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    Andrew Hipps •

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    Iowa-Minnesota: Keys to Victory

    The annual Border Brawl between Iowa and Minnesota takes place on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The dual meet will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network. Iowa leads the all-time series 69-25-1. Below are three keys to victory for each team.

    Iowa

    1. Win the first three matches

    Minnesota and Iowa dual meets have always started at 125 pounds, so there's no reason to believe this dual meet will be an exception. The Hawkeyes are favored in the first two matches, and the third match is a tossup on paper. If the Hawkeyes want to be in a position to win this dual meet, winning the first three matches and jumping out to a 9-0 or 10-0 lead is extremely important.

    Matt McDonough has never dropped a match to Gopher wrestler, and it's hard to envision him losing on Saturday to No. 13 David Thorn (8-5), who still seems to be trying to find his way as a 125-pounder. The last time McDonough came to Minneapolis two seasons ago he hammered Zach Sanders 10-3, and jump-started the Hawkeyes in a 19-12 victory over the Gophers.

    Tony Ramos defeated Chris Dardanes three times last season, including once by pin in the third-place match at the NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    At 133, Iowa is a solid favorite with No. 2 Tony Ramos (15-0) taking on No. 9 Chris Dardanes (12-2) in a battle of returning All-Americans and Illinois natives. Ramos won all three meetings last season by scores of 5-2, 6-1, and pin. Ramos has a career dual meet record of 44-1, with that lone loss coming to NCAA champion Logan Stieber of Ohio State.

    At 141, No. 9 Mark Ballweg of Iowa (16-1) and No. 10 Nick Dardanes of Minnesota (14-5) is the most up-for-grabs match in the dual meet, and it's a match Iowa needs more than Minnesota. The two are ranked side-by-side, but Ballweg has wins over two wrestlers who have defeated Dardanes this season, Luke Vaith of Hofstra and Julian Feikert of Oklahoma State.

    2. Pull an upset

    Upsets are not uncommon in big dual meets, so don't be surprised to see one on Saturday in Minneapolis. Based on rankings, Iowa will be an underdog in six matches: 149, 165, 174, 184, 197, and heavyweight. The Hawkeyes will need at least one -- and possibly two -- of those matches to go their way. Of those six matches, Iowa appears to have the best chance for an upset at 165, 174, or 197.

    At 165, No. 18 Nick Moore of Iowa (10-3) will take on No. 10 Cody Yohn of Minnesota (16-6). Yohn, a three-time NCAA qualifier, has a stronger college wrestling pedigree than Moore, but has been prone to occasional letdowns throughout his career. He has taken unexpected losses this season to true freshman teammate Dylan Reel and Appalachian State's Zach Strickland. His other four losses have come to wrestlers ranked inside the top eight. Moore is a capable wrestler who has the tools to defeat Yohn. He was a four-time state champion in Iowa who now seems to be figuring things out at the Division I level as a redshirt sophomore.

    Mike Evans came up big against Minnesota last season in the dual meet in Iowa City (Photo/Johnnie Johnson)
    The matchup at 174 pounds is arguably the premier bout of the dual meet, pitting No. 2 Logan Storley of Minnesota (16-1) against No. 6 Mike Evans of Iowa (11-1). Both wrestlers have a single blemish on their records -- and for both that single blemish is a one-point loss to top-ranked Chris Perry of Oklahoma State. Both Storley and Evans are wrestling with a lot of confidence right not now. While the higher-ranked Storley has to be considered the favorite wrestling at home, a victory by Evans would surprise few.

    The matchup at 197 features No. 12 Scott Schiller of Minnesota (16-3) taking on Nathan Burak of Iowa (12-7). Burak, though unranked, has shown steady improvement with each match after spending last season focusing on freestyle at the Olympic Training in Colorado Springs. He has recent wins over NCAA qualifiers Andrew Campolottano of Ohio State and Max Huntley of Michigan. All three of Schiller's losses this season have come to higher ranked opponents: No. 3 Quentin Wright of Penn State, No. 8 Taylor Meeks of Oregon State, and No. 11 Brent Haynes of Missouri.

    3. Find bonus points somewhere

    With eighteen of 20 wrestlers ranked in the dual meet, virtually all the matches are expected to be competitive, so bonus points will be at a premium, but will be the difference if both teams win five matches.

    DSJ has picked up bonus points in nine of his 15 wins (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Iowa's best opportunity to pick up bonus points might be at 157 where top-ranked Derek St. John (15-0) will wrestle unranked Danny Zilverberg (11-5). Last season Zilverbeg kept it to a decision against St. John, losing 6-3. But that was at a time when St. John was struggling with an injury. DSJ has picked up bonus points in nine of his 15 wins this season, but has only one bonus-point victory in his last five matches.

    Iowa's team leader and most credentialed wrestler McDonough (125) is a threat to get bonus points every time he steps on the mat, but that will be a tall order against a solid wrestler in Thorn.

    While it does not appear on paper that there will be many opportunities for bonus points for either team, unexpected things can and do happen in Iowa-Minnesota dual meets. Last season, for example, Evans pinned Yohn at 165 in a match many viewed as a tossup. (Three weeks later Yohn avenged the loss by defeating Evans 5-3 at the National Duals.)

    Minnesota

    1. Win two of the first five matches

    Dylan Ness will be looking to bounce back from a bad loss to Caleb Ervin of Illinois (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)
    With Minnesota being favored in four of the final five matches, the Gophers need to find a way to win two matches before intermission so they are in a position to win six matches in the dual meet.

    The Gophers are favored at 149 with NCAA runner-up Dylan Ness (5-3) taking on Mike Kelly (10-5). Ness earned bonus points both times he wrestled Kelly last season. However, Ness missed all of November and December, and is still trying to regain his form. He is coming off a bad loss to Caleb Ervin of Illinois on Monday night. Still, one would have to favor Ness based on previous meetings.

    As previously mentioned, the match at 141 between Nick Dardanes and Mark Ballweg is a tossup on paper. If Minnesota can win that critical match -- and Ness can get a win at 149 -- the Gophers will be in the driver's seat.

    2. Wrestle inspired

    Minnesota is coming off an uninspired performance against Illinois on Monday night despite winning the dual meet 18-14. Returning All-Americans Chris Dardanes (133) and Dylan Ness (149) both lost by major decision in matches in which they were favored to win. Three other Gophers, Nick Dardanes (141), Kevin Steinhaus (184), and Tony Nelson (285), came up a point short of earning a major decision and giving the team an extra bonus point.

    If the Gophers wrestle like they did on Monday night, the Hawkeyes will win Saturday's dual meet going away. Minnesota can't leave points on the board and expect to come out on top against a team like Iowa. Last season Minnesota wrestled uninspired in an early season road loss to Cornell, but bounced back less than 48 hours later to defeat Penn State in State College. It's hard to imagine the Gophers not wrestling inspired in a big home dual meet against rival Iowa, but it's a necessity if they want to beat the Hawkeyes on Saturday.

    3. Capitalize on the home-mat advantage

    Minnesota needs to keep the crowd in Saturday's dual meet
    In a dual meet like Iowa-Minnesota with so many tightly contested matches, both teams will want to use every advantage they have. Minnesota needs to capitalize on its home-mat advantage. But Iowa fans travel well and will be out in full force on Saturday in Minneapolis. With the Hawkeyes favored in the first two matches -- and the third match being a tossup -- the Gophers could find themselves in a hole early, which in turn could take the Gopher crowd out of it. The last two times the Hawkeyes and Gophers wrestled in Minneapolis, Iowa swept the first three matches and took the crowd out of it early.

    Minnesota needs to have the crowd alive when the dual meet gets to 165 where the Gophers are favored the rest of the way. Giving up a pin early or suffering an upset at 149 could take the wind out of the Minnesota crowd. The Gophers need to give their fans a reason to get excited in the first half of the dual meet, whether it's Thorn or Zilverberg going toe-to-toe with their heavily favored Hawkeye opponents, Chris Dardanes upsetting Ramos, Nick Dardanes lighting up the scoreboard, or Ness getting a pin.
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