The University of Akron Athletics
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Western Michigan
Football Closes Season with Loss at Western Michigan
November 25 | Football
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Tyler Van Tubbergen threw six touchdown passes and ran for another score as Western Michigan defeated Akron 68-19 in the Mid-American Conference regular-season finale for both teams on Friday afternoon at Waldo Stadium.
Akron (1-11, 0-8 MAC) first scored on a safety by James Harvey and then A.J. Fox converted a 28-yard field goal to cut the Western Michigan (7-5, 5-3 MAC) first half lead to 10-5, but Van Tubbergen's 9-yard TD pass to Chleb Ravenell started a streak of eight Broncos' touchdowns without any Zips' points.
Van Tubbergen was 19-of-21 passing for 252 yards. He threw two scoring passes apiece to Jordan White – who had 138 yards receiving – and one each to Ravenell, Eric Monette, Dallas Walker and Matt Cutler. Van Tubbergen also scored on an 8-yard run and finished with 60 yards rushing. Receiver Robert Arnheim also threw a touchdown pass to Ravenell.
It was 66-5 before Akron would score again, this time on Jawon Chisholm's 1-yard run with 3:24 to go in the third quarter. During the next WMU drive, Troy Gilmer returned a Mike Perish fumble 72 yards to give the Zips their final point total. It was Gilmer's first career TD and he also recorded a game-high 11 tackles.
WMU was awarded a safety with 8:10 left in the contest when the ball was snapped over the head of UA punter Zack Campbell and out of the back of the endzone.
Chisholm finished with 67 yards on 20 carries, while UA quarterback Clayton Moore was 5-of-18 passing for 35 yards. QB Patrick Nicely was put in to relieve Moore, but went 0-for-5 and had one interception.
Zips Notebook: LB Brian Wagner, who entered the week ranked second nationally in tackles (13.4 tpg), did not play (knee). That ended a streak of 35-straight starts for the junior who leads the squad with 147 tackles this season ... OT Jake Anderson closed out his four-year career today by playing in his 48th-consecutive game and making is 36th-straight start ... Antoine Russell played on both sides of the ball today. He started the season at CB and converted to WR during the bye week in October. He had six tackles against the Broncos ... Akron recovered three fumbles, with Nick Rossi and L.T. Smith doing so on punt returns to go along with Gilmer's third quarter recovery for a TD. The Zips recovered four fumbles over their last two games (Nico Caponi at Buffalo on Nov. 19 – fumbled punt) ... James Harvey's safety was the first for UA since Chevin Pace did so at Western Michigan on Oct. 6 2007, and the Zips gave up a safety for the first time since Nov. 20, 2009 versus Bowling Green.
