It's a big week starting next week for Buckeye lacrosse! We have three games in seven days to go over, as Ohio State takes on Denver and Dartmouth on home turf, then travels to Piscataway to take on Rutgers in a tough conference matchup. Hope you like content, because there's going to be lots of my shenanigans on the site for a while.

But tomorrow, we have Denver. And this is going to be a very interesting game.

Offense

Denver is a near elite offensive team. They're scoring 13.5 goals per game, and have played some serious competition. The team is also shooting.298 on the season, which is pretty darn good. This isn't a team that dominate the Buckeyes athletically, but they're going to go on a five or six goal run at least once tomorrow.

The biggest threat on the year has been JJ Sillstrop (#5), an attackman who has 21 goals and 11 assists this season. He is finishing well, passes enough to punish early slides, and has to be a pleasant surprise for the Pios.

Midfielder Jack Hannah (#3) also spends time at attack, but is more of an initiatior. He has put in 13 goals, dished 6 assists, and generally is a pain to deal with as a dodger. Hannah has a great stick, mediocre footspeed, but is enough of a load that he can really punish a defense.

Ted Sullivan (#33) is another big offensive threat, having scored 15 goals and recorded 4 assists. That said, the biggest question mark this year for Ohio State is going to be what to do with Hannah.

Jack Hannah is the biggest problem for Denver, but he's only scores on 18% of his 71(!) shots this year. Hannah is going to shoot. A lot. A whole lot. If he starts connecting at a reasonable pace (30%), things could get super dicey. If not, the Buckeyes still have plenty of threats to deal with tomorrow. It's going to be a real battle between these two teams in the Buckeyes' defensive end.

Defense

This is where Denver is weakest. The Pios clear excellently, but have had subpar goalie play all year, and cannot get stops. Opponents are shooting .316 on the year, and have nearly an equal amount of goals scored ok the Pios as the Pios have scored themselves (95 v 94). That's with Denver averaging three more shots per game than their opponents.

Denver is going to start Jimmy Freehill (#15), Jack Dibenedetto (#31), and Adam Hangland (#41) down low. While capable with the ball in their hands, Denver slides a little late much of the time, and is not particularly stout at SSDM. This should* be a decent day for the Buckeye offense.

Goalie

Much like Ohio State ever since Tom Carey graduated after 2017, Denver has had a goalie issue this season. Cole French (#14) is likely to get the start, but he is only sporting a .423 save percentage in his game time this year.

That's good news for Ohio State on offense, but it remains to be seen who the Buckeye 'keeper is going to be this game. Smart money is on Skylar Wahlund, but that's a risky move. No offense to Wahlund, but stopping shots isn't a strong suit. Caton Johnson was shaky, but still stopped 50% of his shots against Notre Dame. Wahlund is at .405 for his career. That's really, really poor.

I don't know who has the advantage here. If it's Wahlund in net, I don't think Ohio State wins. Just being frank. Johnson isn't perfect, but the Buckeyes won't get very far with a goalie who you know won't save at least half the shots he faces.

Faceoff

Denver has a pretty big advantage here. Alec Stathakis (#37) is an elite FOGO, and is going to be facing off against an Ohio State unit suddenly in flux.

Justin Inacio dropped off a cliff against Cornell, and for some reason hasn't recovered. Drew Blanchard is good, but not elite. Ohio State needs to keep the ball out of Denver's hands, and I don't think they'll be able to manage it.

Special Teams

Denver is really good at scoring with an extra man, while mediocre at best when down a man. The Pios score half the time when Man Up, but allow opponents to score 36% of the time when they are Man Down.

Ohio State is utterly dominant in both phases. The Buckeyes are scoring 77% of the time when Man Up, while only allowing opponents to score 23% of the time. That's so mind-bogglingly good that I can't believe the team used to be so poor at both. Those Canadians are pretty darn good.

This is a tough game to call. So much of Ohio State's game is either bad (clearing) or completely unsettled (faceoffs, goalie play) that there's plenty for Denver to take advantage of with the ball in their hands. On the other hand, Denver is hardly in a better position defensively, which means Jack Myers and co. could have a field day.

Much like Cornell, however, I don't think Ohio State wins enough faceoffs to overcome any advantages the Buckeyes have. Plus poor clearing and poor goalie play is really undermining the team. As much as it hurts to say it, I think Denver pulls an upset.

Final prediction: Denver 14, Ohio State 12.

Hope I am wrong, but there's a lot to fix.

Go Bucks!