by Akron, Ohio; Midweek MACtion has finally arrived in the 2025 season! It would be a matchup between the 3-6 Akron Zips and 0-8 UMass Minutemen. The Zips ended up coming out on top with a huge 42-24 home win. A big part was thanks to Jordan Gant who had 28 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns to go along with it.
Improving to 4-6 on the season, the win gives Akron a little extra momentum heading into next week’s rivalry game against the Kent State Golden Flashes. “Coming off of a huge week against Buffalo, we really challenged the guys this week in practice,” head coach Joe Moorhead said following the win. “Two years in a row with four wins, two years in a row with three conference wins, two years in a row winning back-to-back games, and you’re two games away from bowl eligibility with two games left.”
Entering as the MAC’s 3rd leading rusher, the massive performance for Gant pushed him into first with a total of 850 yards on the season. The next closest would be Ohio’s Sieh Bengura with 830 yards on the season. “A few days ago I got the news that my grandmother had passed away so I’ve been trying to work through that. For today, I just wanted to leave it all out there for her,” Gant said on his third 100-yard game of the season.
MACtion started off in the best way possible with UMass turning it over on the first offensive play of the game. “Starting fast was an emphasis for our team,” Moorhead said. Akron did just that and would get off to a quick 14-0 lead with 8:38 left in the first, but UMass would finish the quarter by scoring 10 unanswered points. Derek Morris made a Minutemen school record by perfectly hitting a 55-yard field goal.
But leave it up to the Zips to start off the second quarter hot as well. They quickly took a 21-10 lead with 11:48 left in the second. This was essentially the part of the game where Akron pulled away in the game scoring 13 unanswered points. The offense as a whole put up 158 total yards compared to 108 yards in the first quarter. Ben Finley was near perfect in the first half completing nine of 13 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. It was a very balanced offense so far overall with 122 rushing yards to go along with a 27-10 halftime lead.
The second half would be much of the same for the Zips. In fact, Akron would have scored on their opening drive of the third quarter if it was not for a fumble by Finley as he was getting ready to cross the goal line. But the defense made sure to make up for it with a 25-yard touchdown by Gage Summers who recovered the UMass fumble. With a 34-10 lead, Akron was just adding on at this point. “I’m not going to lie. That was like a blur, it just happened. I was just in the zone,” Summers said about the play.
UMass starting quarterback Aj Hairston left the game due to injury after the fumble, but it did not matter who was at quarterback. The Minutemen struggled tremendously on offense all night long picking up just 14 first downs on 169 total yards for the night. In comparison, the Zips had 25 first downs on 467 total yards.
The miscues would just continue for UMass in the fourth quarter as they muffed an Akron punt inside their own 15 which allowed the Zips to capitalize once again. Gant continued his huge night with his second rushing touchdown, making it a 44-10 Akron lead with over 12 minutes to go. That also ended up being the fun for the rest of the game as the Zips just added on more yards and ate up the clock to take it all the way down to zero. Akron next hosts Kent State on Tuesday November 11th for another edition of the Wagon Wheel rivalry.
