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Robert Morris enters Saturday’s matchup 2-0 with wins over Wagner (1-1) and West Virginia State (DII, 1-1). The Colonials are averaging 28.5 PPG and holding opponents to 8 PPG. The offense is producing 228.5 yards through the air and 127.5 on the ground, while allowing opponents 111.5 in the air and 92 on the ground. QB: Carson Haggard started his collegiate career at Tulane in 2022. He did not see any action during his two years with the Green Wave and subsequently transferred to Abilene Christian. At Abilene, Haggard played in three games in 2024, but did not play in 2025. This should be his final season of college football. Through two games, Haggard has thrown for 430 yards, 6 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and completed 56% of his passes. When kept clean Haggard completes 61% of his passes, compared to only 39% when pressured. The Colonials are willing to role Haggard out and call some designed runs for him as he has some mobility and can be effective as a runner. RB: Junior Keino Fitzpatrick is the starter after being shifted from wide receiver to running back this offseason. Fitzpatrick is small in stature, but has some shiftiness about him. He currently has 95 yards on 17 attempts, along with 3 receptions for 21 yards. WR: Cincinnati, Ohio native Galen Combs leads the team in receiving yards with 188 on 6 receptions and also has 4 touchdowns. However, the receiver that has been targeted the most is redshirt sophomore Jaqai Carter. Carter has 8 receptions for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. Both players have some length to them as Combs is 6’2” and Carter is 6’0”. TE: Arkansas Pine-Bluff transfer Tyreke Jinks is the starter at tight end. He is mostly utilized as a blocker, but the Colonials will take advantage of his receiving ability. Jinks has 2 receptions for 10 yards and has been targeted 4 times. OL: The offensive line has yet to give up a sack this season: LT - Jarvis Williams (6’5 300lbs) (So.) LG - Marc Koumoundouros (6’3 285) (Sr.) C - Pete Jarvis (6’2 295) (R. So.) RG - Vincent Boila (6’4 300) (So.) RT - Grant Murin (6’4 285) (Sr.) DL: Robert Morris deploys a 3-3-5 and will usually bring down an OLB as an overhang into a 4-2-5. Utah State transfer John Gayer and sophomore Asher Wilson start at the defensive end spots with junior David Johnson in the middle. Redshirt senior Khalil Hunter is the linebacker who will usually walk down as the overhang. The defense as a whole has collected 8 sacks on the season. LB: Chattanooga transfer Amanuel Dickson and Columbus, Ohio native Jake Lopinto are the other starting linebackers. They’ve collected 15 and 12 total tackles, respectively. DB: Columbus, Ohio native Mekhi Kilburn and senior Ronnie Woods are the starting cornerbacks. Senior Tahseen Howard is the nickleback and punt returner. Former Ball State transfer Elijah Davis and former Akron transfer Noel Roach are the starters at safety. Kilburn, Woods, and Howard have been targeted fairly evenly by opposing offenses. ST: Kicker Lucca Alcarez-Valens is 7 for 7 on extra point attempts, but has missed his only field goal attempt. He has also put 5 of his 10 kickoffs into the endzone. Punter Bryson Costa averages nearly 46 yards per punt with four of 50+ yards and three downed inside the 20. Keys on Offense: Get push in the run game early and give the backs room to work. Gant doesn’t need much room to operate anyway and if Akron can get Gant and Patrick going, it’ll open up all kinds of opportunities for the Zips talented receiver corps. Keys on Defense: Pass rush and depth development. Durham did not play against Wake and he should add at least a little more edge pressure when he does return. The defensive line as a whole must get more push than what we saw against the Deacons. This will be a good opportunity to find which players step up in game situations and have the potential to contribute in conference action. Final Thoughts: The Colonials coaching staff has done a great job getting the most out of the talent they have. However, Akron is more talented across the board and will easily be the most physical opponent Robert Morris has faced in 2026. Zips should win this game handily.

Player Participation/Depth Chart & PFF now added to original post. I went back and rewatched the first three quarters. When I saw PFF had Nunoo rated so highly, I thought it must be wrong. It wasn’t. Some of the plays I thought Johnson made were actually made by Nunoo. I retract that Curtis should be starting. Although, I do think Curtis should be the third man in the rotation at this time, the starters should definitely be Nunoo and Johnson based off this game. Our secondary tackled well outside of the one busted tackle that led to the long touchdown. I couldn’t tell if that tackle was missed by Moss or Davis. There were a few bad angles taken after catches, though. Coverage was actually pretty solid. It’s just unrealistic to expect coverage to be great when the QB has that much time to throw the ball. On offense, it looked to me like we did not identify several of Wake’s blitzes. There really weren’t a ton of times where we flat out got beat one-on-one in pass protection. However, as mentioned before, we didn’t get much push in the run game either. I was really impressed with RG Hampton. He’s one I doubt we’ll be able to keep around too long. On the other hand, redshirt freshman Gould struggled at LT. One other note is that TE Alexander made some nice blocks on the perimeter.

I’m not going to do as in-depth of a take on this game, though will touch on a handful of things. Offense: CB is a playmaker and will only get better with game experience. His mobility is going to be invaluable to this offense. Also, Roggow looked confident and in command with the backups, which is something every team wants to see out of their backup quarterback, but often isn’t the case. What was even more impressive is that Roggow moved the offense with all backups in around him. I really like what we have at the skill positions and look forward to when the OL starts to gel. Speaking of the OL, they were overwhelmed in the first half against Wake’s ones. Once the twos came in, our OL more than held their own. I think we have some guys in place to have another solid OL, but it’s probably going to take a few games to figure it out. Defense: I’m already on the JD Williams bandwagon. He looked like he belonged and was a load in the middle. However, I didn’t like that he seemed to get gassed so quickly. Omari Obor looked explosive against the backups and also when he was left unblocked against the ones. He’ll need to continue to develop as a pass rusher, but he’s going to be difficult for MAC opponents to deal with. Waye and Kavals also had their moments. Outside of those guys, our pass rush and effectiveness against the run was almost nonexistent. I liked what I saw out of Daunte Curtis and Donelius Johnson at linebacker. I believe they should be receiving most of the snaps from here on out. It’s hard to say much about the secondary. They at least tried to play physically, but they were put in bad spots way too often. Besides all of the penalties, I think Wake is a solid team that should at least make a bowl game. The Zips came out, fought to the end, and came away with some positives to build on. Next week should be a blowout as Robert Morris just isn’t that good. QB: Broughton Roggow RB: Gant Patrick Williams Curry RWR: Burris Myers LWR: Ma. Williams Hills SWR: Sivon Mason Hilburn Louis TE: Alexander Cravaack Hook LT: Gould Slayden Shor LG: Smith Archer Hoskins C Lyons Mobley RG: Hampton Archer RT: Jones Gould RDE: Abor Waye LDE: D. Frazier Waye RDT: Hull Williams Brown-Demery LDT: Mixon Kavals E. Davis MLB: Jones D. Johnson Reeves WLB: Nunoo Curtis Hocker NB: AA. Branch AL. Branch Moss RCB: White Newsome LCB: Thomas Hobson SS: Flowers Davis FS: Hunter Davis KO/XP: Stire FG: Schramm P: Castle Top Rated Offense (15 snap minimum): WR Hilburn WR Ma. Williams RT Jones LT Slayden WR Mason Top Rated Defense (15 snap minimum): NB AA Branch LB Nunoo CB White DT Williams S Davis

When was the last time we saw a backup QB look not just functional, but efficient? And that’s with being in there will all the backups.

Nice drive against Wake’s backups. Helped by penalties, but I’ll take it.

Wake just scored in the exact same play they ran earlier in the drive on 4th down. And we did the exact same thing in not stopping it. Good play design though.

A few take aways from the first half: 1) CB is a player and his mobility is going to be a big asset for us in conference play. However, he needs to learn how to avoid big hits or he won’t be available in many games. 2) Our OL is clearly a work in progress and we simply can’t block Wake’s DL. We’ve gotten confused several times on Wake’s blitzes. I’m glad we finally went away from the inside zone in the run game. When inside zone isn’t working, counter and outside zone are the next best bets and we ran some nice counters in the 2nd quarter. 3) Pass rush is a problem…again. I’m not going to blast our secondary as they don’t stand a chance with the amount of time Lopez is getting. That said, I am going to be critical of the entire defense for looking lost on too many plays in the first quarter. 4) JD Williams is a beast on the interior against the run, but he needs to get in better shape. 5) Freshman Daunte Curtis is going to be a player. 6) Receivers look as expected. If the OL can hold up a little longer, which they should against other MAC teams, this offense will have a chance at some big plays. 7) I want to see us compete and make some things happen in the second half.

A co-worker of mine played at Bowling Green and told me a few months ago that Novosad “isn’t any good.”

Good for him! I remember watching his JUCO film a few years ago and thinking how long and athletic he looked. It took him a year for the light to finally go on, but when it did he never looked back.

https://www.hudl.com/video/3/6289675/690f920374301bea69fa212f Hudl film of Sac State’s freshman RB. If I’m SS I’m riding this kid as far as he can go this season.

I keep saying G5. I guess the PAC is now considered G6 isn’t it?

I caught parts of the Memphis/UNLV game. Both teams looked really good to me. Memphis is running the Heupel/Tennessee offense and has the players to do it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think they are candidates for the G5 playoff spot this year. Their QB, Stokes, is a stud.

I watched most of the Robert Morris game. They aren’t good, but Wagner is worse. Both teams struggled to get any push in the run game and neither team’s defensive front looked that impressive. RM scored on a blocked punt and then on short field position in the first half. They scored on a post-corner route in the 3rd where the WR reversed field and outran the defense - two of Wagner’s DBs took bad angles. I didn’t watch all of the fourth quarter, but I know the same receiver scored another touchdown. Regardless of the Zips QB situation, this should be an easy win in a few weeks as I don’t think RM will be able to move the ball much on our defense and I seriously doubt they’ll be able to stop our run game.

EMU looks like a typical EMU team from the past few years. It’s definitely a winnable game.

EMU should’ve already put this game away. Sac State is not a good team. Total yards at the half: EMU = 260, SS = 34. Edit: I will say SS has a freshman RB I’d take in a heartbeat. If they utilize him more often, they may have a chance to be competitive in a few games this year.

Wake Forest (1-0) Week 1: Win 38-16 vs Akron (0-1) Week 2: at Purdue (1-0) Robert Morris (2-0) Week 0: Win 28-7 at Wagner (1-1) Week 1: Win 29-9 vs West Virginia State (DII) (0-1) Week 2: at Akron (0-1) Minnesota (1-0) Week 1: Win 59-7 vs Eastern Illinois (1-1) Week 2: vs Mississippi State (1-0) UNLV (1-1) Week 0: Loss 27-21 vs Memphis (2-0) Week 1: Win 21-6 at Hawaii (0-2) Week 2: at North Texas (0-1) Central Michigan (0-1) Week 1: Loss 38-7 at New Mexico (1-0) Week 2: vs Colgate (2-0) Eastern Michigan (1-1 Overall, 1-0 MAC) Week 0: Win 28-17 vs Sacremento State (1-1) Week 1: Loss 27-21 vs San Jose State (1-1) Week 2: at Michigan State (1-0) Miami (0-1) Week 1: Loss 59-14 at Pittsburgh (0-1) Week 2: vs Holy Cross (0-2) Kent State (0-1) Week 1: Loss 57-0 at South Carolina (1-0) Week 2: vs Wofford (2-0) Ohio (0-1) Week 1: Loss 49-21 at Nebraska (1-0) Week 2: vs Jacksonville State (1-1) Western Michigan (0-1) Week 1: Loss 13-12 at Michigan (1-0) Week 2: vs Monmouth (1-1) UMASS (1-0) Week 1: Win 37-21 at Rutgers (0-1) Week 2: vs Sacred Heart (0-1) Buffalo (1-0) Week 1: Win 21-17 vs Albany (1-1) Week 2: at FIU (0-1)

Wake surprised and won 9 games last season, though they may be hard-pressed to replicate that success in 2026. In the off-season, the staff targeted older transfers—with experience—in an attempt to create a more veteran team. QB: UNC/South Alabama transfer Gio Lopez will take the reins of the offense in 2026. He’s completed nearly 66% of his passes for 4,781 yards and 32 touchdowns versus 12 interceptions in his collegiate career. However, he can be feast or famine at times. For example, in Wake’s last scrimmage, he completed nine straight passes before proceeding to go 3 of 15 with two interceptions to close out the scrimmage. Edge: Wake RB: Junior Ty Clark is the expected starter after collecting 323 yards and 3 touchdowns last year—including a performance of 91 rushing and 73 receiving yards in the bowl game. Edge: Akron WR: Carlos Hernandez is on several All-ACC preseason teams as a receiver and/or kick returner. The senior had 40 receptions for 611 yards and 3 touchdowns last season—including a 93-yard touchdown reception. Rice transfer Drayden Dickmann and Louisville transfer Antonio Meeks should be the other starters. Edge: Akron TE: Senior Kamrean Johnson should step into the starter role after being the primary backup in 2025. Edge: Even OL: Only one starter returns from last year, and he has been working with the second unit—at a different position than he played last year. Wake will likely roll out three FCS transfers, a transfer from Oregon State, and a second-year player along the starting OL. Holding penalties have apparently been an issue with this new group during camp. Edge: Even DE: Redshirt seniors Langston Hardy and Gabe Kirschke provide a legitimate pass rush off the edge. The duo combined for 12 sacks in 2025, with Hardy also listed on the Chuck Bednarik Award Watchlist. Edge: Wake DT: Weber State transfer Matt Herron, former Idaho transfer Dallas Afalava, and redshirt senior Zach Lohavichan will receive the majority of snaps on the interior of the defensive line. Edge: Wake LB: Senior Aiden Hall returns as one starting linebacker and is on several All-ACC preseason teams after amassing 73 total tackles in 2025. He will be flanked by redshirt sophomore Frank Cusano, who collected 45 total tackles last season. Edge: Wake CB: FIU transfer and former CUSA Honorable Mention Duece Blades will start at one corner. Redshirt senior Ashaad Williams, who played in four games last year, is expected to start opposite Blades. Edge: Wake S: Redshirt junior Davaughn Patterson resumes his role as a starter, where he had 80 total tackles and 9 passes defended and has been named to several All-ACC preseason teams. Braylon Johnson is also back as a returning starter after collecting 38 total tackles last season. Redshirt sophomore Rushaun Tongue should fill in at the other safety spot. Edge: Wake ST: Connor Calvert returns after going 18 of 22 on field goals and 32 of 33 on extra points. Australian freshman Ethan Hyams will likely take over punting duties. Edge: Wake Prediction: I’m sticking with my original preseason prediction and going with a loss here. I didn’t feel great about our rebuilt OL versus Wake’s DL before, and now that issue will likely be compounded with a redshirt freshman at quarterback. Hopefully, Broughton can offset his inexperience with some natural playmaking ability. I am anxious to see how our DL fares against Wake’s OL. I think this is an area where we could hold our own. However, our linebacking corps could offset this line of thinking.

He’s a former Hustlebelt writer. I’m 99% sure he doesn’t have any connections to the program and is going off a site like 247 for arrivals and departures.

I was referring more to the ability to keep the guys headed to other G5 programs, like Spriggs to Southern Miss. No way we’d be able to match what most of the power programs are offering.

That’s too bad. He had the physical ability to develop into a really good lineman for us.

Impressive. Goodrich is doing work. Hopefully the football program will have a budget on par with the rest of the MAC soon as well. The current staff has shown they can consistently identify talent and develop those players. We have to raise enough funds for retention. It’s a tough road losing the best players year after year.

I think he made some good points and had some informative things to say, but he was clearly lost when it came to most of the portal additions. It seemed like he wasn’t too familiar with backups who didn’t play much last year either and ended up throwing out the one name he could think of. Definitely not the best look, but it wasn’t a terrible interview either.

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)

I think Zips fans are going to love this LB in a few years. While he has good size, he may not be quite as athletic as some of the other linebackers we’ve recruited, but he’s incredibly physical and has a good nose for the ball. Reminds me of Bubba in that sense.