reese Poffenbarger (North Texas)— Played like a stud for Albany in 2022 and 2023 (finalist for Jerry Rice and Walter Payton awards), then threw just 14 combined passes for Miami (2024) and North Texas (2025). After the way the QB battle at North Texas went, Poffenbarger’s bound to come into this season hungry and ready to show his full capabilities.
DL, Cyrus Durham — Returning starting defensive end who was tied for second no the team with 8.5 tackles for loss last year, including three sacks (31 total tackles).
WR, Marcel Williams — Akron’s leading receiver last year with 45 receptions and 641 yards.
WR, Titus Myers (Old Dominion) — In 2024 at Iowa Western, Myers led all junior college wide receivers with 888 receiving yards on 54 catches and 9 touchdowns.
S, Mehki Flowers — Defense’s #9 tackler from last year (43), but is also leading returning tackler from 2025 unit. Spent first two seasons at Penn State. Also logged an interception last year (only returnee to have an INT for Akron).
