When Ohio State had the opportunity to right the ship and get back on course, they instead steered directly into an iceberg. Defense has absolutely gone AWOL, at every level, and it cost Ohio State again. I don't know what they're waiting for, but it's time for fresh blood.
Penn State came into the contest shooting just 21%. Ohio State's sieve defense allowed Penn State to shoot 35% on the day. The Bucks also allowed Penn State to have double digit shots in every quarter except the last, where they gave up 9.
Penn State got career days from TJ Malone, who had 5 goals. The middies for Penn State only had 2 goals. The starting attack had 13. Mac O'Keefe scored multiple goals for the first time in 2021. The close defense has been abysmal the last two games. Completely trash. And that's being nice.
Offensively, Ohio State did enough to win. Thirteen goals on 35 shots is pretty good. A 37% shooting day should be good enough to beat anyone. The same can be said about the number of goals. Turning the ball over 24 times, though, is inexcusable. It's as if all the lessons of 2020 have been forgotten.
Tre Leclaire had his usual day, scoring 3 times on 9 shots. Jack Myers had a hat trick too, and Jackson Reid finally appeared, scoring twice. The middies even played decently well, scoring 4 times on 13 shots. Offense has not been a strong point for the Buckeyes in 4 seasons now, though, and it really shows.
In goal, neither goalie was good. Skylar Wahlund had 5 saves, beating Colby Kneese's 3, but at this point I don't think there's a reason for Wahlund to be the starter anymore. He has allowed 37 goals in 2 games. His save percentage for those is sub-40. It's time for a change. It's not all his fault, by any means. But we know what Wahlund is now. And a B1G starter is not it.
At the faceoff dot, Justin Inacio went 17-29, good for 59%. That's enough to win. More than enough. To have that effort go for naught against a really, really good FOGO is incredibly frustrating.
Much like last week, there's not really more you could have asked for from the Buckeye offense. They scored an identical number of goals against Pemm State as Maryland. But look like a bad DIII school on defense. The losing streak against Jeff Tambroni's Penn State continues for Coach Myers and his team.
The question looms big right now: where are all the underclassmen? The defense looks completely lost. How are there absolutely no other options besides the players getting romped all over game in and game out? If no one else is ready, who have the staff been using to recruit the past few years?
Covid be damned, this is absolutely embarrassing. Every other team in the B1G, save TTUN, has improved in just three games. Ohio State has gotten noticeably worse. Somehow. At least the Wolverines are coming to Columbus. Maybe the Buckeyes can exorcise some demons at their rival's expense.
Film review tomorrow.
Go Bucks.
