Akron wins one for Whims, downs Robert Morris 45-10

The hoopla and hullabaloo surrounding Saturday's game between the Akron Zips (1-1) and the Robert Morris Colonials (2-1, 1-0 NEC) was at a peak rarely seen besides atop mountains prior to kickoff.

Akron's uber-viral "Offensive Coordinator of the Game" contest netted the Zips not only lots of publicity, but also put Marty Whims II, a long-time season ticketholder, front and center– both on the sidelines and on TV.

Whims was interviewed as part of ESPN College GameDay, where he got advice from Nick Saban and deftly dodged leaking the gameplan ahead of the contest, giving the affable Akron alum a chance to show off his personality.

All that was left was to execute the play script.

Whims' up-tempo, no-huddle attack was effective, gaining 23 yards on four plays, but an untimely fumble recovered by Robert Morris would cut the experiment short.

The defense rejected RMU's drive and gave the ball back to the offense, allowing Sean Patrick to sneak past the Colonial defense for a 41-yard receiving score to light the scoreboard up at 7-0 Zips with 3:52 to go first quarter.

Robert Morris answered back with an eight-play, 70 yard drive culminating in Carson Haggard finding talisman receiver Galen Combs for a 43-yard touchdown strike to tie the game right back up.

Akron did not wait long. with Cibastian Broughton finding an open Elijah Alexander for a 25-yard touchdown to go back up 14-7 with 5:45 to go in the first half before tossing another gem– this time to Miles Burris– from six yards out to go up 21-7.

The Zips, intriguingly, opted to go for it on fourth-and-three from RMU's 36-yard line after forcing a three-and-out on defense, with Broughton's pass floating dangerously incomplete in the direction of Alexander– giving RMU a chance to score before the end of the half.

The Colonials would cash the turnover-on-downs in for a field goal from 22 yards out as the half expired, putting the score at 21-10 Akron, but that's as close as the Colonials ever got.

The Zips would paste the Colonials with 24 unanswered points in the second half to let the home fans leave happy with a 45-10 win.

Cibastian Broughton started his second game as Akron's QB and was dealing, ending his night with 227 yards and four touchdowns on 22-of-27 passing while also adding 71 yards rushing to aid the ground game effort.

Jordan Gant returned to form, leading the team with 12 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown. Backup QB Brayden Roggow (55 passing yards, 11 rushing yards) also lent a rushing score in relief. Halfback Sean Patrick led the passcatchers with 65 yards on four receptions, but the star of the night was Laney College transfer tight end Elijah Alexander, who led the team with five catches for 55 yards and two touchdowns.

The Zips absolutely dominated defensively, limiting RMU to just 14 net yards rushing and 180 passing yards, with two fumbles recovered. Defensive end Omari Abor was a key contributor on defense, with a sack, a tackle-for-loss and a forced fumble to go with four tackles on the night. Safety Roderick Hunter led the Zips with five tackles.

Carson Haggard finished 19-of-28 for 179 yards and a touchdown, with Galen Combs making up the vast majority of the offense. Combs, a Cincinnati, Ohio native, finished with 119 yards and the team's lone TD, adding on to what has been a monster 2026 campaign through three games (15 rec., 315 yards, five TDs).

Jake Lopinto led the Colonials with nine tackles and a TFL. Asher Wilson had two TFLs and six tackles to aid the effort. Three different RMU players accumulated at least one solo sack. As a unit, RMU found decent success behind the line, netting eight tackles-f0r-loss.

The Zips will now traverse to Minnesota for their next non-conference game, where they face the Golden Gophers next Saturday at noon Eastern time.

Robert Morris will go back-to-back weekends against the MAC, with Buffalo next on the docket. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Eastern time from UB.