The preview's question for Akron was who it had left. Running back C. Gee and receivers L. Sivon, J. Riggins and C. Monteiro were all out, and quarterback C. Broughton was questionable with a bad knee. The score suggests the answer was not much. The Zips put up 7 in the 2nd quarter and 7 in the 4th and got shut out in the other 2. The box score we read doesn't settle whether Broughton played or how he looked, so we won't guess. What we can say is that 14 points is the lowest Akron has scored during this 5-game skid, and the skid's previous low was already 14.
Akron's one home argument was that it had stayed close at InfoCision, losing by 2 to Eastern Michigan and by 8 to Ohio. That lasted until about halftime. Western Michigan led 7-0 after 1 and 21-7 at the break, and the Zips never got within 2 scores after that. The Broncos had 10 days of rest to Akron's 7, and they played like the fresher team. They scored in all 4 quarters and put up 14 in the 4th when the game was already over.
The preview pegged Western Michigan's offense as the weaker half of the team. It had scored 20-something in road wins and leaned on a defense holding 4 of 5 opponents to 17 or fewer. Tuesday flipped that. The 42 points tied the Broncos' best output of this 5-game stretch, matching the 38 against Kent State and the 38 in the Toledo loss. The defense held Akron to 14, its 4th straight opponent held under 17 since that Toledo shootout. Both halves showed up for the same game, which is the version of this team that wins the MAC.
There's nothing complicated about the stakes for either team now. Western Michigan is 5-1 in the league and stays in the title race, with Eastern Michigan coming to Kalamazoo next. Akron is 0-6 in the MAC and 1-9 overall, and it learned the Ohio game was the ceiling, not a sign of things to come. A clear, 50-degree night with no wind took away every excuse, and the gap between these 2 programs showed up in every quarter.
