Big Ten Weekly Recap (2/12/2025)

Every week in the Big Ten is more and more intense and last week did not disappoint once again. 

Iowa edges Nebraska

It was a back-and-forth battle between Iowa and Nebraska until the Huskers took what seemed to be a significant lead by winning back-to-back matches for the first time at 174 and 184 where Silas Allred defeated Gabe Arnold in overtime. But then top-ranked Stephen Buchanan brought the Hawks back to within one point with a fall over Camden McDanel at 197, followed by a major decision by Ben Kueter to close things out and give Iowa the 19-16 win. Iowa’s biggest highlights of the dual came at 133, 149, and 165 where Drake Ayala, Kyle Parco, and Michael Caliendo won tight decisions. Each team ended up with five wins apiece, but it was the bonus point wins that sealed things for Iowa in the end. Iowa has another tough dual this weekend when they head to Minnesota as Nebraska hosts Indiana.

Minnesota takes duals over Ohio State and Purdue

From 125 to 149 it was all about Ohio State, but the rest (except for 174) belonged to Minnesota and a number of bonus point wins. Isaiah Salazar got things started with a decision before Gable Steveson had his first match of the year go the distance even though his 100% bonus rate stayed intact as he claimed a 13-4 major decision over Nick Feldman. The Gophers also got bonus point wins by Tommy Askey, Andrew Sparks, and Max McEnelly to get the 20-17 win. They followed it up with a dominant 35-6 win over Purdue where they won eight of the ten bouts. 

Badgers best Spartans for first B1G win 

The battle between the conference's winless teams happened Sunday afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin. The Badgers looked energized and determined as they took seven of the ten weights, including 3 bonus points wins, one via tech fall from Zan Fugitt at 133. It’s been a tough season for both teams as they each are young and have some work to do in the conference, but this was a solid win for Wisconsin as they look to finish off the season strong. Both Fugitt, and Nicolar Rivera (125) have been bright spots for the Badgers this season, and each has put together solid campaigns as we get closer to the end of the regular season. For the Spartans, Clayton Jones' pin at 149 was nice to see as they continue to shuffle guys in and out of the lineup. Whether it’s due to injury, or trying to see who is going to step up with their opportunities, the Spartans have had several guys get chances this season. Some high spots, including Jones, would be Max Vanadia who got a win in this dual. Additionally Remy Cotton, despite the loss in this dual, has looked good at times this season. Wisconsin finishes out its B1G slate this Friday at Northwestern, while MSU travels to Rutgers this Friday before hosting Michigan on Sunday.

Great slate of Friday night duals

My theme of Penn State being really good will continue this week. They’re so good at making good teams look anything but. In this week's installment, they held Michigan to zero takedowns as they shut them out. On paper, this was going to be lopsided, but still thought that the Wolverines could get a win at 197, and potentially at 141 as well. That proved to be wrong. Bartlett gets another close call, but a controlled win over Lemley at 141, and then we get to 197 where Josh Barr continues his strong season with a win over Cardenas in tiebreakers. He needed the reversal to get that done, which was so clutch considering at that point in the match he needed the reversal and rideout to get it done. Cardenas will have to find ways to get to his offense in the next battle with Barr, which based on the results to this point will likely be in the semifinals of the B1G tournament.

We continued the excitement into Iowa versus Nebraska, which proved to be a bit more competitive. I love it when teams flip-flop on wins in big duals like this. Makes it exciting and that much more interesting, especially when you throw in some upsets here and there. Parco gets a win over Ridge Lovett at 149 to keep the back-and-forth thing going, followed by a close win from Antrell Taylor over Estrada with Teemer taking the dual off. Nebraska gets the next upset with Lenny Pinto over Patrick Kennedy at 174, along with Silas Allred taking the overtime win against Gabe Arnold. Nebraska had a solid and commanding lead at that point, until top-ranked Stephen Buchanan lit up Carver Hawkeye with a pin to bring the Hawkeyes within 1 headed into Heavyweight. Ben Kueter finished things off with a major decision to keep their solid season going, and remain undefeated at home.

Purdue rolled into Madison ready to go, and got started quickly. Matt Ramos picked up a solid win over Rivera, followed by a close win from Fugitt of Wisconsin at 133. That is one of the two wins that Wisconsin got in this battle, with the second coming from Luke Mechler at 157. Other than that, it was all Boilermakers, who swept the back half of the matches. Purdue has had some injuries to deal with, as many teams do, but they’ve shown that they have some solid depth at some of these weights to keep them competitive in the always-tough B1G. Purdue continued their weekend with a loss to Minnesota, 35-6, who has been having a strong and consistent season themselves. Purdue hosts Maryland this Friday to try to pick up another B1G win. Hoping to get the rematch of Ethen Miller and Joey Blaze at 157 in this one. Miller, who remains undefeated, got the win in the finals of the Tiger Style Invite earlier this year.