COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Akron dreams of a bowl berth
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[FONT=Verdana, Times New Roman, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By Mike Popovich REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER [/FONT]
The Mid-American Conference East football race seemed topsy-turvy near the end, but a champion ultimately was produced.
Now the Akron Zips hope to land a bigger prize.
A victory over Northern Illinois in tonight’s MAC Championship Game at Detroit’s Ford Field will give the Zips their first league title at any level and send them back to Ford Field on Dec. 26 for the Motor City Bowl. Akron has not played in a bowl game since the program moved up to Division I-A in 1987.
This truly is uncharted territory for Head Coach J.D. Brookhart’s team. The Zips fell a game short of the league title game and a bowl bid a year ago and were picked to finish fourth in the East this season.
The Zips (6-5, 5-3) won three of their final four games and received all the help they needed to reach the MAC title game for the first time. In their minds, just making it to the final is not enough.
“We want to win that football game,” Brookhart said.
Akron beat Northern Illinois, 48-42, in overtime Sept. 24. The Huskies came back from a 28-point deficit to force OT before Brett Biggs’ 1-yard touchdown run won it for the Zips.
Northern Illinois (7-4, 6-2) has the MAC’s top-ranked offense, but Akron overcame the loss of starting safeties Dion Elie and Chevin Pace to injuries and led the league in defense. In their last two wins over Ohio and Kent State, the Zips gave up just 6 points.
Linebacker Jay Rohr (Jackson) has a team-best 104 tackles for the Zips, allowing an average of 322.0 yards.
“It started last spring — we let the defense tee off on the offense a little, and they started developing an attitude,” Brookhart said. “When you have a group of guys like we have playing together with energy, good things are going to happen.”
The Huskies’ ability to rally against the Zips in their regular-season game is an example of how potent their offense is. Northern Illinois averages 452.5 yards.
“They are ... capable of putting up some big numbers,” Brookhart said. “They play with great fundamentals and great speed.”
Northern Illinois tailback Garrett Wolfe leads the MAC’s second-ranked rushing attack. He averages 163.8 rushing yards and has 1,310 yards for the season.
Wolfe is not listed in the NCAA rankings because he missed three games with a knee sprain. If he were eligible, his rushing average would rank third in the nation.
“You have to maintain your gap assignments and keep him cuffed,” Brookhart said. “As long as we do that, we should be OK. If not, we’ll have a very good back running all over the place.”
Wolfe was shut down the first time he faced the Zips. He finished with just 52 yards on 21 carries.
Reach Repository sports writer Mike Popovich at (330) 580-8341 or e-mail:
[email protected]
Mid-American Conference Championship Game:
Akron vs. Northern Illinois
Tonight, 7:30
Ford Field, Detroit TV ESPN RADIO WARF-AM 1350
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Better get some anti-freeze.
