On Akron’s first series, look behind whoever takes the opening snap. Jordan Gant is the known answer standing next to a quarterback operation that otherwise begins the season almost from scratch.
That makes Gant’s work more revealing than his rushing total alone. Can he keep Akron out of obvious passing downs? Can he help settle protection? Can the threat of another carry buy the quarterback one clean, uncomplicated throw? If those answers are yes, Akron has a way to make Thursday night uncomfortable.
The Zips visit Wake Forest at 7 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 3, on ACC Network. The Fan Watch model gives Akron a 7% chance to win, so calibrate the hope accordingly. An upset would be a tremendous bonus, but Akron does not need one for the night to tell us something useful.
Let Gant make the game manageable
Gant returns after rushing for 1,032 yards in 2025, giving the program its first 1,000-yard season by a back since 2008. He is the one proven piece Akron can ask to carry an outsized burden while the passing game finds its footing.
Ben Finley handled 362 of Akron’s 404 pass attempts last season, while returning quarterback Brayden Roggow attempted 17. Reese Poffenbarger supplies the intriguing alternative. He threw for 3,603 yards and 36 touchdowns at Albany in 2023, then attempted only 14 passes over the following two seasons.
That is upside, not certainty. The encouraging version of this opener is therefore not Akron immediately uncovering a finished passing offense. It is Gant helping the Zips avoid third-and-long, giving the quarterback a credible play-action game and preventing Wake from dictating every snap.
Wake’s defense is a demanding place to attempt that. The Demon Deacons allowed 22.08 points and 328.5 yards per game in 2025, and opposing quarterbacks threw only 12 touchdown passes. Sustained Akron drives, even those that end in field goals, would carry more meaning than a couple of isolated explosive plays.
Hope for resistance, not reassurance
Akron’s opening month continues with Robert Morris, Minnesota and UNLV before MAC play begins at Central Michigan. This is not a week to demand that the entire offense be solved. It is a week to see whether its best-known player can create enough order around its largest unknown.
Use the interactive Akron guide and Fan Watch methodology to put the opener in context, but judge the night through the strain Wake places on Gant and the new quarterback operation.
If Gant can keep Wake honest and give the new quarterback room to operate, Akron can leave Winston-Salem with something useful even at the likeliest final score. If he cannot, the concern will be larger than one expected road loss. This offense may have no comfortable place from which to begin.