Since wining the 2005 MAC Championship and appearing in the Motor City Bowl, Akron has not seen much success. They have been close to .500 three times, but have not had a winning season since that 2005 season. Rob Ianello went 1-11 in both of his two years with the Zips in 2010 and 2011. Terry Bowden came in and went 1-11 in 2012 with only 10 starter returning. Let us look at the 2013 season for Akron.

2013 Akron Zips Season

7 starters returned on both offense and defense, which allowed Terry Bowden to see more success. They opened with a crushing loss at Central Florida, but followed that up with a close win over James Madison, 35-33. They played an excellent game versus Michigan in the Big House, but gave could not get a touchdown on the final play to pull the miracle upset and lost 28-24. They played Louisiana Lafayette close, but lost 35-30. Conference play began with three straight defeats, but Akron ended the season by wining 4 of their last 5 games. The entire 2013 schedule can be seen below.

Offense

The offense has 7 returning starters, which is the same number as a season ago. Quarterback Kyle Pohl was the starter in 2013 and finished with 2,438 yards (56%), 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He and his backup, Nick Hirschman, were banged up last year, which hurt the rushing numbers. This unit should be even better in 2014.

The entire running back unit returns, which is more good news for Akron. Jawon Chisholm led the unit with 869 yards (4.6 average) and 8 touchdowns in 2013. Chisholm also had 27 catches for 211 yards and 1 touchdown in 2013. He also finished with 961 yards in 2011 and 953 yards in 2012. Conor Hundley was the backup and he finished with 425 yards (4.2 average). DJ Jones also returns after recording 111 rushing yards. With the depth and experience this unit returns, they should definitely improve on their 123 rushing yards per game from 2013.

The wide receivers return the top three and 9 of the top 10 from a year ago. Zach D’Orazio led the team with 42 catches for 567 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2013. Fransohn Bickley had 39 catches for 407 yards and 2 touchdowns while LT Smith had 24 catches for 428 yards and 3 touchdowns. Also returning is Tyrell Goodman, Andrew Pratt, Mykel Traylor-Bennett, and Imani Davis. In addition, senior Keith Sconiers is returning after miss the entire 2013 season. Sconiers had 714 yards receiving in 2012. This unit should do quite well in 2014 with a more experienced quarterback throwing to them.

The hardest hit area on offense was the line. Only two starters return, in center Travis Switzer and right guard Dylan Brumbaugh. Left guard Joe McNamara spent three years at the University of Wisconsin and made 5 starts for Akron in 2013. He will need to have a more prominent role this year if Akron is to give the necessary time to the quarterback to throw. There are enough pieces here for the line to have a decent year.

Defense

The defense made strong strides in 2013 compared to 2012. In 2012, the Zips gave up an average of 450 yards and 35.7 points per game. They improved dramatically in 2013 to 28.6 points and 397 yards per game. In 2014, they will have 7 starters back, just as they did in 2013.

The defensive line returns two starters in end Nordly Capi and nose guard Cody Grice. Capi had 31 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2.5 tackles-for-loss in 2013 while Grice recorded 32 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 5 tackles-for-loss. Also in the mix is former Ohio State player Se’Von Pittman. This unit gave up 164 yards per game in 2013 and could come close to that again this season.

All three linebackers return for Akron and that is some great news. Weakside linebacker Jatavis Brown was the leading tackler in 2013 with 107 stops. He also had 2 sacks, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, and 2 pass breakups. Strongside linebacker Justin March was second on the team with 80 tackles. He added 1 sack, 3.5 tackles-for-loss, 2 pass breakups, and 3 interceptions. Former Florida State and Washington State player CJ Mizell will station the middle. Mizell only started 3 games in 2013, but finished the year with 41 tackles, 2 sacks, and 5.5 tackles-for-loss. This unit will be the strength of the Akron defense.

Only one full time starter returns from last year for the Zips. Costless safety Johnny Robinson started 9 games and finished with 37 tackles, 1 tackle-for-loss, 2 pass breakups, and 2 interceptions while also being injured at the end of the year. Cornerback Donte Williams started three games in 2013 and should have a bigger role to play in 2014. Bryce Cheek at cornerback and Bre’ Ford at the ROVER position have seen plenty of action over their careers and should fill in as starters this season. The secondary gave up an average of 233 passing yards per game in 2013 and anything close to that would be considered an accomplishment.

Special Teams

The entire special teams unit returns in 2014. Robert Stein will need to improve after going 9 of 16 on field goals with a long of 51 yards in 2013. Punter Zach Paul had a solid 42.9 yards per punt on 65 punts in 2013. He will continue that great play in 2014. Imani Davis had only 10 punt returns for 39 yards and will need to improve that area for the Zips to get better field position. Finally, LT Smith and Fransohn Bickley both come back to return kickoffs. Smith had an average of 21.1 yards and Bickley averaged 16.6 yards. Overall, this unit should be solid for Akron.

2014 Season Outlook

Terry Bowden did well in 2013 to improve Akron from 1-11 to 5-7. He should a great chance at improving Akron in 2014 as well, but the non-conference schedule does not help the Zips. The entire 2014 schedule is below.

Akron begins with a winnable game versus Howard. However, games against Penn State, Marshall, and Pittsburgh will probably leave Akron at 1-3 entering the MAC portion of their schedule.

Akron does have a nice schedule in 2014 to help them reach at least 6-6. Eastern Michigan, Miami (OH), Ohio, Buffalo, Massachusetts, and Kent State are all winnable games, which would leave Akron at 7-5 should they sweep through those games. Even a slip up would put Akron at 6-6, which may be enough to see them get back to a bowl game for the first time since 2005.