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Football
Game Notes: Ohio State Tops Akron 42-0 in Opener
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS, Ohio — So another season-opener is in the books for Ohio State.

There is a new coach in Columbus, but the same results for the Buckeyes, as they won their 33rd-straight home-opener with a 42-0 victory over visiting Akron Saturday.

It was the debut of first-year head coach Luke Fickell, who held serve with his predecessors. The last Ohio State coach to lose his coaching debut was Jack Ryder, who suffered a 40-4 loss at Oberlin in 1892.

OSU coaches are 21-0-1 in their home debuts. The last one to lose his home opener was Alexander Lilley in 1890. That is a lot of winning. It also probably says a lot about the caliber of opponent they are playing to start the season.

In fact, Ohio State has not lost a home-opener in 33 years - Sept. 16, 1978 to be exact when No. 6 Ohio State suffered a 19-0 loss to No. 5 Penn State in Woody Hayes’ final season as head coach.

Ohio State Team Notes

• Ohio State is 31-2 in its last 33 season-openers.
  
  
• Ohio State has started 1-0 every year since 2000. The Buckeyes last lost an opener when they suffered a 23-12 defeat to Miami (Fla.) in the 1999 Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium.
  
  
• Ohio State is 53-5 at Ohio Stadium since the start of the 2002 season.
  
  
• Ohio State has an all-time opening game record of 105-12-4.
  
  
• All-time, the Buckeyes are 109-8-4 in home openers since 1890. The largest opening day crowd at Ohio Stadium was 105,092 in the 2009 opener vs. Navy.
• The official announced attendance for Saturday’s game against Akron was 105,001.
  
  
• The game marked just the second time since 1977 Ohio State opened the season with a shutout. The only other was a 43-0 victory against Youngstown State in 2008.
  
  
• Ohio State has 820 wins all-time, the fifth-most among FBS teams.

Akron Game Notes

• Ohio State is 7-1 all-time against Akron.
  
  
• Ohio State outgained Akron 125-25 in the first quarter and 224-35 at the half.
  
  
• The game was the 20th-consecutive outing Ohio State rushed for 100-plus yards. The last time the Buckeyes did not rush for 100 yards was Oct. 17, 2009 at Purdue.
  
  
• Ohio State has allowed 110 touchdowns from scrimmage since the start of the 2005 season, the fewest by any FBS team in this span. TCU is second at 121.
  
  
• Ohio State allowed fewer than 10 points four times in 2010 and 29 times since the start of the 2006 season.
  
  
• Ohio State held Akron to 2-of-13 third down conversions.

Ohio State Player Notes

• Senior center Mike Brewster, senior right tackle J.B. Shugarts and junior defensive tackle John Simon served as game captains.
  
  
• Joe Bauserman made his first career start at quarterback vs. the Zips. He went 12-for-16 for 163 yards and three touchdowns. Bauserman ran for 32 yards on six carries and a touchdown, all career highs.
  
  
• Bauserman started the game 5-for-5 for 61 yards.
  
  
• Bauserman’s three-touchdown game was the first since Terrelle Pryor threw three touchdowns in a 49-0 win over Purdue Oct. 23, 2010.
  
  
• Jake Stoneburner’s three-touchdown game marked the first time in program history an Ohio State tight end caught three touchdown passes and eighth time any player caught three or more touchdown passes in a game.The last Buckeye with three or more touchdown receptions was Dane Sanzenbacher (four) Sept. 25, 2010 vs. Eastern Michigan.
  
  
• The last Ohio State tight end with two touchdown receptions in a game was Rory Nicol on Oct. 21, 2006 vs. Indiana.
  
  
• The Indiana game Oct. 21, 2006 also was the last time Ohio State tight ends combined for three receiving touchdowns in a game (Nicol-2, Jake Ballard-1).
  
  
• Carlos Hyde carried the ball 19 times for 93 yards and Rod Smith ran 18 times for 74 yards, all career highs.
  
  
• Freshman Devin Smith caught his first career touchdown on Braxton Miller’s first career touchdown pass at the 14:26 mark of the fourth quarter.
  
  
• The last time a freshman scored in his first career game was when Terrelle Pryor connected with classmate DeVier Posey for a touchdown pass against Youngstown State Aug. 30, 2008.
  
  
• Other Buckeyes making their first career reception: Devin Smith, Rod Smith, Evan Spencer and T.Y Williams.
  
  
• Andrew Sweat led the defense with six tackles (two for loss) and an interception.
  
  
• Darryl Baldwin, Michael Bennett, Nate Ebner and Ryan Shazier each recorded their first career sack.

Game Story

Box Score and Statistics

Related Features

Ten Things We Learned - by Brandon Castel
Two Quarterback System Seems to be Working - By Brandon Castel
The Buckeye Watch - By Tony Gerdeman
Stoneburner's Big Day was Years in the Making - by Brandon Castel

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