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Akron football fans will have to wait a bit longer to celebrate a bowl appearance. The Zips, who haven’t played in the postseason since 2017, just learned they’re banned from bowl eligibility for the 2025 season after failing to meet NCAA academic standards.
The program posted a multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) score of 914 — well below the 930 minimum required to stay bowl-eligible. This marks the second straight year Akron has missed the academic benchmark, with the team recording just a 920 for the 2023-24 academic year.
What exactly is APR? It’s the NCAA’s way of tracking how well schools keep their athletes academically eligible and on track to graduate.
Akron’s academic struggles have already cost them. The team faced practice reductions during the 2024 season as an initial penalty, but consecutive failures triggered the more severe postseason ban.
The NCAA had temporarily suspended these academic requirements during COVID-19 — understanding the pandemic created unique challenges for student-athletes. But the standards returned last year, with schools evaluated on a four-year performance window.
“Some teams encounter difficulties with achieving a 930 due to various challenges on campus, but we have resources and programs in place to offer academic support,” explained then-chair Robert Davies when the measurements returned in 2023.
The Zips aren’t alone in academic hot water. Mississippi Valley State and UAPB (both FCS programs) also received postseason bans. Meanwhile, Florida A&M, Missouri State, Murray State, and Utah Tech all face practice time reductions for their low APR scores.
This level of academic penalty is surprisingly rare in the FBS.
According to Reddit CFB, only four FBS programs have failed to meet APR standards in the past decade. LSU and New Mexico State both dipped below the threshold during the pandemic pause when penalties weren’t enforced. Idaho was the last program to actually receive a bowl ban — they subsequently dropped down to the FCS level.
The on-field product hasn’t been much better than the classroom performance for Akron. Under head coach Joe Moorhead, the Zips have managed just an 8-28 record over three seasons. The program hasn’t won more than four games in a single season since their last bowl appearance in 2017 under Terry Bowden.
That 2017 bowl game represents one of just three postseason appearances in Akron football history — and now fans will need to wait until at least 2026 for a chance at number four.
