Akron Football Preview

Akron Zips Football Preview Predictions and Schedule 2011

No place to go but up for the Akron Zips in 2011. Last season the Zips went 1-11 and were outscored by an average margin of 35-16. Akron ranked near the bottom in just about every single offensive and defensive stat in the Nation. Akron is a ways away. 2011 doesn’t look to be much better than 2010.

Now, many of you may say, why bother even writing up and spending time on a team that was 1-11. They obviously aren’t going anywhere this year. But we have to stress, from a betting standpoint, each and every team that Vegas puts a number on brings something to the table. There is betting value to be found with every team, whether it’s finding reasons to bet on, or against, these teams. In fact, it’s teams like Akron that can bring even more to the table when it comes to finding an edge. No one pays attention to them. They aren’t Alabama or Ohio State.

Akron was beyond pathetic their first 9 Games of the season. They were blown away by every team they faced but one. That one team that didn’t smoke them, was GArdner Webb. Who?! Yeah, GArdner Webb, and GArdner Webb beat Akron in OT, 38-37.

But there were signs towards the end of the year that the team was coming around. It generally takes a coach 4 years with a new team before the team becomes his. In this case, coach Rob Ianello was in his first season at the helm, taking over an Akron team that hadn’t had a winning season in years, coming off a 3-9 campaign. He introduced new schemes and was working with limited talent.

It can take good teams, with good talent, a couple of years to learn new schemes. Look what happened at Michigan. But towards the end of last season, Akron’s last 3 Games to be specific, we saw improvement. The most significant of the last 3 Games was only losing by 4 to Miami Ohio, a 10-4 team and eventual MAC champ. Prior to that Game, they lost in OT to Ball State and finished their season with their one and only win, over Buffalo, 22-14.

Those last 3 Games are an indication that players were finally starting to buy in, and that the players were learning the new schemes. It’s something to build on. From a betting perspective, you may find some value betting on the Zips this year. They will likely be plastered by Ohio State in their opener adding to the perception that this Akron team is terrible, iNCreasing the line value in subsequent Games.

Expect Akron to win a Game or two more than they did last season. The rebuilding job will be gradual. Also expect them to narrow the GAp in some of their losses. Look for spots to back Akron getting a boatload of points after their opener against Ohio State.

2011 Akron Football Schedule

Saturday, September 03
@ Ohio State

Thursday, November 03
@ Miami (Ohio)