Akron

It is not so much a question of what Akron presents, as it is a question of how much Ohio State will improve from last week. Akron beat Army last week 22-13, but had a 74 yard INT return for a TD, and used a 70 yard kick return to set up a FG. They do have a WR who is 6'4" 225 that we should keep an eye on. But I don't think they can do much damage, unless we let them.

No, the issue is whether Ohio State will show improvement which acts as a springboard to a potentially great season, or struggles which foreshadows a long, difficult year. Think back to 2002 - after a nice win v. Texas Tech, OSU came out and crushed Kent State 51-17. We went on to go 14-0. The next year with everyone but Clarett back, we followed up a good win v. Washington with a 16-13 squeaker against San Diego State. While we went 10-2 that year, we were not impressive against anyone and struggled all year with no running game. In 2004, we cruised past Cincinnati in the opener, but then needed Nuge's 54-yard FG as time expired to beat Marshall. That showed that our No. 9 ranking was way too high and 4 weeks later we were out of the polls.

Last I checked the spread was 29 and at first I thought that was too low. But OSU under Tressel is not good when huge favorites over non-conference opponents. OSU is 3-5 ATS v. non-conference opponents when favored by 20+. Tressel is also 3-4 ATS v. the MAC. I thought this could be a 45-16 game which puts the game as a push, but I think I'm giving our new offense too much credit. Also, T-storms are predicted to hit during the first half, so weather will play a factor. I think I'd take the Zips and the points.

MTB says:

Akron 3 0 7 6 - 16
OSU 10 7 7 10 - 34