American college football season
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).
The 2019 Zips lost every single game on their schedule, finished with an 0–12 overall record and an 0–8 record in MAC play, and were outscored by their opponents by a total of 435 to 126. They finished in last place in the conference's East Division. CBS Sports rated Akron dead last, at 130th, in their season's-end ranking of all 130 FBS teams.[ 1] The Zips were the only Division I FBS team to go winless in the 2019 season.
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.
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
Akron's non-conference slate consisted 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 hosted Kent State , Buffalo , Eastern Michigan , and Ohio , and traveled to Central Michigan , Northern Illinois , Bowling Green , and Miami . They did not play West Division members Ball State , Toledo , or Western Michigan .
Date Time Opponent Site TV Result Attendance August 31 Noon at Illinois * BTN L 3–4230,654 September 7 Noon UAB * CBSSN L 20–3118,972 September 14 3:00 p.m. at Central Michigan ESPN+ L 24–4518,641 September 21 3:00 p.m. Troy * InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH ESPN+ L 7–3516,954 September 28 3:30 p.m. at UMass * FloSports L 29–377,284 October 12 3:30 p.m. Kent State ESPN3 L 3–2622,692 October 19 3:00 p.m. Buffalo InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH ESPN3 L 0–2116,909 October 26 3:30 p.m. at Northern Illinois ESPN3 L 0–499,027 November 2 2:00 p.m. at Bowling Green ESPN+ L 6–3512,113 6:00 p.m. Eastern Michigan InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH ESPNews L 14–4210,811 7:30 p.m. at Miami (OH) ESPNU L 17–2022,921 6:00 p.m. Ohio InfoCision Stadium Akron, OH ESPN+ L 3–5221,414
Source:[ 6]
[ 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 – Secondary / Safeties 1 2 3 4 Total Zips 3 0 0 0 3 Fighting Illini 14 14 14 0 42
1 2 3 4 Total Blazers 7 10 14 0 31 Zips 6 0 0 14 20
At Central Michigan [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Zips 0 10 0 14 24 Chippewas 3 24 3 15 45
1 2 3 4 Total Trojans 7 14 14 0 35 Zips 7 0 0 0 7
1 2 3 4 Total Zips 7 7 7 8 29 Minutemen 7 13 14 3 37
1 2 3 4 Total Golden Flashes 7 10 0 9 26 Zips 0 3 0 0 3
1 2 3 4 Total Bulls 7 0 7 7 21 Zips 0 0 0 0 0
At Northern Illinois [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Zips 0 0 0 0 0 Huskies 7 14 14 14 49
1 2 3 4 Total Zips 6 0 0 0 6 Falcons 7 14 7 7 35
1 2 3 4 Total Eagles 7 14 14 7 42 Zips 0 0 7 7 14
1 2 3 4 Total Zips 0 3 7 7 17 RedHawks 3 14 3 0 20
1 2 3 4 Total Bobcats 14 17 7 14 52 Zips 3 0 0 0 3
^ "College Football Rankings 2019 - CBS Sports 130" . CBS Sports . December 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2019 . ^ Caron, Emily (December 14, 2018). "UT-Chattanooga's Tom Arth Named Akron Football Coach" . Sports Illustrated . ^ "Akron Football Adds Assistant Coaches, Staff" . GoZips.com . University of Akron. January 9, 2019. ^ "Arth Completes Akron Football Staff" . GoZips.com . University of Akron. March 8, 2019. ^ "MAC Announces 2019 Preseason Football Poll" . getsomemaction.com . Retrieved August 2, 2019 . ^ "2019 Akron Football Schedule" . FBSchedules.com . Retrieved March 13, 2019 . ^ "Football Coaches - University of Akron Athletics" . Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
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