There is plenty at stake when Kent State takes on Akron on a special edition of Tuesday night “MACtion.”
The Zips (4-6) are not eligible for a bowl due to an academic issue, but they are one win shy of clinching their best season since 2017 when they went 7-7 under Terry Bowden.
Kent State (3-6) still has hopes of going to a bowl game, but it needs to win out to get there.
There’s also a beautiful trophy on the line: The Wagon Wheel.
Commissioned in 1946, the Wagon Wheel Trophy is awarded to the winner of this annual battle between these two Northeast Ohio institutions.
Akron is a 6.5-point home favorite Tuesday evening.
Kent State vs. Akron odds, prediction
Two things can be true about these teams: They are both among the worst in FBS, but they are also in the middle of surprisingly pleasant seasons.
Akron has won zero, one, two, two, two and four games in each of the past six seasons, respectively.
They’ve lost at least 10 games in four of the last five seasons, not including 2020, when the schedule was reduced to just six contests.
A 4-6 record may not seem noteworthy to most programs, but it is to the Zips, who had every excuse to just bail on 2025 entirely with no prospect of postseason play due to the academic violations.
Kent State went a combined 1-23 in 2023 and 2024, and the program fired head coach Kenni Burns in April due to breaching his contract.
The Golden Flashes were in disarray, but somehow Mark Carney has guided this group to a 3-6 record.
Both the Zips and Golden Flashes should be up for this one, and the tale of the tape suggests things are pretty tight. Akron’s defense is the best unit on the field, but that makes it sound better than it actually is.
The Zips grade out as the 93rd-best defensive team in the country, per SP+.
In my opinion, the most important bit of actionable data is Kent State’s ability to keep things tight when the Golden Flashes are playing against a peer.
Betting on College Football?
They got crushed by Texas Tech, Florida State, Oklahoma and Toledo, but they lost by a combined seven points to Buffalo and Ball State, while beating Bowling Green, Merrimack, and UMass.
It seems unlikely that Akron will be able to just come out and play Kent State off the field, and all you need is the Golden Flashes to hang around to get to the window Tuesday.
The Play: Kent State +6.5 (-110, FanDuel)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
