6 B1G Takeaways From Week 4

A month into the season and we’ve got some awesome developments happening across the country in the Big Ten. So, let’s discuss some of the biggest things that caught our eye last week.

Penn State flexes (obvious) depth at Black Knight Invitational
We’re not new here, Penn State’s depth has always been something to behold and this year that is truly on full display as they boast a strong lineup and then some this season. At the Black Knight Invitational, the Nittany Lions had a finalist in all weight classes except for 133 where they didn’t send starter Braeden Davis. They also had teammates make the finals in 5 of the 10 bouts. Most notably, the two weight classes where there could be changes gave us significant results as Tyler Kasak defeated Alex Facundo at 157. Facundo got the start in the team’s first dual of the season, but in this head-to-head matchup with Kasak it was the returning All-American that took the win. Also, at 197 Josh Barr defeated teammates Connor Mirasola and Lucas Cochran in the semis and finals, respectively. He gave up a combined one point, which was scored in the finals by Cochran as he recorded scores of 11-0 and 10-1 in those matches. As we know, these results could have no bearing on who gets the start in those weight classes, or it could mean everything. But one thing is for certain, PSU’s depth and strength is still very high.

Same ol’ Gable, but better
Surely, we all expected Olympic gold medalist and NCAA champion Gable Steveson to be dominant, but after a good bit of time doing side quests, he looks like he’s in full final boss mode. Steveson needed less than 2-minutes to get an 18-3 technical fall win against SDSU in his first match back before absolutely overpowering #7 Taye Ghadiali of Campbell by 20-4 tech fall as Minnesota claimed back-to-back dual meet shutout wins for the first time since 1997. 

Iowa takes Cy-Hawk Dual
As always, the Iowa vs Iowa State dual did not disappoint. The lineups looked different than a year ago, but there were still some similarities. Once again Drake Ayala was coming off a loss from the previous week and got a win over a higher ranked guys only this time it was at 133, not 125. Patrick Kenndy “put the scoreboard in a position of exhaustion” with a high scoring match, but this time around he kept the double digits on his side of the scoreboard with a 19-4 technical fall. And at 184, Angelo Ferrari, a freshman who we aren’t sure will be redshirting or not, made his debut against the in-state rival and claimed a big win over a ranked senior. Ferrari even sealed the win by blowing a kiss to the Cyclone bench just like Gabe Arnold did a season ago. Overall, it was another exciting Cy-Hawk dual which was the 20th time in a row that the Hawks claimed victory.

Purdue wrestles tough in Chattanooga
The Boilermakers travelled south for a tri-meet hosted by the Mocs of Chattanooga. The competition started at 10am EST as the tri-meet started with action between Purdue and Princeton. The dual was fairly lopsided for the Boilermakers, including the only two ranked matchups between the teams. James Rowley got the win over 27th ranked Mikey Squires at 184, and Matt Ramos got the win at 125 over 28th ranked Ethan Rivera. They finished off the tri-meet with the more lopsided win over Chattanooga, 41-3. The only loss came from Greyson Clark, who has had some ups and downs early this season. Purdue has started this season very strongly, with their only loss coming to Army by criteria, but other than that they have looked excellent. After CKLV, they’ll look to continue their strong start to the dual season with Cleveland State and Kent State before beginning their B1G schedule.

Michigan has a strong ACC road trip
Michigan continued their solid start to the season with a trip to ACC country. Last weekend they began by heading to Durham, North Carolina, as they took on the Blue Devils of Duke, before heading to Charlottesville, VA for a dual Sunday night against Virginia. Michigan is still sorting out a couple of the weight classes but had some positive signs to point to this weekend. At 125, the Wolverines brought Nolan Wertanen, where he went 1-1. He looked great against Duke but dropped his match with Virginia’s Keyveon Roller. It’ll be interesting to see how things develop as the season goes on at 125, with Christian Tanefu looking good this last weekend against Columbia. At 149, Michigan is basically just waiting on Dylan Gilcher to be ready to go, in his absence the Wolverines went 0-2 at that weight over the weekend. Lastly, at 165, the Wolverines dropped their match against Duke, but against Virginia they brought out Brock Mantanona once again. A week ago Mantanona got a tech fall against 25th ranked Cesar Alvan of Columbia, and this week he continued his impressive showing as he got an 11-3 major decision over 12th ranked returning ACC Champion, Nick Hamilton. Mantanona continues to show next level scrambling abilities, paired with a dangerous arsenal of attacks, which may show to be the undeniable option for the Wolverines this season. Michigan, like Purdue, will compete next at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on December 6th and 7th. 

Illini dominant against ACC and Big12 Opponents
Things started on Thursday night as Illinois hosted Missouri for a dinner-theater event where the crowd attending got dinner and a show, the being a 23-14 win over the visiting Tigers. Illinois took six of the 10 matches in front of their home crowd, including most of the ranked matches. Even in a loss, the Illinois faithful were impressed with Danny Braunagel, who had scored a couple of takedowns against Keegan O’Toole, before KOT eventually took over the match. Bonus points, and the extra win, helped to seal the win before heading to Chapel Hill on Monday to take on UNC. Illinois kept its positive momentum going as they once again took six of 10 matches against North Carolina. This could have been worse for North Carolina, but they won most of the close battles with the biggest being at 149 where Lachlan McNeil defeated Kannon Webster. The match ended with an overtime takedown for the Tar Heel to get the 4-1 win. Edmond Ruth has had an up and down season thus far, as he dropped another match against a ranked opponent up at his new weight of 184. This one was a 9-5 loss to #22 Gavin Kane. Illinois begins B1G competition on December 6th as they take on the Hoosiers in Indianapolis.