Different week, same story.  After another bad offensive game, Ohio State looks to regroup against a team licking its own wounds.  Sunday, Ohio State takes on Notre Dame in the Shoe, hoping to snap an extended offensive funk and get back to adding wins. 

They will have their hands full with an Irish team looking to get itself right after an exceptionally bad performance midweek against TTUN.

Notre Dame comes into this contest 4-2, having lost 12-10 to defending champions Maryland in College Park, and dropping a 13-12 squeaker to TTUN.  I watched some of the latter game, and it may have been the sloppiest game in recent history by Notre Dame. 

I saw an All-American candidate at midfield try to get a groundball like a lazy middle schooler, while down a goal.  The defense was out of synch, and 2 goals were disallowed for a crease violation.  I shudder to think what will happen the rest of the week in practice.

Notre Dame graduated one of the most imposing midfielders in modern history last year in Sergio Perkovic.  This year's team is young.  True freshman start at goalie and close D, though the Irish have a couple seniors starting in the midfield.  As far as difference makers, though, the Irish lean heavily on their youth. 

Notre Dame currently scores 10.50 goals per game after 6 contests.  That's right in the middle nationally, as they are 39th in that statistic. 

The Irish are led by Bryan Costabile, a Sophomore offensive machine who has 15 goals and 2 assists this year.  Ryder Garnsey, a Sophomore attackman, has added 11 goals and 6 assists, with Junior midfielder Brendan Gleason pouring in 10 goals and dishing 7 assists. 

For those who are better at math than I, that's 3 players tied at 17 points on the year.  Those 3 have accounted for 51 of the Irish's 94 points, or 54% of the offense.  Senior attackman Mikey Wynne is not far behind with 11 goals and 3 assists. 

Notre Dame is an old school team coached by an old school coach. 

Kevin Corrigan has coached Notre Dame for 30 years, starting on the job at 28.  His teams aren't flashy, or necessarily exciting, but they have won everything except a title over the past decade.  A couple title game appearances, a few Final Fours, and all that is left is that elusive ring. 

Offensively, Notre Dame likes to initiate from the midfield, though they will alternate between dodges from up top and inverts. 

Costabile is such a good finisher that they will look for him to score off cuts, finish from the invert, or off a skip pass.  Most of the offense revolves around changing the angle of attack, then hitting a skip pass to get an easy, open stepdown goal.

Garnsey and Wynne are always creeping up on GLE from behind, waiting to take an easy shot off a midfield dodge. 

What gets Notre Dame into trouble is forcing passes when the offense is struggling.  In close games, like the game against Detroit Mercy, the Irish have rushed, missing open passes, struggling to get the defense moving, and generally just looking sloppy. 

If a longpole comes upfield off a turnover, the Irish will look to go at the net hard.  They have the talent to really make Ohio State pay in transition, just like Trevor Baptiste did last week.

Defensively is where the Irish really shine.  Gerry Byrne has been the defensive coordinator for years in South Bend, and that unit has been elite the entire time.  Faces come and go, but the Irish are stout in all phases of the game. 

Notre Dame really packs it in, with every player not applying pressure to the ball having a foot in the prime scoring area.  The defense slides late, but will hedge several yards off their defender before deciding to go.

Once the defender flips his hips, the slide is on, but any given defender can shuffle 6 to 8 yards before making that call.  The packed in D allows this to happen, as the second slide has almost "pre" slid.  Meaning, the guy responsible for taking the slide man's player is maybe a step away from said player when the slide occurs. 

Offensive players are told to try and punish the slide by going after the slide's man, but For Notre Dame, they have already recovered by the time the ballcarrier is aware he is double-teamed.  This, in turn, causes the ballcarrier to either reset, or turn over possession.  Notre Dame repeatedly manufactures turnovers this way, at the expense of quick transitions. 

Rarely will you see a fast break from Notre Dame, but they have a very high clearance rate.  And, as a result of their defensive prowess, Notre Dame can lock teams down.  Ohio State, with it's 45th ranked offense of 9.63 goals per game, is in deep trouble.

In goal, Notre Dame starts true freshman Matthew Schmidt, a Columbus native.  Schmidt has a .477 save percentage, gives up 8.7 goals per game, and yet was yanked at the half of Notre Dame's loss to TTUN.  Why, I don't know. 

I am on record advocating for one goalie at all times, but I don't have 30 years on a college bench.  Schmidt is a difference maker, and I really don't know why the staff would pull him.

At the faceoff X, Notre Dame really struggles.  John Travisano was a preseason All-ACC pick, but I just don't see it.  Notre Dame has only won 47% of faceoffs on the whole this year. Notre Dame has never been good on the draw, but their wing play is sensational.  They may lose the clamp, but they don't let you take the ball to goal on a break. 

You work for it.  Even so, Inacio or Feliziani should have no problem getting to 60% on Sunday.  What they do after will tell the tale.

Finally, nobody's special teams are really great in this game.  Notre Dame and Ohio State are #60 and #61 nationally in Man Down goals allowed, giving up goals nearly half the time. That's out of 69 official Division 1 programs.

Notre Dame likes to play a box and 1 defense with the crease locked off, but a good enough passing team can pick that apart.  Ohio State just gets killed when down a man, which is obvious given their ranking in the bottom 10.  The team with more penalties on Sunday is most likely to lose.

On EMOs, Notre Dame has been slightly better at putting the ball in the net, scoring 31% of the time.  Ohio State, in contrast, scores a paltry 24% of the time with a man advantage, good for 57th nationally.  Which is tied with Mount St. Mary's. 

Obviously, Ohio State could be much improved with just a small improvement on Man Up.

This game will almost certainly be very tight.  Neither team will have a run of more than 3 goals, because neither team's offense is particularly good.  I think it may be time to accept the fact that Ohio State will struggle to score goals the rest of the year.  And that does not bode well. 

Amateur prediction: Notre Dame wins, 6-5.