That was definitely not the start we all hoped to see. Ohio State managed to look completely and totally inept at faceoff and on defense against a Utah squad that is less than powerful, and replaced the entire offense. Quite well, it appears. The offense, while far from perfect, at least was improved from last year’s abysmal squad. Ohio State’s blowout loss to Utah is certainly not the start I predicted, not how the team wanted to begin its newest season, and is a poor omen for the rest of the year.
Games will only get tougher in a few weeks, and things don’t look particularly good. I’m feeling even more pessimistic than I did at the end of last season, and that’s saying something. I’ve got many thoughts on the future, but that’s for another post. Right now, we’re onto Detroit Mercy.
I lied to all of you. I said I would be more prepared for the Titans. I was wrong. I didn’t pay enough attention to the Detroit Mercy schedule and failed to see they also haven’t started their season yet. So we’ll have next to nothing to go on. Again. I can tell you that this team should be completely different from last year’s squad. In many ways.
Coaching Change
Detroit Mercy has a new head coach. Charlie Hayes, current PLL player, steps into the lead after last year’s head coach resigned. Hayes was the defensive coordinator on a team that was horrible defensively last season. I don’t know what else there is to say.
We’ll see if there are any significant changes schematically, but I doubt it. After a 3-10 season, Hayes and the staff have their hands full as they come to Columbus to open up their season.
Attack
Detroit Mercy lost its two leading scorers from a season ago, and the Titans averaged under 10 goals per game against a schedule that included the likes of defunct Lindenwood, Queens, VMI, and Mercer. No disrespect to those programs, but Detroit Mercy was poor. Very, very poor. That said, the Titans scored 10 goals against Ohio State last year. So maybe last Saturday was just in the offing. I don’t know.
Aidan Bishop (#10) will headline this unit, having scored 21 goals last year. Chase Mahabir (#24) will split time at attack and middie, presenting another problem for the Buckeyes on defense. The starting lineup is going to be unknown, but I imagine it will be much less talented than the players on Ohio State’s roster.
Midfield
The aforementioned Mahabir headlines midfield for Detroit Mercy, while Owen Miller (#14) is the other returning player of note for this group. A lot of the Titans’ middies graduated or departed the program after 2024. Yet another set unknowns.
Ultimately, this will be an opportunity for Ohio State’s lacking SSDMs to get live reps against a group that should not present too many problems. Which they desperately need, after getting absolutely demolished last game.
Defense
The Titans’ defense was abhorrent last year. Allowing 14.92 goals per game, giving up 13 more shots per game than the offense managed, there’s just not a lot to say positively about this group. Part of that has to be a function of how utterly garbage their faceoff group was. But still. The defense wasn’t particularly stout, even with the obstacles put in their way.
Kyle Grant (#4) will start for Detroit down low, with others being a bit of a mystery. I hate not having points of reference. Either way, Ohio State should be able to feast fairly easily. Goalie Ryan Richters (#7) returns, with a fairly respectable save percentage last year of .491. Given how bad the faceoff and defensive groups were, that’s actually really good.
Faceoffs
The Titans were bad. Really, really bad. As a unit, they won just 35% of faceoffs taken. That’s just a hair over the abysmal 32% that Ohio State won against Utah.
The Buckeyes will have struggles this season, but I would bet a lot of money they’ll at least hit 40% for the year. Detroit Mercy won’t. Billy Hart (#2) returns this season, having won 43% of his 178 draws last season. We’ ll see if Jack Oldman, Sean Magtoto, or Coleman Kraske can get to 50% this game.
Overall
Ohio State is better than Detroit Mercy at every position. That’s just from a talent perspective. There’s absolutely no disputing that. The question is going to be can the Buckeyes learn from their awful debut and get more cohesive in all phases. Only the offense looked serviceable against Utah, and they labored much of that game. Especially with shot placement. There’s never a reason to shoot stick side high. Not in DI.
This game shouldn’t be close, the Buckeyes should be up 7 goals by half time, and I shouldn’t have to blow my top about another loss. That said, I predicted a routine win over Utah and we saw how that turned out. In any case, barring a catastrophe, this game should be an easy Ohio State victory, with exactly zero lessons learned one way or the other.
Final Prediction: Ohio State 18, Detroit Mercy 12.
Detroit Mercy Native Ohioan Count: 2
Ohio Vibe Rating: Had Cincinnati Chili once. Didn’t care for it.
Go Bucks!
