After winning back-to-back games at home in Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan football is headed back out on the road as it matches up against the Zips of Akron University on Saturday.

CMU currently holds a 3-2 record, having rebounded from a tough season-opening road trip that saw it lose two of its first three games. The Chippewas are ranked first in the Mid-American Conference and are one of only three teams with a winning overall record.

Last weekend, Central Michigan grabbed a 24-13 win against in-state rivals Eastern Michigan. The Chippewas found plenty of success on the ground against the Eagles, running for a total of 305 yards.

Meet the opponent

Central Michigan will look to keep its momentum going against an Akron team that is currently 1-4 on the season and coming off of a 45-3 loss against fellow MAC opponent Toledo.

The Zips are coached by fourth-year head coach Joe Moorhead. Offensively, the unit is typically lead by quarterback Ben Finley, who has 694 passing yards on the season. However, Finley sat out last week and his status for this week is unclear.

The run game for the Zips is led by running backs Jordan Gant, who has 300 total yards this season, and Sean Patrick, who has 199 yards.

At wide receiver, the Zips have Israel Polk and Myles Walker. Polk leads the team in receiving yards this season with 179, while Walker is close behind with 166.

On the defensive side of the ball, Akron has trouble stopping the opponent’s run game. The Zips are currently giving up an average of 182 yards each game. This may be of benefit to the Chippewas, who are ranked 55th in the nation in rushing offense and are averaging 177 yards-per-game.

Keys to victory

Despite the fact that Akron’s run defense is ranked towards the bottom of the NCAA, Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall thinks the Zips may pose a challenge for his team on the ground.

“We feel actually that Akron's defensive box actually matches up really well with us,” Drinkall said. “They're a fast and physical, violent group.”

Because of this, Drinkall and his team are going to look for different ways to attack Akron with the run game.

“Our plan will not be probably very similar to Eastern Michigan in the sense of we would like to attack some more different areas of the defense instead of trying to beat our head against the wall of a bunch of their good players,” Drinkall said. “We'll obviously have to run it and establish a run, that's kind of our identity, but I think you'll see us go about it in a lot of different, creative ways.”

Another part of the game that Central Michigan needs to capitalize on is third-down defense. Akron is in the bottom three in the NCAA in third-down percentage and went 2 of 15 last week against the Rockets. If Central Michigan can take advantage of Akron's struggles on third down, it could be a game changer.

Finally, according to Drinkall, the team has to focus on keeping their “internal discipline”.

“ Like really if you look at the entire football universe, everything in the universe is pegged against us to distract us and not perform well this week.”

Drinkall highlighted several different distractions that he wanted his team to block out heading into the game, including team records, results, the upcoming bye week, the fact that this is the first game on the road for the team in a couple of weeks and even the fact that Akron will be celebrating homecoming during the game this weekend.

“ So there's all kinds of stuff that should distract us to make this a very, very difficult game to focus on and play really well and perform,” Drinkall said. “But that's really been the whole emphasis this week is like we have to make a decision as a program to either let that outside stuff affect us or not.”

Central Michigan (3-2) vs. Akron (1-4)

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

Date: Saturday, Oct. 4

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Location: Akron, Ohio

TV: ESPN+