No time to dwell on the loss, as Ohio State has an extremely short turnaround to gear up for the Big Green. Two days after taking on an always talented Denver team, Ohio State has to deal with a defensively stout Dartmouth squad. Fortunately, that's about all that Dartmouth has going for it this year.

Every team deserves respect, but tomorrow's contest should be a relatively decent tuneup for future contests. Dartmouth is not exactly a force even when they're on the upswing. The 4-1 record has a ton of red flags, and this is probably the best team Ohio State could have scheduled for a midweek contest.

Offense

Dartmouth is bad. Really bad. The Big Green shoot 24% as a unit. That's not a typo. Against a murderer's row of Merrimack, Siena, Bryant, Vermont, and St. John's, the Big Green have struggled mightily. Their 17-10 win over St. John's in the lead up to this week was their best output, but St. John's is so bad you can't take that as anything but an outlier.

Dartmouth is led by 5th-year George Prince (#3) at attack, who has a decent 11 goals and 7 assists this year. Colin McGill (#7) is Dartmouth 's freshman sensation, who has 10 goals and 6 assists on the year as an attackman. Matt Paul (#10) is your final starting attackman, and has 13 goals on the season to lead Dartmouth in that category.

The attack unit is a solid, experienced group, but really relies on volume to score goals. The offensive midfielders, much like Ohio State, do most of the dodging to facilitate ball movement, but don't add a whole lot to the overall offense. And, I can't stress this enough, they're not very threatening to opponents with a pulse. The defense should get a decent rest to recover from Denver.

Defense

Surprisingly, the Big Green are among the stingiest defensive units in the country, statistically. Dartmouth is holding opponents to 8.60 goals per game, a sparkling.222 shooting percentage, and holding all comers to 5.4 fewer shots per game than Dartmouth is averaging. That's really, really good. Again, we go back to the schedule being pudding soft, and an alarming 10 goals allowed to St. John's. But objectively, Dartmouth's defense is nothing to sneeze at.

Down low, Dartmouth will start Peter Rozzotti (#13), Cam Hitchcock (#17), and Andrew Johnston (#30). All of them are at least 6'2", and there's a good mix of experience and young talent. This is not an easy unit to walk all over.

The Buckeyes should enjoy plenty of possession, though, as Dartmouth is terrible clearing the ball. They sport a pitiful .744 clearing percentage, which is well below the national average, and is completely counter to their defensive ability. The ride should buy Ohio State plenty of turnovers.

Goalie

Unlike Ohio State, Dartmouth has a sound keeper who will do everything to keep the game close. Daniel Hincks (#2) starts in net, and he has a robust .640 save percentage through 5 games. That's really, really good. Obviously. Ohio State's situation is more unsettled than ever, with Caton Johnson getting shelled in his last two games, Skylar Wahlund a known quantity, and no underclassmen ready to make a claim to the role.

This is going to be one area where Ohio State is at a decided disadvantage.

Faceoffs

I am about ready to give up on predicting what will happen in these battles. Justin Inacio has seen his win percentage decline precipitously the past 3 games. Maybe he is injured, maybe it's the yips. Maybe teams just have 5 years of film on him and can counteract his stratagems.

I don't know. Dartmouth starts Mitchell Myers (#22), who is winning 56% of his draws this year. If Inacio gets above 50%, this is a big Buckeye win. Eill he get there? Danged if I know.

Special Teams

Ohio State, wonderfully, remains among the very best teams at Man Up and Man Down. Dartmouth is neither. The Big Green convert 35% of their opportunities on Man Up, and allow opponents to score 31% of the time on Man Down. That is average on Man Up, and below average on Man Down. Advantage: Buckeyes.

Putting it nicely, Ohio State SHOULD comfortably win tomorrow. Dartmouth is more rested, but has to travel west from NH. Midweek. As an Ivy. Ohio State is struggling a bit, but has had problems with Denver for decades, and the only other loss was to top 5 Cornell. The underlying issues with the team's performance, however, keep the ceiling lower than it should be. Even with all that, there's little chance Dartmouth stays within 5 goals.

Final prediction: Buckeyes 18, Dartmouth 11.

Go Bucks!