Report: Oregon offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead candidate for Akron head coaching job

Now that the season for a lot of college football teams is over, some athletic directors are attempting to poach talent from successful teams that still are playing or qualifying for bowl games. 

Oregon, which will play for its third consecutive Pac-12 Championship on Friday, isn't immune as one of the Ducks' coordinators is reportedly a candidate for a head coaching position. 

To the Pac-12 Championship:Oregon Duck defeats Oregon State Beavers 38-29

Ducks offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead has emerged as the leading candidate to become the Akron Zips head coach, according to Yahoo Sports. A deal could be reportedly be done within the next couple of days. 

Moorhead is no stranger to Akron as he was an assistant coach from 2004-08, including two years as the Zips' offensive coordinator. During Moorhead's time at Akron, the Zips won a MAC football championship, in 2005. 

When he came to Oregon, Moorhead was considered one of the bright offensive minds in college football. Prior to being the Ducks' offensive coordinator, Moorhead was the head coach at Mississippi State for two seasons before he was fired following a 6-7 record in 2019. 

Moorhead was also a head coach at Fordham from 2012-15 as he led the Rams to three straight FCS playoff appearances in four seasons. 

Akron is hoping to return to respectability after the Zips' football program has struggled recently. Zips Athletic Director Charles Guthrie fired previous coach Tom Arth after he went 3-24 in three seasons.

If Moorhead does decide to accept Akron's head coaching position, he will bring creditability to a program that has been to only three bowl games since 2005. Not only has Moorhead overseen an Oregon offense that's averaging 33.2 points per game, but he has the Ducks 18th in the country in rushing offense (218 yards per game). 

From Oregon's perspective, losing Moorhead would be a huge deal as the Ducks' offense wasn't the same in the only game he missed this season. Moorhead didn't coach in Oregon's loss at Stanford because of a non-COVID-related illness on Oct. 2. Oregon running backs coach Jim Mastro called the plays against Stanford and could be a candidate if Moorhead does leave. 

Oregon ready for rematch with Utah

After the Ducks' 38-29 rivalry victory over Oregon State on Saturday, it didn't take the team long to discuss Oregon's rematch against Utah coming up on Friday. 

On Nov. 20, Oregon suffered its biggest loss of the season as the Utes rolled past the Ducks 38-7 in Salt Lake City. This time, Oregon (10-2) will play Utah (9-3) Friday in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Conference Championship. 

More on the Ducks' loss to the Utes

• A series of unfortunate events lead to Oregon's loss to Utah
• Takeaways from the Oregon Ducks' 38-7 football loss to Utah Utes
• A series of unfortunate events lead to Oregon's loss to Utah
• Ken Woody: Oregon Ducks never had a chance against Utah Utes

Unlike the matchup at Rice-Eccles Stadium, being at a neutral site could help the Ducks, especially considering this is a team that went into Columbus and beat Ohio State for probably the most significant road victory of the college football season.

What could also help Oregon is the team getting back to what the Ducks do best: running the football. Against Oregon State, the Ducks rushed for 233 yards and three touchdowns in the nine-point win. 

"We needed to bounce back and put that together, and I think we did," Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said. "I think our guys in there — talking to them — they realize we need to get back to work right away. And we're on it.

"We have one less day than our opponent. We have one less day, and we're going to use every single second that we are allowed to use, so it starts with that. We can build off this. We earned ourselves the opportunity next week, and we are looking forward to the opportunity."

Brown wins Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week

After his career performance against the Beavers, Ducks quarterback Anthony Brown received a distinguished honor from the Pac-12 on Monday. 

Brown was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. This is the first time Brown has won the award as he joins CJ Verdell as the second Oregon player to receive the honor this season. 

Verdell was selected in Week 2 after the Ducks won at Ohio State. Brown is the first Oregon quarterback to win the conference offensive player of the week since Justin Herbert did it in October 2019.

In Oregon's 38-29 win over Oregon State to clinch the Pac-12 North, Brown completed 23-of-28 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. 

Pac-12 Championship: No. 11 UO football vs. No. 19 Utah

When: 5 p.m. Friday at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas

TV: ABC. Radio: KUJZ-FM (95.3) and KUGN-AM (590).

Contact Antwan Staley at astaley@registerguard.com and follow him on Twitter @antwanstaley.