Five B1G Takeaways from the Big Ten (2/1/24)

You hear it all the time, the Big Ten dual meet season is brutal. The amount of top talent in this conference is on full display every week and last weekend was no different. However, as we recap what we saw, we can’t wait to get to Friday for Iowa vs Michigan in a battle between two of the best teams in the country.

Tough week for Wisconsin

It hasn’t been the easiest time for Wisconsin as they got their Big Ten dual meet season started with three straight losses. Losses to Ohio State (27-15), Michigan State (22-15), and Nebraska (28-9) have the Badgers currently sitting at 0-3 in the conference with duals against Northwestern and Purdue coming up this weekend. Of note, Dean Hamiti has been back down to 165 since the start of the new year and has claimed three straight ranked wins. In addition, Eric Barnett has maintained his consistency with three straight wins through the Big Ten dual grind at 125, which has been the most up-and-down weight class of the year. 

Hawkeyes Win 18 of 20 in Trip to Illinois

Talk about a dominating road trip. Iowa faced off against Illinois and Northwestern last week and dominated by a combined score of 82-6. The six points came from two losses in their dual against Illinois, before they went on to shutout Northwestern a few days later. We also got our second Ben Kueter sighting as well. The true freshman took the mat against Jack Jessen and picked up a 45-second fall to cap off the shutout win in Evanston. This weekend the Hawks have a huge matchup as they head to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan on Friday. 

Young Buckeyes come through at home

Ohio State hosted Michigan on Friday night in front of a raucous home crowd. The momentum in the dual started in favor of the Wolverines as they got bonus point wins at 125 and 133 in ranked matchups. Michigan forfeited at 141 as a result of Sergio Lemley not passing the skin inspection, which was a bummer for those looking forward to that match with Jesse Mendez. They continued with another win at 149 and an OT win at 157 to take control of the dual… or so they thought. 

Michigan was favored in most of the last matches, but credit to the Buckeyes for not backing down. They got upset wins at 184 with Ryder Rogotzke getting a tech fall over Jaden Bullock, and eventually the dual came down to Heavyweight. Nick Feldman showed that he is as advertised, and got the win over then-fourth-ranked Lucas Davison. That was enough for the Buckeyes to continue to have their bragging rights for another season with the hard-fought 20-19 win in Columbus. Up next for Michigan is hosting Iowa this Friday in Ann Arbor, with Ohio State traveling to Penn State Friday night as well.

It’s called the Hoosier state

The state of Indiana was up for grabs Saturday with the dual between Indiana and Purdue, and Indiana was ready to rock. Matt Ramos started the dual off quickly with a win for the Boilermakers, but it was a string of Indiana wins after that. 133 through 157 was all Indiana, with Brayton Lee getting a 4-2 win over Purdue’s stud freshman Joey Blaze. In the end, Purdue only got three wins (125, 165, and 197), which is generally not enough to win a dual meet. Roman Rogotzke, brother of the aforementioned Rogotzke of Ohio State, got a nice win at 184 in overtime against James Rowley to essentially seal the dual. Indiana has been wrestling very well this season, and has shown some real consistency throughout their lineup. Indiana hosts Michigan State on Sunday afternoon, and Purdue will host Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon as well. 

Spartans use bonus points to upset the Badgers

There was a theme in Friday night's dual against the Badgers. It was High School Night for Michigan State, and it’s always great to get a win at home with some potential future Spartans in attendance. The match results were split five to five, but Michigan State held Wisconsin to five decisions, where MSU was able to get bonus points at 157, 197, and 285, two of those being falls (157 and 285). Even with the bonus points, Michigan State needed some clutch wins from Layne Malczewski at 184, getting the win over then 16th-ranked Shane Liegel, and Kael Wisler got the major decision over Josh Otto at 197. Up next for the Spartans is a trip to Champaign, IL to take on Illinois on Friday night, followed by Indiana on Sunday afternoon. Wisconsin will be hosting Northwestern at home Friday night, and traveling to Purdue Sunday afternoon.