CFB team ineligible for bowl games due to embarrassing reason

Akron Zips head coach Joe Moorhead reacts after calling his final first-half timeout at Kent State. Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

College football team ineligible for bowl games due to embarrassing reason

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated May 7, 2025 1:15 PM ET

Akron football fans hoped to see their team in a bowl game next season, but that will not be possible until players improve their grades.

The Akron Zips football team will not be bowl-eligible in 2025 due to their Academic Progress Rate (APR) score for 2023-24. The team’s players posted a multi-year APR score of 914, below the 930 threshold for postseason eligibility.

Akron had already faced a reduction in practice last season as part of a Level One penalty when the APR fell to 925, but the score has since dropped.

The Zips will be the first FBS team since Idaho in 2014 to become bowl ineligible for academic reasons.

Akron Football's multi-year Academic Progress Rate has fallen to 914, and is eliminated from bowl eligibility before the season even starts. They are the first FBS team to become ineligible for a bowl due to academic reasons since 2014 Idaho. pic.twitter.com/gGrpDIwmpV
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) May 6, 2025

The NCAA suspended certain APR eligibility requirements during the pandemic but reinstated them last year. Schools are graded based on student-athletes' academic performance over four years.

Akron is the only FBS school to receive a bowl ban this year due to its APR score. Two other Division I teams — FCS schools Mississippi Valley State and UAPB — will also be ineligible for the postseason.

Akron went 4-8 last season in Joe Moorhead’s third year as head coach. That was the Zips’ best season since 2017, which was also the year of their last bowl appearance.

Even if Moorhead can finally turn things around at Akron this upcoming season, the Zips will not be capping off their season with a bowl game.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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