by It was a Week 4 matchup between the 1-2 Duqesne Dukes and the 0-3 Akron Zips. The Zips came in looking for their first win of the season. It would be a perfect opportunity in which they made sure to capitalize on, coming out with a 51-7 win.
“We have seen across the country FCS teams beat FBS teams so we knew we couldn’t take Duquesne lightly.” Head coach Joe Moorehead said after the game.
Well, Akron could not have asked for a better start offensively as they were driving with ease to start off the game. That was until senior Ben Finley threw an interception inside the redzone abruptly ending the 8-play, 70-yard drive.
But Duquesne found out early on that they would be struggling to move the ball on the Zips defense. They pulled a shocker going for it on 4th down at their own 28, and it did not go well.
Jamari Somerville came up with the tackle to force a turnover on downs. The very next play for Akron, Jordan Gant ran it from 17 yards out for a touchdown, giving the Zips a 7-0 lead with 8:02 left in the first quarter.
One first down pickup through the first four drives for Duquesne would tell the story for their offensive struggles early on.
Even after two free first downs on their fifth drive of the game, the Dukes failed to do anything thanks to an interception from Graduate student Tyler Riddell who was struggling throwing the ball.
Things would finally start to click for Akron’s offense which absolutely went off in the 2nd quarter for three total touchdowns. As if Akron needed anymore scoring done, Riddell would throw a pick-six to Malcolm DeWalt IV on just the 3rd play of the drive. The 28-point second quarter by Akron essentially put the game out of reach for Duqeuesne.
With the Zips beginning to run away with a 31-0 lead, the Dukes went all-in trying to put together a scoring drive together one last time before the half. But it all came crashing down following a strip-sack fumble forced by Rodrick Hunter, giving the Zips the ball at their own 40.
What a first half it was for Akron who would of course complete the 2-minute drill, making it a 38-0 game. It would be no other than Gant to cap off the drive with his 3rd touchdown of the game. Gant went on to finish with 13 carries for 161 yards, breaking his previous career high of 105 yards back in 2023.
“I have to give a tremendous amount of credit to by guy Terry Richardson, the Running Backs coach”, Moorehead said. “We had to essentially build a whole new Running Back room.”
A blowout would be an understatement in this one. At the half, the Zips had 318 total yards, 166 through the air, and 152 on the ground. In comparison, the Dukes had just 48 total yards, 30 through the air, and 18 on the ground.
Duquesne was actually impressive their opening drive to begin the second half. But they would still find themselves falling short up against the goal line and turning it over on downs. The score would not matter for Akron who kept their foot on the gas to start the second half. Finley connected with Tim Grear Jr., getting the Zips lead up to 45-0 with 7:05 left in the 3rd quarter.
The play of the game for Duquesne would come from a 74-yard run by Ness Davis. The run was finally able to help get the Dukes into the endzone after setting up the offense at the Zips one yard line. But Akron still had a whopping 45-7 lead.
With the game essentially over already, Akron decided to hand it over to the backups with 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter. Finley finished the night going 13-for-23, 219 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception.
Redshirt-Freshman backup quarterback Brayden Roggow would find his first game action in the 2025 season. Leading the Zips to two field goal attempts, Roggow finished his night going 3-for-4, and 30 yards. The two field goals helped Akron get to over 50 points in a game for the first time since September 9, 2017.
With the win, the Zips finally found some momentum heading into conference play.
