Box Score Akron, OH—The University of Akron used its quick tempo offense and some stingy defense to shut out Howard, 41-0 in a non-conference game at InfoCision Stadium at Summa Field.  The last time that the Bison were shut out was in September 2012 when Rutgers defeated them, 26-0.

The Zips (1-0) wasted little time in establishing their game plan when Kyle Pohl connected with L.T Smith on a 57-yard pass less than two minutes in the first quarter.

Howard (0-1), which was stymied all day by the Akron defense, turned the ball over on their second possession and the Zips took advantage.  It was Pohl again who cashed in, this time on a nine-yard strike to Imani Davis at the 11:24 mark.

The Bison, who had problems on third downs all day (three of 18), gave the ball back to the Zips less than two minutes later and Pohl made quick work by finding Mykel Traylor Bennett from 43 yards out on the first play as Akron opened a 21-0 lead less than halfway through the first period.

"That's their game; they want to see what you're going to do on defense, counter that, and get into good plays," said Howard head coach Gary Harrell.  "What we did poorly was that we showed our hands a couple of time and they were able to make adjustments in the blitz game.  Whenever we blitzed they had something positive to counter it."

The Howard defense settled in and began to pressure Pohl and force errant throws.  The Zips failed the score the rest of the half as Damon Gresham Chisolm, Godspower Offur and Marquese Blanchard and Devin Rollins hounded Pohl into four of nine passing and keeping them out of the end zone.

"We had a lot of young guys in the secondary and I feel like it just took them awhile to get adjusted to the speed of the game," explained Howard red-shirt senior safety Cameron Alston.  "Offenses like that, it is hard to simulate what they do in practice with a scout team.  Once the players got adjusted and got a feel for the speed of the game, we played better."

But the Bison offense could not capitalize as Akron came up with big stops on third down.  Howard's best opportunity came right near the half when Greg McGhee engineered a drive that put his team in scoring position deep into Akron territory.

Freshman wide receiver Tavious Brown made two key catches in the drive.  But the Bison came up just short when a McGhee to Brown pass was ruled incomplete as the clock wound down.  The score would have put Howard back in the game.  Instead it helped Akron regain momentum that they took to the locker room.

The Bison defense stood strong through the third quarter until Akron drove 55 yards on its third possession.  Jawon Chisholm capped off the drive with a six-yard burst.  Two possessions later, Pohl tossed his fourth TD pass of the game—a career best—to Traylor Bennett from 28 yards, extending the lead to 34-0.

Akron reserve quarterback Tommy Woodson got into the act, throwing his first career TD to Austin Wolf from 40 yards.

The Bison were plagued by injuries both before and during the game.  Starting strong safety and team leader, Julien David did not suit up due to knee injury that happened in practice.  Safety LeLand Lassiter injured his shoulder in practice and did not play. It that was not enough starting left offensive tackle John Smith and starting running back William Parker all sustained injuries during the game, thus depleting the Bison's depth.

"We have a lot of injuries," announced Harrell. "We have Julien David and John Smith who have injuries.  That forces us to play a lot of young players.  Anytime you have a Julien or a John Smith go down, it's a domino effect.  You have to shuffle people to different positions or you have to play young people with little or no experience.  We have to play with the hand that we're dealt and we just have got to get better."
                 
McGhee rushed the ball 13 times for 29 yards and completed 12 of 26 for 68 yards, a career low.  He was sacked four times and was never able to get any rhythm.

"The injuries up front had a lot to do with our ineffectiveness," said McGhee.  "John Smith going down with the ankle injury early really changed what we like to do on offense. 

We had to move some offensive linemen to different positions that they have not played before.  We just have to get back to the basics and getting healthy."

Junior running back Terrence Tusan was one of the bright spots on offense, rushing for a career-high 60 yards on 18 carries.  Brown, a freshman from Miami, FL, grabbed four passes for 39 yards to lead all Bison receivers. He also returned two kickoffs and a punt.

Lost in the defeat was the punting of junior John Fleck, who averaged almost 41 yards per punt.

The Zips rolled up 513 yards of total offense as eight different receivers caught passes.

The Bison have a few extra days to prepare for their next opponent, Rutgers on Saturday, September 6 at 12 noon in New Jersey while the Zips travel to Pennsylvania to take on the Nittany Lions of Penn State on Saturday, September 6.

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