catdaddyp

QB: Ohio has utilized several quarterbacks throughout the 2026 season due to injuries, and unfortunately for the Zips, they are now healthy at the position and will be rolling out their original starter, Nick Poulos. Poulos has thrown for 781 yards, completed 59% of his passes, and recorded 6 touchdowns compared to zero interceptions. He is excellent when kept clean, but can struggle under pressure, completing only 27% of his passes in those situations. However, he is rarely under pressure, as Poulos has the mobility to escape the pocket when needed and also plays behind one of the better offensive lines in the MAC. RB: The Bobcats primarily rotate two running backs in UConn transfer Victor Rosa and German native Duncan Brune. The duo has combined for 716 yards and 8 touchdowns. Although neither back has the breakaway top-end gear, they are both excellent at grinding opponents down. The most explosive back is redshirt freshman Irving Brown, but he did not play in the last game. Brown has rushed for 219 yards on just 23 carries. WR: Redshirt sophomores Riley Neer, Dom Dorwart, and Kentucky transfer Preston Bowman have been almost the exclusive options at wide receiver in 2026. The trio has combined for 1046 yards and 11 touchdowns. TE: Ohio will rotate several different tight ends in its offense. Redshirt sophomore Jake Furtney is the primary pass catcher, while redshirt sophomore AJ Miller and Kansas State transfer Andrew Metzger are mostly utilized as blockers. OL: This offensive line has only allowed 13 sacks and is also a big reason for the Bobcats effectiveness in the run game. LT - Jarian Shelby (6’4 295) (R. Sr.) LG - Tigana Cisse (6’3 314) (Gr.) C - Bryce Parson (6’3 308) (R. So.) RG - Seth Anstead (6’3 310) (R. So.) RT - Trumain Lawson (6’5 295) (R. Fr.) - Transfer from Long Island DL: Redshirt freshman Ike Ackerman and Michigan State transfer Tyler Gillison are the starters at edge. They have combined for 5.5 sacks. Redshirt freshman Ty Neubert and former Youngstown State transfer Nehemiah Dukes start on the interior. LB: Redshirt seniors Michael Molnar and Jack Fries handle the majority of snaps at linebacker. Both are likely in line for all-conference seasons as they’ve collected 138 total tackles and 7.5 sacks. DB: Incarnate Word transfer Barry Dillon and redshirt junior Kendall Bannister are the starting cornerbacks. Redshirt sophomore JT Haskins starts at nickleback, with former Zip Ronald Jackson rotating in. Elon transfer Darren James-Hamilton and redshirt junior DJ Walker are the starting safeties. ST: Kent State transfer Will Hryszko is 10 of 13 on fields goals and perfect on 26 extra point attempts. Magnus Haines is averaging nearly 44 yards per punt, with a long of 53 yards. Safety James-Hamilton is also the primary kick returner and has already taken two back for touchdowns. Keys on Offense: Run the ball as much as possible. The best path to success is keeping the ball on the ground, grinding out the clock, and limiting possessions for this physical Ohio offense. Keys on Defense: The phrase "Bend, But Don't Break" truly applies to this game. The Bobcats will likely look to run the ball early and often. Akron will need to commit an extra defender to the box to slow down Ohio's offense. It goes without saying, but the Zips' secondary cannot afford to have another performance like it did last week. Final Thoughts: Ohio is yet again one of the better teams in the MAC, and the odds are definitely in their favor. However, Akron has nothing left to play for but pride at this point, and sometimes the lack of pressure can allow a team to play more freely. I’m not calling for a Zips win, but I am interested to see how this program responds given the way this season has unfolded.

QB: Roggow is what he is at this point. Yes, it’s true that he was originally the third string quarterback, but that excuse needs to be put to bed. I maintain he is good enough to give this offense a chance to be successful when paired with a run game. We saw that for most of the contest, until he was asked to air it out in the last few minutes. The interception was not his fault as Roggow put the ball on the money and the receiver couldn’t bring it in. RB: I thought the offensive staff had an excellent game plan until the first drive where we went down. The plan seemed to be lean on the run game and pick our spots in the passing game where Roggow could have success. Then, for whatever reason, we decided not to give the ball to the best player on the field and instead pass for three consecutive downs. That led to a failed fake punt and the game crashing down on us. Gant had 162 yards and should have been given the opportunity to keep carving up a Kent defense that simply could not contain him. Instead, call it coaches outsmarting themselves or whatever phrase is suitable here and we handed the game away. WR: Despite our wideouts having a decent day, they needed to have a great day. Mason dropped one that should have been a touchdown, and Williams batted one in the air that led to an interception. Both of those plays needed to be made, and they weren’t. There was also a false start on a wideout that had nothing to do with the play that was being run. We have a quarterback who desperately needs his receivers’ help, and they need to play up to their potential. TE: Alexander and Cravaack set some crushing blocks this game. They may not have been utilized much in the passing game, but they were vital reasons why Gant often had massive holes to run through. OL: I know I’ve said it a number of times already, but this OL is not built to be a one-dimensional passing team. They were strong in the run game throughout the contest but fell apart at the end when Kent was allowed to tee off on Roggow. I know Lyons had a holding penalty, but I also want to point out he has been playing his tail off and is having what should eventually be recognized as an all-conference season. DL: The defensive line was solid. They did give up a few short-yardage situations, but some of that also falls on the back seven filling and finishing tackles. My biggest gripe with this group was the inability to get DeSheilds down in the backfield. There were times when the DL had him on the run or were able to get a hand on him but just couldn’t finish the play. Their pressure certainly bothered DeShields, and Kent’s two running backs were held to a combined 54 yards. LB: Outside of a missed tackle leading to a long touchdown, linebacker play was actually pretty good. In fact, the trio of Johnson, Nunoo, and Curtis have been bright spots on a defense that has struggled to stop explosive plays throughout the year. DB: In most games this season, passing coverage could be excused - to an extent - due to the lack of a pass rush. This game, however, DeSheilds was pressured plenty throughout the contest, and our secondary flat out stunk. The number of times our defensive backs did not get their heads around on passes is inexcusable. That falls directly on coaching. The PIs calls were legitimate penalties. The only positive I have to say is the DBs were mostly solid in run support, but that was also against one of the worst rushing offenses in college football. ST: Kickoff and punt coverage were actually pretty good. However, the fumble on kickoff return and the confusion on how to fair catch were difficult to watch. The missed chip-shot field goal was yet another addition to the special teams woes we’ve unfortunately come to expect. I will say, however, that the 50 yard make by Stire and the 56 yard punt by Castle was nice to see. Final Thoughts: 15 penalties for 165 yards and two turnovers. We’re an undisciplined team that won’t beat anyone playing like that, including a less talented Kent squad. 422 yards of total offense can’t undo consistent self-inflicted wounds. Yes, we’ve had some injuries to some important players, but it’s the staff’s job to get the best out of the players that are available, and that isn’t happening. QB: Roggow HB: Gant Patrick Williams WR: Williams WR: Burris WR: Mason TE: Alexander Cravaack Hook LT: Slayden LG: Smith C Lyons RG: Jones RT: Gould Mann DE: Frazier Abor DE: Durham Waye DT: Hull Williams Brown-Demery DT: Mixon Kavals LB: Johnson Jones LB: Nunoo Curtis NB: Branch Moss CB: Thomas Hobson CB: Newsome Hobson S: Davis Branch S: Hunter Flowers Top Rated Offense: HB - Gant WR - Mason QB - Roggow WR - Burris LG - Smith Top Rated Defense: LB - Johnson DT - Williams DE - Abor LB - Curtis S - Hunter

QB: Redshirt junior Dru DeShields is the returning starting quarterback. He isn’t having as good of a season as he did last year, but he hasn’t had much help from the run game either. DeShields has thrown for 1,145 yards and 4 touchdowns compared to 6 interceptions. He has also rushed for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns. He has performed about the same in a clean pocket as he has under pressure. Where DeShields has really excelled is on passes 10 yards or less, as he has a completion rate of 70% in that range. Beyond 10 yards it drops to 45%. RB: The usual starter, Illinois State transfer Mason King, missed the last game, allowing freshman Brandon White to get the start in his place. The two backs have combined for 393 yards rushing, but have rushed for only one touchdown. WR: Redshirt sophomore Wayne Harris, senior Da’realyst Clark, and former Kentucky transfer Ardell Banks are the main targets at receiver. Harris is on pace for an All-MAC season, with 31 receptions for 396 yards. Clark has 273 receiving yards, while Banks has add 206 yards. TE: Redshirt junior Hunter Hopperton will line up all over the place. He is mostly utilized as a blocker, but every now and then, he’ll see a pass come his way. OL: The offensive line has struggled to create much running room and has also been hit or miss in pass protection. LT - Moustafa Daoud (R. Fr.) (6’6 300) - Transfer from JUCO LG - Dustyn Morell (R. Sr.) (6’4” 290) C - Ben Midea (Jr.) (6’2 320) - Transfer from St. Francis RG - Cecil Wilson (R. Jr.) (6’4 320) RT - Mofe Adewole (R. Sr.) (6’3 275) - Transfer from Robert Morris DL: Redshirt sophomores Antonio Bottiggi and Jaihein Roy are the starters at edge, while numerous players have rotated along the interior. Freshman Dion’Dre Taylor and Robert Morris transfer Camden Wilborn started at defensive tackle last week for the Flashes. Despite the heavy rotations, Kent’s defensive line has accumulated 8 sacks this season. LB: USF transfer Rocco Nicholl returned to Kent this offseason and has recorded 33 total tackles with 3 sacks. He is usually flanked by Kentucky transfer Hayden Dawahare, who has 35 total tackles and 2 sacks. DB: Redshirt junior Angelo Stockstill and redshirt senior A’tiq Muhammad are the starting cornerbacks. Sophomore Trey Rubenstein starts at nickelback, while sophomores Derrick Jackson and Joel Cordoba start at safety. The secondary has been solid in conference play against the pass, but has yet to do much in the way of forcing turnovers. ST: Da’realyst Clark is an all-conference returner, although he hasn’t been able to break one longer than 27 yards this season. Sean Leonard is 3 for 8 on field goals and 9 for 9 on extra points. Redshirt freshman Jake Stoeckel averages nearly 43 yards per punt, with a long of 59 yards. Keys on Offense: Run the football and stay balanced. Kent has a solid defense, but they tend to spend a lot of time on the field and will wear down. Akron needs to sustain drives on offense and not beat themselves. Keys on Defense: Keep everything in front and make the tackle. Kent has struggled to finish drives and put points on the board. The more plays the Flashes have to run, the more likely they are to goof up. Final Thoughts: The Zips have more talent, but the Flashes are a scrappy bunch. Akron needs to jump ahead early and force Kent into uncomfortable situations. In the end, this game may come down to which team hurts itself the least.

The tight end was lined up on the line of scrimmage. For him to be an eligible receiver, the wideout next to him needed to be lined up off the line of scrimmage. Since the wideout was also lined up on the line of scrimmage he “covered up the tight end” making the tight end an ineligible receiver on that play. On the plays I was referring to, Miami was releasing one DE forcing him to make a decision. The DE is usually taught to square up and squeeze down. If he doesn’t squeeze down enough, he leaves a gap. If he squeezes down too much, he’ll leave a gap on the opposite side and probably get caught up in the “trash”. Our DEs kept getting caught in what I refer as no man’s land and allowing gaps on both sides of them. In regards to the “last back” this is for a defensive player on the backside that probably can’t see where the ball is during the mesh and has to make a decision to either hit the QB or RB. I recall Durham choosing to hammer the QB as the QB let loose of the ball to the RB. Earlier in the game (I think it was Durham again) chose the RB and the QB pulled for a nice gain. If he had stayed with the last back both times, one of those plays would have been a loss. Instead, both went for gains.

QB: Roggow is not at the level where he can win a game without run support. His two worst outings have come when the run game has either been limited or somewhat ineffective and he’s thrown the ball over 30 times. Not to say Roggow didn’t have any good moments, because there were plenty of times where he displayed excellent pocket awareness and got the ball out on time. The problem was that the end result of those passes often wasn’t good enough. Not many teams are going to win a game by tossing four interceptions. RB: Gant ran hard, but there just wasn’t much room to work with on the interior. However, there were a handful of outside runs that worked well, including Gant’s touchdown run. I felt this was a game where Patrick’s availability would have been beneficial, as he tends to perform better on the outside runs than Gant. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option, and Miami usually shut down the interior with just their base defense. WR: When the offense becomes one dimensional, the receivers must help the quarterback. Drops reared their ugly head again, and Miami dominated the 50/50 balls in the air. This receiving corps has too much talent to not come down with more of the balls thrown their way. There’s frankly no excuse for these guys to not help out their quarterback more on a day where he was struggling. I also want to point out the one pass play to the tight end where the receiver covered him up and caused the tight end to be an ineligible receiver. Things like that simply cannot happen. TE: I intentionally separated the tight ends from the wide outs, as I thought Cravaack and Alexander had a strong outing. Cravaack hasn’t performed as well as he did last year, but hopefully this performance will serve as a springboard for the rest of the season. Alexander has been Mr. Consistent all year and played well again. OL: Pass protection was excellent for much of the game. Eventually, it broke down some as the offense became more one-dimensional, but overall, nice job to this group in that area. On the flip side, push in the run game was almost non-existent. Injuries finally caught up to a unit that had been playing the same five guys for the past few games. At one point, backups were in at left tackle, right tackle, and right guard. DL: I actually thought the defensive line, as a whole, played decently. There were a few issues, like edges not squeezing down enough and leaving some wide-open gaps, as well as tackling the wrong back at the mess point, but overall, I thought this unit did fairly well. As far as tackling the wrong back at the mesh point, we used to coach that if you were unsure, go to the last back, and the Zips did that. It just ended up being the wrong choice in the end. Sometimes that is going to happen. I do want to point out that Durham had a standout day. It’s frustrating to imagine what this defensive line could have looked like with a healthy Abor on the opposite side. LB: This is tough because I thought the linebackers played well for much of the game. Unfortunately, the handful of times they didn’t, lead to some of Miami’s biggest runs of the season. Johnson was uncharacteristically shoved off by Miami’s running back, which led to a touchdown. On another play, Johnson and Nunoo took bad angles that resulted in another huge run by a Miami ball carrier. The way we lined up against Miami often required the linebackers and safeties to come down and fill the gap as the last line of defense. When we failed to do that or make the tackle, things turned ugly. DB: My only gripe with this group is in run support, and that’s a big gripe. Miami’s quarterback wasn’t a threat to throw the ball. Yes, he did make one perfectly placed touchdown pass, but that was really it. Everything else was either short or usually off-target. That meant we had to be stout in run support, and when we weren’t, it was glaring. ST: Outside of a nice return on kickoff, it was a rough day for this crew. A shanked punt at a crucial point in the game, another short punt, and a missed long field. I may be missing something else, but I think I’ve already listed enough. Final Thoughts: This game could have had a very different outcome. The Miami team we played yesterday did not have the same firepower on offense they had earlier in the year. Had we not self-combusted and wasted opportunities to potentially take and build on a lead, I don’t believe Miami had the quarterback to bring them back from a deficit. Our defense was already getting home on a number of passing downs, and forcing Miami to lean on the passing game would have changed the outcome. Instead, this team yet again, had a high number of self-inflicted wounds at critical moments. There is enough talent on this roster to be competitive and possibly win a few more games, but as long as we continue with this undisciplined nonsense, it won’t happen. Clean it up, Zips. QB: Roggow Beals HB: Gant Williams Curry WR: Williams Myers WR: Burris Hills WR: Mason Louis TE: Cravaack Alexander LT: Slayden Gould LG: Smith Puckett C Lyons RG: Hampton Falkner RT: Jones Gould Mann DE: Frazier Waye DE: Durham Waye DT: Hull Williams Ross-Graves DT: Mixon Kavals LB: Johnson Jones LB: Nunoo Curtis CB: Hobson CB: Newsome NB: Branch Moss Al. Branch S: Davis Moss S: Flowers Hunter Top Rated Offense: C - Lyons TE - Cravaack WR - Burris HB - Gant TE - Alexander Top Rated Defense: S - Moss NB - Branch CB - Newsome DT - Hull S - Flowers

Williams slaps the Miami player right in front of Moorhead and he doesn’t say a word???

That’ll do it. Safety comes up with his head down and completely whiffs on the tackle. Touchdown. Defense was in place for the stop and poor form gives Miami another long run.

And we’re now rolling with backups at LT, RT, and RG.

And then we come right back with a holding penalty. Right on cue. Come on….

Fantastic onside kick. Well done.

Roggow didn’t even see the LB. But another interception was bound to happen when throwing the ball this much.

Looks like ESPN gave Ross-Graves’ half sack to Hull. Poor guy’s position coach won’t play him and then when he does play, ESPN doesn’t give him credit. Now he’s hurt. Tough day.

We shouldn’t be down 10 judging by almost any halftime metric, but here we are. Hopefully, Roggow can get back on track because we can’t get any push on the interior for the run game. Not sure why we’ve gone away from outside zone.

Looked like a block in the back on that big run. Good hold by the defense after that though. Durham is whipping an OT that has been pretty good this year.

The unnecessary stuff we do to kill our own momentum is mind blowing.