Akron vs. Rutgers college football game | 3 things to know about Zips game Saturday

The University of Akron football team will look to regroup Saturday when it meets Rutgers University at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Rutgers (1-0) is the second Big Ten foe in a row for Akron (0-1) after the Zips opened the season with a 52-6 loss in Columbus to No. 2 Ohio State before a crowd of 102,011.

New kicker Garrison Smith gave Akron a 3-0 lead with a 48-yard field goal in the first quarter at Ohio State and the Zips limited the Buckeyes to 17 points in the first half. Ohio State outscored Akron 35-3 in the second half, with Smith converting a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter the Zips.

One of the positives on the field for Akron was its defense competed well with Ohio State's offense in the first half.

"When you take over the worst football program in Division I football, morale isn't high," Akron coach Joe Moorhead said to reporters after the game Saturday. "In the past two years, we have won four games, had 10 one-score losses — five by a touchdown, five by a field goal and four in overtime — so the kids don't necessarily really believe that they can win.

"... There are things that are positive that you are not going to replicate the size and the speed and the physicality of those kind of teams in your schedule, but on the other side of that pancake you hope you get out of it healthy. That's the rub."

Akron is making big money from four Power 5 schools : $600,000 by playing Ohio State this season and $1.2 million by not playing Kentucky in 2024 and 2026, $1 million from the Rutgers game and $1.5 million from a game against South Carolina on Sept. 21.

What did Akron football coach Joe Moorhead learn from last week's game at Ohio State?

Ohio State totaled 404 yards on offense to Akron's 177 yards, with each team running 64 plays. Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard threw three touchdown passes — two to Jeremiah Smith and one to Carnell Tate. Quinshon Judkins and James Peoples added rushing TDs and Lathan Ransom and Gabe Powers scored TDs on defense.

"I learned that Ohio State is an incredibely talented team that is very well coached and will have an opportunity, in my opinion, having coached against the 2019 LSU team and I took my son to see Michigan last spring for a recruiting visit, so I know what a team that can play for a national championship looks like," Moorhead said to reporters after the game. "This looks like a team that can play for a national championship."

Ben Finley, Tahj Bullock and Brayden Roggow each played quarterback for the Zips in the opener. Finley left the game with an injury and then returned, and the Zips had Bullock lining up at receiver. Daymon David, Antavious Fish and CJ Nunnally IV were Akron's leading tacklers.

"What I learned about our guys, when you put this kind of game on the schedule, you understand what you are getting into, so I didn't blow smoke up their tails and show them '300,' or 'Rocky' or 'Hoosiers' or any of that stuff," Moorhead said.

"I said we gotta control what we can control, which is our level of preparation, how hard we play and execution one play at a time with no clock and no scoreboard. Work to make daily deposits that will benefit us in this game, throughout the course of the season. Quite frankly, certainly not indicative of the final score, but I thought in all three phases we did some really positive things."

Akron football coach Joe Moorhead pleased with 'upgraded special teams'

Special teams were not exactly special last season for Akron. Changes were made in the offseason with players transferring in and out and the results were better in Week 1.

Garrison Smith was at Ohio State in 2021 and did not play, and then played at McNeese State in 2022 and 2023. Holder Joey Castle, long snapper Liam Reardon, punter Avery Book and kickoff specialist Dante Jackson were also solid last week at Ohio State. Book played at Augustana from 2020-2023 and Reardon was at Iowa from 2020-2023 and did not appear in a game.

"A 48-yard and a 49-yard field goal [by Smith], six punts with an average of 48 [yards by Book], clean snaps [by Reardon], good kickoffs [by Jackson], most of them through the back of the end zone for touchbacks," Moorhead said to broadcaster Joe Dunn on Monday during the Zips Weekly television show.

"That is a under-appreciated phase of the game. It was good to see improvement from those guys."

What does Akron football coach Joe Moorhead think about Rutgers?

This is the second football game between Akron and Rutgers, with the host Scarlet Knights winning the first meeting 20-17 on Oct. 27, 1990.

Rutgers defeated Howard 44-7 last week, with Kyle Monangai matching his career high with 165 rushing yards and becoming the 16th player in school history to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards. Monangai and Antwan Raymond each ran for a touchdown.

Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis threw three touchdowns against Howard, one apiece to wide receiver Dymere Miller, running back Samuel Brown V and tight end Kenny Fletcher. Linebacker Dariel Djabome had a career-high 14 tackles in his first collegiate start and defensive back Eric Rogers returned an interception for a TD.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," Moorhead said to Dunn on the Zips Weekly television show. "Keep hammering away against these Power 5 teams. I have had the opportunity to coach against coach [Greg] Schiano over the years in a head coaching and coordinator capacity, and his teams are always well prepared, they play with a great competitiveness and energy and physicality.

"They look to establish the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. That is apparent on the film. A huge challenge in the special teams department, too, where he has always been a master at blocking punts."

Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ .

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron vs. Rutgers college football game | 3 things to know about Zips game Saturday