Week Six: Akron Travels to Western Michigan – University of Akron Athletics

WHAT’S AHEAD
For the Zips third #MACtion contest, Akron travels to Kalamazoo, Mich. to battle the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Waldo Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be aired on ESPN+ with Shawn Kenney (PxP) and Charlie Strong (Analyst) calling the action.
 
Television: ESPN+ – Shawn Kenney (PxP) and Charlie Strong (Analyst)
Radio: Akron Sports Network – David Skoczen (pxp), Joe Dunn (analyst) WHLO 640 AM (flagship), WHK 1420 AM/102.5 FM, iHeart Radio, TheVarsityNetwork.com
Video Link: www.GoZips.com (subscription may be required)
Live Stats Link: www.GoZips.com
 
HEAD COACHES
WESTERN MICHIGAN (2-3, 1-0 MAC)
Lance Taylor (Alabama, 2003)
at WMU (2nd): 6-11
Overall (2nd): Same
 
AKRON ZIPS (1-5, 0-2 MAC)
JOE MOORHEAD (Fordham, 1996)
at Akron (3rd): 5-25
Overall (8th): 57-50
 
SERIES HISTORY
Akron is encountering Western Michigan for the 22nd time in program history with the Broncos owning a 16-5 series advantage. In the last meeting between the two schools (Nov. 9, 2021), Akron battled to the final play of the game with a chance to secure the victory only to come up five points shy in 45-40 setback at Western Michigan. In the previous meeting (Nov. 4, 2020), Western Michigan registered a 58-13 season-opening triumph over the Zips at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field. The series between the two schools dates back to the 1938 campaign when Akron earned a 6-0 home victory over Western Michigan.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
Western Michigan opened MAC play with a 45-42 win over Ball State and currently sits 2-3 overall on the season, defeating Bethune-Cookman (59-31) and falling to Wisconsin (28-14), No. 2 Ohio State (56-0), and Marshall (27-20). The Broncos average 27.6 points per game on 299.0 total yards of offense per game. The WMU balanced attack averages 181.8 yards on the ground and 181.4 yards through the air. Defensively, opponents average 36.80 points on 345.0 yards per game, allowing 244.8 yards in the air and 183.8 on the ground.
 
QB Hayden Wolff leads the offense, completing 76 of 109 attempts with two INT’s for 907 yards (181.4 avg) and seven touchdowns. Jaden Nixon does the bulk of the work on the ground, averaging 7.1 yards per carry for 484 total yards (96.8 yds/g) with six TDs. Jean Buckley and Zahir Abdus-Salaam add 56.0 and 45.0 yards per game with both having two TDs each. Anthony Sambucci leads the receiving corps with 22 catches for 286 yards and two TDs (57.2 yds/g and 13.0 yards/reception), followed by Blake Bosma (15-157 yds-31.4 yds/g-2 TD) and Kenneth Womack (13-111 yds-8.54 yds/g). WMU  generated 29 tackles for loss of 104 yards with 11 sacks (69 yds). Donald Wilis paces the defense with 43 tackles and 3.5 TFL for 10 yards. Tate Hallock follows with 2.5 tackles for loss (6 yds) on 31 total takedowns. In addition, Isaiah Green and Cory Walker lead the squad in sacks with 3.0 each. Bilhal Kone and Jacob Wahlberg are the third and fourth best tacklers on the team with 29.0 and 28.0 takedowns.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Akron fell 30-10 to Ohio at Peden Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Zips offense was led by redshirt junior Ben Finley’s 196 passing yards (25-38-2) that featured a 17-yard strike to redshirt sophomore Jake Newell for a touchdown. Sophomore Adrian Norton led the receiving corps with five receptions for 59 yards while Newell hauled in eight passes for 44 yards and the Zips lone touchdown. Junior Bobby Golden added five catches for 49 yards. Akron  The defense was led by junior Bryan McCoy’s 14 tackles while redshirt juniors Justin Anderson and Darrian Lewis each had eight. Akron forced three fumbles on the day against the Bobcats, with senior Paul Lewis III, redshirt senior Kabbash Richards and redshirt junior Aman Greenwood each forcing one. Redshirt freshman Marcus Moore, Jr. and redshirt junior Malcom DeWalt IV recovered two of the three fumbles (one each). Richards and senior Bennett Adler were able to get to Ohio’s quarterback with the pair each recording one sack. Adler recorded a nine yard loss, while posted a five yard loss. Akron’s defense recorded a season-high 85 tackles in the loss.
 
AKRON 2024 CAPTAINS
The Zips elected junior LB Bryan McCoy (Chicago, Ill.) as captain for the second consecutive season. McCoy is joined by senior DL Bennett Adler (Lakewood, Ohio), redshirt junior WR Myles Walker (Monaca, Pa.) and redshirt junior QB Ben Finley (Phoenix, Ariz.) as captains for Akron for the 2024 campaign.
 
WHO IS WEARING NO. 1
Senior DL Bennett Adler and redshirt junior WR Myles Walker have emerged as leaders for third-year head coach Joe Moorhead as the Zips enter their season opener at Ohio State on Aug. 31 and the duo was recently rewarded with the No. 1 jerseys for the upcoming campaign.
 
Under Moorhead at Akron, head strength and conditioning coach Orie Sahlfeld identifies one player on each side of the ball that demonstrated their leadership both on and off the field over the course of the spring to earn the privilege of wearing the No. 1 jersey in the Akron Blue and Gold for the 2024 season.
 
ABOUT AKRON
• Akron has recorded 70 or more tackles four times this season (85 at Ohio, 75 at South Carolina, 73 vs Bowling Green, 71 at Rutgers).
• The Zips have had a player record 10 or more tackles in four games this season.
• Bryan McCoy led the Zips with 12 tackles (Bowling Green 10/6/24)
• Bennett Adler has recorded a sack in three straight games.
• After going 2-for-2 against the Falcons, Garrison Smith is now 7-of-8 (87.5%) on field goals this season.
• 5-of-7 of Smith’s FG have been from 40+ yards
• Ben Finley has completed over 65 percent of his passes in back-to-back games
• Akron is 5th in the MAC for passing yards (1,165)
• The Zips are 5th in the MAC for passing TDs (7)
• Akron is 2nd in the MAC for FG percentage (87.5)
• The Zips are 4th in the MAC for Fumbles Forced (4)
• The Zips are tied for 2nd in the MAC for Fumbles Recovered (5)
• Jordan Simmons is 9th in the MAC with 255 total rushing yards and  14th in the MAC with 42.5 yards per game
• Finley is tied for 4th in the MAC for passing TDs with seven
• Adrian Norton is tied for 4th in the MAC for receiving TDs with three
• Norton is 5th in the MAC for total receiving yards with 373
• Norton is 2nd in the MAC for Yards per catch with 18.7
• Norton is 8th in the MAC for Yards per game with 18.7
• Bobby Golden is 14th in the MAC for total receiving yards with 239
• Golden is 5th in the MAC for Yards per catch with 15.9
• Golden is 20th in the MAC for Yards per game with 39.8
• Avery Book is 1st in the MAC for punting yards (1763), punts inside the 20 (12), punts of 50 or more yards (18) and average punt yards per game (46.4)
• Book is 3rd in the MAC for longest punt (61 yards)
• Smith is 4th in the MAC for made field goals (7) field goal percentage (87.5) and 3rd in the MAC for longest field goal (49 yards)
• Akron is 7th in the NCAA for recovered fumbles (5)
• Nathan Kapongo is tied for 1st in the NCAA for recovered fumbles (2)
• Book is 11th in NCAA for punting yards (46.0)
• Norton is 37th in the NCAA for yards per reception (18.65)
• Golden is 89th in the NCAA for Yards per reception (15.93)
• The Zips recorded a season-high 75 tackles at South Carolina.
• Senior Antavious Fish and junior Bryan McCoy led the defense with 16 combined tackles with eight each at South Carolina.
• Three players (D. Lewis 12, McCoy (9), Paul Lewis III (9) had at least nine tackles against Colgate
• Akron recorded 416 yards on offense while holding Colgate to 243.
• Golden set a career-high for longest reception with a 56-yard catch for a TD from Finley.
• Golden’s 56-yard reception was the longest since Alex Adams had a 54-yard and 61-yard reception against Eastern Michigan on November 8, 2022.
• Akron featured a pair of 100-yard receivers as Norton (125) and Golden (119) both hauled in over 100 yards. The pair were the first Zips to both have a 100-yard game since November 1, 2023, when the Zips defeated Kent State for the Wagon Wheel.
• Akron saw 31 of its 61 tackles come from D.Lewis (12), McCoy (9) and P.Lewis (9).
• Zips recorded the first two sacks of the season as Lama Lavea recorded Akron’s first Sack and CJ Nunnally IV had a strip sack to close the game. Nathan Kapongo recovered the fumble.
• Akron converted 7 of 14 third downs vs Rutgers
• Jordon Simmons recorded the TD longest run from scrimmage (73 yds) since 2015
• Jordon Simmons collected 109 yards rushing, averaging 12.1 yards per carry
• Daymon David INT marked the Zips first takeaway and appearance of the turnover tire in 2024
• Adrain Norton scored the Zips first TD in 2024 32 yd pass from Ben Finley
• McCoy (11) and Fish (10) combined for 21 tackles vs Rutgers
•Garrison Smith converted on two field goals of 48 and 49 yards, marking longest since 2015 for Akron (Robert Stein, 50 yards (11-14-15)
• Akron converted 4 of 16 third downs while Ohio State was successful on 9 of 14.
• Avery Book punted six times with an average of 48.2 yards per punt
• Akron went 2-for-3 on fourth down, converting on 66.7 percent of attempts.
 
UP NEXT
Week seven is the bye week for the Akron. The Zips return to #MACtion at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field against Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 26. Kickoff is TBD.