Ohio at Kent State

Ohio Coach Frank Solich prefers to run the football to control the ball and the clock. He got away from that the last two years because of a terrific quarterback, but for 2014 he loses the star QB. Ohio returns just four offensive starters, and three of those players are on the offensive line. QB Derrius Vick saw some time at QB last year, but only threw for 277 yards and 1 touchdown. Ohio is on a 10-4-1 run UNDER the total, including 5-1-1 UNDER on the road. Both Beau Blankenship and Ryan Boykin are gone, which means 12 combined rushing touchdowns and over 1,000 yards on the ground goes with them, so this offense will go through a lot of growing pains. Eight starters return on defense and Antwan Crutcher is back, who is a beast of a nose tackle at 6-foot-2, 304 pounds, anchoring the defensive line. They face a Kent team that plummeted offensively last year under first-year head coach Paul Haynes (from 33 points per game to 20.8 ppg). They ranked #106 in the nation in scoring last fall. Kent is 4-0 UNDER the total in August and the UNDER is 5-2 in the Golden Flashes' last seven conference games. Kent State is a run-first offense that couldn't run the ball very well, and the passing game ranked #103 in the nation and still looks weak and below average. When these teams meet the UNDER is 5-1 in the last six meetings, including 4-0 UNDER the total here at Kent State. Take the UNDER.