ILLINIWrestlingBlog

In previewing the Pitt dual versus ILLINOIS, I thought the Panthers had two holes in their lineup. One of those "holes" is now 3-0 against Big Ten wrestlers. They're strong up and down the lineup. Young, too.

This. The ILLINI were cruising to a 60-0 win until the ref decided to stop looking for pinfalls. I watched the match live, and I'm an impartial and respected journalist.

UNDISPUTED!

I did a full recap of the dual at The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond that includes a video of the highlights. What you noticed is something I also found curious. It happens at :25 in the video: My first thought was that the ref saw something he didn't want to see like a child walking in on Mom and Dad rolling on the couch, rolling numbers, rock and roll, they got my Kiss records out. Are there other possible explanations? Maybe he wanted to make sure it wasn't a choke? Or, perhaps he thought by vacating the ABSOLUTE BEST PLACE IN THE GALAXY TO SEE THAT PIN he could find another vantage point that was even better? I'm just asking questions.

Thank you for your play-by-play in this thread.

You got the win, at least let us have the whine. But yes, a stalling call with one second left to gift a point that allows the home wrestler to get to overtime is as egregious as it gets. Like I said, so egregious it was funny-egregious. Reminds me of the time Jesse Delgado beat Matt McDonough twice in one night at Carver.

So, is he too fat or too short? I wish you guys would make up your minds.

That was so bad it was funny.

He made the trip. There's also a flu bug or something going around the team. Of course, I don't think they'd bring him if he was sick. Maybe if he had just recovered? In any event, I don't know.

Pitt wrestled smart. Credit to them. The ILLINI missing Dylan Connell at 184 and Kannon Webster at 149. Big ups to Caden Ernd wrestling Reece Heller up from 165 to 184. He is a tough kid, and he worked his butt off for the team. Jake Harrier also did a great job filling in for Kannon Webster. Jake started for the ILLINI last year at 149 even though he was a 141-pounder. He is also very tough and almost beat a ranked Pitt kid. The big highlight for ILLINOIS was the Pucino upset. Cole Matthews got PUCINO'D! Edmond Ruth looked really good as well against a very good Luca Augustine, who has obviously worked on his body during the off-season. Joe Roberts got the only other ILLINI win, keeping him undefeated at 157. Nice arena. Nice call by the broadcast crew. Could've turned up the lights a wee. Stream only slowed down once. Good wrestling from Pitt even though I hate those guys. Time to cancel my YouTubeTV free trial.

That's Jake Harrier not Kannon Webster.

Homer ref. Pucino won in SV. That was sweet. Big win!

Big shout out to Santaniello for calling the ref's attention to the Madrigal injury.

Luuuke was wrestling like a tough heavyweight for 6:30. Then, he wrestled like a JV 98-pounder the last :30. Oh my. He did avoid that Pitzer switch, which is deadly. Congrats to the Pitt wrestler going from lanky kid to strong Mason Parris looking stud.

Free trial on YouTube worked! It is now 6:03, though, and the stream hasn't started. Instead a :10 dramatic "Your Event is about to Begin" message.