It's that time.  Hate becomes a virtue rather than a four-letter word.  Letters are banned, jeering thrives, and we all settle in, pulling for good to triumph over the evil of a team from up north.  It's rivalry week, so cinch your chinstraps extra tight.

Ohio State comes into this game in a slump.  Dropping 5 games in a row never looks good, but Ohio State has really struggled for long stretches of this year. 

That team comes in having lost big to both Maryland and Rutgers in consecutive games.  The caveat, of course, being that both those teams are in the top 10.  Ohio State is decidedly not.

The Wolverines come into Columbus with quality wins over Notre Dame in a squeaker and an easy 12-7 decision against Marquette.  The Wolverines are running hot and cold this year, though all their losses have come to ranked opponents.

They're led offensively by junior middie Brent Noteworthy, who scores goals and does little else.  Noseworthy leads the team with 34 goals and 6 aasists.  He also is 5th nationally in goals per game with 3.09.  Noseworthy basically functions like an evil Leclaire, setting his feet to score off of someone else's dodge. 

Noteworthy has a rocket for a shot, and will rack up tallies if the defense doesn't account for him.

Augmenting Noteworthy are freshman attackman Kevin Mack, who has 17 goals and 19 assists on the year, and freshman attackman Alex Buckanavage, who has 16 goals and 9 assists.

Aside from the 3 players above, the player who really has made that team go the past few games is Chase Young.  Young really excels at pressuring a defense off the dodge.  He is quick, dynamic, and very dangerous on the move, which sets up nicely for a feed to Noseworthy or an attackman.

As a unit, That Team is 33rd in the nation in total offense.  Not especially elite, but the Wolverines certainly are a bit better at putting the ball in the net than Ohio State is right now.  Once again, the Buckeyes need to step up in order to have a shot at keeping things close.

Defensively, Ohio State has the edge in this game.  Yes, the Buckeyes have slipped a bit recently, but the Wolverines are currently last in the Big Ten in goals allowed, giving up 9.91 goals per game. 

Against any team with a pulse, that team has yet to hold their opponent under 10 goals.  Sure, the Buckeyes haven't neen an offensive juggernaut this year, but their showing against Hopkins was a tremendous improvement. 

That Team has given starts to sophomore Finn Goonan, who has 21 groundballs, junior Michael Borda, who has 22 groundballs, and freshman JD Carroll, who has 8 gbs and 2 caused turnovers this year.  It has been a mix-and-match situation with Wolverine defenders, similar to the goalie situation for Ohio State. 

The Wolverines like to rely upon zone defense a lot, which tends to open things up against good passing teams.  Add in stretch shooters like Reid and Leclaire, this could be ugly if the Buckeyes build a lead and play smart. 

The Wolverines are weakest, based on their recent outings, playing in transition.  Rutgers absolutely demolished them by turning defense into offense.  Fully half or more of the Scarlet Knights' 16 goals came from unsettled situations, either on a fast break or off the face. 

If there is an area that Ohio State can truly exploit, it is winning the faceoff and immediately pushing towards goal.  And, fortunately, there seems to be plenty of room for this strategem to bear fruit.

At the faceoff X, that team starts freshman Connor Cronin.  Cronin is currently winning 54% of his faceoffs, good for 30th in the country.  Justin Inacio, who has FINALLY been anointed the starting FOGO, is also winning 54% of his faceoffs, but is coming off a dominant 19-27 performance against Johns Hopkins. 

Inacio showed a tremendous ability to plunge and pop against the Jays to start a fast break, and if he can do the same against That Team, Ohio State could really get rolling early.

Special teams for the Wolverines have been even more abysmal than they have been for Ohio State.  Coming into Friday's game, the Wolverines have converted 5 of 23 Extra Man opportunities, good for a .217 slconversion rate.  That's really, really bad.

Ohio State converts a paltry 25.8% of their EMOs, and Ohio State has played a much more difficult schedule than the Wolverines.  IF OSU commits penalties, it should be very, very easy to get the stop. 

When Man Down, however, That Team has been much, much better.  The Wolverines are stopping 70.6% of opposing EMOs, good for 27th nationally.  That's a surprising disparity between the two phases of the game. 

Hopefully the Buckeyes can take advantage on their EMOs and really turn around the offemsive attack.

Finally, we arrive at the goalkeepers.  For the Wolverines, it has been a bit of a mixed bag.  Sophomore Matt Trowbridge has started the majority of the time, boasting a goals against average of 9.39 and a save percentage of .495.

Even so, Trowbridge hasn't been exceptional.  Of course, neither has Ohio State.  Kirson and Smidt have battled to make an impact guarding the net, and neither have succeeded exceptionally well. 

Kirson should get the start for the Buckeyes, but it will be a challenge.  This is a game that is truly neck and neck.

Amateur prediction: Ohio State, 12-11 in OT.