Off Mat Empire: Another B1G Wrestling Weekend

Happy Friday everybody! It’s time for another very good weekend of B1G wrestling, and I’m here to tell you what you need to know (before the coaches sit some starters and take the luster away from what could have been incredible matchups, anyway) to settle in for more fun. A quick roundup of last weekend: Iowa really is that good, Penn State is the 2nd-best team but Nebraska is a close 3rd, Ohio State has two great wrestlers in Kollin Moore and Luke Pletcher and one...well, let’s just say Sammy Sasso would be a great piece to back into the Oklahoma State lineup. But enough stalling, let’s get to this weekend’s stuff.

Dual of the Weekend: #2 Penn State at #1 Iowa, 8 PM Friday BTN

Do I really need to say anything else here? This is going to be good. 3 Top-5 and 5 Top-10 matchups (assuming nobody gets the night off due to illness, injury, or ducking) should make for a damn good night. Throw in the fact that Seth Nevills has looked pretty good for PSU and over half the night should feature some great wrestling. The only thing missing is PSU’s 157 Brady Berge, who had been ranked as high as #4, but is out with injury and may or may not come back this year.

Runner-Up Dual of the Weekend: #3 Ohio State at #5 Nebraska, Not televised on Sunday

Nebraska showed once again next weekend that their program is one of the best in the country, in spite of losing to Penn State 20-18. The Huskers are a deep team that I’m starting to believe may finish 3rd at the NCAA Championships in spite of not having anyone that’ll finish in the top 4 of a weight class. Ohio State, on the other hand, the unquestioned favorites at 141 and 197. Seeing Kollin Moore work in person last Sunday night was impressive, as he shredded Hunter Ritter. The fact that he got a tech fall instead of a pin (which he was very close to getting twice) is the only thing that went wrong. Ohio State also has the #2 ranked 149 in Sammy Sasso, who defeated both Iowa’s Pat Lugo and Minnesota’s Brayton Lee without attempting a single goddamn shot over the entire weekend. His ability to turtle, run away, and avoid offensive wrestling while not getting dinged for stalling is absolute incredible. If I were to guess what happens here, I think it comes down to the Labriola-Romero match at 174, with Nebraska just barely getting the team win.

Individual Matchups of the Weekend: 165 and 174 from PSU vs. Iowa

#1 Vincenzo Joseph vs. #2 Alex Marinelli, #1 Mark Hall vs. #2 Michael Kemerer. Hopefully they start the night with 174 and end it with 165. While Joseph is a 2x NCAA Champion, he’s 0-2 against the Bull. Kemerer and Hall haven’t met yet, but there’s no better time than the present to fix that, right? Hopefully this is the 1st of 3 times we get to see these guys go up against each other this year.

Other Meets Featuring Ranked Teams

#6 Minnesota at #14 Purdue (Friday)

Maryland at #3 Ohio State (Friday)

Rutgers vs. #14 Michigan (Noon Saturday in NYC, BTN)

#4 wisconsin at #14 Purdue (3 PM Sunday, BTN)

#23 Illinois at #13 Northwestern (Sunday)

#1 Iowa at Michigan State (Sunday)

Maryland at #2 Penn State (Sunday)

#6 Minnesota at Indiana (Sunday)