The pomp of circumstance that generally meets homecoming games was replaced with gloomy skies, empty bleachers and football that was anything but fundamentally sound.
Akron floundered in every facet of the game, falling to Ohio 43-3 Saturday, during a game Zips coach Terry Bowden described as “not a step forward.”
The Zips (1-5, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) started off the game with a defensive halt, forcing Ohio (4-1, 1-0 MAC) to punt on its first drive. But the ensuing punt from Grant Venham was muffed by Imani Davis and the Zips recovered in their own end zone for a safety.
Things never looked up from there for Akron, as the first half was a disaster for a program that has won a total of seven games throughout the past five seasons.
Akron accumulated 96 yards of penalties in the first half, nearly matching their 100 yards of total offense during the first two quarters. The Zips finished the game with 157 total yards and lost 135 yards on 12 penalties.
“We just made mistake after mistake after mistake in every phase of our game early,” Bowden said. “And they took advantage of those opportunities and scored. Once it started, it was like pouring rain. We just poured mistake after mistake.”
Ohio players took note of the Zips’ aggressiveness, noting that Akron came out with a lot of attitude.
“It could’ve gotten real ugly, real fast the way they were playing,” wide receiver Donte Foster said. “It backfired on them. They got the penalties and we got the yards.”
After a field goal that gave the Zips a 3-2 lead, Ohio scored 30 unanswered points in the first half.
The offense began its assault of Akron’s defense when quarterback Tyler Tettleton hit Foster in the back corner of the end zone for a 13-yard score with three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
“He’s our best receiver and the guy who makes play after play,” Tettleton said. “He always comes up big for us.”
Earlier in the drive, Tettleton moved up to 25th on the MAC’s all-time passing yardage list, passing former Kent State quarterback Josh Cribbs with a 29-yard completion to tight end Anthony Talbert.
After an interception during a jumped route by Akron cornerback Malachi Freeman, Tettleton and Ohio’s offense rolled through the Akron defense by scoring on its next two drives after a one-yard catch by tight end Troy Mangen and a bruising one-yard run by running back Ryan Boykin.
The next series put the nail in the Zips’ coffin, with quarterback Kyle Pohl fumbling after Josh Kristoff’s hit and safety Thad Ingol picked the ball up and scampered into the endzone to increase Ohio’s lead to 30-3.
“First I was cheering because I thought it was a sack,” Ingol said. “But then I saw the ball squirt out and I was like, ‘Hey, here we go.’ … I guess it just kind of happened.”
Ingol also recorded an interception during what was a sort of homecoming, as the redshirt junior attended nearby Barberton High School.
Coach Frank Solich went to backup quarterback Derrius Vick with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter and the move paid after his first two drives leading the offense.
After moving the ball into the red zone to set up a 35-yard Josiah Yazdani field goal, Vick marched the offense down the field a second time on a 64-yard drive that culminated with a one yard touchdown run by running back Daz’mond Patterson with 11:18 left in the final quarter.
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