The football team (5-0, 1-0 MAC) will go for a Homecoming hat trick 4 p.m. Saturday.

The Huskies have already ruined Purdue’s and Kent State’s homecomings the past two weeks. This week they will look to win their own Homecoming game when they host the Akron Zips (1-5, 0-2 MAC), who are much better than their record suggests.

The Zips came close to the upset of the year against the then-No. 11 Michigan Wolverines on Sept. 14 in Ann Arbor, Mich., but came up short, 28-24. They had two plays inside Michigan’s 5-yard line in the last 10 seconds to try to score the winning touchdown, but they could not find the end zone.

“You’re talking about a good football team,” said head coach Rod Carey in a release. “…All you have to do is turn on that Michigan film and you can see that this is a much improved football team. In my estimation, and this is my opinion, I think they lost the Michigan game, but Michigan did not beat them. They pushed around Michigan all day.”

In their last game against the Ohio Bobcats, the Zips put up a mere 157 yards of offense in their 43-3 loss. To put that in perspective, the Huskies had 158 yards of offense in the first quarter last week against the Kent State Golden Flashes.

The Zips have passed for more yards than they have rushed for in five of their six games this season. Their passing attack has been better than their ground game this season, but the Huskies know stopping the run will make the Zips’ offense more one-dimensional, thus making it easier to stop.

“I know they got a good core of wide receivers and a decent quarterback,” said senior safety Jimmie Ward. “Basically, I feel like when it comes to the game, they’re going to try to do more pass than run, but I think they’re going to try to establish the run just to open up for the pass.”

The Huskies will play at home for only the second time this season, but they know how much of an advantage their home crowd gives them, and they crave it.

“Having all the fans out there is great,” said redshirt senior defensive tackle Anthony Wells in a news release. “Every time we get ready to come out for the game, [we’re] looking in the stands to see how many people are out there. The more people, the louder it’s going to be and make it harder on the away teams.”

Even though Saturday will be Homecoming, the Huskies aren’t treating this game differently. Their expectations are to do their jobs.

“We just have to come out here and take it like any other game,” said redshirt senior quarterback Jordan Lynch.