6 B1G Takeaways From Week 3

We've had three weeks of action and it’s only getting better in the Big Ten. Over the weekend we saw wrestlers from the B1G go 6-3 at the NWCA All-Star Classic with only one of those bouts being a conference matchup. Other than the All-Star Classic, there was a good amount of cross-conference competition where the B1G came out on top.

Nebraska Completes a wild 2-0 sweep in North Carolina
Scheduling 2 duals in one day where you need to drive a good distance to the second one might be one of the craziest road trips ever done. But the Huskers were up for it, and they took out both Campbell and UNC over the week. Against Campbell the dual started outdoors then was forced to move indoors when the rain came and included a CLAW match between Jordan Oliver and Bryce Andonian in the middle. Nebraska completed that dual with a 40-6 win over the Camels then sprinted to Chapel Hill and defeated UNC 34-3. It was quite the road trip, but they got the job done in very unique fashion.

Van Ness returns & PSU’s lineup debut…kinda
Top-ranked Penn State hit the mat for first time in the dual against Drexel and we got our first glimpse of what their lineup could look like this year. Prior to their dual, there were rumblings about Alex Facundo being down at 157 which was confirmed when he claimed the win over Luke Nichter, 8-6. Highly touted freshman Luke Lilledahl made his debut in a PSU singlet, however, there was no sweat put into it as he received a forfeit. The other notable lineup looks came at 141, 149 and 197. Both Beau Bartlett and Shayne Van Ness competed the night before in the All-Star Classic, so they had the following day off. Then at 197, Lucas Cochran took the mat and got a tech fall win. Lots have waited for U20 World Silver medalist Josh Barr would be in the lineup there, but will have to wait another week for his Nittany Lion debut. The biggest impact came during the All-Star Classic when Van Ness made his return to the mat and dominated Ty Watters 16-4. 

Ohio State Gives Sasso Warm Welcome Back Moment
This past Thursday Ohio State welcomed the University of Tennessee Chattanooga into Columbus at home where they won 9 of the 10 duals. Their only loss came at 174 where Bryce Hepner had to bow out due to injury. But across the board the Buckeyes looked excellent. They surely were fired up by the return of Sammy Sasso at 165, who wrestled very well after such a long time away from the mats. Sasso continued to wrestle well as he competed Sunday as well against Edinboro as Ohio State won 9 of 10 matches against their MAC opponent as well. Once again, 174 was the only weight class lost in the dual, where Ohio State will look to figure out a plan at that weight as the season continues. 

Michigan takes care of Columbia
In Ann Arbor, the Wolverines welcomed the Lions of Columbia on Sunday night. The Lions of Detroit had a strong day on Sunday, but Colombia didn’t fare quite as well. Michigan didn’t compete with all their starters, for a variety of reasons, but they still took 7 of 10 matches, dropping two of their matches in overtime. Credit to Colombia, who had an upset win at 184 with Nick Fine getting the OT win over Jaden Bullock, but the bulk of the victories were in favor of the Wolverines in their home opener. We also saw the debut of Jacob Cardenas in the maize and blue, with an 18-0 tech fall, but more impressively was the debut of true freshman Brock Mantanona, who had the 18-3 technical fall over Cesar Alvan of Colombia, who was ranked 25th in the country coming into the match. Mantanona showed that he has the horsepower and attack rate to compete right away, but we’ll see what the Wolverines decide to do in the absence of Beau Mantanona. 

Maryland Embarrasses American, 38 to -1
The Terrapins took on American on Saturday in what ended up being an extremely lopsided battle. American had looked to start this season against another B1G opponent in Michigan State, but Maryland has shown themselves to be on another level this year. Box scores for duals can be a little misleading, but this one largely told the story. There were two close matches with an OT win for Maryland at 125, and Kal Miller got a 3-2 win at 149, but the rest of the matches were controlled by Maryland. A dust up at the end of 157 had team points taken away from each team, which is the reason for the negative 1 score for American.

Purdue competes hard in New York
The Boilermakers headed east this weekend where they took on Buffalo and Army West Point in back-to-back duals. The B1G remains the preeminent wrestling conference, and Purdue helped maintain that established narrative as they posted a 45-0 win over MAC opponent Buffalo in the first dual. There were two regular decisions in that dual, otherwise it was a bit of a wake up for Buffalo, which hosted the tri-meet. Buffalo had another tough dual against Army shortly thereafter, losing 37-2. Purdue wrestled strongly in their next dual against Army West Point. It ended with Army getting the win on criteria after a 19-19 score. Purdue has had some solid performances from their main guys in Ramos and Blaze but have had some inconsistencies at some other weights where they were expected to have more production.