Akron: College Football's Factory Of Sadness

Akron, Ohio. When you hear the city's name, what is the first image that comes to mind? More likely than not, it's NBA legend Lebron James. Unfortunately, the town's college football program has done little to make people remember it exists. Ohio has eight FBS football teams. The main attraction is Ohio State. Cincinnati has also been a good program for a while.

However, six of those schools play in the Mid-American Conference. Toledo and Ohio are usually in contention for the conference title regularly. Miami University has been a force in recent years. Bowling Green has had their run of success. The same can be said of Kent State, even though recent times have been bleak.

The Akron Zips are the one outlier of this discussion. The University of Akron joined the FBS level in 1987. After being independent for their first five seasons, the Zips integrated into the MAC in 1992. Akron has had little success during its four-decade run as an FBS team. The school has only seen its football squad play in three bowl games, winning only one. Even that bowl win has a caveat.

The Zips have just one MAC title, which happened in 2005. Their last MAC Championship Game appearance was in 2017, when Akron lost to Toledo by nearly 20 points. The program has gone through seven consecutive losing seasons since and hasn't won more than four games in a single year during that span. According to Sports Reference, the program record is 124 games under .500.

Needless to say, Akron is college football's ultimate factory of sadness. Offensive-minded coach Joe Moorhead was hired in 2022. The results haven't been there as he's compiled a combined record of 8-28 in three seasons. However, things were looking somewhat positive heading into the 2025 campaign.

College Football News even contemplated if they could finally return to the bowl season. Well, the nation's fourth-longest bowl drought will extend another year. Before they even played a game, hopes of a bowl trip were dashed. How? A lack of accountability. The Zips were banned from any postseason play due to poor academic records that were below the standards set by the NCAA.

The football team posted a multi-year Academic Progress Rate score of 914. That is below the 930 threshold needed to stay eligible for postseason bowl games. The APR score has been an issue for Akron since last year, when they were given practice reductions. Now, we live in an era where NIL is big.

People have always questioned if athletes, especially football players, should be held to these academic standards. The questioning is legitimate, as many players don't put much stock into education, since they are focused on making it to the professional ranks in their respective sport. That's a vastly different scenario when compared to the typical college student.

However, the rules are the rules. Rules must be abided by, and for two consecutive years, the Zips have failed to meet those standards. Akron has become the third football team in all of Division 1 to hit a multi-year APR score below expectations. They have joined Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff for teams that are ineligible for the postseason.

According to Reddit CFB Akron has become the fourth FBS program ever to fall short of the standards set by APR scores. In 2023, LSU and New Mexico State fell short due to the COVID-19 pandemic pause. The last FBS team to be banned from the postseason for falling short of the expected APR score was Idaho from 2014 to 2017.

Once again, Akron is college football's ultimate factory of sadness. Shame on you, Zips. At least they get to share misery with Kent State.