Buckeyes begin Fickell era against Akron today at home

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Luke Fickell doesn’t remember much about running onto the field for his first game as a player at Ohio State.

Expected to see playing time as a callow freshman on the defensive line in 1992, he was too busy thinking about his responsibilities after the kickoff.

Odds are, he won’t remember much about his first game as a head coach, either. The 18th-ranked Buckeyes and Fickell hope to put nine months of accusations, investigations, suspensions and uproar behind them when they host Akron.

“I was more focused and worried and understanding of what my job was and I didn’t get to absorb the atmosphere and look around and be in awe of the 98,000 [in the stands] at that time,” Fickell said of his first game as a player. “I was focused on what I had to do. I presume it’ll be very similar come Saturday, that I won’t give myself a chance to look around at the 106,000 and think about anything other than what, for that 60 minutes, has to be done.”

At tailback, Dan Herron is sitting out the first five games (along with starting tackle Mike Adams, top returning receiver DeVier Posey and Sugar Bowl star at defensive end Solomon Thomas) and will be replaced by up-and-comers Jaamal Berry, Carlos Hyde and Rod Smith.

Indiana St.-Penn St.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Small steps impress Indiana State coach Trent Miles, like a roster that includes a tight end, a fullback and more than five defensive linemen.

Its roster once in shambles amid talk of disbanding the program, Sycamores football is now on the rise — though the school’s athletic program could still use a cash infusion.

So Miles is refreshingly blunt about his FCS team’s trip to Happy Valley to face Penn State in the season opener.

“It’s the first time since I’ve been here that the travel squad has almost been the same as last year, with the exception of just a couple guys,” Miles said. “We’re going there with some experience.

“But again, it’s Penn State. We’re getting on that plane, we’re going in there and we’re going to fight all we can, play the best we can, collect our money and come back home.”

South Fla.-Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind.

Skip Holtz’s plan is to make sure his South Florida players got to soak up some of the tradition and see the campus and some of its unique features like “Touchdown Jesus,” the huge mural on the wall of the library that can be seen over one end zone.

South Florida is no stranger to football success in its brief history of football. The Bulls, who joined FBS in 2000, have compiled five straight seasons with at least eight victories and have been to six straight bowls, winning four of them.