Akron football will be ineligible for the postseason in 2025 due to its Academic Progress Report (APR) score, according to the NCAA’s APR database, marking the first time in more than a decade that a Football Bowl Subdivision team has been penalized for such.
The Zips, who have not played in a bowl game since 2017, had a multi-year score of 914, which measures a four-year timeframe and is below the required threshold of 930. The NCAA briefly suspended APR in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic and paused issuing penalties for APR scores until last year.
This is the first year that postseason eligibility penalties are back on the table, which is why Akron only received a reduced practices penalty last year despite a 925 score.
The school did not immediately respond to The Athletic’s request for comment.
Akron would be the first school to be banned from the postseason for academic reasons since Idaho in 2014.
The Zips are 8-28 in three seasons under Joe Moorhead, though their 4-8 record last year equaled the total number of wins over his first two seasons.
To calculate team APR, the NCAA awards points for athletes who remain academically eligible for competition and stay in school or graduate. In 2021, the Division I Board of Directors tweaked the formula to account for the increase in transfers. Previously, players transferring out hurt APR scores. The average score for Division I teams across all sports was 984 this year, with football at 964, according to the NCAA.
(Photo: Bryan Lynn / Imagn Images)
