Week 9: Eastern Michigan
Akron returns home for just the 3rd time this season
The Akron Zips (1-6, 0-3 MAC) are fresh off a much needed bye week. They’re finally home for two in a row, if you can believe that. Their first challenger will be the Eastern Michigan Eagles (5-2, 2-1 MAC) who are fresh off their own two-game homestand.
Looking at the Eagles
EMU has become a familiar opponent for the Akron Zips, and they’ve got many familiar faces. Since Joe Moorhead’s first season at Akron in 2022, the Zips and the Eagles have had each other on the schedule in each season. The 2022 matchup saw EMU come to Infocision Stadium for midweek MACtion. Akron QB DJ Irons exited that game with a season ending injury. In relief, Jeff Undercuffler came in to throw a pair of picks as Akron’s comeback effort fell short in a 34-28 loss. Last year, it was looking like Akron was going to pick up their 3rd win of the season against the Eagles. But some late-game mistakes combined with a few questionable calls found EMU on top 30-27 in 2OT.
Running the offense for the Eagles will be Senior QB Cole Snyder. I mentioned familiar faces, and Snyder may be chief among them. He was the QB for Buffalo for each of their razor-close wins over Akron in 2022 and 2023. The journeyman MAC QB began his career at Rutgers in 2019, and he has finally found himself in the mix for a conference championship. While EMU’s strength on offense lies in the run game, Snyder has been effective with 1,468 yards, 7 TDs and only a pair of interceptions. Both of those picks have come in the last two weeks, though. He scored the game winning touchdown on a QB sneak against Central Michigan last week. While he is not the best QB Akron will face this season, Snyder is a veteran who knows how to win games, and he is very familiar with Akron.
After a slew of injuries, EMU has settled in on Delbert Mimms are their RB1. The NC State transfer is a bruiser with decent speed. His strength, though, is literally his strength. On 4.4 yards per carry, he’s scored 6 times this season with half of those coming in MAC play. He’s also come out of the backfield to catch a few passes. At 5’11 and 220lb. combined with a strong offensive line, Akron’s defensive front will have their work cut out for themselves. The Zips stuggled against the Ohio and WMU rushing attacks while holding BG in check. They must have a big day if Akron wants to get their first conference win.
Yet another familiar face is WR Oran Singleton. Akron fans may remember him from the Tom Arth days. He caught a touchdown for Akron in their win against Bryant in 2021. After leaving Akron, he went the JUCO route before finding himself at EMU. He’s had a nice season for the Eagles, with 39 catches and a pair of touchdowns.
EMU’s defense, which has surrendered 35 points per game in league play, is led in tackles by Kent State transfer LB Luke Murphy. He also has a pick and fumble recovery to his name.
Judging by the history of close games between these two programs, EMU’s kicker Jesus Gomez may be one of the most important players on the field come Saturday. He’s a staggering 15-18 on FGs already this season, and 8-10 from 40+. He is a true weapon for this Eastern Michigan offense.
Looking at the Zips
Akron was the last MAC team to have their bye week in this 2024 football season. They are not officially out of bowl contention yet, but their chances are on life support. Akron has to win out to be considered for a bowl, and the chances of that happening are about as high as the likelihood of getting a sellout crowd for a midweek game. With that said, Akron is fortunate to have 3 of their last 5 games at home, and one of their only two remaining road games is at Kent. Akron’s roster has been pretty banged up for most of the season, so the hope is that the bye gave players some time to nurse those injuries and get back to 100%. It was also great to have the bye immediately following the gut-wrenching loss at Western Michigan. The long delay and late arrival home following that particular game would have made for a miserable turnaround if Akron had played again last week.
As I mentioned in the EMU section, the Eagles have given up loads of points in MAC play. They surrendered 33 to Kent, 38 to Miami, and 34 to Central Michigan last week. I’d like to think that after a week off, Akron can take advantage of this matchup and continue to grow on offense. Since the offensive dud to open MAC play at Ohio, Akron has slowly looked more and more confident on that side of the ball. It all starts with QB Ben Finley. Though it’s been a few games since he last threw a touchdown pass, Akron has started to move the ball effectively with the passing game and with the run. Tahj Bullock has played an important role as the backup QB, coming in when Akron is deep in opponent territory to punch it into the end zone. Finley was not safe from the turnover bug that bit the Zips against WMU, though, with a bad pick and unforced fumble of his own. The overall trend is improvement for him, which is more than can be said about Akron’s QB situation last year. If there is any silver lining to these losses, it has been the growth of Ben Finley.
The four turnover performance by the Zips against WMU cost them the game. In every other aspect, Akron was the better team. Nearly all of WMU’s 34 points came as the result of turnovers, whether it was good field position or the momentum they carried over. Finley must limit his interceptable throws and ball carriers must secure the ball against this Eagle defense. They lead the MAC with 7 forced fumbles in league play, recovering 6 of them. Defensively, Akron is still looking for their first interception in MAC play. It would be a great time for Darrian Lewis to step up and get back to his old ways of turning the opposition over. Akron has been really close to breaking through this MAC season. Closer than the last two years, if you ask me. The turnover battle may be the final hurdle the program needs to get over before they start winning games more regularly. The defense, as a whole, does a nice job of bending but not breaking in most circumstances. But as I say most weeks at this point, the biggest difference between winning teams and losing teams is usually found in the turnover margin. In the 2017 season when Akron made their run to Detroit, they forced 27 turnovers on the season. That team was able to win games despite a largely lackluster offense because they forced turnovers often, a lot of them coming in crucial situations as well. I’d be surprised if Akron has forced more than 27 turnovers since then.
Before I wrap up the Akron section, I want to give a shoutout to OL coach Joel Rodriguez and his offensive line. This group has struggled mightily for the better part of three seasons, but it seems like they are really starting to figure things out. Akron is not dead last in sacks allowed as they usually are. They’ve surrendered 8 so far in MAC play (one fewer than EMU), and Ben Finley is to blame for a couple of those. Their run blocking isn’t the strongest, but they have shown the ability to pass block effectively in most cases. In an offense that loves to throw the ball, that is tremendously important. And while the run blocking hasn’t been amazing, Jordon Simmons has held his own at the running back position. He’s averaged about 6 yards per carry in the last two games and has been excellent catching the ball out of the backfield, with 11 catches for 120 yards in the last two.
To say this has been a frustrating season of Akron football would be an understatement. I will admit I had higher hopes going into last season because of the favorable schedule and returning QB, but that team clearly still had far too many flaws. I admittedly wasn’t all that excited coming into the 2024 season, but this team has looked better than I expected at most turns. I won’t fault them too much for the nonconference slate, as three of those opponents were ridiculous. And throw in the first 10 minutes of the Colgate game, and I was dreading what this fall would bring. But there were moments in each of those games that were brighter glimmers of hope than we’d seen in while. Even with some of the solid performances in 2022 and 2023, none of that really felt sustainable, like Akron was lucky to be in those positions. Now, I see a program that is physically much better matched up with their peers in the MAC. For whatever reason, they are still unable to finish off games and get themselves some wins. I can’t remember the last time Akron held a lead in each of their first three conference games. You’d probably have to go back to the aforementioned 2017 season. And the combined MAC record of the teams they’ve played so far is 7-2. There is no better time to get this thing turned around and some wins in the pocket than back-to-back Saturday home games late in the season. The number of people who believe in this coaching staff may be dwindling, but not me. I will be on this ship no matter where it goes. I believe.
Wrapping things up
Deciding to play this game at 3:30pm EST on the weekend where most Halloween festivities will be taking place across the country was an interesting decision to say the least. I have a feeling the crowd will be especially small not only due to the 1-6 record but also because people will have a lot of other family and friend events going on later in the day. Anyway, Akron and EMU are statistically very close in most of the major categories. EMU’s offense averages more yards than Akron, but their defenses give up nearly the same amount. The sack numbers are about even, passing numbers are about even. The biggest advantages EMU has are in the turnover margin and in field goal kicking. I’m not kidding when I say Jesus Gomez will be a key player in this game. Akron’s Garrison Smith needs to shake off his less than stellar performance at WMU because if Akron has to settle for field goals, they will have to go in.
Bettors seem to not be trusting EMU too much. Following an emotional rivalry win over Central Michigan on homecoming and looking ahead to a huge game with Toledo, it’s not unreasonable to say the Eagles could be overlooking Akron. With that said, Chris Creighton may be the only coach in the MAC that you would expect to hammer home the point of not overlooking a team like Akron. Either way, the line opened around EMU -5 but has moved down to EMU -2.5 as I write this. Take that for what it’s worth, it’s certainly one of the smallest lines we have seen in a MAC game for Akron—who has only been favored in one MAC game over the last three seasons.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s SP+ model predicts a 30-20 EMU victory.
We are looking at some gorgeous late October football weather at Infocision Stadium on Saturday! Right now it’s looking like partly cloudy with a high of 56 and low of 33, and mostly dry. I will never take a dry home game for granted after the 2015 season, where it rained or had rain in the forecast for all six Akron home games.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 EST and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.