Fans of the Mid-American Conference or the Akron Zips pointed to Saturday’s game in Happy Valley as an opportunity to claim an upset over the Penn State Nittany Lions. On paper it made sense. Akron is a talented team capable of offensive fireworks. Penn State has struggled in season-openers and has been known at times to sleepwalk against lower-ranked opponents. The weather was overcast and gray which was likely to subdue the crowd. On paper, that all made sense and pointed at a “closer-than-the-experts-think” finish. But football games aren’t played on paper.
Penn State proved in no uncertain terms why they were the Big Ten Champions last season as they defeated the Akron Zips 52-0.