Ohio State, Michigan get ranked wins; Wrestling Recaps and Previews

Recaps:

Michigan State 52, Davidson 0; Michigan State 46, Presbyterian 3

Kind of...: Marty Larkin lost at 174 in what seems to be a mild upset, while Lucas Daly recorded a 14-1 MD at 174 over his Davidson foe, so let’s assume MSU is still working out that weight. Setting that aside, MSU might pull an upset or two in B1G dual meets this year. They don’t have any national title contenders, and might even not end up with any All-Americans, but it’s a pretty solid overall lineup. #9 Rayvon Foley (133), #18 Chase Saldate (157), #32 Caleb Fish (165), #20 Layne Malczewski (184), and #15 Cameron Caffey (197) give the Spartans a fighting chance against second-tier B1G schools (Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Nebraska), though I recall feeling that way a year or two ago as well.

#8 Michigan 26, #29 Campbell 6; #8 Michigan 23, #18 North Carolina 12

#26 Rutgers 29, Clarion 4; #26 Rutgers 50, Sacred Heart 0; #5 Arizona State 25, #26 Rutgers 16

Rutgers actually lined up really well against Arizona State, and the nine-point swing from an injury to Jackson Turley was the difference in the meet. Dylan Shawver lost a close one, and Billy Janzer was upset in sudden victory, but pretty much everything else was chalk.

#1 Penn State 44, Lock Haven 3

Atinat: Penn State’s weak spot is still 125, where Gary Steen lost by major decision to the only ranked guy on Lock Haven’s roster (Lock Haven then lost a team point for celebrating). The rest of the dual went as you would expect, with Penn State guys racking up a ton of bonus points over guys you’ll never hear about again. The Nittany Lions got pins from Max Dean, Greg Kerkvliet, and Shayne Van Ness, and techs from RBY, Alex Facundo, and Aaron Brooks. Beau Bartlett and Carter Starocci recorded major decision victories, and Terrell Barraclough got a hard fought 2-1 decision.

#4 Ohio State 18, #14 Virginia Tech 13

Atinat: While on paper this was the biggest win of the weekend, the Buckeyes honestly underperformed their own expectations in this one. The dual kicked off at 149, where an early Sasso takedown normally would mean sure victory, but Caleb Henson was able to score a late takedown to force sudden victory, then another in sudden victory to stun Sasso. Paddy Gallagher, a redshirt freshman highly recruited out of high school, got the Buckeyes on the board with his debut victory at 157, and Carson Kharchla kept the momentum going with a low-scoring win before Mekhi Lewis won a very close decision over Ethan Smith to tie the dual score. Ohio State ripped off the next four, but were unable to get bonus points out of Romero, Hoffman, Orndorff, or Heinselman. Sam Latona put the brakes on the Jesse Mendez hype train with a 3-2 decision for the all-American fourth-year sophomore. Tom Cook of Virginia Tech scored the only bonus points on the night in the final dual, majoring Nic Bouzakis at 141 pounds.

No bonus points for Ohio State and losses by Sasso and Mendez means there’s work to do still on this Ohio State team before they go up against the likes of Penn State and Iowa.

#17 Nebraska 25, Army 9; #12 NC State 23, #17 Nebraska 10

Rider 23, #27 Purdue 13

Kind of...: While not as high-profile as Wisconsin’s face plant against Iowa State, this is not a good look for the Boilermakers, especially #11 Parker Filius losing to unranked McKenzie Bell at 141. Reversing that result wouldn’t have changed the team outcome, though. It was a team loss. Matt Ramos (#8, 125) and Kendall Coleman (#15, 157) were both denied bonus points against unranked foes and, at 165, Cooper Noehre lost a battle of unranked wrestlers in a mild upset. Purdue was looking at a bit of a down year anyway, and it’s hard to see them finishing any higher than 11th in the conference.

#2 Iowa 42, Cal Baptist 3

Atinat: Obviously we shouldn’t take much away from a win over the Big 12’s newest addition… wait really? Why? Anyways, Cal Baptist is bad. They probably won’t win a dual meet this year (against D1 competition), as they are ranked 67th of 80 by Wrestlestat and don’t face anyone below them. For comparison, the lowest Big Ten team, Indiana, is 46th. But, I’m gonna talk about some things anyway, because I took pretty detailed notes on this one.

We saw a lot of new faces out there, with only Assad, Warner, Cassioppi, and Murin representing the old guard. Of those new guys, Cobe Siebrecht at 157 and Patrick Kennedy at 165 were the most impressive.

Siebrecht is an aggressive top wrestler, and he frequently sought and found cross-wrist combinations for back points. Early in the second, he got a single leg and elevated it, overextending his opponent and then driving him to his butt, carrying through and locking a cradle on the buckled Lancer. A few seconds later, the mat was slapped and the match was over. He led 9-0 before that takedown.

Kennedy works ties in a style totally different from his predecessor, Alex Marinelli (who was alongside Kaleb Young in the broadcast booth). Kennedy used Russian ties to redirect his opponent and set up slide-bys. He generated his own offense, but also used front headlocks to create counter-offense off his opponent’s aggressiveness. He got some back points in the third to lock up the tech fall.

Overall, I give the Hawkeye’s performance like a 7/10 on this one. Rhodes at 174 showed aggression, quickness, and creativity, but I don’t know how much of that would translate against higher-level talent. Likewise, Max Murin got in a hole early after his cradle lock broke and he got reversed to his back in the first, only to escape down only one and go off, teching his opponent in the third. But, his attacks were sloppy, and I’m not sure a better guy doesn’t just pin him in the first. Warner stuck his guy very quickly with what looked like half a cow-catcher (just a weak side underhook and drive, almost no set-up on the right), Cassioppi did what he does with an arm-bar pin, Brody Teske did not look very good in a 6-4 win, and neither did Abe Assad in his decision victory. The only loss was by Iowa Central-transfer Aidan Harris at 125, a guy who will likely redshirt the year. It also soured the dual, as Cal Baptist wrestler Eli Griffin struck Harris in the head deliberately and without provocation in the third (costing him a shot at a major), then egged on the jeering crowd after his hand was raised. I get it, you beat a guy in Carver. It’s probably the highlight of your career. But you came across as a total jackass to anyone watching, likely including your own coaches.

As a point of comparison, Cal Baptist wrestled Iowa State right before this, and Griffin (125) beat eighth-ranked Kysen Terukina and Leake (133) pinned #15 Zach Redding. So that kind of contextualizes two of the least impressive showings of the dual.

Tiger Style Open (featuring Illinois, Maryland)

HWAHSQB: Even Maryland recognizes they don’t belong in the B1G, particularly when it comes to wrestling. More than 48 hours after the event, they still haven’t put anything on their website about their results. If they are going to ignore, then I will do likewise.

Illinois finished 3rd behind Miznoz and Cal Poly. Ok, Maryland took 5th, just behind Little Rock. Seriously, that is not a typo. A B1G school finished below Little Rock in a wrestling tournament. Sit there Terps and think about your life.

Illinois had two first place winners in Lucas Byrd (133) and Edmond Ruth (174) Both beat Tiger wrestlers in the final. Danny Braunagel took 2nd, losing to another Tiger, Keegan O’Toole, in the final.

Bison Open (featuring Minnesota)

Atinat: Minnesota looked as good as they should in this one, taking 8 of 10 titles. The open only included the Gophers, NDSU, and SDSU.

Kind of...: Wisconsin sat at home this weekend, hopefully reflecting on how poor they looked against Iowa State.

Next Week:

#25 Illinois @ #12 NC State, Buffalo (Nov 18), Flowrestling

Indiana vs #24 Princeton (Nov 18), BTN+

#2 Iowa @ Army (Nov 17); @Buffalo, @ Sacred Heart (Nov 18), Flowrestling

Atinat: Obviously nobody is that worried about the final results from these three duals, but hopefully we can get some lineup answers from the Hawkeyes. Spencer Lee and Real Woods are still absent from the probables, and Nelson Brands is expected to miss most of all of this season after a car accident last month left him requiring shoulder surgery. Brennan Swafford is also off the probables and thought to be injured, though I'm not sure with what. So, for the Hawkeyes, there's questions at 125, 141, and 174, plus a battle for starting spot at 157. Brody Teske is very unproven at 133, so that's another weight to keep an eye on.

While I'm pretty certain the Hawks go 3-0, I'm going to have a very close eye on this weekend.

Maryland @ #16 Pittsburgh (Nov 18), ACCN

#8 Michigan vs Columbia (Nov 20), BTN+

Michigan State @ American (Nov 18), Flowrestling

#11 Minnesota vs Binghamton (Nov 20), BTN+

#9 Northwestern @ Virginia (Nov 20), ACCN

#4 Ohio State vs Columbia (Nov 18), BTN+; @ #17 North Carolina (Nov 20), ACCN

#30 Purdue vs NIU, Cleveland State, Chattanooga (Nov 20), BTN+

#26 Rutgers @ Stanford (Nov 19), Pac-12+?

#13 Wisconsin @ #6 Cornell (Nov 19), ESPN+

All-Star Classic (Nov 22), Flowrestling

Atinat: This should be a fun event. A single bout between top competitors at each weight, with all but one involving a Big Ten wrestler, taking place in Austin, Texas. By my count, it's 12 guys from 7 different Big Ten schools, and five national champions. There are also four women's matches. Click here for the full listings from Flo, who will have exclusive broadcast rights.