2019 Akron Zips football team

The 2019 Akron Zips football team represented the University of Akron during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Zips were led by first-year head coach Tom Arth and played their home games at InfoCision Stadium in Akron, Ohio. They competed as members of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

2019 Akron Zips football
Conference	Mid-American Conference
	East Division
2019 record	0–12 (0–8 MAC)
Head coach	Tom Arth (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Tommy Zagorski (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Matt Feeney (1st season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	InfoCision Stadium–Summa Field (Capacity: 27,881)

2019 Mid-American Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Miami x$		6	–	2					8	–	6
Ohio		5	–	3					7	–	6
Buffalo		5	–	3					8	–	5
Kent State		5	–	3					7	–	6
Bowling Green		2	–	6					3	–	9
Akron		0	–	8					0	–	12
West Division
Central Michigan x		6	–	2					8	–	6
Western Michigan		5	–	3					7	–	6
Ball State		4	–	4					5	–	7
Northern Illinois		4	–	4					5	–	7
Toledo		3	–	5					6	–	6
Eastern Michigan		3	–	5					6	–	7
Championship: Miami 26, Central Michigan 21
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions

The 2019 Zips lost every single game on their schedule, finishing with an 0–12 overall record and an 0–8 record in MAC play. They finished in last place in the East Division. CBS Sports rated Akron 130th in their ranking of all 130 FBS teams.[1] The Zips were the only Division I FBS team to go winless in the 2019 season.

Preseason

Coaching changes

Following the firing of seven-year head coach Terry Bowden at the end of the 2018 season, Akron announced the hiring of Tom Arth on December 14, 2018.[2] Arth had spent the previous two seasons as the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, leading them to records of 3–8 and 6–5 in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Before Chattanooga, he was the head coach at John Carroll University, where he led the team to an upset victory over No. 1 Mount Union to claim an Ohio Athletic Conference title in 2016 and was named D3football.com Coach of the Year.

Tom Arth announced the members of his coaching staff in January and March 2019.[3][4] Among them were defensive coordinator Matt Feeney and offensive coordinator Tommy Zagorski, who both served in the same roles on Arth's staff at Chattanooga.

MAC media poll

The MAC released their preseason media poll on July 23, 2019, with the Zips predicted to finish in fifth place in the East Division.[5]

East Division
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Ohio	144 (24)
2	Miami	107
3	Buffalo	100
4	Kent State	62
5	Akron	54
6	Bowling Green	37

Schedule

Akron's non-conference slate will consist of home games against UAB of Conference USA and Troy of the Sun Belt Conference, and road games against Illinois of the Big Ten Conference and UMass, a football independent.

In Mid-American Conference play, the Zips will play home games against Kent State, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, and Ohio; and road games against Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, and Miami. They will not play games against West Division members Ball State, Toledo, or Western Michigan as part of the regular season.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	Noon	at Illinois*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 3–42	30,654
September 7	Noon	UAB*	InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH	CBSSN	L 20–31	18,972
September 14	3:00 p.m.	at Central Michigan	Kelly/Shorts Stadium Mount Pleasant, MI	ESPN+	L 24–45	18,641
September 21	3:00 p.m.	Troy*	InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH	ESPN+	L 7–35	16,954
September 28	3:30 p.m.	at UMass*	Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium Hadley, MA	FloSports	L 29–37	7,284
October 12	3:30 p.m.	Kent State	InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH (Wagon Wheel)	ESPN3	L 3–26	22,692
October 19	3:00 p.m.	Buffalo	InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH	ESPN3	L 0–21	16,909
October 26	3:30 p.m.	at Northern Illinois	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	ESPN3	L 0–49	9,027
November 2	2:00 p.m.	at Bowling Green	Doyt Perry Stadium Bowling Green, OH	ESPN+	L 6–35	12,113
November 12	6:00 p.m.	Eastern Michigan	InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH	ESPNews	L 14–42	10,811
November 20	7:30 p.m.	at Miami (OH)	Yager Stadium Oxford, OH	ESPNU	L 17–20	22,921
November 26	6:00 p.m.	Ohio	InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH	ESPN+	L 3–52	21,414
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after November 5 released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Source:[6]

Personnel

Coaching staff

[7]

• Tom Arth - Head coach
• Matt Feeney – Defensive Coordinator / Inside Linebackers
• Tommy Zagorski – Offensive coordinator / Offensive Line
• Brian Cochran – Defensive Line
• Chris Cook – Tight ends / Offensive Tackles
• Jonathan Cooley – Defensive Backs / Corners & Nickels
• Jayden Everett – Running Backs
• Shelton Felton – Outside Linebackers / Defensive Ends
• Bryan Gasser – Pass Game Coordinator / Wide Receivers
• Chris Hurd – Special Teams / Fullbacks / Halfbacks
• Oscar Rodriguez, Jr. – Secondary / Safeties

Game summaries

at Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	3	0	0	0	3
Fighting Illini	14	14	14	0	42

UAB

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blazers	7	10	14	0	31
Zips	6	0	0	14	20

at Central Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	0	10	0	14	24
Chippewas	3	24	3	15	45

Troy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Trojans	7	14	14	0	35
Zips	7	0	0	0	7

at UMass

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	7	7	7	8	29
Minutemen	7	13	14	3	37

Kent State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	10	0	9	26
Zips	0	3	0	0	3

Buffalo

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulls	7	0	7	7	21
Zips	0	0	0	0	0

at Northern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	0	0	0	0	0
Huskies	7	14	14	14	49

at Bowling Green

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	6	0	0	0	6
Falcons	7	14	7	7	35

Eastern Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	7	14	14	7	42
Zips	0	0	7	7	14

at Miami (OH)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Zips	0	3	7	7	17
RedHawks	3	14	3	0	20

Ohio

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bobcats	14	17	7	14	52
Zips	3	0	0	0	3

References

1. "College Football Rankings 2019 - CBS Sports 130". CBS Sports. December 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
2. Caron, Emily (December 14, 2018). "UT-Chattanooga's Tom Arth Named Akron Football Coach". Sports Illustrated.
3. "Akron Football Adds Assistant Coaches, Staff". GoZips.com. University of Akron. January 9, 2019.
4. "Arth Completes Akron Football Staff". GoZips.com. University of Akron. March 8, 2019.
5. "MAC Announces 2019 Preseason Football Poll". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
6. "2019 Akron Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2019-10-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)