Akron is hard to get excited about. The only win came at home against Robert Morris, 45-10. Since then it's been losses of 34 to Minnesota, 28 to UNLV and 24 to Central Michigan. The Eastern Michigan game is the exception and the best sign of life the Zips have shown: a 25-23 homecoming loss to an Eagles team that came in unbeaten in the MAC. Akron is 1-4 and 0-2 in conference play, so it needs a result here or the year starts to slip away.
Robert Morris45-10
Holy Cross45-7Miami's season has been a lot of close games. Apart from the 45-7 win over Holy Cross, every RedHawks game in the last 5 has been decided by 4 points or fewer, including a 31-35 loss at Cincinnati, a 24-21 win over UConn and the 1-point escape in Amherst. That's a team that doesn't put opponents away but also doesn't get blown out, and that's a different profile from an Akron team that has given up 38 or more 3 times.
The early forecast for Oxford is around 40 degrees and cloudy, with wind near 15 mph. A week out, that's a guess, not a lock, but cold air and a steady wind won't help 2 offenses that are already short on quarterbacks and receivers. Miami is at home and has the better record, plus a quarterback who has now started and won. Akron has shown it can hang for 4 quarters, at least for 1 week. Whoever handles the ball better and makes fewer mistakes in the passing game should win.