Source: NCAA gives Akron waiver for postseason play in 2026

The Akron football program has received a waiver from the NCAA that will allow it to be eligible for the postseason next year, a source told ESPN.

The waiver comes in the wake of Akron being ineligible in 2025 because of the program’s multiyear Academic Progress Rate score. The program’s APR score of 914 was below the minimum 930 for postseason eligibility.

The punishment also included Akron being limited to just 16 practice hours instead of the NCAA allotment of 20. Now, Akron can resume practicing 20 hours per week, and it is eligible for the Mid-American Conference championship and for a bowl game if it reaches the six-win threshold.

Akron was the first team in more than a decade to be banned from the football postseason for APR issues. Idaho was the last previous one, in 2014. Akron finished 5-7 overall last year (4-4 in the conference).

Akron’s last bowl game came in 2017, when the Zips played in the Boca Raton Bowl under Terry Bowden.