It's here. It's finally here. The 2022 season has officially arrived, and we're going to kick it all off with a game at the WHAC against Detroit Mercy. This is the perfect opponent to start the year, because there are more than a few kinks to work out. And the Titans should be a great team to figure out what you want to do against.

Detroit Mercy is going to challenge Ohio State early, a little bit, but should not be too much of a challenge given the disparity in talent between the two squads. We'll follow the familiar pattern, and go through the phases of the game, then make a score prediction.

Offense

The Titans return nearly every point from last year's squad. Their returning point leader from 2021 is Brett Erskine (#91), who's a 5th-year attackman looking to make his final college season a great one.

Erskine had 17 goals in 7 games last year, 7 more than the next closest scorer. As an attackman, Erskine is going to need to be marked by the best Buckeye defender at all times. Sophomore Will Edell (#27) was the second-highest scorer last year, tallying 13 points on 7 goals, 6 assists.

Partnering with Erskine and junior Ryan Birney (#7), Edell is going to be a big problem for the Buckeyes as a facilitator when Erskine isn't in possession. Luke Majick (#12), who will run at midfield and attack, is also in the mix when Detroit Mercy goes on offense.

Ohio State is going to really need to buckle down early, as their scrimmages this season have been disastrous in the first quarter. There aren't many games where the Buckeyes will be able to recover in actual contests. Even so, this is not exactly a murderer's row of offensive talent. Ohio State should be able to smother the Titans for large portions of the game.

Defense

Detroit Mercy, not that long ago, was one of the best defensive teams in the entire county. They would go toe to toe with bluebloods like Notre Dame, eventually losing games 6-5, or 8-7, to really, really good opponents. I'm not sure where that went, but the Titans have certainly fallen off a little bit.

They allowed teams to shoot .284 last year, playing only a MAAC schedule. Detroit Mercy only scored one more goal than their opponents, which isn't a recipe for a great season. The Titans did manage to limit opponents to 57 fewer shots, but obviously allowed a much higher shooting percentage than they were able to convert.

Near as I can tell, most of the starting defense isn't around, or was banged up most of last year, so Detroit's going to start from pretty much scratch. A recipe for a good day on offense for the Buckeyes, who desperately need some momentum.

Faceoffs

Detroit Mercy no longer has their primary faceoff specialist, who took every draw save one last year. This year, it looks like junior Jake Freedlander (#11) is going to step in as the primary option at the dot. Justin Inacio should have a field day, and the Buckeyes should start with possession quite often. Another good sign.

Goalie

Ohio State's goalie situation seems to be up in the air, at least a little. Caton Johnson, who came in as the best goalie talent on the roster, did not perform well at all against Marquette. Skylar Wahlund put in a solid performance, allowing the Buckeye backups to claw back a slim lead. That said, scrimmages are scrimmages. I still think Johnson starts. And he's going to be taking on a complete unknown between the pipes, as Detroit Mercy's starting goalie from 2021 is gone, and no other keeper logged a single minute all year.

I hope we see senior Tyler Hart (#1), who's an absolute unit at 5'11", 3 bills. But given the completely unknown nature of this year's starting keeper, there's not much else to say. Buckeyes should have a big advantage, no matter who starts for the Titans.

Special Teams

Ohio State will run out a revamped Man Up unit that is balanced with 3 lefties and 3 righties, which will open up a whole new playbook. Detroit Mercy struggled in Man Up and Man Down last year, scoring less than 30% of the time, and allowing opponents to convert 46% of their own chances.

This should be a solid matchup in both phases for Ohio State, with plenty of opportunities to get the year started on a good note.

Holistically, this shouldn't be much of a test for the Buckeyes. Detroit Mercy has had a ton of turnover, brings in very little high-end talent, and isn't a transfer destination. The Buckeyes should have no trouble running roughshod all over the visitors from that state up north.

Final prediction: Ohio State 18, Detroit Mercy 9.

Go Bucks!