November's Top Duals

The college wrestling season is right around the corner, and there are potentially some top duals in the early portion of the season. Some coaches make a business decision to hold out top guys, and in many cases that works out for the best. However, fans can hope that they get the early contests that they are hoping to see. The following are the top six duals matches on the schedule for the month of November. 11/10/2023 No. 7 Ohio State at No. 4 Virginia Tech For three of the last four seasons, the Hokies and the Buckeyes have faced off in a marquee early-season dual. Virginia Tech got the victory 21-15 during the 2020 season, but Ohio State has won the last two seasons (17-13 two years ago and 18-15 last year). The Buckeyes have excelled on the recruiting trail and will bring an extremely talented lineup to Blacksburg. However, this might be one of the stronger Tech teams in recent memory. Currently, half of the starting lineup is ranked inside the top six in the InterMat rankings. The headline bout could come at 174 pounds where Virginia Tech’s former NCAA champion No. 3 Mekhi Lewis could face off against No. 7 Carson Kharchla. While injuries plagued Kharchla last season, he has proven he can go with anyone when healthy. 11/19/2023 No. 26 North Carolina at No. 18 Illinois This early season ACC-Big Ten clash could really come down the wire. There is certainly some star power in the field with No. 6 Lucas Byrd at 133 pounds for Illinois and No. 4 Lachlan McNeil at 141 pounds for North Carolina. However, the real intrigue with this dual is the potential for it to come down to the wire. The current WrestleStat prediction for the dual is 17-15, and it feels like it is the type of bout that will be that close. 11/19/2023 No. 11 Arizona State at No. 3 Missouri Next year, both of these teams will be members of the Big 12, at least for wrestling. This season, the dual will remain one of the top out-of-conference matches. While the overall match is likely to be a competitive contest, the highlight individual match will likely come at 149 pounds. No. 3 Kyle Parco, the likely starter for the Sun Devils, lost against No. 5 Brock Mauller back in 2021. However, last season Parco was able to pull out a pair of one-point victories over Mauller. This is a key bout that could certainly have seeding implications down the line. 11/19/2023 North Dakota State at No. 13 Oklahoma Roger Kish was the head coach for the North Dakota State Bison from 2012 to 2023. This past offseason, he moved to Oklahoma to attempt to revive the storied program. Interestingly enough, the two squads will meet in an early season match. The Bison were hit hard by the transfer portal this past season, but they should be able to keep it competitive against the Sooners. There are expected to be a lot of new faces in the Oklahoma lineup as well with No. 31 Antonio Lorenzo (125) coming over from Cal Poly, No. 26 Jace Koelzer joining from Northern Colorado, No. 19 Giuseppe Hoose (184) transferring from Buffalo and two-time All-American No. 2 Stephen Buchanan (197) finally making his Oklahoma debut after sitting out last year with an injury. 11/20/2023 No. 15 Pittsburgh at No. 22 Maryland Last year, Maryland found themselves in the InterMat dual rankings after a breakout victory over Pittsburgh. The upset was fueled by a pair of overtime wins from No. 27 Michael North and Dominic Solis, who bested Dazjon Casto and Luca Augustine, respectively. The Terps return the majority of their lineup from last season and added former Penn State heavyweight No. 17 Seth Nevills to replace veteran Jaron Smith. Pittsburgh will also need to replace Micky Phillippi and Nino Bonaccorsi who were staples of the lineup for years. Despite the losses, the Panthers will still bring a strong squad into College Park looking to get one back from last year. 11/26/2023 No. 8 Iowa at No. 10 Iowa State While the Cy-Hawk rivalry has been extremely one-sided recently, this year’s match is full of storylines. Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser is leading an impressive turnaround for the Cyclones, but he has yet to pick up a signature victory against Iowa. The Hawkeyes lost several key contributors from last year’s squad, but they reloaded in the transfer portal by adding Victor Voinovich, formerly of rival Oklahoma State, as well as both No. 2 Jared Franek (157) and No. 5 Michael Caliendo (165) from North Dakota State. Iowa State also visited the portal to secure the services of No. 17 Garrett Grice (133) from Virginia, No. 5 Will Feldkamp (184) from Clarion and No. 17 Cody Chittum from… uh… Iowa… awkward. Both athletic programs overall have dealt with issues surrounding the sports betting investigation, so it's entirely possible this dual looks differently than expected in November. However, this might be one of Iowa State’s better chances in recent memory, and it could be a very dramatic match.

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November's Top Duals

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