Poll: Who wins the 2025 Hodge?

[BruceyB]

1 hour ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Mesenbrink has a 100% bonus rate

He could very realistically finish the season with 100% bonus, and almost/if not all early terminations. 

[okokzach]

7 minutes ago, peanut said:

I meant to add Gable in the poll, and I thought I had. I let “Someone Else” cover Kerk because Gable is a generational talent. In a normal year Kerk would be thick in the Hodge hunt. 

If Kerk or Hendrickson win out, they would be locks for the Hodge 

[BigRedFan]

There's a guy at Michigan who is 10-0 with 100% bonus...

[Crotalus]

Keckeisen would have a pretty good argument if he maintains a high bonus rate and takes out Starocci in the finals. I think a 100% bonus Mesenbrink would get the nod, however. Crazy how depeleted 165 seems after years of being one of the toughest, if not the toughest, weights. I think Starocci wins if he's undefeated and wins his 5th, even though he'll likely have some boring defensive matches.

[headshuck]

Gable with the rare 1st period pin over #10 Heindselman hosting Michigan.

[ionel]

6 hours ago, headshuck said:

Gable with the rare 1st period pin over #10 Heindselman hosting Michigan.

rare ... as opposed to a well done 1st period pin?  

[BruceyB]

4 hours ago, ionel said:

rare ... as opposed to a well done 1st period pin?  

As opposed to the opposite of rare.. a quippy response without a point on this forum.

[NotThatDave]

My vote will change when Hamiti beats Keegan in two weeks. Also, where can I get a vote?

[Wrestleknownothing]

12 minutes ago, NotThatDave said:

My vote will change when Hamiti beats Keegan in two weeks. Also, where can I get a vote?

Do you have an eligibility left?

[ionel]

6 hours ago, BruceyB said:

As opposed to the opposite of rare.. a quippy response without a point on this forum.

Well there was another hwt who pinned his opponent same day first period in less than 45 secs and had previously pinned the #6 in first period similar time to Gable pinning the #10.  So maybe not so "rare" but both could be considered "well done!" 

[NotThatDave]

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Do you have an eligibility left?

[Wrestleknownothing]

14 minutes ago, NotThatDave said:

Good start. Now we just need to get you that Hodge so you can vote. I believe.

[BruceyB]

4 hours ago, ionel said:

Well there was another hwt who pinned his opponent same day first period in less than 45 secs and had previously pinned the #6 in first period similar time to Gable pinning the #10.  So maybe not so "rare" but both could be considered "well done!" 

Ah. I was under the impression that @headshuck was referring to the first period fall as rare for Gable, not for the weight. I'm not sure though. Thank you for clarifying!

[666]

Starocci. He'll bonus everybody he wrestles except for Keck, plus he'll win his 5th title. 

[nhs67]

34 minutes ago, 666 said:

Starocci. He'll bonus everybody he wrestles except for Keck, plus he'll win his 5th title. 

Irrelevant.  Career is no longer a criteria.

Also, no, he won't bonus everyone.  His style doesn't really allow for that.  He will beat a guy 6-0 worse than PK will, and PK will Techfall him.  For example, he put up less points on Allred than both PK and McEnelly did.

[PortaJohn]

@gimpeltf, @cowcards, or any of the history buffs.  Has a wrestler ever finished the year with a 100% bonus rate?  

[Wrestleknownothing]

3 minutes ago, PortaJohn said:

@gimpeltf, @cowcards, or any of the history buffs.  Has a wrestler ever finished the year with a 100% bonus rate?  

You have to go back to the very early days when they wrestled just a handful of times per year

[PortaJohn]

5 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

You have to go back to the very early days when they wrestled just a handful of times per year

Was thinking about that.  Was it right after WW2 they wrestled a 20 match season?  Also with the new scoring I think Sanderson and Taylor would've achieved it their Senior years.  

Edited yesterday at 03:51 PM by PortaJohn

[Wrestleknownothing]

4 minutes ago, PortaJohn said:

Was thinking about that.  Was it right after WW2 they wrestled a 20 match season?  Also with the new scoring I think Sanderson and Taylor would've achieved it their Senior years.  

Even in the late 50s they wrestled few matches. In 1957 Dan Hodge was 16-0 with 15 pinfalls. His lone decision was 8-2 in the NCAA semifinal. He was 5-0 in that tournament. And he would have wrestled at least twice in his conference tournament. So heading into the post-season he would have had single digit matches.

[Wrestleknownothing]

14 minutes ago, PortaJohn said:

Was thinking about that.  Was it right after WW2 they wrestled a 20 match season?  Also with the new scoring I think Sanderson and Taylor would've achieved it their Senior years.  

Just scanning past results, it looks like they started hitting 20 per year in the early to mid 1960s. Late 60s you start seeing 30 per year from guys like Gable. The late 1970s is when you see things creep to the 30- 40 range for some guys.

My guess is you can trace this to the birth of the in season tournament and less expensive travel options in both time and money.

[Iwrite]

In his junor year at Iowa State, Dan Gable was a reported 31-0 with 29 pins.  The non-pins were by scores of 25-6 and 12-1, in an era before tech falls. He also pinned all five foes at the 1969 NCAAs that year and was voted OW.

[Wrestleknownothing]

2 minutes ago, Iwrite said:

In his junor year at Iowa State, Dan Gable was a reported 31-0 with 29 pins.  The non-pins were by scores of 25-6 and 12-1, in an era before tech falls. He also pinned all five foes at the 1969 NCAAs that year and was voted OW.

Good to see you on the boards @Iwrite

Your wisdom is always appreciated

[cowcards]

2 hours ago, PortaJohn said:

@gimpeltf, @cowcards, or any of the history buffs.  Has a wrestler ever finished the year with a 100% bonus rate?  

It has, but it was the very early days like @Wrestleknownothing said when they wrest getting less than 15 matches a year. I don't have any names for you though. I am working on gathering match results from early days, so you can eventually have those kind of answers. 

[fishbane]

6 minutes ago, cowcards said:

It has, but it was the very early days like @Wrestleknownothing said when they wrest getting less than 15 matches a year. I don't have any names for you though. I am working on gathering match results from early days, so you can eventually have those kind of answers. 

Very early days scoring was much different.  A claim I often heard of Stanley Henson was he "was never taken down and never put on his back. He never had an offensive move scored upon him in his entire college career and was unscored upon, except for escapes that he allowed."

Which is probably true but largely irrelevant.  There were no points back then.  If there wasn't a fall it went to a referree's decision which used riding time advantage as the deciding factor.   For someone to get 100% bonus before about 1950 they would have had to pin every opponent.  

[CHROMEBIRD]

Lots of solid candidates going into the back half of the season, but Gable and MM may be a notch above. I don't think either has given up an offensive point this season yet. Anyone else? Has Mendez been taken down?