The ILLINI versus Purdue and Northwestern

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

As much as I hate Purdue and Northwestern, I do appreciate the fact that they are to the ILLINI like the people who sleep with open windows are to vampires. Even with the ILLINI's starting 133 pounder out for the season, the heavyweight out for the rest of the season, the 165 and 197 pounders on Olympic redshirts, the 157er out for multiple weeks with an injury, the backup 197er having knee surgery, and the other 133er pulling his hamstring twice during the season, they got this. 

Purdue does have a conference win, but it was against Northwestern. 

For a full preview of the Fighting ILLINI versus Boilermakers dual, check out this link. A Northwestern preview will be added to the link tomorrow. Ramos and Blaze are the main threats in the Purdue roster. There should be four pretty close matches. Of those, the match that interests me the most is the ILLINI's third-string (still a true Freshman) 197 pounder taking on the Purdue heavyweight who is 3-18 on the season. I think the youngling wins. 

As for Northwestern, they have Trevor Chumbley. This dual was supposed to be wrestled earlier in the season in Champaign, but Northwestern pulled the rare "full team duck" because of unspecified medical reasons. The dual this Sunday will be in Evanston. Coach Poeta explains why in his Coaches Corner. Here's a short trailer from his Coaches Corner about the ongoing "feud" between the two teams: 

 

 

While looking for the tweets that Coach Poeta described in the video above, I stumbled across the tweet below that I hadn't seen before. Apparently Colonel Storniolo didn't appreciate a comic strip that I had published before an ILLINI/NW dual back in 2022. 

[Southend]

These matches will make it all better for Illinois. 

[MNRodent]

Purdue and Illinois could be pretty close.

 

[Southend]

Erstland is a good coach but not have ing much success this year. And we all know about the mass exodus at Northwestern. This is a good year for Illinois to return some favors from the last few years. 

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

1 hour ago, Southend said:

Erstland is a good coach but not have ing much success this year. And we all know about the mass exodus at Northwestern. This is a good year for Illinois to return some favors from the last few years. 

Ersland is a great coach and greater guy. He creates great men and that’s more important than anything else. 
 

My biggest arguement for more wrestling programs is that it will make more successful self sufficient and driven young men and women. 
 

just love the dude for all he did and needed to share. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

15 hours ago, Southend said:

Erstland is a good coach but not have ing much success this year. And we all know about the mass exodus at Northwestern. This is a good year for Illinois to return some favors from the last few years. 

 

The ILLINI versus Purdue dual is tonight at 6 pm (Central) on BTN+, while Northwestern is Sunday at 2 pm (Central), and it is on BTN+ as well. 

Yes, Purdue has won 2 of the last 4. That is not the recent historical norm, as the ILLINI were 15-1 against the Boilers during the 16 years before that. Against Northwestern, the ILLINI are only 2 of the last 5 (giving Northwestern the dual in which Maximo Renteria obviously pinned DeAugustino but was not called). Yet, according to FightingILLINI.com, the good guys are 17-4 in the last 21 duals overall against the Nerds. 

I am concerned that my comic strips have become bulletin board material for opposing teams. Do they really get riled up about cheesy Calvin and Hobbes rip-offs? Do JOMBO™ and Professor Carl (PC™) strips turn ordinary average human wrestlers into Super Gables? 

[Southend]

So…… as I understand it, the Illini get Northwestern on Sunday AFTER they spar with the Indiana squad. 
Now that’s no fair. After Indiana gets done with Northwestern they won’t have any fight left in them for Illinois! They’ll be wore down. 
shame on Illinois for taking advantage of them like this.  

[ionel]

8 minutes ago, Southend said:

So…… as I understand it, the Illini get Northwestern on Sunday AFTER they spar with the Indiana squad. 
Now that’s no fair. After Indiana gets done with Northwestern they won’t have any fight left in them for Illinois! They’ll be wore down. 
shame on Illinois for taking advantage of them like this.  

It seems logical that the Indian will do the Illini a favor.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Originally, the Northwestern dual was scheduled for January 20--almost a month ago--in Champaign. In his Coaches Corner video, Mike Poeta explained that after Northwestern's total team duck--the postponement of the dual--he could've just told the Big Ten that his schedule for his athletes wouldn't allow a raincheck, and the ILLINI would've gotten the automatic dub. 

Instead, he agreed to go to Northwestern for the dual. 

He could've also allowed the dual to occur in Champaign a week later, but that doesn't give either team much time to heal up and prepare for the conference tournament. One week is not enough for that. If Northwestern can't wrestle two matches in one day, don't tell them about the tournaments still on their schedule! Next year, the dual will be in Champaign, and it will rotate each year after that just as in the past. 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Exciting match with Purdue. The Boilers won all the tossups, then got an upset with Vanadia over Pettigrew. It came down to heavyweight, and Peter Marinopoulos won it for the ILLINI. 19-18 is your final score. 

Danny Pucino's pin more than offset Matt Ramos' tech fall. Edmond Ruth's major offset Stoney Buell's major. 

I've seen two Flying Squirrels by heavyweights this year. Both by the ILLINI. Luuuke Luffman scored with his at the Midlands, while Peter Marinopoulos came close in this match. What a time to be alive! GO ILLINI!!!

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

1 hour ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Exciting match with Purdue. The Boilers won all the tossups, then got an upset with Vanadia over Pettigrew. It came down to heavyweight, and Peter Marinopoulos won it for the ILLINI. 19-18 is your final score. 

Danny Pucino's pin more than offset Matt Ramos' tech fall. Edmond Ruth's major offset Stoney Buell's major. 

I've seen two Flying Squirrels by heavyweights this year. Both by the ILLINI. Luuuke Luffman scored with his at the Midlands, while Peter Marinopoulos came close in this match. What a time to be alive! GO ILLINI!!!

Tough dual meet for Purdue fans…. Couldn’t beat an illinois team redshirting half their starters smh 

Edited February 17 by FanOfPurdueWrestling

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

25 minutes ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

Tough dual meet for Purdue fans…. Couldn’t beat an illinois team redshirting half their starters smh 

Do you have any info about Hayden Copass? He hasn't wrestled this season, has already used his redshirt, but is still listed on the Purdue roster, and isn't listed as injured on Wrestlestat.com. 

Besides Ramos, the other big performance for Purdue came from Stoney Buell. He majored a tough kid. He has 5 B1G dual wins this season. Pretty impressive. 

Also, what's up with Marcos Polanco? I thought he would eventually challenge for AA after his National Qualifier Freshman year at Minnesota. That season, he beat Parker Filius and only lost to Dylan Duncan and Chad Red by three. Chronic injury? 

To cap the night, all of the ILLINI recruits made it to the IHSA State Finals, which will be wrestled tomorrow. 

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

13 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Do you have any info about Hayden Copass? He hasn't wrestled this season, has already used his redshirt, but is still listed on the Purdue roster, and isn't listed as injured on Wrestlestat.com. 

Besides Ramos, the other big performance for Purdue came from Stoney Buell. He majored a tough kid. He has 5 B1G dual wins this season. Pretty impressive. 

Also, what's up with Marcos Polanco? I thought he would eventually challenge for AA after his National Qualifier Freshman year at Minnesota. That season, he beat Parker Filius and only lost to Dylan Duncan and Chad Red by three. Chronic injury? 

To cap the night, all of the ILLINI recruits made it to the IHSA State Finals, which will be wrestled tomorrow. 

Copass has medically retired. Purdue has had atrocious luck at heavyweight (Shawn Streck, Eli Pokorney, Thomas Penola, now add Copass.)

 

Marcos Polanco wasn’t on my radar until this year, due to being at Purdue. I can’t tell you anything there bc I don’t know anything. 

 

Purdue is constantly building and then getting knocked back. The constant gripe is overtraining leading to constant injuries and burnout. 

 

 

[Southend]

8 hours ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

 

 

Purdue is constantly building and then getting knocked back. The constant gripe is overtraining leading to constant injuries and burnout. 

 

 

We’ve been hearing that ,a lot here ,about other programs also. ( overtraining) maybe. But the way they’re working may be the  culprit.  Ersland is a product of tje  evil Iowa system of training!  People don’t think this ,but weight cutting is probably harder on a wrestler than anything. So big cutters, and for a whole season can cause injuries from normal training. A lot of tje champs at the end of the year are not big cutters. And if they are, then they have very controlled amount of regular season matches. I know heavies don’t cut , that’s another story. 

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

4 hours ago, Southend said:

We’ve been hearing that ,a lot here ,about other programs also. ( overtraining) maybe. But the way they’re working may be the  culprit.  Ersland is a product of tje  evil Iowa system of training!  People don’t think this ,but weight cutting is probably harder on a wrestler than anything. So big cutters, and for a whole season can cause injuries from normal training. A lot of tje champs at the end of the year are not big cutters. And if they are, then they have very controlled amount of regular season matches. I know heavies don’t cut , that’s another story. 

You’ve heard that about Purdue?

 

Ersland is old school Iowa style through and through. He has some other coach’s in the room that have other specialties other than grind-grind-grind, it’s not the cutting (as far as I know) it’s the brutal amount of live and red flag type days.
 

I learned from the Young Bucks doc that Tom Ryan and OSU went ~1 month in season not wrestling live due to injuries. That’s unheard of, Purdue consistently has the most matches in season, and does crazy live in the room. 
 

Ersland thinks grinding is fun, and some kids do too, but the mindset in wrestling is shifting.  I hate to sound negative, I love Purdue Wrestling and think they can be a great team under Ersland. I think people like Tyrell Todd and Kendrick Maple left due to their style not being able to be worked into the program. Too much focus on Iowa style.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

A couple of developments prior to Sunday's dual between the ILLINI and Northwestern:

1.  The "Feud" is on! 

2.  Northwestern lost to Binghamton 15-21 yesterday. 

3.  @Southend is correct, the Wildcats face the Hoosiers at Noon (Central) on Sunday, then immediately after that, the ILLINI at 2:00 pm (Central). 

[ionel]

4 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

A couple of developments prior to Sunday's dual between the ILLINI and Northwestern:

1.  The "Feud" is on! 

2.  Northwestern lost to Binghamton 15-21 yesterday. 

3.  @Southend is correct, the Wildcats face the Hoosiers at Noon (Central) on Sunday, then immediately after that, the ILLINI at 2:00 pm (Central). 

While you are at it can you explain why Northwestern is in the north east corner of the state?  Also they are in the eastern third of the country not even the west half.  They claim north but Canada rejects them.  They don't seem very smart.  Now Illinois is in Illinois ... smart folk.  

[bnwtwg]

2 hours ago, ionel said:

While you are at it can you explain why Northwestern is in the north east corner of the state?  Also they are in the eastern third of the country not even the west half.  They claim north but Canada rejects them.  They don't seem very smart.  Now Illinois is in Illinois ... smart folk.  

It was established when it was located in the northwest region of the country.

[ionel]

8 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

It was established when it was located in the northwest region of the country.

No like I said ... dumb.  Missouri,  Arkansas, Iowa,  Texas, Wisconsin, California already admitted by then.  Oregon territory established, Kansas territory soon to be.  Those Chicago business men could not see what was happening and what was coming? 

[bnwtwg]

24 minutes ago, ionel said:

No like I said ... dumb.  Missouri,  Arkansas, Iowa,  Texas, Wisconsin, California already admitted by then.  Oregon territory established, Kansas territory soon to be.  Those Chicago business men could not see what was happening and what was coming? 

The city had barely recovered from the Great Chicago Fire caused by Mrs. O'Leary's cow when a new battle came up. Those same business men you cited were already busy valiantly serving their brothers and sisters in the Great Ketchup War of 1851. It was either let Northwestern keep its name or let Big Ketchup win and thank god those brave men said "Up with sport peppers, down with Heinz! The Oregon Trail will never happen!"

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

Super exciting win for the ILLINI over Northwestern. The stupid Wildcats had just beaten stupid Indiana earlier today. The criteria win goes to the ILLINI because of another Danny Pucino pin. Majors from the veterans Edmond Ruth and Tony Madrigal offset the Northwestern bonus points. 

Justin Cardani (ILLINI) 8-4 over Massey Odiotti 

Tony Madrigal (ILLINI) 8-0 major over Dedrick Navarro

Danny Pucino (ILLINI) pinfall 2:25 over Kolby McClain

Sam Cartella (NW) major over Will Baysingar

Trevor Chumbley (NW) tech fall over Logan Swaw

Chris Moore (ILLINI) 5-4 over Maxx Mayfield

Edmond Ruth (ILLINI) major over Joseph Martin

Troy Fisher (NW) SV 4-1 over Dylan Connell

Evan Bates (NW) tech fall over Isiah Pettigrew

Jack Jessen (NW) 13-7 over Peter Marinopoulos

 

And before anybody says anything, Marinopoulos took off as soon as the ref's hand went up. Jessen should of been paying closer attention. GO ILLINI!!!

[Major Kong]

5 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

Super exciting win for the ILLINI over Northwestern. The stupid Wildcats had just beaten stupid Indiana earlier today. The criteria win goes to the ILLINI because of another Danny Pucino pin. Majors from the veterans Edmond Ruth and Tony Madrigal offset the Northwestern bonus points. 

Justin Cardani (ILLINI) 8-4 over Massey Odiotti 

Tony Madrigal (ILLINI) 8-0 major over Dedrick Navarro

Danny Pucino (ILLINI) pinfall 2:25 over Kolby McClain

Sam Cartella (NW) major over Will Baysingar

Trevor Chumbley (NW) tech fall over Logan Swaw

Chris Moore (ILLINI) 5-4 over Maxx Mayfield

Edmond Ruth (ILLINI) major over Joseph Martin

Troy Fisher (NW) SV 4-1 over Dylan Connell

Evan Bates (NW) tech fall over Isiah Pettigrew

Jack Jessen (NW) 13-7 over Peter Marinopoulos

 

And before anybody says anything, Marinopoulos took off as soon as the ref's hand went up. Jessen should of been paying closer attention. GO ILLINI!!!

That's NU, not NW! But good dual.

[ionel]

35 minutes ago, Major Kong said:

That's NU, not NW! But good dual.

Why NU ... was NIU already taken? 

[Major Kong]

7 minutes ago, ionel said:

Why NU ... was NIU already taken? 

Nah, we couldn't spell W.

[ionel]

18 minutes ago, Major Kong said:

Nah, we couldn't spell W.

d u b y a   

Edited February 18 by ionel