Blue White Illustrated

Penn State's James Franklin is well aware of the history. At his news conference on Tues- day, he rattled off a long list of upsets that MAC teams had engineered against Big Ten opponents during the past five years – a list that he presumably shared with his players, as well. "We respect whoever we play," he said. "At the end of the day, it's about us and playing up to our standard, but we need to be prepared for what Akron is going to do, as well." This weekend's visit to University Park is a huge opportunity for Akron, which is looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2016 sea- son in which it slipped to 5-7 after beating Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl the year before. The Zips are 1-27 all-time against ranked opponents, with their only victory coming in November 2002 when they defeated No. 25 Marshall, 34-20. But the at- mosphere in Beaver Stadium this weekend "will be a great motivator" for Akron's play- ers, Bowden said. "They'll be playing in front of 100,000 people, and they're going to play on ABC. … It's so exciting for our players be- cause a lot of [them] wanted to get recruited by the SEC or the Big Ten and they did not." The Zips had a similar opportunity last year and came up well short, falling to Wisconsin, 54-10, at Camp Randall Stadium. But three years earlier, in Bowden's second season, they nearly pulled off one of the bigger upsets of the season, as 11th-ranked Michigan needed a late goal-line stand to hold them off, 28-24, in Ann Arbor. One of the big disappointments of its visit to Madison last September was that Akron lost one of those rare players who had been recruited by a Big Ten team: running back Warren Ball. A four-star prospect from Columbus, Ohio, Ball signed with that team, Ohio State, and spent four years backing up Ezekiel Elliott and Carlos Hyde before leaving for Akron last year as a graduate transfer. He shined in his debut, romping for 110 yards against VMI, and he gained 71 yards on his first seven carries against the Badgers before leaving the game with an injury. That injury turned out to be a season- ender, but Ball is back this year after being awarded a sixth year by the NCAA, and he is expected to start against Penn State. Ball could give a big lift to an Akron team that ranked 84th nationally in total offense (387.4 yards per game) last year, especially if another injured star – senior quarterback Thomas Woodson – is able to join him in the backfield. Woodson suffered a shoulder in- jury early in the year against Appalachian State and ended up missing four games. Al- though he sat out spring practice and wasn't able to resume throwing again until the sum- mer, he, too is expected to start on Saturday. But when Bowden was asked earlier this week to assess the team's performance dur- ing camp, his focus was on the defense, which is led by junior outside linebacker Ul- ysees Gilbert III, the preseason MAC Defen- sive Player of the Year. "Last year, we replaced a lot of players and had nine new starters," Bowden said. "Our defense had to slowly build up. This year, we have most of our starters returning. I think, that is what's most improved. People want to talk about your quarterback, they want to talk about your running back, but what is going to win championships is defense. Defense is what gets you to the championship game. That's what I've been most impressed about. Chuck Amato, who is from Easton, Pa., is our defensive coordinator. He's done a good job with this defense. I think that's where I've seen the most improvement. "Offensively, we have four of our five starters back on our offensive line. We had five new starters last year. We have our top three running backs back. We have our quar- terback back and most of our receivers, so we have a little more experience. … I love excit- ing offense, but I've been a head coach in col- lege for 24 years. When you have the special wins, it's usually because that defense keeps you in the game." A U G U S T   3 0 ,   2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 2 NATE BAUER 12-2 IN 2016 | James Franklin knows that Mid-American Conference teams can be dangerous, especially in the first game of the season, especially when his own Nit- tany Lions have such high expectations for the season ahead. And in some ways, in some capacity, some of his fears are likely to come to fruition Saturday in the form of a costly turnover or unexpected scoring drive for the Zips. Still, this is a Penn State team with simply too much firepower to truly be at risk of an upset. Hiccups or not, the Lions will roll through Akron and on to Pitt. | PENN STATE 52, AKRON 13 PHIL GROSZ 11-3 | When I sat down and began analyzing Penn State's opening game of the season against Akron, almost immediately I came to the conclusion that the Nittany Lions' offense had the potential to enjoy its most successful opening day in the past five years. Joe Moorhead has the kind of personnel that could enable this team to match or exceed some of Penn State's 1994 offensive records. Meanwhile, Akron's defense al- lowed 466 yards per game last season to rank 114th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Zips were 107th against the run (224.7 ypg) and 79th against the pass (241.3). Penn State easily could produce 500 or more yards of total offense and score over 50 points in the game. Expect quality backups like quarterback Tommy Stevens to see plenty of ac- tion. | PENN STATE 52, AKRON 13 MATT HERB 10-4 | Like Penn State, Akron was a slow-starting team last year, having been outscored by a combined margin of 226-152 in the first halves of its 12 games. Unlike Penn State, the Zips were also mediocre finishers. They will need to curb at least one of those tendencies, and probably both, if they're to have any chance on Saturday. If they can hang in there for a couple of quarters, they might be able to undermine some of the hosts' confidence and make things interesting in the second half. The more likely sce- nario, however, is that Saquon Barkley will find some pretty big holes against a defense that surrendered nearly 225 yards per game on the ground a year ago, and that Penn State will be able to kick its own slow-starting habits and launch its season with a decisive nonconference victory. | PENN STATE 45, AKRON 17 TIM OWEN 11-3 | It's been eight months since the Rose Bowl. No matter how many preseason accolades are handed out or watch lists to which players are named, none of it can expunge the bitter taste of that loss to Southern Cal. Not even a thorough thrash- ing of a middling MAC team can do it. But it will at least help out, while proving to col- lege football that there is indeed a worthy Heisman Trophy candidate residing in Happy Valley. | PENN STATE 63, AKRON 17 RYAN SNYDER 11-3 | The Nittany Lions may get off to a slow start, but I expect Trace Mc- Sorley and Saquon Barkley to come on strong in the second quarter. Look for Juwan Johnson to make an early impact, with Penn State's defense pitching a shutout until the third quarter. | PENN STATE 38, AKRON 10 S T A F F P R E D I C T I O N S

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