Ohio State football is back.
Akron
zips
Those five words sum up all the reasons for Buckeye fans to be excited this week because OSU’s Week 1 opponent isn’t going to be on the first line of a marquee anytime soon.
The Buckeyes open their 2024 schedule with a cupcake in every sense of the word, and anything less than the total annihilation of in-state Akron would be below expectations for Ohio State. It’s the first of three Group of Five schools – all of whom were below .500 in 2023 – OSU plays to open its campaign, with Western Michigan and Marshall to follow in the second and third games of the season.
Still, Ohio State will be eager to tune up some of its areas of focus and finally hit some people other than each other on Saturday.
Worst Opponent on Paper
Joe Moorhead has gone 2-10 each of his first two seasons as Akron’s head coach, and the Zips don’t inspire a lot of confidence that they’ll contend for a MAC title in 2024.
No returning players rushed for more than 14 yards on last year’s team. No players return who hauled in more than 188 yards receiving. That’s from a team which, out of 133 squads in college football, ranked 130th in scoring and 129th in yards per game in 2023. Those offensive futilities are especially frustrating for Akron considering Moorhead’s background as a successful offensive coordinator at Penn State and Oregon.
Akron’s lone two wins last year were against FCS Morgan State 24-21 and Kent State, the Zips’ lone FBS victory, by a 31-27 final. They were outscored by a total of 141 points on the season, with the average result of their games being a 7.8-point loss. The squad did come within two points of a Big Ten upset at least, losing to Indiana just 29-27 in Week 4.
By every measure, the massive edge given to Ohio State by oddsmakers should hold true to form.
A Quarterback Battle Of Their Own
Akron came to the conclusion of its own quarterback competition on Wednesday, much like Ohio State decided its own QB battle on Aug. 15.
Transfer quarterback Ben Finley beat out fellow redshirt junior Tahj Bullock to earn the first snaps of the season. Finley arrived at Akron this offseason after a season at Cal, where he largely took a backseat to freshman Fernando Mendoza while mixing in a few starts. Finley completed 57.4% of his throws for 572 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions with the Golden Bears.
Before that Finley spent three seasons at NC State, only rising above backup status when injuries hit his position room in 2022. He completed 52.8% of his passes for 741 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions in three games as a starter. With both a redshirt and COVID-19 waiver, Finley is a fifth-year player with two years of eligibility remaining.
It’s harder to conceive of a more difficult first test for Finley at Akron than facing the nation’s No. 1 pass defense from 2023.
Defense Better than Offense
Again, Moorhead has been known for offense at his previous stops, but the Zips’ defense was the stronger side of the ball for the team in 2023 and the unit returns more production than its offensive counterparts.
Akron was 81st in points allowed, which is still in the bottom half of college football, but its own offense shoulders some of the blame for that ranking. A lack of consistency moving the ball left the Zips’ opponents with short fields, as reflected by the fact Akron ranked 32nd in total defense, 22nd in pass defense and 58th against the run.
Antavious Fish and Bryan McCoy, who paced the Zips with 95 and 94 tackles, are both back to lead a linebacker corps that is probably the strongest position group on the team. Devonte Golden-Nelson intercepted two passes last year and should lead the cornerback rotation.
What Even is a Zip?
PHIL MASTURZO / USA TODAY NETWORK
If you’re like me, you’ve heard of the Akron Zips much of your life as a native Ohioan and seen their kangaroo pop up at some point and wondered, “What exactly is a zip? And what does it have to do with kangaroos?”
Akron’s nickname has more to do with rubber than any animal, which is no surprise as the city was once known as the rubber capital of the world. The school had a contest to name its athletics teams in 1927, which a student by the name of Margaret Hamilton won with the suggestion of “Zippers.” The name is actually a nod to an overshoe sold by the famed B.F. Goodrich rubber manufacturing company, which is based in Akron and whose name is synonymous with tires.
Overshoes are a pair of rubber shoes worn over a different pair of shoes for protection. Put bluntly, Akron’s athletic teams are nicknamed after rubber shoe covers. The “Zippers” moniker was shortened to “Zips” in 1950.
Zippy the Kangaroo was chosen as the team mascot in 1953 after a suggestion from student Dick Hansford. Kangaroos are native only to Australia and New Guinea. Since a zippered pouch has been added to the mascot, and only female kangaroos have pouches, Zippy is one of a handful of mascots across college football that is officially female.
103 years
Akron presents the only opportunity for Ohio State to lose to another school from Ohio this year, barring a surprise entrance from another Buckeye State program into the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes haven’t lost to another in-state school since 1921, when Oberlin College defeated OSU 7-6.
Some fun facts about the span of time that has passed with Ohio State dominating the 44,825 square miles within Ohio’s border:
- Man’s first moon landing occurred in 1969, 48 years after Oberlin’s victory, and it’s been an even longer period since Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind to today (55 years).
- Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States and the most recent of Ohio’s eight chiefs of state, was in office at the time the Yeomen beat the Buckeyes. There have been 27 presidents since, of which six are still alive. The oldest, Jimmy Carter, will turn 100 in October and has not seen Ohio State lose to an Ohio team on the gridiron.
- Ohio State and Oberlin players who wanted to continue their football careers as professionals would have had limited opportunity to do so as the NFL had just been founded in 1920.
- The first electronic television was demonstrated in 1927, the same year the Zips got their nickname.
- It’s unclear what, if anything, the teams and crowds might have done to honor America the day OSU and Oberlin met but they may not have sung The Star-Spangled Banner as it’s only officially been the U.S.A.’s anthem for 93 years.
- McDonald’s was founded in 1940.
- Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959.
- The Buckeyes are 51-0-1 against teams from Ohio since their loss to Oberlin 103 years ago, winning each of the last 46 contests since they tied Wooster in 1924.
Ohio State will get to work ensuring it goes another year without a loss to an Ohio team at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. CBS will broadcast the Buckeyes’ season opener.
