I had previewed and previewed the game until I knew it like the back of my hand, and essentially talked myself into thinking that Akron could make the game fun for a quarter or so against Ohio State. That's what they did, even though moving the ball on the offense was damn near impossible for them.
In the end they finished with just 90 offensive yards with new pieces everywhere on the skill positions. Clayton Moore was under pressure all day and ended up with a gakky line of 6-for-16, 54 yards, one interception and sacked twice. He also led the team in rushing with 32 yards on eight let's call them scrambles. Jawon Chisholm was not able to showcase any of that speed because he couldn't break free of the OSU linebackers. The leading receiver was Marquelo Suel: one catch, 33 yards.
Those were your highlights.
So the hope is that Akron will get better than this. It's tough to read how good they might be because OSU, despite all the losses and suspensions, played an airtight game. I saw Mark May blast the OSU offense in the first half, which I'm sure he'll get over, because 42 points is about right for this game, although allowing zero is way better than anticipated.
The positives? Zack Campbell has a leg, and they'll need it at times. He punted 10 times averaging 48 per. They did hang around defensively in the first quarter, being down just 7-0 through the first 25 minutes. And anything else I point at which are "positives" might appear to be feeble attempts at humor. Whatever. Next week is Temple.