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We really have no idea what to expect in Athens. The international guys sound good on paper but how will they translate on this side of the Atlantic? And to be 100% honest, Boals' track record the past few seasons doesn't inspire the most blind belief that this group will be any different from the last one. It feels like a significant recruiting change from previous years, maybe an attempt to salvage jobs here.

Freshman Austin Thum may well be a beast in the middle.

I am not sure if I want Chucky even remotely close to this.....

If quarterback play lives up to its potential and the offensive line gels quickly, this year’s offense has a chance to be explosive, especially with the skill positions being talented and deep. Defensively, there are plenty of question marks up front, but this unit could surprise. The question is how long it will take for this year’s defense to sync. There’s enough talent on that side of the ball to keep Akron in all of its conference matchups, and Tibesar always has them playing a physical brand of football. I also expect special teams to make a bounce back this year, as there are players in place who should be able to not only make routine plays but have the ability to produce a big play from time to time. Honestly, I feel there’s enough talent on this year’s roster to win most games on the conference schedule, but this year’s lineup is more difficult than last year’s, so similar results in the win/loss column wouldn’t be surprising. At Wake Forest - Wake may be hard pressed to reach the eight wins they collected in 2025, as they will be working in a good amount of new starters. However, they still have more overall talent than the Zips. Even though I’m calling a win by the Deacons, it’s Week 1 and wild things can happen. 0-1 Vs Robert Morris - Robert Morris was probably better than their three wins indicated last season. Unfortunately for the Colonials they lost almost all of their production on both sides of the ball. Chances are they’ll struggle to hit three wins again in 2026. Zips win handily. 1-1 At Minnesota - Unless the Gophers are completely looking past the Zips and towards their conference lineup, this will be Akron’s second loss of the season. Depending on which publication is being utilized, Minnesota sports around nine players on preseason All BIG teams. 1-2 Vs UNLV - It’ll be nice having a strong G5 program come into InfoCision. What won’t be nice is the likely loss that’ll come with it. UNLV is expected to be a contender for the G5 playoff spot this season. Who knows if that’ll come to pass, but the Rebels will likely be too much for the Zips to handle. 1-3 At Central Michigan - The Chippewas should be strong along both lines of scrimmage and field one of the better run games in the MAC. There are questions about who will be the starting QB, but if the Chips figure that out, they are going to give opponents all kinds of issues with their power spread offense. Akron caught CMU by surprise last year and I doubt that happens again. Also, I don’t like the Chips physical style against Akron’s remade defensive front. 1-4 (0-1) Vs Eastern Michigan - There hasn’t been much separating Akron and Eastern Michigan over the past few years, and despite EMU returning a bunch of production, I suspect there won’t be much separating the two programs again this year. This will be EMU’s second road game in a back-to-back, and it could also be the highest attended game of the year for Akron. If that turns out to be the case, there will certainly be more energy in the stadium, which should help lead the Zips to their first conference win. 2-4 (1-1) At Miami - Miami has been picked as one of the best teams in the MAC again. If rumors are true that the RedHawks have the most revenue share of any program in the conference, then Miami should be fielding the strongest team on a consistent basis. The Zips have had issues scoring points against Miami whenever they’ve played over the past few years, and I doubt that changes in 2026. Miami wins. 2-5 (1-2) At Kent State - Zips shouldn’t have lost to Kent last year. They won’t lose this year. Akron takes back the Wagon Wheel. 3-5 (2-2) Vs Ohio - This could be the year all the coaching changes finally catch up with the Bobcats. Couple that with losing all-conference quarterback Navarro, who bailed out the Ohio offense with his scrambling ability an insane amount of times, and this may line up as an “upset” victory for the Zips. Ohio has plenty of talent, but QB play is what has set them apart in recent seasons. I’m expecting a drop-off and calling for a Zips win. 4-5 (3-2) Vs Western Michigan - Western Michigan was the most physical team in the conference last season, and that will probably remain true in 2026. WMU returns a lot of production on the offensive side of the ball, including the 2025 Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback Lowry. However, the Broncos are replacing a number of players on defense. At this point in the season, I feel like the Zips will be situated to take one of the two games between Ohio and WMU, so if I’m wrong about Ohio, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a win against WMU. That said, since I called a win against Ohio, I’m going with a loss here. 4-6 (3-3) At UMASS - The Minutemen should be improved over last year, and if they aren’t, their administration may be forced to make yet another change with the coaching staff. Especially considering how they’ve sunk plenty of money into the program, by G5 standards. Regardless, this is a matchup the Zips should win. 5-6 (4-3) Vs Buffalo - The Bulls lost a ton on defense, multiple playmakers on offense, and will be replacing practically their whole offensive line, although it won’t matter much by this point of the season as Buffalo will have already figured out what they have. Even so, I’m calling for another win for the Zips and a bowl invite, as this staff usually has Akron playing their best football at the end of the season. 6-6 (5-3)

confirmed by Bud that the back of the shirts say "Creating our own luck for 126 seasons". I love that.

this is off topic... i never heard of this young man but his story his good and he still promotes a lot of zips football.. i thought some of you may enjoy it jawon chisholm message: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbn-uMpRO2X/?igsh=YzYxMWc3ZnNueGE5

I enjoyed the lengthy interview with Dave Skoczen on the G6 podcast. Thank you to whoever sent it on to us. I like Dave. I think he is a big upgrade over Frenchy in calling Zip games. I have talked with him four times, twice before football games and twice before BBall games. Each time I found him to be warm, friendly, knowledgeable and excited to bring Zip games to the public. I will not crucify him for his on the spot answers to a podcaster. Rather I find his overall assessment of the team, whether football or basketball, to be realistic and objective. We are lucky to have he and Joe Dunn bringing games to us.

exit I will guarantee you ANYTHING that this play by play guy is WRONG !!!!!!!! ANYTHING you name it and I will bet... just admit that he could be wrong. Bivens is not and has never been an edge rusher... never practiced there in there two years... IF he has been to ANY practices he would surely be talking about OMARI ABOR... Maybe talk about the guy who actually plays edge rusher and was at THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY??? not look down at the roster and pick the first name you see and name a walk on fifth string defensive tackle????

I agree, that answer was a head scratcher for sure. Don’t know how you don’t name Abor, though they do both have the same first name, so maybe just got them mixed up.

Agree, he’s clueless. He also said that they run mostly 2 tight end sets. They hardly ever run a two tight end sets. This guys is so unprepared and totally pulling crap out of his a**!

Does anyone know if the scrimmage this Saturday will be open to the fans???? I know they scrimmage this saturday and next....

If Robert Morris was smart they would have countered with a promotion allowing a season ticket holder to serve as honorary defensive coordinator for the first drive. Benefit would include travel and hotel stay with team.

My non-expert observations from the first half: It's hot. It's tied 0-0 but the Zips have had the better of it. The Zips started this way: Defenders (left to right): Bunch, Paiva, Freddy, McGuire Midfielders: Dreas (deepest), Morck, Roman Forwards (left to right): Alem, Remi, O'Rourke I saw it as a 4-3-3 but I'm no expert. Remi was dropping deep to get the ball in the center of the field until Roman was subbed out in the 27th minute. Bunch on corners from right side and free kicks until Testa came in Zips had one cleared off the line by a Michigan degenerate defender in the 8th minute. Subs in the 27th minute: Testa for Alem (went to right side) Sullivan for Roman Freddy missed one over the bar from a corner in the 43rd minute.

Looks like another football recruit: Jayden Remplet 6-7 310 tackle from Kingston. PA!

Feels really good to have some positive vibes around the program for once. Here’s to hoping we can keep the momentum going.

https://frontofficesports.com/viral-akron-football-promo-attracts-celebrity-season-ticket-buyers/ At Akron’s football home opener against Robert Morris, one Zips season-ticker holder will get to draw up the team’s opening drive. That’s due to an unconventional promotion by the school: Purchase season tickets to enter a random drawing to script the first offensive play on Sept. 12. The stunt has gone viral, with the initial X/Twitter post of the Zips’ offer garnering more than 16 million views in the first 24 hours. But beyond its social media splash, the promotion has become a major ticket-sale success story for Akron football. Since the announcement on Aug 4, the school has sold out suite inventory for the first time in program history, and surged past annual ticket sales goals with weeks to go before kickoff, according to Akron’s senior deputy AD and COO Matt Pottorff. “We’ve had an awesome, awesome 24 hours, but we’re just getting started,” he told Front Office Sports. “It’s going to be like a tsunami.” The promotion was the brainchild of Pottorff and Akron AD Dr. Andrew T. Goodrich, who thought it up “at 10 p.m. and 30,000 feet in the air” while on a flight home from the school’s appearance in the 2026 men’s NCAA basketball tournament. (No. 12 Akron lost in the first round to 5-seed Texas Tech.) “We were just going through the craziest ideas we could think of to sell football tickets,” Pottorff said. “This was the one where we thought, ‘If we do this right, it could really move the needle and be a huge hit.’” The announcement, which also elicited nearly 2,000 quote-tweets, was the most-viewed X post by any college football team this summer, according to digital analytics firm Zoomph. It also immediately caught the attention of popular sports personalities. Barstool Sports’s Dan “Big Cat” Katz told FOS in an email that he purchased eight Zips season tickets for $600. Radio host Bobby Bones and basketball analyst Dan Dakich have bought in as well, according to the school. Katz said he hopes to actually attend at least one game if his schedule permits, adding that there is “nothing better than weekday MACtion at the end of the season.” (Asked whether he’d reveal his offensive strategy if chosen, Katz declined. “No chance I give you the secrets to my playbook,” he said. “Nice try.”) Akron has leaned into the high-roller attention, sharing notable season-ticket purchasers across its football social media channels to attract even more eyeballs—and potential buyers. Athletic department leaders are scheduled to appear on The Pat McAfee Show and ESPN Radio on Thursday as momentum builds. Pottorff emphasized to FOS that the winner will be selected at random despite the slew of well-known contestants, but entries are weighted by the number of season tickets purchased. This means, he said, “if somebody wants to buy 10,000 season tickets, they’ve got an incredibly good chance of winning.” Akron’s InfoCision Stadium seats 30,000. General admission packages start at $75, while premium inventory goes for as high as $15,000 for (the now sold-out) suites. Club and loge level seats are “almost gone” as of Wednesday night, too. A winner will be chosen on Aug. 19. Whoever it ends up being will enjoy lots of perks beyond playcalling. “First, we’re going to call that person NFL Draft–style and let them know that they got selected. Then we’ll find a time for them to come to campus, where they’ll meet with [head football] coach Joe Moorhead,” Pottorff said. “He’ll run them through what plays we would normally call in the opening drive, and then figure out what they want to do with it.” On game day, the winner will also take part in a press conference, get mic’d up with a headset, have play sheets, and land in the coaches box. After their moment on the call, Pottorff said they’ll be escorted up to a suite with their guests for the second half to “really soak in the experience.” The program knows some people will buy a season ticket only to enter and ultimately resell them, which they’re O.K. with. Pottorff says the Zips will “work through that process” and ensure all tickets “go to good use.” Katz, meanwhile, is genuinely looking forward—and hopes to win. “It’s great for College Football,” the host of Pardon My Take said, “and who knows, Akron might accidentally find the next great offensive mind (hopefully me).”

let's just do this for a whole season and then we can probably fund an ACC level roster the following year

I shared this earlier for our other commits so I figured I'd share Evan's as well. He's in the 64th percentile of wings in scoring efficiency, but is pretty elite at everything else, which seems to check out based off what we all saw last season.

Looks like there's a new marketing director and a new title. https://gozips.com/staff-directory/ryan-koslen/709 There's also now an assistant marketing director. https://gozips.com/staff-directory/josh-smith/706