Ball State at Akron

Ball State heads to Akron for the opener of Mid-American Conference play for both teams. Ball has faced two soft teams, beating a rebuilding Navy team and easily getting past Northeastern. Akron got beat by a top 25 team in Wisconsin, but handed a poor BCS Conference Syracuse team on the road rather easily. The Zips have always done well in their home openers where they have compiled a 70-35 mark. Ball State is solid and balanced offensively, but untested. In contrast, Akron has piled up some solid numbers against much better opposition. The Cardinals are yielding over 200 yards on the ground, while Alex Allen and Dennis Kennedy combined for nearly 200 against Syracuse. The Zips have not been able to stop the run, but Ball State prefers to throw a lot. Expect the Zips to grind this one out on the ground, exploiting the Cardinals weakness in an attempt to shorten the game. That should open up a good air attack. This should be a high scoring affair, and the Zips have the ability to match Ball State score for scor. It looks like the last one to have the ball wins here, so I'll take the points and go with the Zips.