From bad to worse about sums up this last week for Buckeye lacrosse.  After a complete implosion against a beatable Penn State squad, Ohio State is now forced to travel to Maryland and take on Johns Hopkins on their own turf. 

Hopkins is such a blueblood lacrosse power that they were consistently ranked last year even when they had a sub-.500 record.  And this year's team is nowhere near last year.

Hopkins comes into Saturday's Big Ten contest with a 7-2 record, fresh off a last second victory over #10 Rutgers.  The Blue Jays are brimming with talent, and have rattled off 6 straight wins against one of the hardest schedules in the country. 

Offensively, Hopkins is run through their starting attackman.  And not one of those players has fewer than 29 points on the year.  How good is that?  No Buckeye player has 29 points this year.  Tre Leclaire has 27, making him closest.  No other Buckeye has more than 16 points.  None. 

Senior Shack Stanwick makes the Blue Jays' offense go.  He's dished out 21 assists on the year, and is Hopkins' quarterback whenever they are on offense.  He can beat you on the dodge for a goal or assist, and his line mates are the benficiaries. 

Cole Williams and Kyle Marr have 40 goals between them, primarily as a result of getting to play with maybe the best distributor of the ball in college lacrosse. 

And, despite the massive amount of production that is concentrated on the attack line, the midfield of Johns Hopkins is nearly as dangerous.  Senior Joel Tinney also has 29 points this year, having used his box skills to dish 19 assists out to his teammates.  As a helpful tip, that's 117 points from 4 players alone in 2018.  Ohio State only has 16 more points as a TEAM this season.

If you are worried, then you have good reason.  Hopkins is an offensive juggernaut.  They'll initiate from X, topside, the wings, and I would not be surprised if a middie came streaking in from outer Mongolia just for a change of pace. 

Tinney takes care of things above GLE, and Stanwick works his magic from X.  And teams around the country lose.  Hopkins had only been held to single digit goals once this year.  Once! 

A 12-5 aberration against Loyola is the single performance where the Blue Jays were completely terrible.  Ohio State, by contrast, has only scored in the double digits 3 times this year, and hasn't done so since the win over Jacksonville on February 25th.  This game could get bad in a way that makes Penn State look like a squeaker.

On defense, Johns Hopkins starts sophomore Jack Rapine, Junior Patrick Foley, and Sophomore Owen Colwell.  As a unit, these three men are actually dead last in the Big Ten, giving up 9.56 goals per game.  Ohio Syate continues to rank 2nd in the B1G, giving up 8.80 goals per game. 

After last week's anemic showing by the Buckeye offense, Penn State has moved into a tie with the Buckeyes for that 2nd slot.  If there is a silver lining to this week's matchup, it is that Ohio State SHOULD have some offensive opportunities. 

However, as last week showed us, the Buckeyes are happy to hand out 16 save games to any goalkeeper with a bit of a pulse.

Speaking of, the starter keeper for the Blue Jays is Senior Brock Turnbaugh.  Much like the men in front of him, Turnbaugh has been less than stellar this year.  He is 30th nationally, though 3rd in the Big Ten, in goals against per game at 9.42. 

Ohio State's starting keeper, Josh Kirshon, is giving up 10.05 goals per game.  Which is decidedly less than great.  Hopefully Ohio State can take advantage of their matchups and really pump a few goals in against a team that is less than stellar defensively.

At the faceoff X, Hopkins relies heavily upon senior Hunter Moreland, who is 9th nationally in faceoff winning percentage with a .634.  Scoring in bunches, then getting the ball right back is an excellent way to win games.  And Hopkins does that in spades. 

Ohio State has been a bit of a mess in that regard, switching FOGOs and never really finding a rhythm.  Inacio and Feliziani will need to really step up to give their teammates a chance at hanging with the Jays.

Finally, Johns Hopkins is fairly middle of the road when it comes to special teams.  They're 40th in Man Down defense, giving up goals 35.5% of the time.  Not exactly world beaters, but the Ohio State Man Up unit has been abysmal. 

The Jays haven't been much better on EMOs of their own, converting 36.7% of their chances with the advantage.  Honestly, no one will look good on special teams come Saturday, but that's not going to be where this game is decided.

If Ohio State cannot magically fix their offense in a week, this will be a brutal game.  Tinney and Stanwick are monsters, and I don't think the Buckeyes have the horses to stay close.

Amateur prediction: 15-8 Hopkins.