OSU vs. Akron Preview
By Tony Gerdeman

Saturday not only brings about a battle of old rivals, it marks an historic date in Ohio State football history.

Six years ago to the day, back on September 8, 2001, Jim Tressel coached his first game as The Head Coach at The Ohio State University.

And as history would have it, it also came against Akron.

That match up was the first time the two schools had met in 106 years. From 1891-1895, Akron and Ohio State played each year, with Ohio State winning four of the five contests.

Akron's lone win came on September 5, 1894.

In that game, future bronzed namesake John W. Heisman coached his Akron team to a 12-6 victory. It was Akron's only game that year. (If you choose to believe Akron's press release, Heisman also played quarterback in that game, even though his playing days had been over for a couple of years. If this was truly the case (which it probably isn't), shouldn't the 12-6 victory be forfeited?)

This series has been closely contested throughout history. In fact, you would have to go back 115 years to find the last time this game was decided by more than two touchdowns.

But getting back to the present day, Jim Tressel isn't just familiar with Akron because of one game six years ago. He actually got his coaching career started back in 1975 as a graduate assistant with the Zips. And as a head coach at Youngstown State, his teams were 7-2-1 against Akron.

Ohio State is also familiar with in-state opponents, building a record of 172-48-15 against them.

Saturday will mark the 499th game in Ohio Stadium.

When Akron Has The Ball

Sophomore Chris Jacquemain will be making his second career start this week. Last week against Army, he completed 14 of his 24 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Not bad numbers, but notable for a low average per completion and attempt.

Jacquemain will spread the ball around to everybody, but his main target is Jabari Arthur. Arthur (6'4" 225) originally came to Akron as a quarterback, but was moved to receiver as a redshirt freshman. Arthur, who was the sixth pick in the CFL draft by the Calgary Stampeders this year, had eleven receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown last week against Army. Jacquemain will look to Arthur all day long, especially on third down.

Cornerbacks Donald Washington and Malcolm Jenkins should both get their turns at Arthur, and it will be interesting to watch how aggressive they are with the bigger receiver.

At the other receiver is Stephon Fuqua. Fuqua is a track guy, so they try to get him the ball in space and let him use his speed. However, he can be bottled up, as his two receptions for seven yards last week can attest.

Akron has two very good tight ends, so like last week, the Ohio State linebackers and safeties will need to be aware of their coverage assignments.

Overall, it's not a terribly outlandish passing game. Head coach J.D. Brookhart has implemented a faster-acting offense, however. There will be some no-huddle, and some quick huddles. He doesn't want to give the defense too much time to rest or send in substitutions.

The running backs will also be a large part of the passing game, even though they weren't too involved last week.

Last season, starting running back Dennis Kennedy finished the season with 39 receptions, so expect to see him involved in screens and passes into the flats.

And he's not bad as a runner, either. Kennedy, who originally signed a letter of intent with Ohio State, finished last season with 914 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. Against Army last week, he carried the ball thirteen times for 72 yards.

The Buckeyes will again rotate their linebackers, starting with the usual trio of James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman and Larry Grant. But expect to see Austin Spitler, Ross Homan, Thaddeus Gibson and Tyler Moeller all get some time. And no matter who is out there, they will all need to know where Dennis Kennedy is at all times. If Jabari Arthur is public enemy number one, then Kennedy isn't far behind.

The Akron offensive line is a young one. Last week, they had three players make their first-ever starts. They will start two redshirt freshmen, a sophomore and two seniors. The seniors are obviously the strong points of the line. Left tackle Chris Kemme is a first-team All-MAC preseason pick, after finishing second-team last season. Center Mike Schepp has started at every position on the line and the coaches love his intelligence and versatility. Defensive tackles Doug Worthington, Todd Denlinger and Dexter Larimore will be battling a center who never quits and scraps for every yard available.

With defensive end Lawrence Wilson out with a broken leg, sophomore Robert Rose gets the starting job. It will be interesting to see what he can do against such a young offensive line, especially when he's on the left side of the defensive line. Most of his numbers last season came in the latter parts of games when the ending was no longer in doubt, so it will be good to see him from the outset. Alex Barrow and Cameron Heyward will also be counted on to fill the void left by Wilson.

Don’t be surprised to see defensive end Vernon Gholston make more noise than he did last week. With Wilson out, everybody needs to step up their games.

The special teams are an area of both concern and strength. They have excellent returners at their disposal. Last week, running back Bryan Williams opened the game with a 70-yard kickoff return. Later in the game, free safety Andre Jones added a 63 yard punt return. That's the good.

The bad comes when Akron actually kicks the ball. Place-kicker Igor Iveljic was 3-4 in field goals last week, missing a 39-yarder and making a long of 32. He was also 1-2 on extra points. Obviously, there are some consistency issues here.

Punter John Stec punted five times against Army for an average of 35.8 yards per kick, with a long of 41 yards. That's a pretty bad day, but it's right in line with what he did last season.

When Ohio State Has The Ball

Last week, Quarterback Todd Boeckman was an efficient 17-23 for 225 yards and a touchdown, and that included some drops. This week, however, he will be going against a better defense, and a unique one.

Akron runs a 3-5-3 defense. Some call it a 3-3-5. Really, it just depends on where the "Bandit" and "Rover" line up on the field.

The defensive front will provide some issues in that it's an unfamiliar defense to play against, so there may be a bit of a slow start in the running game. The starting front is fairly inexperienced, having only produced eleven tackles prior to this season. However, they will probably be returning Jared Cecchetti from injury this week. He finished with 39 tackles at defensive tackle last year. Defensive end Almondo Sewell is a freshman who came to Akron as a linebacker, but they liked his size (6'2" 235"), power and speed, and felt he would be a good choice to rush the passer.

Offensive tackles Kirk Barton and Alex Boone will have to be aware of the speed rushing of the Zips. Not only will Sewell be fast, but whoever else they have rushing from the edge will probably be even faster than Sewell, considering it will be a linebacker or a safety, or some combination of both.

Nose tackle Wallace Pendleton is a walk-on who has won the job. He's a space-eater (6'1" 315), so he will be nice match up for center Jim Cordle.

The Ohio State interior line will undoubtedly be eager to make up for the struggles on the ground last week against Youngstown State.

Running back Chris Wells will be just as eager. After a self-described disappointing game last week, expect a focused and determined Wells. He started to pick it up in the second half of last week's game, so you can probably expect that improvement to continue this week.

Lost in receiver Brian Robiskie's nine receptions last week was running back Maurice Wells' three receptions for 23 yards. Wells accounted for 68 yards of offense last week, second to Robiskie's 153.

And of course, the player everybody wants to see more of is freshman running back Brandon Saine. Don't expect to be disappointed.

Trying to contain these running backs, assuming they get past the front three, will be a back eight consisting of a middle linebacker, a strong-side linebacker, the aforementioned Rover and Bandit, and the usual secondary of two cornerbacks and two safeties.

Last week, the Akron safeties accounted for nearly twenty tackles, so while they're active, that's a sign that the linebackers aren't able to get off of their blocks. And if you were wondering, the safeties aren't exactly big. Both free safety Andre Jones and strong safety Chevin Pace check in at 185 pounds. If Chris Wells gets into the defensive backfield, he will be bringing a 50-pound weight advantage along with him.

Doug Williams plays the Bandit position, and at 6'2" 235, he's basically a linebacker. John Mackey is the team's Rover, and at 5'10" 215, he's essentially a combination of safety and linebacker. Mackey finished with six tackles last week.

Assuredly, Brian Robiskie will be looking to repeat his nine reception and 153-yard day from a week ago, however, Akron has two of the best corners in the MAC.

Reggie Corner was a preseason All-MAC selection, and his play after one week wouldn't change anybody's mind. He finished the Army game with two tackles and an interception, which he took back 74 yards for a touchdown. He is small (5'9" 175), so both Brian Robiskie (6'3" 196) and Brian Hartline (6'3" 180) will have a size advantage on the outside.

Corner's running mate Davanzo Tate is also a very good cornerback. He is also a fairly small corner (5'10" 185) who will handle the boundary corner spot.

After a relatively quiet week last week, expect to see Brian Hartline be a bigger part of the offense this week. Todd Boeckman will continue to learn that it's best to keep everybody happy, and not just rely on one guy.

Akron place-kicker Igor Iveljic has yet to put a kickoff in the endzone, as most of his kicks barely make it to the ten-yard line. This could spell bad news for the Zips as they are giving up nearly 24 yards per kick return.

Don't expect Brian Robiskie to unleash any monstrous punt returns, as the punts will probably be so short that he'll have to fair catch most of them.

How It'll End Up

Todd Boeckman will again be very efficient, and his passes will find the endzone two more times this week.

The running game will improve, or else...

If Brandon Saine gets to field two kick returns, one of them will be coming back all the way.

Akron will be able to move the ball between the 20-yard lines with the short passing game and timely third-down conversions to their tight ends and Jabari Arthur. Arthur will have a drastically different day this week than last week however.

Dennis Kennedy will be held under 60 yards rushing.

Chris Wells will not.

Brian Hartline will have at least five receptions, including one of at least 40 yards.

Lastly, a freshman will once again score this week for the Buckeyes, though he may not be on offense.

Ohio State 37 - Akron 10

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