Akron at Ohio State

Ohio State won't be in a good mood after a tumultuous offseason and has a history of whacking small schools in openers. Last year's team destroyed Marshall (45-7) as 28-point chalk and two years ago they shut out Toledo of the MAC in September (38-0) as 21-point chalk. The Buckeyes are 10-1 ATS in their last 11 non-conference games. Luke Fickell was promoted to Head Coach and makes his debut at the Horseshoe, and new coaches often want to run it up and impress the fandom (and the boosters). Two-year backup QB Joe Bauserman is now a senior and steps in. Last season he appeared in every game while completing 16 of 22 pass attempts. But they won’t need to pass much against a lousy Akron defense that is off a 1-11 season where the defense allowed 35.1 points per game and allowed opponents to score on 87% of their red zone trips. The defense lost three of their front seven, and sophomore safety ShelDon Miller will be moving to linebacker to fill the opening created by Mike Thomas' graduation - a big hole. Akron junior QB Patrick Nicely (10 TDs, 13 INTs) is the offense, but will be running for his life. The Zips are 7-15 ATS in their last 22 games overall and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games as a road underdog of 10.5 or greater. Mighty Ohio State is 61-5 SU, 40-21-1 ATS their last 66 home games! Play Ohio State.