By Donte Durham
The University of Akron’s football team had not won at Marshall in its six previous tries, but on Saturday afternoon they defeated a team that had won 21 out of their last 22 home games. Not only did they defeat Marshall, a team that has won 10 or more games in its last three seasons (the only teams with longer streaks are Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Florida State) but they scored the most points ever by a Marshall opponent, at home, in regulation.
The Zips were in command for much of the day even though the 1st quarter was a curious one. The Zips started the action with an impressive scoring drive on their 1st drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead. After some solid defense, Akron got the ball back with a chance to pad their lead but a fumble by junior wide receiver Jerome Lane swung the momentum in Marshall’s favor. After Akron dominated early, mistakes doomed them as Marshall scored 21 straight points to take a 21-7 lead to end the 1st quarter. In the opening stanza the Zips had the aforementioned fumble, a blocked punt, and a key 3rd down for the defense where they were called for unnecessary roughness on the quarterback which kept the drive alive.
When it looked like the favorite, 17 points according to Vegas, would run away with the game, Akron responded with a huge 2nd quarter. When I say huge I mean, HUGE, as the Zips scored 34 unanswered in the period to take a commanding 41-21 lead at the half. The only miscue of the quarter was a missed XP after one of their 7 touchdowns, as the kicking game had another hiccup in an otherwise solid day for the team. Early in the 2nd quarter, #56 of Akron, Deon’Tae Moore came through the right side of Marshall’s line, to smash quarterback, Chase Litton. The hit created a fumble that Akron recovered and returned for a TD to cut the lead to 21-14 Marshall. After getting the ball back, Akron then scored on a 35-yard TD pass from Thomas Woodson to JoJo Natson to tie the score at 21 all. On the next Marshall possession, the Zips blocked a punt of their own and returned it for a TD to take a 27-21 lead, and at this point clearly all the momentum was in Akron’s favor. The punt was blocked by defensive back Zack Guiser and returned by Ulysees Gilbert III. Guiser wasn’t done though, on the very next possession he intercepted a Marshall pass to give the ball back to Akron as they continued their assault. On offense once again, the Zips went to the air for a 30-yard TD pass from Woodson to Kwadarrius Smith to give them a 34-21 lead. Before the end of the half the Thundering Herd tried to get something going but they threw another interception, this time to Kyron Brown, who had a nice return after the pick before getting hurt on a late hit, out of bounds, by Marshall lineman Michael Selby. Smith had to leave the game but the Zips rewarded his effort by scoring on a TD run by back-up QB Tra’Von Chapman. The TD run gave the Zips a 41-21 lead at the half.
That 2nd quarter was pretty much the game as both teams played almost even in the 2nd half. The Zips did still outscore Marshall 24-17 after the break, but the lead Akron put together was too much to overcome on this day.
Akron was led by QB Thomas Woodson, 21 of 32 for 379 yards and 4 TDs. WR JoJo Natson was sensational as he had 7 receptions for 134 yards and a TD. Jerome Lane had 7 receptions for 115 yards as well and Austin Wolf had 3 receptions for 88 yards with 1 TD. Starting running back Warren Ball didn’t play for Akron but his replacement didn’t disappoint as Manny Morgan ran 18 times for an impactful 130 yards. He had a long of 61 and maintained an impressive average of 7.2 yards per carry in the contest.
Akron improves to 2-1 on the season, 1-1 on the road. Marshall falls to 1-1. The Zips, on the road for the past two weeks, will now head back home as they get ready to face Appalachian State this upcoming Saturday, kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m.
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