Akron Football is Officially Ineligible for a Bowl Game Thanks to APR Score

We won’t see a college football game for four months and the lowly Akron football program is already out of contention for postseason play.

Akron is arguably the worst program in the MAC. They haven’t been to a bowl game since Terry Bowden reeled off seven wins in 2017. Former Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead is entering his fourth season as the Zips’ head coach and he only has eight total wins.

Akron probably wasn’t going to make a bowl game in 2025. The NCAA is telling them not to even think about it.

The NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) for each school on Tuesday, which evaluates an athletic program’s academic eligibility, retention, and graduation. A perfect score is 1,000.

Akron dipped to 914, initiating an immediate postseason ban for the upcoming football season. They are the first college football team since Idaho in 2014 to receive a one-year APR postseason ban. The Zips were already under practice limitations for their last year’s APR scores.

Joe Moorhead brought the Zips to Kroger Field in 2023 and fell to Kentucky 35-3. Once a rising star in the coaching ranks, Moorhead might have made a career-ending move by taking the MAC job. After only two years in Starkville, he became the Oregon offensive coordinator for two seasons, then leapt at the opportunity to coach in the MAC. Barring something unforeseen, this development means his days are numbered at Akron.

Kentucky Posts Exceptional APR Scores

The APR scores are based on a four-year composite and seven programs at Kentucky had perfect scores over that timespan: women’s basketball, women’s cross country, women’s golf, gymnastics, softball, women’s tennis, and volleyball teams. Seven other teams had perfect scores last season: baseball, men’s basketball, men’s cross country, men’s golf, women’s swimming, men’s tennis, and men’s track & field.

Kentucky had an overall score of 996 for the previous academic calendar year. In the 21-year history of the APR, there has not been one Kentucky athletics program that has faced a penalty for its failure to achieve in the classroom.

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