It feels good to be right. It feels much worse to be right about something that's bad. Today felt inevitable, and yet somehow it was so much worse than I anticipated. The Buckeyes did what they have done for years, start hot and fade terribly down the stretch. Today's game just felt different.
I will get into it in the post mortem, but this season has been chaotic. Injuries derailed the stability this team needed to have success. And some mind-boggling decisions from the staff did the team no favors.
Today, though, the issue was shots. It's always shots. The Buckeyes took 13 fewer shots than the Wolverines. It wasn't until the 4th quarter that OSU outshot TTUN. The Wolverines had over triple the shots in the 2nd quarter, and double the shots in the 3rd. This is unacceptable. The Buckeyes cannot continue to play a stall-warning era offense in the modern game. They HAVE to shoot more. Have to.
In many respects, Ohio State played a better game (statistically) than the Wolverines. The Buckeyes kept the faceoff game a stalemate (50%), outplayed the the Wolverines on special teams (2 Man Up goals, zero goals allowed on Man Down), got more groundballs, and had a better Shot on Goal percentage. And yet, because of the shot differential, the Buckeyes got trounced.
To me, it is readily apparent that this team is soft. Mentally and physically. Something is wrong in the strength and conditioning side, because Ohio State is constantly seeing guys get hurt with long term injuries.
Additionally, it is clear this program is incapable of playing a good 60 minutes. Maybe 15, even 30 on a good day against a bad team. But the Buckeyes inevitably fade late. And it is consistently hurting the team's success. I said earlier that Nick Myers has become the lacrosse Scott Frost. I feel like that is more clear now than ever.
The Wolverines, to make us all feel better, have reached their zenith. Boehm, Wietfeldt, and Tiernan have exhausted their eligibility. That's a MASSIVE series of losses. The best offensive personnel in that program's history will miss the tournament this season. The entire starting lineup will look massively different in 2025. Small comfort now, but a glimmer of hope.
Ohio State has now lost 4 games in a row to their arch rivals. The closest final score was last week's. At this point, there's nothing left to say. If this athletic department cares at all about the non-revenue sports, this staff has to go. Or is already gone. I didn't see evidence of a lot of fight left in the Buckeyes after last week.
If that decision comes down, you're going to see two posts from me. One extolling the accomplishments of Ohio State's best coach ever. And the other eagerly reviewing candidates to fill the position. If no change is made, there will be hell to raise. Plenty of it.
Season's over. Go Bucks. Let's see what's next.
