Michigan 6, Ohio State 15

For the sake of completeness, recapping this game. A couple notes: since I’m writing this after another game, I’m going to keep the notes short and to the point – the color provided by the Yale outcome/gameplay might affect thoughts on the OSU game otherwise. I also didn’t watch this game in its entirety until after knowing the outcome (I was at the UDM/Siena game live), so the thoughts might be affected by that as well.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Ohio State controlled possession by winning faceoffs and riding Michigan about as well as anyone has all year. The efficiency difference is stark, even despite Michigan’s possession deficit.

Both factors were part of a tale of two halves, however. Possession and efficiency were pretty even before the break, then the Buckeyes dominated the third and fourth quarters.

Notes

About that. The first half looked like this: Score (6-6). Possession (17-16 in favor of Ohio State). Efficiency (.375-.353 in favor of Michigan). After the break, Michigan clearly didn’t score once, meaning their efficiency for that half was a nice ol’ zero. Possession was part of that, with 13 Wolverine possessions (four of which resulted in nothing more than a failed clear) compared to 18 for the Buckeyes.

So, let’s look at the first half. Michigan took a 5-2 lead, and led 6-5 just before the half. That means Ohio State went on a 13-1 run to end the game, including the final ten in a row. Times were happier in those first two quarters. David Joseph had two Michigan goals, Ian King, Mikie Schlosser, Kyle Jackson, and Riley Kennedy all had a single score, and Mike Francia had an assist (the only for Michigan all game, on King’s game-opening goal).

Rewatching the game – possible because it was aired on BTN and will live in perpetuity (or until after I write this post) on my DVR – I think I’ve figured out part of Michigan’s struggle to score after the opening burst. They were shooting off-side low time and again early in the game, which clearly was their scout on Ohio State goalie Scott Spencer. He started cheating toward that, and Michigan didn’t adjust until too late, by which time the game was out of reach and the Buckeyes were cruising.

Ohio State has a lot of talent on offense, but Jesse King’s five goals and an assist – along with all three starting attackmen notching at least three points – speaks to something that John Paul said after the Yale game (here I go, breaking my on rule from the top of the post): this is still a Michigan team that is poor playing off-ball, particularly to take away the inside. Opponents, especially very talented ones, can find openings.

On that note, Robbie Zonino’s numbers were not great, but I didn’t think he had a poor day (aside from a soft goal or two, but he also robbed one or two that should have gone in). He made 15 saves in the contest despite Ohio State’s 15 goals – he was getting peppered all game.

Faceoffs were an adventure – as they have been through much of the back half of the season. There are certainly times that Michigan is playing to take away transition with winning the draw as its secondary goal, but not enough times that 9/23 looks anything but poor for Brad Lott. It does seem like he gets called for moving early at the beginning of a game, then tightens up. This leads to more possession for the opponent and a Michigan deficit, and the pressure to succeed there just becomes too much. More than anything, one good game should help him get back on track. It’s just a matter of waiting for that game to happen.

This game obviously turned out to have a poor final result, but in the big picture, it did show that Michigan is capable of competing with a team like Ohio State, if only for a half. How relevant that is when games are 60 whole minutes is up for debate, but clearly progress is being made.

Elsewhere

Michigan recap. Boxscore. Photo gallery. Ohio State recap. You can rewatch the whole dang thing if you subscribe to BTN2Go. Michigan Daily gamer. Maize n Brew recap.