Recap: Ohio State 42, Akron 0

Stoneburner is a main target in '11

You may have forgotten by now, but Travis Howard and Jordan Hall, 2 of OSU's starters at corner and running back were out yesterday due to the 1 game suspension that was announced earlier last week. Luke Fickell's Buckeyes did a great job in making the fans forget all about that with a 42-0 shutout over the Akron Zips. Fickell is the 14th coach in Ohio State history to post a shutout in his coaching debut. The last person to do it was none other than Woody Hayes.

Coming into the game, the quarterback situation was a main talking point among OSU fans, as to who would be the starter. Once the depth chart came out showing Bauserman as 1A and Miller at 1B, we knew right away that the QB battle would continue into the first couple of games. Joe Bauserman, the redshirt senior, went 12/16, for 163 yards and 3 TDs, along with 1 rushing touchdowns. All 3 passing touchdowns came into the hands of Jake Stoneburner, who saw limited action along with other OSU TE's under Tressel. Heralded freshman Braxton Miller played the entire 2nd half of the game, sans the first drive. During that time, Miller went 8/12, for 130 yards and a touchdown score that was thrown to fellow freshman Devin Smith.

On the rushing side of the ball, Ohio State switched back and forth between freshman Rod Smith and sophomore Carlos Hyde, until finally sticking with Hyde until about mid way through the 3rd quarter. Hyde ran for 93 yards on 19 attempts with a long of 24. Smith lost a fumble, but also had 74 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown score that came late in the 4th quarter.

Among the receivers, the ball was spread around through 11 different players, including the tight ends and fullback Zach Boren. Ohio State is looking for two starting receivers, and they are making use of the young players to see what kind of depth they have at that position.

Akron's offense was limited to only 90 yards of total offense, as the defense was outstanding all day long for the Buckeyes. The amount of depth we have at every position is pretty good, and this unit will really be a key factor in games like Wisconsin, Nebraska, MSU, etc. Andrew Sweat led the defense, but the defensive line was key in making not only pressuring the QB, but also forcing him to make bad throws, and batting down other passing attempts.

More Personal Thoughts:

Does Braxton have enough to start?

- I thought Braxton Miller wasn't really given a great chance to play with the first team offense, and thought he did fantastic with mostly all second teamers, which is saying a lot since the first team defense for Akron was still in at the time.

- This defense is nasty. I don't care that it was Akron, very rarely have we held a team to under 100 yards lately. Great defensive effort ALL game, which is also interesting to see.

- Joe Bauserman played really well, but I have to give the tip of my hat to Jake Stoneburner. He made Bauserman look good and I'm really happy to see Fickell and co. use him as he should be used: A receiver.

- Speaking of Jake Stoneburner, he is the first tight end in the history of Ohio State football to catch 3 TD passes in one game. A great feat by him, and I'm sure he's happy to know he can go down in history like that.

- By far the best play of the day, was freshman receiver Evan Spencer going Beast Mode all over Akron's corner.