Akron stole one from Central Michigan last October, and the Chippewas get a shot at payback under the lights on Friday, October 2.
Bush’s Picks
AKRCMU
AKRCMU
OverUnder
Best BetCentral Michigan
Central Michigan enters with the deeper, more experienced roster after returning 58 players and 13 starters off a bowl team, which is the kind of continuity Akron simply doesn't have with its quarterback battle still unresolved. The Chippewas are the safer outright pick here, though Akron's already proven it can win this exact matchup. Back CMU to win at home, but don't expect it to be comfortable.
Akron
+Won last meeting vs. CMU, 28-22, in October
+Deepest QB room under Moorhead via portal additions
+Program trending up 4 straight years under Moorhead
−Finished 5-7, banned from bowl over academic issues
−QB competition still unresolved after spring practice
−Historically one of the weaker MAC programs
Central Michigan
+Drinkall's debut season produced first bowl trip in 4 years
+Returns 58 players and 13 starters off 2025 roster
+Holds long-term series lead over Akron, 19-10-1
−Blown out 34-7 with 4 turnovers in bowl finale
−Lost the most recent head-to-head meeting vs. Akron
−Offense projected near the bottom of FBS entering the year
Joe Moorhead's Zips have crept in the right direction every year he's been in Akron — 2-10, 2-10, 4-8, 5-7 — and this offseason he went out and got a real quarterback room to match the ambition. Reese Poffenbarger, who led the FCS in passing yards back in 2023, transferred in to push incumbent Brayden Roggow, and Moorhead has called it the deepest QB group he's had since taking over. The problem is nobody's actually locked down QB1 yet, and that competition was still unsettled when spring wrapped.
Central Michigan's turnaround story is arguably further along. First-year head coach Matt Drinkall walked into Mount Pleasant and immediately got the Chippewas back to a bowl game — their first trip in four years — going 7-6 overall and 5-3 in MAC play. He's also bringing back a loaded group: 58 players and 13 starters, plus three quarterbacks who've all seen real snaps in Angel Flores, Jadyn Glasser and Marcus Beamon. That kind of continuity is rare in the MAC, where rosters churn constantly through the portal.
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AKR Akron
CMU Central Michigan
None of that erased how last season actually ended for CMU. Northwestern hung a 34-7 beatdown on the Chippewas in the GameAbove Sports Bowl, with three turnovers coming on back-to-back-to-back first-half snaps. And Akron, for all its warts, still owns the head-to-head — the Zips won the last meeting between these two, 28-22, back on October 4, 2025. Central Michigan holds the long-term series lead at 19-10-1, but recent history says nothing here is automatic.
Akron Zips
Sep 25?vs UNLV—
Sep 19?@ Minnesota—
Sep 12?vs Robert Morris—
Sep 3?@ Wake Forest—
Central Michigan Chippewas
Sep 26?@ Miami—
Sep 19?vs Wyoming—
Sep 12?vs Colgate—
Sep 5?@ New Mexico—
Recent form.
This is a MAC matchup that lives or dies on the margins — turnovers, special teams, whichever quarterback settles in first. Akron's still chasing its first bowl appearance since 2017 and comes in with more raw motivation after getting locked out of the postseason entirely last year over academic issues. Central Michigan has the better pedigree and the deeper roster on paper, but if the turnover bug that torched them in Detroit shows back up, this one's right back in Akron's hands like it was last fall.
