Akron and Bowling Green Battle to The Final Possession

Saturday, October 5

Akron, Ohio

3:30 PM

University of Akron

1-5 , 0-2

Bowling Green

2-3 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Bowling Green

Akron

Akron and Bowling Green Battle to The Final Possession

October 05 | Football

Box Score Boxscore (PDF)Photo Gallery

AKRON, Ohio - The Akron Football team battled to the final possession but fell to Bowling Green 27-20 at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field on Saturday.

Redshirt junior Ben Finley (21-32-0) led Akron's passing attack with 206 yards through the air and completed over 65 percent of his passes against the Falcons. Finley also added 32 yards on the ground, averaging 4 yards per carry while redshirt junior Tahj Bullock found the end zone on one rush for five yards.

Redshirt junior Jordon Simmons led all Zips rushers with 73 yards, picking up 8.1 yards per carry. Simmons also added 32 yards receiving.

Sophomore Adrian Norton led the receiving corps with 78 yards on three receptions. Both Simmons and redshirt freshman Isreal Polk led the Zips in receptions with five.

Redshirt junior Garrison Smith recorded six points for the Zips, splitting the uprights from 47 and 38 yards in a 2 of 2 effort.

The Akron defense recorded four sacks as senior Bennett Adler, senior CJ Nunnally IV and redshirt freshman Bruno Dall all recorded a solo sacks of nine, four and eight yards of loss, respectively. Redshirt junior Aman Greenwood and redshirt freshman Zy Brockington combined for a sack for a loss of two yards.

Redshirt junior Liam Reardon recovered a fumble for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter for the Zips. Reardon's recovered fumble for a TD was the first since junior Bryan McCoy scored to give Akron a 24-21 victory against Morgan State in 2023.

McCoy led all tacklers with with 12 tackles on the day. Senior Paul Lewis III and Greenwood combined for 14 tackles with each having seven.

The Falcons improved to 2-3 on the year and 1-0 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Zips fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in conference.

How It Happened

After Bowling Green took a 7-0 lead, Akron responded with 4:31 left in the first quarter to narrow the margin to 7-3 on a 47-yard field goal from redshirt junior Garrison Smith. The Zips took the lead with no time left on the clock in the first quarter on a recovered fumble in the end zone by Reardon to take a 10-7 lead. Bowling Green would increased its lead to 20-10, but the Zips answered with a touchdown to narrow the gap to 20-17 on a five yard rush from Bullock.

Akron followed with another score with 7:13 left in the fourth quarter to tie things up at 20-20 after Smith hit a 38-yard field goal. Akron went scoreless the rest of the game while Bowling Green added seven points to finish off the scoring.

Game Notes

» Akron won the turnover battle 1-0 after recovering one fumble.
» Akron had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up 10 points.
» McCoy led the Zips with 12 tackles.
» The Zips racked up nine tackles for loss and added four sacks.
» Akron has recorded 70 or more tackles four times this season (85 at Ohio, 75 at South Carolina, 73 vs Bowling Green, 71 at Rutgers).
» Adler has recorded a sack in three straight games.
» After going 2-for-2 against the Falcons, Smith is now 7-of-8 (87.5%) on field goals this season.

What's Next?
Akron heads to Western Michigan for its next contest when it battles the Broncos on October 12 for a 3:30 p.m. start.