Akron's football team is ineligible for the postseason because of its low Academic Progress Rate score
AKRON, Ohio — Akron's football team will be ineligible for postseason play this season because of its multiyear Academic Progress Rate score.
The NCAA this week updated its national APR database with the latest scores of member institutions. Akron had a 914 score, below the 930 minimum for postseason eligibility.
Akron's athletic department has not commented on its APR penalty and did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Akron, which plays in the Mid-American Conference, has not been to a bowl game since 2017, which also was the last time the Zips won more than four games in a season.
But Akron's 4-8 record in 2024 under third-year coach Joe Moorhead was its best since posting the same mark in 2018. In between, the Zips won no more than two games in a season and went 0-12 in 2019.
The last Football Bowl Subdivision team to be barred from postseason play because of APR scores was Idaho in 2014.
The NCAA temporarily suspended some APR penalties, including postseason bans, because of the COVID-19 pandemic that began disrupting college athletics in the spring of 2020.
However, the NCAA's Committee on Academics voted to restore such penalties beginning with four-year scores released during the 2024-25 academic year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
43 minutes ago
- New York Times
The college sports employment case that looms as the NCAA's next pivotal court battle
The final settlement of the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit is a huge relief to college sports. It's the start of a new economic model and a chance for college sports leaders to show legislators and the public they are capable of change. Here is what it is not: The end of their legal troubles. Throughout the final stretch of this case, many involved have pointed to the next big one coming down the pike. Johnson vs. NCAA, which has been moving through the courts for almost six years now, gets into one of the thorniest issues in college sports: employment. It could be a clarifying win for the NCAA, or it could be the case that hastens the big changes many have predicted — football breaking away from the rest of college sports, and a football Super League. Advertisement In February 2019, Ralph 'Trey' Johnson, a former running back at Villanova, sued the NCAA and nearly a dozen schools, claiming that athletes should be recognized as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case has slowly wound through the system, growing to include other former athletes while NCAA efforts to have the case dismissed have been swatted away. Essentially, the Johnson side argues that the NCAA and its schools have gotten away for decades — and continue to do so, even in the age of name, image and likeness payments and revenue sharing — with having athletes take part in a relationship that has all the appearances of employment, without paying them an hourly wage. 'Athletes should have the same, limited student employee status as classmates selling popcorn at NCAA games,' said Paul McDonald, the lead lawyer for the Johnson side. The NCAA argues that the arrangement has worked for decades, benefits athletes and still works for them, especially with NIL, revenue sharing and cost-of-attendance payments added to the pile. But the organization also seems to acknowledge this as another challenge to the system, and hopes it can be solved through federal legislation rather than the courts. 'The NCAA is making changes to deliver more financial benefits to student-athletes but there are issues such as employment that can only be addressed by Congress,' the NCAA said in a statement to The Athletic this spring. 'The Association looks forward to working with student-athletes and lawmakers to set a stable, and sustainable future for all 500,000 student-athletes.' The case could go to trial as early as next year. There's always a chance the NCAA and the plaintiffs will settle, as in the House case, which leads to new rules and perhaps collective bargaining. But for now, both sides seem dug in. McDonald sees this as a civil rights and fairness issue, and asks why athletes aren't treated the same as student concession stand workers, teaching assistants or any student who does work for the university and is considered an employee. Those students are usually paid hourly, often minimum wage, because they are performing a job. McDonald argues athletes should have the same 'equal treatment' to classmates in work-study student employment, some of whom are also on academic scholarships that don't preclude them from earning a wage. Advertisement 'This would be easy to implement using NCAA-mandated timesheets, and affordable on hourly, minimum wage scales — particularly if colleges stop overpaying some coaches,' McDonald said. 'Colleges have never explained why they oppose this easy and equitable solution.' Johnson filed his case before the NIL and revenue sharing eras began, but McDonald argues that should have no impact: While NIL payments are based on an individual's popularity and revenue sharing rewards a sport's popularity, all athletes should be deemed employees because they are performing a job. For several reasons, colleges and universities are very much against employment. There's the culture of college athletics, the idea that these are students seeking a degree and also playing sports, rather than paid athletes. Some cynics say there's a measure of control involved too, especially with the coach-player dynamic. And of course, there's the money. Every employee has a salary and other costs attached, and paying them all hourly wages would wreck budgets. The SEC and a group of education associations filed an amicus brief in the Johnson case, warning that only 2 percent of NCAA member schools generate enough revenue to cover operating costs. 'If colleges and universities are forced to pay their student-athletes (as employees) it is inevitable that many schools will simply eliminate athletics teams, with non-revenue sports teams the most likely to be on the chopping block,' the brief read. The other possible result: The richest schools pulling away from the rest of the NCAA, as the disparity between the haves and have-nots widens. Every school, even the big brands, is adjusting costs and chasing more revenue to pay for revenue sharing. Employment for athletes could prompt another wave of cost-adjusting and revenue-chasing. Advertisement Preventing athletes from being employees has been a central focus of the NCAA in federal legislation, and the House of Representatives' Education and Workforce committee plans to work to codify that restriction as part of a set of bills in the works from three House committees this week. Of course, any federal law could still be challenged in the courts, which is why outside observers think this will still be settled there. What constitutes employment can be a complicated issue, including various tests. Does the employer have the right to hire and fire the employee? Does the employer set rules and working hours? How much day-to-day supervision is involved? There have been court cases before on employment status, but none quite like this. 'In the employment law world, you have employees and you have non-employees. There's only two buckets,' said Josh Nadreau, an employment lawyer in Massachusetts who has advised some schools on employment issues. 'And I think with respect to looking at student athletes, to try to put them into this two-bucket paradigm is complicated.' There could be a lesson in what the Third Circuit said last year when it denied the NCAA's attempt to dismiss the case. The circuit court judges devised a test to determine whether athletes are employees, which could lead to different conclusions about athletes in revenue versus non-revenue sports. 'They're not subject to the same pressures, they're not subject to the same economic forces,' Nadreau said. 'I think at some point we'll start drawing circles around different groups, some will be employees and some will not.' For many, that's the clean solution, but McDonald is not distinguishing between sports in his arguments. Field hockey players, though their sport is not a revenue driver, also work hard and compete for their school, serving essentially as brand ambassadors, and have expectations from their coaches. Meanwhile, the NCAA has expressed no interest in granting hourly wages to any athletes, even those in football and basketball, hoping the House settlement's revenue-sharing structure shows that athletes are now being sufficiently paid. One final caveat: Expecting this to play out the same way as the House case ignores that it has a different lawyer and is also starting on the opposite coast. The House case, led by Steve Berman and Jeffrey Kessler, went before the same federal judge, Claude Wilken, in California, who oversaw the Alston case (also led by Berman and Kessler) that eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously against the NCAA's ability to cap education-related benefits. The Johnson case was filed in Pennsylvania, which the Third Circuit oversees, so it could proceed predominantly on the East Coast. Advertisement But unless and until the case makes it to the Supreme Court — or gets settled — there could still be more lawsuits and differing rulings. The result could be a mish-mash of laws, with athletes' employment statuses depending on where you live. 'The question of common sense comes down to who's deciding,' Nadreau said. 'What some people might say is common sense might be different than the rest of the country.'
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
New Mets pitcher Justin Garza credits video game MLB The Show for helping save career
Pitcher Justin Garza was thinking about quitting the game he loved during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as he struggled in the minor leagues. However, as Garza is joining the New York Mets now after a deal with the San Francisco Giants, he credits one thing to saving his career. A video game. "MLB The Show actually was a big part about me learning how to pitch and figuring out how to pitch," Garza told The New York Post. "It's so realistic at times, just playing that video game." Garza is not the only player in professional sports to use video games to prepare for games or rework their mechanics. Garza specifically uses the game mode Diamond Dynasty, where he said the different camera angles helped him experience how to use his pitches. Using a catcher's view to pitch, he started reworking his arsenal. Though it was not intentional, he was happy something clicked by playing the game. "Once I started to play more and more, it was like, 'OK, well, I actually have a cutter, I have this four-seam, I have this changeup, and maybe my stuff can play like this," Garza told The Post. Garza was an eighth-round draft pick by the Cleveland Guardians in 2015, but he struggled in his first taste of professional ball. He was only able to post one season with an ERA under five, owning a 3.36 ERA in 2018. However, the pandemic break saw Garza as a rejuvenated hurler on the mound. Garza posted a 1.59 ERA with 31 strikeouts over 14 games in Triple-A Columbus before being called up for the first time in his career. He had 21 appearances in 2021 in the big leagues. He did not make it back to the big leagues until 2023, this time with the Boston Red Sox, but it did not go according to plan. Garza had an 8.35 ERA in 17 appearances (one start) before being moved to the Giants. Garza was in Triple-A Sacramento this year before moving to the Mets. Garza has played one game with the Mets, tossing two-thirds of an inning with two strikeouts in his first appearance. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Texas ex Scottie Scheffler eyes U.S. Open glory at Oakmont after PGA Championship Triumph
Texas ex Scottie Scheffler eyes U.S. Open glory at Oakmont after PGA Championship Triumph Scheffler helped lead the Longhorns to NCAA prominence in the golf field. Scottie Scheffler enters the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club riding a wave of dominance that has the golf world taking notice—and the oddsmakers making history. After a relatively slow start to the season by his lofty standards, Scheffler has surged to win three of his last four events, including victory at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow last month. The former Texas Longhorn has now held the world No. 1 ranking for 107 consecutive weeks and is a strong contender for what would be a record-tying fourth straight PGA Tour Player of the Year award. Scheffler's recent run is drawing comparisons to Tiger Woods, the gold standard of professional golf excellence. Woods remains the only player in recent memory to have enjoyed a stretch as dominant as Scheffler's current form. Scheffler is not just headlining the field at Oakmont—he is the overwhelming favorite. According to BetMGM, his +275 odds to win are the shortest for any player in a major since Woods in 2009. Trailing Scheffler in the betting are defending U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2025 Masters winner Rory McIlroy, and two-time major champion Jon Rahm. Oakmont, widely considered one of the toughest courses in the world, presents a stern test for the field. The last time the U.S. Open was held here in 2016, only six players finished even or under par. Scheffler, then an amateur and student at Texas, made his major championship debut at Oakmont that year. He shot a one-under 69 in the opening round but followed with a 78 on Friday, missing the cut by a single stroke. 'I remember coming here and thinking it was really fun, really cool to be playing in the U.S. Open,' Scheffler said Tuesday in a pre-tournament press conference. 'You know, it was my first major and it was maybe my third start on the pro tour at the time ... It definitely made me excited to get out here for real because it was a really fun week. Obviously, I had a really good first round. I didn't play as well in the second, and that was a tough pill to swallow, missing the cut by one.' The question asked to Justin Thomas was simple. 'What is Scottie Scheffler doing that is so special, what do you say?' 'What is he doing?' Thomas responded, during his pre-tournament press conference at the U.S. Open. 'Well, everything.' You've heard that refrain before.… — (@GOLF_com) June 10, 2025 Scheffler's game has matured since that first U.S. Open appearance. He now boasts the best birdie-to-bogey ratio on the PGA Tour this season, a testament to his consistency and composure under pressure. As he prepares for another test at Oakmont, Scheffler remains focused on his own game, despite the growing chatter around his status as the betting favorite. 'Starting Thursday morning, we're at even par and it's up to me to go out there and play against the golf course and see what I can do,' Scheffler said. Scheffler will tee off alongside Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland at 1:25 p.m. ET on Thursday as he seeks his second major title of the season—and perhaps another step toward golf history.
