PNWfan

Still, bad for the sport. He is a senior in Purdue's last home dual of the season (on national television) and one of the programs best wrestlers ever. To not go out there in an effort to protect his seed for the Big10 tournament just sucks.

55.5 is just a ton of points to cover. Not impossible, but you would need a minimum of 6 pins which is hard to do in any dual.

Noticeably absent: American @ Penn State

I would love expect to see something later today or early tomorrow. They only released odds for OSU-Iowa early because of the magnitude of the dual.

Wouldn't be the first time he was shown the doors at a tournament. Remember Florida last year

Starocci wins. Good enough defensively to not get scored on, and savvy enough to get one TD that will make the difference in a match where I expect the margins to be very tight.

The only variable that could keep this dual closer than something like 50-0 is if Cael tinkers with his lineup and gives matches to guys that don't typically see the lineup.

If he does wrestle, I hope the committee gives him the most difficult path possible at NCAA's (Barr, Buchanan, etc.). He has dodged some opportunities to wrestle better competition this year, let's see him take on the best. I also agree with previous posts, hard to see AJ losing in the semis and wrestling Saturday morning in the consos. He will probably be long gone from Philly by that point and 197 podium may have an empty spot on it that night.

David Taylor getting pinned by Bubba Jenkins really stands out to me. Couldn't believe when Bubba got that inside cradle locked up and was able to roll it through and stick DT on the biggest stage in wrestling.

Iowa getting points in CHA...yes please!

Correct. Starocci and Keckeisen are in a different tier, beating Plott soundly does not move Ferrari into that tier, nor should it.

Disagree on point 2. I would put McEnelly in that category and think he can beat Plott. Sure, Arnold took him to OT, but Arnold is difficult to score on and has a style that lends itself to close matches.

I smashed +30.5 on Illinois with the same thought. Get two wins between 133, 157 and HWT and they should be able to cover. Even one win would still be possible depending how bonus points shake out.

It was actually 17.5 initially, that didn't last long.

Indeed. Last Sunday's Iowa-Maryland dual a prime example. Maryland opened +32.5, and given how Brands has tinkered with his lineup, it was reasonable to think he might do that in a dual he knew Iowa would win. Sure enough, Ayala and Teemer were not in the lineup, which allowed for a sweat-free Maryland win even though Iowa won the toss-up matches at 184 and HWT.

Those matches were three years ago with some different variables in play.

Agree that Ferrari's style seems to translate well when the stakes get higher, but I'm still anxious to see him against some of the top-tier at 197 (Barr, Cardenas, Buchanan). We have not really seen him yet against the best guys, and I'm curious how his conditioning will be in those matches. If anyone remembers the match against Glazier last year before the splits and double-birds, he was definitely sucking wind at the end of that match.

Stanford +17.5 seems interesting, but they forfeit 125 and don't match up great at some of the other key weights where they have ranked guys. Still, that is a lot of points to catch in a home dual.

On the PSU question, that is part of what makes these odds difficult to beat the books. You have one match that is probably 50-50 (Cardenas vs. Barr) and the other possibility that Cael could not wrestle a starter like he did at 133 against Iowa, knowing PSU will still easily win the dual. So, if PSU drops one match it is highly unlikely they cover the 38.5. There is a smaller possibility they could win all 10 weights and still not cover the 38.5. Iowa opened -5.5 against Nebraska and that seemed worth a shot. If they can win two of the weights between 125-157, gotta like their chances of covering.

Agree, he was buried on the depth chart and a long way from being a contributing team member that saw significant playing time. Any talk about him being a NFL prospect at this stage is just speculation and nonsense. If there was a 220lb weight class in NCAA wrestling, I don't think this would be an issue. But, as it stands, he seems like a tweener that is too big for 197lbs and too small to beat the stronger guys at HWT.

Is Ferrari still at Bakersfield? I noticed he was posting on social media about being home for Thanksgiving, doing clinics in New Jersey, etc. This seems like it would be difficult to pull off during the middle of a college wrestling season. Anybody know if we will be seeing him in Vegas this weekend?

Best match by a country mile was Geno vs. Zare. I was so happy for Geno to get that gold, the one missing piece from his legendary resume.

Eight weights would be ideal. I'm sure lots of folks on here would like 10, but I fear that things become a bit watered down with that many weights.

Tough draw for Mason but a match he should have won. He didn't wrestle smart at all, firing off low percentage shots from distance at the beginning and tiring himself out which allowed Munkhtur to take control of the match in the second period. I went into the tournament thinking that Mason was being overhyped and a win over Geno was far from a given, as some seemed to think, but I did not see him bombing out first round. He got a harsh taste of what the Olympics can be like if you wrestle a bad match. As for Snyder, I hope we have a new rep at 97kg in 2028. It is obvious that Snyder is not getting any better, his style is boring, and his interviews are worse. He has represented the USA well the last 10 years, but it is time for a change. He was probably the third best guy at 97kg, but losing to Taz and Azarpira (two youngsters who are trending up) does not give me a ton of confidence for his future.

Agree. Anyone who saw that match knows how bad that review was. As someone who watched the tournament from start to finish, I did not think there were many truly awful calls, but this one was the absolute worst. I assumed Zhamalov's challenge was pure desperation and he had no chance of winning it, given Valiev did not even back up on the final exchange, he merely circled to hold center while Zhamalov fired off a wild last attempt. Review officials gifted Zhamalov that win.