Luke Fickell Gets First Win As Head Coach

After much speculation and waiting, the 2011 season finally started. Start it did, as the Buckeyes rolled to a 42-0 win over the Akron Zips. Luke Fickell was coaching in his first game as the main man, and Joe Bauserman and Braxton Miller were impressive in their season debuts. More in the recap, which will go up tomorrow. Go Bucks!

Live Blog: #14 Ohio State vs. Akron

The first game of the season is finally here! Also, in case you missed it yesterday and need to catch up, go back to our game preview, and our interview with an Akron blogger. Go Bucks, and we hope to see you at the Live Blog!

Live Blog begins at 11:45 AM EST

Enemy Blogger Interview: Akron

Middle of the pack since 1946

Matt Sussman from Hustle Belt has been a very busy man among the Internets, what with several Ohio State blogs asking for their questions to be answered, and after all of that, he was still kind enough to answer ours. So, with that, let's jump right in!

1. It appears that Akron has lost some of their key starters on the offensive side of the ball, and although they went 1-11 last season, that's still veteran leadership they are missing. How will the Zips replace them?

Well, head coach Rob Ianello made his reputation as a master recruiter at Notre Dame, so he's going to do it the old fashioned MAC way: Locate people who fell through the cracks, both as high school seniors and JUCO transfers. He knew in his first year what he was going to lose in terms of seniors and I'd like to say he prepared exceptionally well to fill out a competitive two-deep. So, he may have lost seniors he didn't recruit, but in Year Two, he gets to plug in some of his new guys and redshirts to see what they can do in his new pro-style system and 4-3 defense.

Preview: #14 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Akron Zips

Fickell In Charge In 2011

The Ohio State Buckeyes are without head coach Jim Tressel for the first time in 10 years. Luke Fickell has taken over a program that continues to hold the headlines with the NCAA, and that's not good news for any football program in America. Yet, despite all this the Buckeyes are still ranked fairly high with some decent expectations. 


The departures of Tressel and Pryor aren't the only absences which may plague the Buckeyes. Although the team returns top rusher Boom Herron and brings back receiver DeVier Posey, they are among four players who were suspended the first five games for taking part in the exchange.

Also sitting out will be starting tackle Mike Adams, backup defensive end Soloman Thomas, starting running back Jordan Hall, starting corner Travis Howard, and 2nd string defensive back Corey Brown. The last 3 came with the release from Ohio State yesterday, when we reported that they had received a combined total of $300 in a supposed gift basket from a Breast cancer charity event. 

National CFB Games This Weekend

It's time to bring back the predictions, the hype, and the eventual glory for one team in college football. That road begins this weekend when the ball is kicked off the tee, and helmets collide in a bruising, powerful way. Let's begin!


Current Season Record: 0-0
Last Week's Record: 0-0


Minnesota Golden Gophers at USC Trojans, 3:30 PM EST, ABC/ESPN2
The Golden Gophers have a new head coach in Jerry Kill, and their offensive weapon at QB is MarQueis Gray. They will have to attack fast and hard if they have any hope against Barclay and the Trojans though, as USC has won 13 straight openers and 11 straight games against Big Ten opponents.
Prediction: USC wins 35-14

Week 1 Depth Chart Released

Coach Fickell is ready. Are you?

Akron is just days away from invading the Horseshoe on Saturday at Noon, and I couldn't be more excited about it. Along with that bit of news, comes the release of the depth chart for the game, making it all the more clear that I'm not dreaming, and yes, I can stop pinching myself. With that, let's break down what we know from looking at the depth chart.

Quarterback
1. Joe Bauserman OR Braxton Miller

Thoughts: This was much expected as we predicted throughout the off-season that Fickell is going to give the redshirt senior his first real career start. If Braxton Miller outplays him in the first two games, then I expect Miller to take over soon after.

Running Back
1. Jordan Hall
2. Carlos Hyde OR Rod Smith

Thoughts: My first initial reaction to this was no. How could Jaamal Berry not be starting after all the good things we had seen and heard from camp. Then I came back to reality and remembered that Berry had suffered a hamstring injury that had kept him from participating in many Ohio State practices and key drills that show the coaches who's the best from the rest. Without that shot to prove, Berry moved down the depth chart, and my guess is that this hamstring injury is more than OSU is willing to let on, which isn't good news at all.

ITS's Preseason Blogpoll Ballot

Happy Monday to you, and welcome to the first week of the 2011 College Football season. How awesome does that sound? As we told you yesterday, Inside The Shoe has been given the honor of being on the staff of the prestigious Blogpoll, presented by SB Nation. Look at us all grown up, using big words. The way the ITS Blogpoll Top 25 works, is that our 5 writers all send in their own personal Top 25, and I average them out into the "final" ballot that gets turned into SB Nation. So while I might have put Western Kentucky at #1, the rest of the writers might have them at #2 or #3, ultimately pulling them down to #2 or #3. We are very excited about this opportunity, and we hope you give us your thoughts on how the poll turned out, so we can adjust it in the future polls.

This is as much as our poll as it is yours. We will take all comments into consideration, and nothing gets overlooked. With that, our rankings are after the jump, so we'll see you there!