Game 1- #16/18 Ohio State vs Akron

Where: Ohio Stadium

When: Noon EST

TV: ESPN

Note: apologies on not finishing my Big Ten preview. There will be more attention to detail on Wisconsin and Nebraska during the week that the Buckeyes play them.

It is finally here, and it couldn't come soon enough.

Forget the NCAA investigations.

Try to ignore the shadow of Jim Tressel hovering over Luke Fickell.

It is time to play some football!

Not to sound completely cliche, but there is no time like the present to forget everything that has transpired since last December and actually hit somebody not wearing scarlet and gray on the football field.

Who better to beat up on then somebody that is a lot smaller and less talented than you are, right?

Akron makes the trip to Columbus to show the world that OSU really will fall 10,000 leagues in the sea to mediocrity, while OSU is out to "shock the world" and win it all in 2011. My money is definitely not on the first mission, but not necessarily on the second one either. All in all, I'll just put my money on the Bucks to win this one.

It will be a very interesting first quarter, as both senior Joe Bauserman and freshman Braxton Miller are expected to take the field and show their stuff in what is less of a competition and more of a timeshare/preview of things to come this season at quarterback. Bauserman brings experience and leadership while Miller has the athleticism and talent to give defenses headaches. Expect Bauserman to be given the majority of the opportunities on Saturday.

My player to watch in this game is RB Jordan Hall, who has been practicing and learning with the wide receivers and new WR coach Stan Drayton, who coached with Urban Meyer down in Florida when former do-it-all Percy Harvin was in Gainesville. The expectation is that Hall will be asked to do a little bit of everything, whether it is run, catch out of the backfield or out of the slot, return punts, etc; really just anything to put the ball in his hands. If the rumors are true, then he could be the most exciting player on the team in 2011.

I expect the defense to let out a lot of frustration on Akron, limiting them to very few scoring opportunities. They are a young unit though, so it won't be a complete shutout in my opinion. The offense will be methodical throughout the game, but enough points will be put on the board against an Akron team that won only once in 2010 to earn a big victory in front of 105,000 fans.

The first OSU game of the season has never been more welcome to me than it is this season.

Prediction:

Ohio State- 34

Akron- 10