Ohio vs. Akron: Zips need huge upset to look to avoid being nation's only winless team

The University of Akron has been playing Division I football since 1975. The Zips have been a perennial losing program but have never gone winless. That's on the line Tuesday night as Akron hosts Ohio in Mid-American Conference action in the regular-season finale for both. Kickoff is 6 p.m. ET from InfoCision Stadium in Akron with the Bobcats as 27-point favorites on the college football odds.

The Zips have had some horrendous teams over the years; they went 1-10 in 1994 under Gerry Faust and 1-11 each year from 2010-12 under Rob Ianello and then Terry Bowden. Last year, Bowden's final season, the Zips at least won four games. This season, however, the Zips have lost nine of their 11 games by double digits.

Akron was the last team to cover a spread this year, doing so last Wednesday as a 28.5-point home dog and losing just 20-17 to Mid-American East Division champion Miami of Ohio. No team has gone winless against the spread in a season since at least 1980 and that's about as far back as betting records go.

There were no teams that went winless straight up in 2018. UTEP of Conference USA was the last to do so, going 0-12 in 2017 and outscored a whopping 441-141. Akron has been "more competitive" than that, outscored 383-123.

Ohio U., still led by former Nebraska coach Frank Solich, is playing to get bowl eligible at 5-6, although just because the Bobcats would get eligible doesn't mean they will get a bid. The MAC has several other bowl-eligible teams and there are only so many spots to go around. The Bobcats are off a 66-24 rout of Bowling Green on Nov. 19. It was the first time Ohio scored 60 points since 1976. That was a MAC record 111th victory for Solich, breaking a tie with former Central Michigan head coach Herb Deromedi (110 wins; 1978-93) as the conference's wins leader.

Akron has lost 10 of the past 11 in this series and was a 49-28 loser in Athens a year ago. The Zips have covered the past four against Ohio, though.