Moorhead said this spring that Akron is replacing roughly 40 of its 85 scholarship players and called the team's outlook "a discovery mode" as of late April. That's a lot of moving pieces to have sorted out by late October, even with skill-position anchors like running back Jordan Gant and wideout Marcel Williams back in the fold. Kent State isn't overhauling nearly as much, which could be the quiet edge here once the schedule grinds into MAC play.
Kent State's non-conference slate is brutal by design, road trips to South Carolina and Ohio State before this one, so there's a real chance the Golden Flashes arrive banged up and gassed from playing way above their weight class in September. Whatever's left in the tank by this point in October will need to show up in front of a home crowd that the school itself has been hyping as a season highlight.
The name to know on the Kent State side is return man Da'Realyst Clark, who's already drawn Preseason All-America recognition as a kick returner, the first player in program history to land on that first team. In a game between two rosters this unsettled, a game-breaking special-teamer is exactly the kind of variable that can decide a MAC dogfight when neither offense is fully cooked yet.
Both programs are chasing the same thing this fall: get back above .500 and shake the APR cloud that kept them out of the postseason last year. Neither has separated itself enough yet to be a clear favorite this deep out from the actual matchup, and that's before accounting for whatever shape each roster is in by the back half of October.
