Off Mat Empire: Another Great Weekend of B1G Wrestling. And Minnesota-Iowa.

Dual Meet of the Weekend: #3 Ohio State vs. #2 Penn State (Saturday 6:30 PM, BTN)

If there’s some sort of Wrestling deity, the night ends with #1 Luke Pletcher vs. #2 Nick Lee. Other than that, there’s not a ton of strength-on-strength matchups. There is a ranked matchup at 174 between #2 Mark Hall and #7 Kaleb Romero, but I don’t expect it to be very much of a challenge for Hall. Let’s see how the bonus points for the stars show up, and then see how the coinflip matches end up.

The Nebraska Continues to Show Us Things Meet of the Weekend: #19 Michigan vs. #8 Nebraska (Friday 8 PM, BTN)

Nebraska has 4 guys currently ranked in the Top 10 and another 5 in the Top 20, while Michigan has 3 Top 10 guys and 2 others hanging on in the Top 20. While Mason Parris will probably put up another 6 team points picking on poor Christian Lance, this one will probably get out of control. You’re probably getting sick of me saying “WATCH OUT FOR THE CORNHUSKERS” every week, but they keep giving everyone hell. The one I’d recommend watching is the matchup of freshman at 157 between #9 Will Lewan and #19 Peyton Robb.

Another Dual Meet Featuring a Top-5 Team: #19 Michigan vs. #4 wisconsin (Sunday)

So stop me if I’ve been saying this a lot recently, but the HWT are the ones to watch here, too. Mason Parris gets fed #5 Trent Hillger, and the poor ginger goof will have a miserable time of it. Parris is really good. Outside of that, the only reasons to watch this are to see what kind of disgusting, one-sided wins 133 #1 Seth Gross and 165 #4 Evan Wick get for wisconsin. There’s not a lot to watch here, especially if you’re not a fan of the ascension of badger wrestling.

Another Dual Meet Featuring Top 25 Teams: #25 Illinois vs. #12 Purdue (Sunday)

I haven’t said enough about 174 #4 Dylan Lydy of Purdue, and that seems unfair. He’s really good, and his showdown with #13 Joey Gunther deserves the spotlight. The Boilermakers also have #6 Devin Schroeder at 125 (who is the likeliest victim of Spencer Lee at the B1G finals), #7 Kendall Coleman at 157, and #8 Christian Brunner at 197, while the Illini has #7 Travis Piotrowski at 133. The Boilermakers have a couple really nice guys, and they deserve some recognition for being either the best crap team or the worst really good team in the B1G.

Also happening: #7 Minnesota vs. #1 Iowa (Saturday 8:30, BTN)

Oh God. If you’re going to watch this, the upside is that a) You can take solace in the fact that I’m watching and miserable the entire time. b) We (hopefully) get a couple more amazing matchups, including #4 Mitch McKee vs. #9 Max Murin at 141, #2 Pat Lugo vs. #7 Brayton Lee at 149, and #1 Gable Steveson vs. #3 Tony Cassoippi at HWT. So that’s cool. Other than that, I have nothing to say here. Good God, please don’t let too many Gophers get pinned.

Other Dual Meets:

#14 Northwestern at Rutgers (Friday)

Maryland at #14 Northwestern (Sunday)

SIEU vs. Indiana (Sunday)

Michigan State vs. Cleveland State (Sunday)

Northwestern wins a pair, and I just have to shake my head at the other two meets existing. WHY ARE YOU GOING TO CLEVELAND STATE, SPARTY?! WHY????