Ryan Holmes

The season has come to an end but things are heating up. The crew discuss the NCAA tournament, the steroid rumors and conversations surrounding Meyer Shapiro's post-match interview and all the craziness happening with the transfer portal. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:00:30 - Steroid rumors 0:21:15 - Transfer Portal 0:40:50 - NCAA Recap 1:53:39 - Team Race + PSU breaks points record again 2:06:02 - Intermat Wrestling Podcast crew on the move?

This week the crew talks about some of the things they have heard pertaining to the Tyler Brennan situation and they go weight-by-weight and make their picks for the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships.

We are one week away from the biggest tournament of the year, but there's still some things to get to. The crew dives into the Tyler Brennan eligibility situation, takes a look at the biggest stories from the conference tournaments and what they like and don't like about the NCAA Championship seeds and brackets. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:00:45 - Tyler Brennan eligibility situation 0:20:20 - Pac 12 recap 0:29:42 - Big 12 recap 0:40:10 - ACC recap 0:47:16 - EIWA/Ivy recap 0:55:55 - Big Ten recap 1:13:01 - NCAA Bracket reaction

The NCAA wrestling championship brackets have been released. Check out the matchups and seeds for this year's tournament.

We now have the pre-seeds for this weekend’s 2025 Big Ten Wrestling Championships. And as we all dig into them and pick them apart, we also want to look at some of the top matches that didn’t happen during the regular season. For the most part, I looked at who our top-seeded guys didn’t face (for whatever reason) along with some of the other top five seeds that didn’t hit as well. Let’s go weight-by-weight and look at some of the matches we didn’t see during the regular season. Check out the full B1G pre-seeds here! 125: #1 Matt Ramos, Purdue Missed Matches #2 Caleb Smith, Nebraska #3 Dean Peterson, Rutgers #4 Luke Lilledahl, PSU #5 Joey Cruz, Iowa Summary: No one will dispute that Matt Ramos is the rightful No. 1 seed in the Big Ten. But he didn’t face any of the other top five seeded guys in the weight class. That’s not to say that he hasn’t earned that spot through defeating several of the other guys across the NCAA, it’s just going to be interesting to see how things shake out. With that being said, he did face Peterson as well as Smith last season. He and Peterson split bouts with the Scarlet Knight taking their final meeting at Big Ten’s last year, 7-1. Ramos also lost to Smith 8-4 at CKLV last year as well. Needless to say, these are probably two rematches that the top seed has his eyes on. 133: #1 Drake Ayala, Iowa Missed Matches #3 Braxton Brown, MD #4 Braeden Davis, PSU #5 Dylan Shawver, Rutgers #8 Angelo Rini, IN #9 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State Summary: Like Ramos at 125, Ayala’s run to the top seed here at 133 came with just one win over a guy seeded in the top five in the conference and that was No. 2 seed Lucas Byrd. Outside of his late takedown win over Byrd, Ayala could possibly to getting his first meetings with a few guys. Although Ayala and Davis met in last year’s dual meet which was a 4-2 win for Ayala, they haven’t met since moving up to 133 this season. Besides that looming potential rematch that we could see in the semifinals, the others would be the first time for them to hit. 141: #1 Beau Bartlett, PSU Missed Matches #4 Vance Vombaur, Minn #8 Henry Porter, IN #9 Greyson Clark, Purdue Summary: Bartlett comes in with an undefeated 18-0 record and wins over just about every top guy in the conference this season. The lone top five guy that Bartlett hasn’t faced this season is Vance Vombaur, who got the No. 4 seed. However, he and Vombaur have some history that the Gopher would probably like to correct and that’s a loss by fall at last year’s NCAAs. Another guy in the top 10 he hasn’t face is Indiana’s Henry Porter who he could see in his first match should he get by Purdue’s Greyson Clark, who Bartlett is yet to see as well. The biggest match here that we didn’t see this season is the No. 2 vs No. 3 matchup between returning NCAA champ Jesse Mendez and All-American Brock Hardy. Mendez does already lead this series 2-0 with the last win coming at last year NCAAs, but the two have yet to face off this season and are on a collision course to do so in the semis. 149: Shayne Van Ness, PSU Missed Matches #7 Sam Cartella, NU #10 Drew Roberts, Minn Summary: Yes, there are two guys listed that Shayne Van Ness hasn’t wrestled this season, however, they will both be on the bottom side of the bracket so one of them will have to win in the first round to get a shot at the top-seed in the finals. So, let’s focus on matches we haven’t seen this year that would be good if they happened and the first on the list is #3 Ridge Lovett (Neb) vs #4 Dylan D’Emilio (OSU). The two hit last year at CKLV where Lovett pitched a 11-0 shutout, but this season they never crossed paths and with them being seeded where they are, it’s possible they would only meet on the backside of the tournament or in the finals. 157: #1 Ethen Miller, Maryland Missed Matches #3 Antrell Taylor, Neb #4 Jacori Teemer, Iowa #5 Tommy Askey, MN #6 Joey Blaze, Purdue #7 Trevor Chumbley, NW #9 Brandon Cannon, OSU Summary: Miller comes in with an undefeated 20-0 record, however, he didn’t wrestle a good portion of the top guys at the weight within the Big Ten. Notably, he sat out of the match against Purdue and didn’t face Joey Blaze and he owns a win over top-ranked, second seed Tyler Kasak by injury default which surely gave him the bump to the 1-seed. On the topside of the bracket the only guy Cannon does have a win over is Chase Saldate, who might earn himself a rematch with Miller if he gets by No. 9 seed Cannon. Secondarily, hopefully we see a healthier version of Jacori Teemer. We surely can’t expect him to be 100% with everything he’s dealing with, but a match between Teemer and Taylor, who have never wrestled before, would be fun to watch, even though it will be a tough road (tougher for Taylor with Kasak in his path) to get to each other on the front side of the bracket. 165: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink Missed Matches #3 Christopher Minto, Neb #5 Andrew Sparks, Minn Summary: With the way that Mesenbrink has been ‘mesen’ (see what I did there) people up this year, this is kind of a formality. But for the sake of the article, we have not seen the returning NCAA runner-up wrestle against Minto. During the dual meet, Bubba Wilson took the mat again Mesenbrink which is why this hasn't happened yet, and PSU and Minnesota didn’t wrestle at all this year so that explains the other missing match against Sparks. A few other matches between guys in the top five that we didn’t see this year include: #2 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) vs #4 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) and Caliendo against Indiana’s Tyler Lillard or Rutgers’ Anthony White. Lillard and White, the No. 7 and No. 10 seeds, respectively, will face off in the first round and the winner will get their first shot at Caliendo. 174: #1 Levi Haines, PSU Missed Matches #5 Clayton Whiting, Minn #8 Brody Baumann, Purdue #9 Lucas Condon, WI Summary: The most notable miss here is Haines match against Whiting who he could see in the semifinals, if Whiting gets revenge on Patrick Kennedy, should they meet there. Kennedy defeated Whiting in the final week of dual meet competition, 8-4, but if results are reversed this time around the Haines/Whiting match could happen. Other than that, the 8 vs 9 match winner between Baumann and Condon in the first round will get Haines which will also be the first meeting for them as well. 184: #1 Carter Starocci, PSU Missed Matches #2 Max McEnelly, Minn #4 Gabe Arnold, Iowa #9 DJ Washington, IN Summary: This is the most interesting, missed matchup and the three potential guys across from Starocci could all be in his path. First up is Washington, who is the last active guy in the NCAA that owns a "legit" win over Starocci, which came in his first official match as a starter. Since then, Starocci won their last 2 matches. But they did not hit this year and could meet up in the second round if Washington defeats 8-seed Ryder Rogotzke. Next up would be Gable Arnold (if seeds hold). And I don’t think there’s much to be said here. It’s the match we’ve wanted so long and have missed out on. Lastly is another young buck who has had a great year sitting at 18-0 and that’s the second seeded McEnelly. He been great all year and this would be a must watch match between two potentially undefeated guys. 197: #1 Stephen Buchanan, Iowa Missed Matches #3 Jacob Cardenas, Michigan #8 Gabe Sollars, IN Summary: Buchanan has had one of the most dominant seasons next to Mesenbrink with how many highly seeded guys in the conference he has defeated this year. The biggest match yet to happen this season in the B1G is between Buchanan and Cardenas. The path for Cardenas to get to Buchanan will involve turning the result against Josh Barr around in the semis to make the finals if everything goes according to seed. 285: #1 Gable Steveson, Minn Missed Matches #2 Greg Kerkvliet, PSU #8 Jacob Bullock, IN #9 Seth Nevills, MD Summary: Let’s cut right to it. The match we want to see is between Gable and Kerkvliet, a rematch from the 2022 NCAA Championship semis. However, that was the last time we saw the two match up since PSU and Minnesota did not wrestle in a dual meet this season. Other than this rematch that goes back to their Minnesota high school days, the other two that haven’t faced Steveson this season are Bullock and Nevills. The winner of this first round match will face Gable in the quarterfinals.

We have reached the post season! During this week's conversation, the crew discusses the different conferences that they cover and give some insight into the allocations, some dark horses, and how the team races could look. They also talk a little bit about the Anthony Knox situation. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:02:00 - Fair or unfair: Anthony Knox situation 0:15:40 - EIWA & Ivy breakdown 0:37:32 - ACC Breakdown 0:56:13 - Big Ten breakdown 1:13:00 - Big 12 & Pac 12 talk 1:34:34 - Wrap up: STOP FALLING FOR FAKE AI ARTICLES!!

Dual meets have come to an end with some fireworks and it's time to prep for the post season. In this week's conversation the guys discuss how the coaches' rankings need to go, the Iowa vs Oklahoma State dual meet and the Spencer Lee vs Masanosuke Ono card. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:01:00 - Coach’s rankings need to go 0:15:02 - Iowa vs Oklahoma State breakdown 0:48:50 - Heavyweight is must watch 0:54:50 - ACC, EIWA, Ivy Recap 1:04:00 - FloWrestling Night In America Card 1:24:02 - $$$ being invested in wrestling 1:32:46 - Wrap-up and shoutouts

The crew discusses AJ Ferrari and Ethen Miller sitting out for big matches and whether or not they were ducking. They also dig into the inconsistency of referees and give a rivalry week preview for Virginia Tech vs NC State and Iowa vs Oklahoma State along with making their picks. Timestamps 0:00:00 - Intro 0:02:23 - Did AJ Ferrari and Ethen Miller duck last week? 0:25:29 - Inconsistent referee calls strike again 0:49:14 - NC State vs Virginia Tech Preview 1:05:06 - Oklahoma State vs Iowa Preview 1:26:39 - Wrap-up and Shoutouts

The final top five domino is off the board as Jax Forrest made his college commitment to Oklahoma State. We also discuss Iowa Coach Terry Brands going into the stands and engaging with fans and lastly, we revisit the NCAA Champion picks that we made before the season and see how much we've changed our minds or solidified our picks. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:00:38 - Terry Brands goes into the stands 0:14:44 - Jax Forrest commits to Oklahoma State 0:25:18 - Stickin' or Kickin': NCAA Picks Edition 1:05:40 - Which teams take 2-4 at NCAAs? 1:15:22 - Wrap up: what's coming up this week?

In this week conversation the team discusses Bo Bassett's commitment to Iowa and reflect on the new school of recruiting along with who is in the lead for the Hodge this year. They also get a little nostalgic as they talk about wrestling shoes. As always they recap what's happening in the different conferences and what they are excited for this weekend. Timestamps 0:00:00 - Intro 0:00:42 - Bo Bassett commits to Iowa 0:22:42 - Iowa’s decision to go with Ferrari over Arnold + PSU vs Iowa breakdown 0:47:42 - Who is in the lead for the Hodge? 1:00:02 - Wrestling shoes: Old school vs new school 1:14:42 - Closing: recap + what’s coming + shoutouts

It's the week of the biggest dual of the year - Penn State vs Iowa. We look into the top matches, where Iowa can win and the trash talking at 184. We also dig into the new rules proposal meeting coming up and the rules we would like to see added along with how injuries have sidelined a number of All-Americans this year. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:00:30 - Talk on Rules Proposals 00:28:11 - Injuries in Wrestling 00:36:08 – EIWAs, ACC, Big Ten recap 00:51:05 – Starocci vs Arnold trash talk + Iowa-Penn State breakdown 01:10:14 - Closing Thoughts

The full crew is back this week and they dig into Jett Strickenberger's controversial celebration, the return of D1 National Duals, and a review of the Anthony Roble movie Unstoppable. They also discuss the topic of is wrestling tougher now or back in the day that Bo Nickal and Carter Starocci discussed last week. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:15 – Discussion on Women's Wrestling Vote 00:05:45 – Announcement of National Duals Return 00:20:30 – Is Wrestling Tougher Today vs Back in the Day? 00:27:00 – Review of the Unstoppable Movie (Spoiler Alert) 00:35:20 – Jett Strickenberger’s Controversial Celebration 00:44:30 – Recap of Penn State vs. Nebraska Dual 00:55:00 – Upcoming Matches to Watch Summary: 1. Introduction: Welcomes everyone back and outline the topics they will discuss. 2. Discussion on Women's Wrestling Vote: Exploration of the unanimous votes approving women's wrestling at all divisions and the expected growth and implications for the sport. 3. National Duals Return: Informative talk about the revival of National Duals, with insights into its structure and potential impact on college wrestling. 4. Is Wrestling Tougher Today vs Back in the Day?: Reflection on the changes in wrestling competition levels and athletes' approach towards matches in comparison to past eras. 5. Review of the Unstoppable Movie: Recap of the wrestling movie 'Unstoppable', discussing its storyline, characters, and importance within the wrestling community. 6. Jett Strickenberger’s Controversial Celebration: Debate surrounding the appropriateness of an athlete's celebration that simulated a violent act, highlighting differing opinions on sportsmanship. 7. Recap of Penn State vs. Nebraska Dual: Penn State faced Nebraska, discussing key matches and wrestler performances. 8. Upcoming Duals to Watch: Preview of significant upcoming duals scheduled for the coming week, emphasizing potential storylines.

On this week's show Holmes and Robbie pose the question of is this the best Penn State lineup we have ever seen? They also dig into bringing back national duals along with rearranging the season, the latest D1 women's championship news and the possibilities that come with it. In the end they discuss how tough Oklahoma State looks and what's coming up this weekend on the college slate. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:02:12 - Discussion on Viewer Comments 00:04:43 - Analysis of College Wrestling Tournament Dynamics 00:07:59 - Perspectives on College Sports as Entertainment 00:10:35 - Examination of NCAA Marketing Strategies 00:13:20 - National Duals Format Discussion 00:22:04 - Overview of Upcoming Matches in NCAA Wrestling 00:25:41 - Penn State's Dominance in College Wrestling 00:30:10 - Implications of New NCAA Women's Championship 00:34:50 – This Week’s ACC Matches to Watch 00:47:15 – This Week’s Big Ten Matchups to Watch Summary: 1. Introduction: The podcast welcomes listeners and acknowledges missing hosts due to personal commitments. 2. Discussion on Viewer Comments: Highlights a comment from a viewer regarding the nature of sports competition and entertainment. 3. Analysis of College Wrestling Tournament Dynamics: The hosts reflect on the changes in college wrestling tournaments and participation over the years. 4. Perspectives on College Sports as Entertainment: The importance of entertainment value in wrestling is discussed, emphasizing the need for engaging fan experiences and promoting the sport. 5. Examination of NCAA Marketing Strategies: The presenters evaluate how different colleges market their wrestling programs and the varying levels of success. 6. National Duals Format Discussion: A conversation on the proposal for a National Duals format, weighing the benefits and challenges of reinstating it. 7. Overview of Upcoming Matches in NCAA Wrestling: Key matches and competitions in the NCAA wrestling calendar are previewed, highlighting noteworthy rivalries. 8. Penn State's Dominance in College Wrestling: The hosts analyze Penn State's current team lineup and their potential to break records based on past performances. 9. Implications of New NCAA Women's Championship: The recent approval of a women’s NCAA championship is explored, discussing its impact on women's wrestling. 10. This Week’s ACC Matches: The presenters recap recent ACC wrestling matches, highlighting unexpected outcomes and key match performances. 11. This Week’s Big Ten Matchups to Watch: Discussion of PSU vs Nebraska, Illinois vs Iowa, and Michigan vs Minnesota

This evening, Nebraska hosts Minnesota and there are a few things on the line as the two Big Ten powers face off. The first thing that comes to mind when looking at these teams is that each one of the bouts features a ranked wrestler for each team. That in and of itself is a good enough reason to tune in. But it’s not the only one. 1. Nebraska looks to bounce back It hasn’t been a great start to 2025 for the Huskers. They faced off with UNI in the first week of the new year and the Panther train rolled to a 24-9 victory with some of Nebraska’s biggest hammers playing the role of the nail. Now they turn their attention to their Big Ten dual meet schedule, and it will not be the easiest conference kick off as No. 8 Minnesota is coming to town with a high-powered lineup. This top 10 match will be shown on Big Ten Network at 4:30pm ET. 2. Manning on the verge of 300 wins Head Coach Mark Manning has amassed 299 dual meet wins while at the helm for Nebraska and with a win today he will claim number 300. A win over Minnesota would be the Huskers’ third straight dual win over the Big Ten foe dating back to the 2022-23 season when they took the 21-9 win in their home gym. 3. Gable Steveson returns to the lineup Steveson made headlines when he announced he was coming back to wrestling, but since then he’s only been in the lineup three times for the Gophers and has claimed three technical falls in the process. But based on some social media posts it looks like Steveson has made the trip to Nebraska and will be competing today. Across the mat will be #24 Harley Andrews who is coming off a loss to UNI’s Lance Runyon. 4. Four rematches Rematches at 133, 141, 149 and 165 are set to go down. According to Nebraska’s match preview, at 133 Jacob Van Dee is currently winless against Tyler Wells as Wells has handed Van Dee losses last season during the dual meet then again at the NCAA tournament. The results are flipped in the Huskers favor at 141 as Brock Hardy owns a pair of wins over Vance VomBaur. Ridge Lovett will be looking for his second win over Drew Roberts at 149 and Bubba Wilson and Andrew Sparks will look to take the series lead as they’ve split matches so far. 5. Five top 10 matchups As I mentioned in No. 4, there are a few rematches slated to happen, but the matchup at 141 is one of the five bouts where two top 10 guys will meet. Those matches include: 125: #7 Caleb Smith vs #5 Cooper Flynn; 141: 6 Brock Hardy vs #8 Vance VomBaur; 157: #5 Antrell Taylor vs 10 Tommy Askey; 165: #7 Bubba Wilson vs #9 Andrew Sparks; #6 Silas Allred vs #4 Max McEnelly. 6. Minnesota leads all-time series While Nebraska is looking to make it three straight dual meet wins over Minnesota, they are still a long way off from evening the score against the Gophers as they currently lead the all-time series 52-26-0. Nebraska Projected Lineup:
 125: #7 Caleb Smith (11-3, 2-1) or Kael Lauridsen (3-1, 1-0)
 133: #19 Jacob Van Dee (6-5, 3-2)
 141: #6 Brock Hardy (12-2, 3-1) or Blake Cushing (3-2, 2-0)
 149: #5 Ridge Lovett (9-1, 5-0)
 157: #5 Antrell Taylor (13-1, 4-1)
 165: #7 Bubba Wilson (9-4, 2-2) or Christopher Minto (12-1, 0-1)
 174: #16 Lenny Pinto (12-3, 4-0)
 184: #6 Silas Allred (11-1, 3-1) or Ethan DeLeon (10-2, 0-1)
 197: #22 Camden McDanel (12-5, 3-1)
 HWT: #24 Harley Andrews (8-6, 3-2) Minnesota Projected Lineup:
 125: #5 Cooper Flynn (9-1, 4-0) or Brandon Morvari (4-4, 0-0)
 133: #11 Tyler Wells (8-1, 4-0)
 141: #8 Vance VomBaur (14-1, 4-0)
 149: #21 Drew Roberts 8-0, 4-0) or Theo Cha (5-7, 0-0)
 157: #10 Tommy Askey (14-1, 3-0) or Charlie Millard (7-1, 1-0)
 165: #9 Andrew Sparks (14-2, 4-0)
 174: #24 Clayton Whiting (9-5, 2-2) or Ethan Riddle (11-4, 0-0)
 184: #4 Max McEnelly (10-0, 4-0)
 197: #9 Isaiah Salazar (10-2, 4-0)
 HWT: #1 Gable Steveson (3-0, 3-0) or Bennett Tabor (9-4, 1-0)

We’ve the halfway point of the season where we cross into the new year and things get a bit more intense as conference dual meets start. To bring everything full circle, let’s say goodbye 2024 and hello to conference competition in 2025. We take a look at how each team looked in the first half of the year and what their biggest dual meets are in the first month of the new year. Penn State Either they had a pretty easy start to the season, or they are more powerful than ever before – I’m going with latter. They blasted through the 2024 portion of this season with three shutout dual meet wins of the six they collected to go with the three other wins in which they only lost one match in each of them. They have defeated their opponents by a collective score of 268-9 across their six dual meets with only two starters – Braeden Davis and Levi Haines – not being undefeated. They finished the year with a 41-3 win over Missouri. Now, on to 2025 where they have the potential to keep their nearly flawless streak going as they face Michigan State to start their Big Ten dual meet slate this weekend. Biggest upcoming dual for PSU in January: Nebraska (Jan. 17); Iowa (Jan. 31) Nebraska The Huskers had a very good start to the season where they claimed a team title at the Navy Classic and a second-place finish at Cliff Keen Las Vegas to go along with an undefeated dual meet record of 5-0. However, 2025 has so far not been kind to Nebraska or maybe I should say, UNI wasn’t very kind as they served up a 24-9 loss to the now No. 6 ranked dual meet team in the country. The non-conference loss was their first of the season and a big difference from how they started things off in 2024. And things aren’t looking any easier as they kick off their Big Ten dual meet season against a loaded Minnesota lineup this Saturday followed by Penn State the following Friday. Biggest upcoming duals for Nebraska in January: Minnesota (Jan. 11); Penn State (Jan. 17): Michigan (Jan. 24) Iowa The Hawkeyes just continue to do their thing. It’s wild to look back on some of the moves they made over the summer, which caused some guys to transfer to other schools, and for them to still have as much depth as they have. Between 174 and 184 they have four guys who look to be All-American caliber competitors. Their incoming transfers are panning out with Kyle Parco looking excellent at 149 for them, along with a healthy Stephen Buchanan looking great as well. The injury to Jacori Teemer is tough but hoping for a recovery for him to finish out the season as they get into the meat of their B1G schedule. Even at some of their weights where they have some questions, they have no shortage of talent to compete. After they finished up with another first-place finish at the Soldier Salute, they look to keep the momentum going as they start their conference schedule this Sunday at Wisconsin. Biggest upcoming dual for Iowa in January: Illinois (Jan. 17); Ohio State (Jan. 25); Penn State (Jan. 31) Ohio State The Buckeyes have had a lot of lineup adjustments and rotations, but they continue to look great as they enter 2025 undefeated (8-0) and ready to attack the B1G. They had a nice win on the road against Pittsburgh, beat Iowa State in Nashville, and most recently put it on Oregon State at home. Illinois, which remains undefeated as well, is their next dual coming up this Friday in Champaign. This should include some awesome matches at 133 including Lucas Byrd vs Nic Bouzakis and Kannon Webster vs Dylan D’Emilio at 149. 184 will have a dramatic contrast of styles between Edmond Ruth and Ryder Rogotzke, and heavyweight will have Nick Feldman against Luke Luffman. Lots to look forward to in what could end up being a close dual. Biggest upcoming dual for Ohio State in January: Illinois (Jan. 10); Iowa (Jan. 25) Minnesota All the buzz in Minnesota has been about the return of Gable Steveson. And while he is certainly an incredible re-addition to the Gopher lineup, the rest of the squad has been very dominant so far this year as they take an undefeated 4-0 record into the new year. To finish off the year they had eight guys make the podium at the Soldier Salute with Vance VomBaur (141), Andrew Sparks (165) and Bennett Tabor (285) all placing second. Tommy Askey and Blaine Brenner were both third as well. Notably, young standouts Tyler Wells (133) and Max McEnelly (184) did not compete, but both have certainly been shining stars for them so far this year. To get things started in the new year they have a big-time matchup with Nebraska on Saturday where every single weight class features a ranked vs ranked matchup. Biggest upcoming dual for Minnesota in January: Nebraska (Jan. 11); Michigan (Jan. 19) Indiana Indiana started off the year with an unblemished road trip to California where they got things rolling with a pair of dual meet wins over Cal Baptist and Cal Poly. They also crowned a few champs at early season opening tournaments – 1 champ at Michigan State Open and Cleveland State Open, and 2 champs at Navy Classic. The Hoosiers also participated in the only Big Ten dual we’ve seen this season when they took on Illinois at the Big Ten football fan fest. Indiana took the loss that day, 34-3. Before the ball dropped, they crowned one more champ at Midlands. Now they turn their focus to Rutgers to get their conference competition rolling this Friday. Biggest upcoming duals for Indiana in January: Rutgers (Jan. 10); Michigan (Jan. 26) Illinois As mentioned above in the Indiana summary, Illinois is the lone team in the Big Ten that already has a conference win with their 34-3 defeat over the Hoosiers. The Illini also recorded very good wins over UNC, Missouri and ASU to go along with a few titles at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic as well. All-in-all, Illinois has looked very tough this season and will get things going with a tough matchup against 4th-ranked Ohio State on Friday. A top 10 matchup between #2 Lucas Byrd and #9 Nic Bouzakis is set to be a true highlight when the teams meet this week. Additionally, the #11 vs #12 match between Kannon Webster and Dylan D’Emilio is also a very highly anticipated bout at 149. Biggest upcoming dual for Illinois in January: Ohio State (Jan. 10); Iowa (Jan. 17) Rutgers Rutgers is one of the most active teams of the first half of the season as they go into 2025 with an 8-2 dual meet record. However, their biggest competition so far came in losses to ACC powers NC State and Virginia Tech. The Scarlet Knights had a heavy dual meet start but finished off 2024 at Midlands where they placed second as a team and placed four guys in the finals. Just Dean Peterson came away with a title at 125 as Dylan Shawver (133), Joey Olivieri (141) and Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184) all placed 2nd. Mimicking the start of the season, Rutgers will have a busy Big Ten weekend as they face Indiana on Friday and Ohio State on Sunday. Biggest upcoming dual for Rutgers in January: Ohio State (Jan. 12); Penn State (Jan. 24); Illinois (Jan. 26) Northwestern While they do have a 2-1 dual meet record, it hasn’t all been the best outings for Northwestern so far this year. However, a highlight for the Wildcats has been Evan Bates at 197 who placed second at the Michigan State Open. Along with Bates, Maxx Mayfield placed third in the Open Division of the same tournament as well. Bates is currently 12-4 on the year and Mayfield is 13-4 as Bates is holding down the #13 spot in the rankings. Unfortunately, we have only seen Chris Cannon, who returned to Northwestern this year, in two matches before being sidelined at 141. Hopefully we see him return to the lineup as Northwestern is set to face Purdue and Illinois this weekend. Biggest upcoming dual for Northwestern in January: Illinois (Jan. 12); Michigan (Jan. 17); Minnesota (Jan. 26) Wisconsin There have been some growing pains for the new look Badgers this season as they take their 4-4 dual meet record into 2025. After a loss to Ohio to start the season, they’ve gone on to take a few more lumps but also pick up wins over Campbell and NDSU to cap off 2024 at the Knockout Christmas Classic. Despite a tough dual meet season to start the year, they did have some very favorable results at the Michigan State Open as Nicolar Rivera took the title at 125. Zan Fugitt and Luke Condon were also second and third respectively. Now they will have a very busy first month of the year with five dual meets starting with hosting Iowa this weekend. Biggest upcoming dual for Wisconsin in January: Iowa (Jan. 12); Rutgers (Jan. 19); Minnesota (Jan. 24); Nebraska (Jan. 31) Michigan The Wolverines had an interesting 2024. While they remain undefeated in their dual schedule, they have yet to have a full lineup for what they had expected in the preseason. Derek Gilcher was dealing with an injury to begin the year which had them shuffling some other options in at 149, along with the injury to Beau Mantanona which had them making some other adjustments at 165. Additionally, they have Josh Heinselman transferring in to take over at heavyweight, but in the meantime, they had largely gone with Dzhabrail Khurshidov at the top of their lineup. Heinselman looked great taking home the Midlands championship recently and should be positioned to have some success as the B1G season begins. They did have a chance to see some of their young guys with Brock Mantanona getting some opportunities at 165 along with Cam Catrabone having some success at 149. Additionally, transfer Jacob Cardenas has looked great so far this season and has shown to be a true title contender. I expect them to iron out their lineup questions at 149 and 165 in the second half of the season, while 125 seems to continue to be a question mark for them. Additionally, they have some other decisions to make with Dylan Ragusin being out at 133 this season. Up next, they’ll take on Maryland this Friday in Ann Arbor as they begin their B1G schedule. Biggest upcoming dual for Michigan in January: Minnesota (Jan. 19); Nebraska (Jan. 24) Michigan State We expected the Spartans to have a young team this year but now some of their leaders and veterans are settling in, and their young guys are trying to get some success as well. They had two wrestlers place 7th at Midlands in Marty Larkin at 174, and Max Vanadia at heavyweight, but other than that it was a tough showing. Coming off a dual loss to Cal State Bakersfield, their schedule isn’t getting any easier as they begin their B1G schedule this Friday on the road at Penn State. Biggest upcoming dual for Michigan State in January: Penn State (Jan. 10); Indiana (Jan. 24); Nebraska (Jan. 26) Maryland Maryland has gotten after it to begin this season. They currently sit at 5-5, along with some battles against some tough competition. They have some solid wins against Bucknell and Lock Haven paired with some close losses to Rider and Pittsburgh. Last weekend was a rough one for the Terrapins dropping duals to Binghamton and Columbia, but these are the sorts of losses that can help guys to reset their approach as they head into the B1G schedule. Some highlights so far include Ethen Miller and Seth Nevills winning the Tiger Style Invite, along with Braxton Brown recently getting a win over Anthony Noto of Lock Haven. Jaxon Smith has had some mixed results dropping to 184, but he could be a dangerous guy for anyone in the conference. Biggest upcoming dual for Maryland in January: Michigan (Jan. 10); Illinois (Jan. 24) Purdue The Boilermakers have had a great start to their season so far, sitting at 6-1 on the season, with their only loss coming to Army on criteria. Paired with a second-place finish at the Tiger Style Invite, along with some success in Las Vegas as Matt Ramos won the CKLV title, they’re poised with some great energy headed into 2025. In fact, they are already 1-0 in 2025 as they recently beat Kent State on the road last Friday. They’ve had some solid results from Ramos, but Joey Blaze has had a strong season as well along with Brody Baumann who looks to deliver on my prediction of him being their breakout wrestler of the season. Purdue has some injuries to work through, with James Rowley getting banged up at CKLV, but they have a good amount of experience in the lineup to make up for it. Up first this weekend, they host Northwestern before traveling to take on Northern Illinois. Biggest upcoming dual for Purdue in January: Indiana (Jan. 17); Ohio State (Jan. 19)

In the first show of the new year the crew discusses the fall off in competition around college holiday wrestling tournaments like Midlands and Southern Scuffle and they also question the decisions at the top of the rankings at 141 and 197. The wrap up the conversation with a what they are looking forward to in the first week of conference dual meet wrestling. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction
 00:01:15 - Decline of Holiday Wrestling Tournaments
 00:03:30 - Nostalgia for Competitive Holiday Events
 00:06:00 - Examining the Shift in Wrestling Strategies
 00:10:40 - Load Management and its Impact on wrestling
 00:12:30 - The Importance of In-Season Matches
 00:15:15 - Discussion on NCAA Rankings Changes
 00:18:45 - Matchups to Watch in Upcoming Conferences
 Summary: 1 Introduction and Holiday Recap: The hosts reflect on their holiday break, discussing wrestling events they attended and notable performances from various tournaments. 2 Decline of Holiday Wrestling Tournaments: A discussion on how holiday tournaments have diminished in prominence over the years, with fewer top-tier athletes participating. 3 Nostalgia for Competitive Holiday Events: The hosts reminisce about the excitement and competitiveness of past holiday tournaments, highlighting specific memorable matches. 4 Examining the Shift in Wrestling Strategies: The show delves into how coaching strategies have evolved, particularly focusing on preparing for the NCAA championships while managing athletes' performance. 5 Load Management and its Impact on Wrestlers: A conversation around the current trend of load management among wrestlers in relation to their long-term performance in the season. 6 The Importance of In-Season Matches: Discussion about how in-season matches prepare wrestlers for championships, addressing concerns regarding injuries and competition frequency. 7 Discussion on NCAA Rankings Changes: The hosts tackle recent changes in NCAA rankings, questioning the criteria used for ranking wrestlers based on match frequency and outcomes. 8 Matchups to Watch in Upcoming Conferences: A look ahead to exciting matches in upcoming dual meets across various conferences, emphasizing the importance of these competitions.

The Rocco Welsh rumors were swirling and many thought he was leaving Ohio State until he put that to bed. The team dives into the rumors and discusses what they are looking forward to coming up to cap off 2024 and going into 2025. They also talk about who they were surprised by so far this year.

Everyone is preparing to exchange pleasantries for the holidays, but in the state of Oklahoma all that will have to wait because it’s once again time for Bedlam. A red-hot Oklahoma State will head-to-head to Norman, OK to face the rival Sooners. In this year’s dual, eight of the 10 bouts consist of rank vs ranked matchups with bouts at 133, 141 and especially 174 the ones you can’t miss. But before we look at this season’s dual, let’s look at some Bedlam history: 5 Bedlam Fast Facts • 189th all-time meeting • Oklahoma State has won the last 19 straight dual meets • Oklahoma State has a 46-3-1 record (dating back to 1999) • Oklahoma’s last win was Sunday, December 1, 2013 (16-15 final score) • First Bedlam Dual ended 50-0 for Oklahoma State in 1920 This year features six guys total who were in the lineup a season ago that will be back again. Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley (125), Tagen Jamison (141), Dustin Plott (184) and Luke Surber (197) all return as Oklahoma’s Willie McDougald (149) and Tate Picklo (165) return as well. Picklo wrestled up at 174 a season ago and came away with a win over Brayden Thompson. With that, there aren’t any rematches, but as mentioned above there are some big matches to watch out for. Oklahoma State is fresh off a very good performance at CKLV where they came away with the title and everyone placed in the top five and five guys made the finals with two of which being champions. The new regime has this team looking powerful as they go into Friday night’s dual meet as they have a 4-0 undefeated dual meet record, and every wrestler ranked in the top 20. The hosting Sooners come in pretty hot as well boasting a 3-0 dual meet record after they most recently defeated Central Michigan 28-6, but the rival Cowboys will be their biggest test to date. 3 Biggest Matchups At 133 #19 Reese Witcraft OSU will face #18 Cleveland Belton (OU) who transferred in this season from Oregon State, where he spent the last two seasons. Prior to that he was at Arizona State, but only wrestled in three matches going 0-3 over the span of three years in Tempe. At Oregon State, he was a two-time NCAA qualifier a 141. So far this season he’s 3-0 with three decisions. Witcraft has also qualified for the national tournament twice in his career. He has seen time in the lineup over the course of his career, but has spent most of it backing up multiple-time NCAA runner-up Daton Fix. Most recently he placed fourth at CKLV. This is certainly a toss-up bout that could go either way, but I believe that Belton will stay undefeated and get the decision win. The matchup at 141 is the second big one to watch. Returning NCAA Qualifier Tagen Jamison has looked incredible lately. He made it to the finals of CKLV where he faced returning NCAA Champion Jesse Mendez. He ultimately came out on the losing end of that 5-2 decision but recorded two bonus point wins and a 7-4 decision over All-American Brock Hardy in the semis. For OU, they’ve got undefeated Mosha Schwartz who comes in undefeated like Belton at 133. Schwartz, a three-time NCAA qualifier, returns to this year’s lineup after an injury cut his season short last year. With how Jamison has looked lately it’s tough to pick him. I think he gets the decision here over Schwartz. The premier matchup comes at 174 in a top 10 bout between third ranked Dean Hamiti, a transfer from Wisconsin, who just won the title at CKLV and #6 Gavin Sax, a transfer from NDSU. Both guys come in with unblemished records so far this year. Sax has given up just one point so far this year in his three wins while Hamiti has been just as dominant across his nine wins with all of them except one coming with bonus points. This match will be a battle to see who can maintain their dominance this year. Both bonus point streaks will come to an end, with Hamiti taking the win by decision. Potential matchups 125: #3 Troy Spratley OSU vs. #24 Antonio Lorenzo (OU) 133: #19 Reese Witcraft OSU vs. #18 Cleveland Belton (OU) 141: #4 Tagen Jamison OSU vs. #9 Mosha Schwartz (OU) 149: #13 Carter Young OSU vs. #20 Willie McDougald (OU) 157: #12 Caleb Fish OSU vs. KJ Evans (OU) 165: #6 Cam Amine OSU vs. #31 Tate Picklo (OU) 174: #3 Dean Hamiti OSU vs. #6 Gaven Sax (OU) 184: #3 Dustin Plott OSU vs. #24 DJ Parker (OU) 197: #10 Luke Surber OSU vs. Bradley Hill (OU) 285: #4 Wyatt Hendrickson OSU vs. #21 Juan Mora (OU) Prediction: Oklahoma State, 30-3

The Big Ten had great showings all over the country last week, and not just in Las Vegas where most of the eyes were locked on. Outside of Sin City, we saw some statement wins from Maryland, Illinois impressed at fan fest, and it looks like the Penn State lineup questions are getting answered. The Barr has been set As if we weren’t impressed by Josh Barr’s dominant performance against his own teammates at the Black Knight Invitational, he raised the bar once again last weekend when the Nittany Lions faced off against Lehigh. With the dual meet fully out of reach Barr, who came in ranked 23rd solely because of lack of results, propelled himself in the top 10 with his 11-3 major decision win over returning All-American Michael Beard, who fell from No. 6 to No. 8. It was surely a statement win and one that now has everyone champing at the bit to see him at Journeymen Duals in a week where a matchup with 4th-ranked Rocky Elam looms. As expected, the rest of the PSU lineup handled business as they took out Lehigh 36-3. The lone loss came at 133 where top-ranked Ryan Crookham defeated No. 11 Braeden Davis, 4-2. Some questions got answered and others remain at CKLV Let’s start with Purdue. The Boilermakers started things off with a champion at 125 in Matt Ramos. He looked every bit of the old Matt Ramos that we’d seen. He was aggressive with taking shots, pushing the pace, tough on top, and got out from bottom. We didn’t get to see the Ramos vs Vincent Robinson (NC State) match that we had hoped for, but regardless Ramos made his way through Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State), and eventually through Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) who has looked awesome so far this year as well. In addition to Ramos, Joey Blaze had a great tournament making his way to the semifinals before losing a wild scramble to Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) to drop a 5-2 decision. He eventually ended up medically forfeiting out and taking 6th, but it was a great run for the true sophomore who had to take out Peyten Kellar (Ohio) to make it to the semis. Nebraska finished second against for the second year in a row, however, they did it with a much better showing. Ridge Lovett came up short this time around to returning NCAA champion Caleb Henson at 149 in the finals in a reversal of last year’s results. Fellow finalist Antrell Taylor got a close (and maybe controversial) win over Northern Iowa Ryder Downey to claim the title at 157. Top-seeded Caleb Smith and Bubba Wilson finished fourth at 125 and 165, respectively, and Jacob Van Dee came in 6th. The Buckeyes also walked away with a champion, along with a third-place team finish, as Jesse Mendez continued his reign of terror. He did have some closer matches, but his pace and relentless effort aided him in his quest to go undefeated and win another NCAA title. Nic Bouzakis looked awesome this weekend also. He placed third in a loaded 133-pound bracket, with his only loss coming to eventual champion Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) in the quarter finals. Any concerns about his gas tank seem to be largely gone after this performance, and it’ll be exciting to see what he can continue to build upon this season. Sadly, it looked like Nick Feldman might be sidelined after an injury in the semifinals, but we're hoping for a speedy recovery. Michigan started strong but had a rough go starting on Friday evening. Dylan Ragusin, Sergio Lemley, and Chase Saldate dropped quarterfinal matches, with Jacob Cardenas being the only quarterfinal winner for the Wolverines. Cardenas kept that energy through the rest of the tournament and looked awesome all the way through the finals, where he ended it with a fall over Evan Bates of Northwestern. Ragusin ended up placing 8th, along with Jaden Bullock at 184, while Lemley received a 7th place finish. Brock Mantanona looked good as well, also placing 7th. He looked like a true freshman at times, and showed flashes of why he’s being considered as a potential starter for the year. Unfortunately, though after the weekend in Vegas, that question appears to be still unanswered. Michigan has a break and doesn’t compete next until they start B1G competition when they host Maryland on January 10th. Illinois remains undefeated Illinois is currently 6-0 with wins over Arizona State, Missouri, North Carolina, and most recently Indiana, among others. Their most recent win came in Indianapolis as they took on the Hoosiers at the Big Ten Fan Fest. Illinois lost the first match, and then they went on to win the next nine bouts to win, 34-3. Five of the matches ended up being ranked matchups. So, the fact that they won in such dramatic fashion shows that they were absolutely locked in and ready to go and set the tone for their B1G schedule. Maryland sends 22 to George Mason 22 Terps competed at the Patriot Open, hosted by George Mason. For a team that has some established guys with expectations, mixed in with some weights where they are still identifying who will be their guy, this is a great thing to do. Nothing like competition to see where the cream rises to the top. At 125, Presden Sanchez made it furthest of the group, making it to the quarterfinals before dropping his next two. Additionally, Kal Miller (149) and Mekhi Neal (157) drop matches early, but battled back for 5th. Chase Mielnik (197) and Dario Lemus (141) each made the finals before eventually placing 2nd. Jaxon Smith not only walked away with the championship at 184, but did so by beating Chris Foca of Cornell, who was ranked 9th, 14-7, which is the kind of message you want to send to a new weight class.

Anthony Robles' story is one that everyone in wrestling knows and now it's hitting the big screen as the movie titled "Unstoppable" hits select theaters today (Dec. 6 2024). Robles talks with Ryan Holmes about making the movie and how it all came together. Check out where you can go see "Unstoppable" in theaters: https://www.mgm.com/titles/unstoppable/ Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:15 - Memories from Cliff Keen Las Vegas Tournament 00:03:50 - Reflection on Recent NCAA Finals 00:04:30 - Introduction to the Movie "Unstoppable" 00:05:40 - The Process of Making the Film 00:08:25 - Working with Actors on Set 00:10:15 - Family Involvement and Cameos in the Film 00:12:30 - Portraying Real Life on Screen 00:14:30 - Climbing Squaw Peak Scene Reflection 00:16:50 - Emotional Moment Filming National Title Match 00:18:30 - Upcoming NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia 00:19:50 - How to Watch "Unstoppable" Summary: 1. Introduction 2. Memories from Cliff Keen Las Vegas Tournament: Robles shares his experiences and memorable matches from this prestigious wrestling tournament. 3. Reflection on Recent NCAA Finals: Robles compares his past finals experience to recent matches, reminiscing about the emotional and competitive atmosphere. 4. Introduction to the Movie "Unstoppable": The conversation shifts to Robles' movie, highlighting its significance and genesis post his championship win. 5. The Process of Making the Film: Robles details the journey of developing the movie, from the initial concept to its execution. 6. Working with Actors on Set: He describes the collaboration with high-profile actors and their commitment to authenticity in the story's portrayal. 7. Family Involvement and Cameos in the Film: Robles talks about the integral role his family played, including cameo appearances in the movie. 8. Portraying Real Life on Screen: He discusses the challenges and creative decisions made to ensure his life story was told accurately. 9. Climbing Squaw Peak Scene Reflection: Reflecting on a significant scene, Robles shares the emotional weight of re-experiencing a key moment in his journey. 10. Emotional Moment Filming National Title Match: Robles discusses the surreal experience of reliving his national championship moment while filming. 11. Upcoming NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia: The excitement builds as he anticipates the upcoming tournament in Philadelphia, where his story began. 12. How to Watch "Unstoppable": Robles provides information on where and when viewers can watch his film, emphasizing its impact on both wrestling and broader audiences.

It’s time to bet big and let it ride! Our annual trip to Las Vegas is here and there are five Big Ten teams that will be looking to hit the jackpot. Ok, I’m sorry, that’s enough betting puns. Let’s talk about the guys from the B1G that will be looking to take home this year’s CKLV title. Can Nebraska impress upon last year’s 2nd place finish? Nebraska has a strong team this year as they have returned nine of 10 starters from a season ago but boast incredible experience at every weight. Last season, they placed 2nd behind Iowa State but could certainly top that finish this year. Ridge Lovett returns and will look to repeat as the champ at 149 as he is on a path for a rematch against returning NCAA Champ Caleb Henson from Virginia Tech, who gets the top-seed above Lovett in the No. 2 spot. Returning placers Caleb Smith (125), Brock Hardy (141) and Lenny Pinto (174) are back and sitting in very prominent spots – especially Smith as the top-seed at 125 – to impress upon their finishes of 3rd, 6th and 4th, respectively, from last year. Notably, Silas Allred, who was 5th last year, isn’t registered to compete at this year’s tournament as he looks to assert himself in his new weight class. And speaking of guys in new weight classes, Antrell Taylor, who also moved down and is the top-seed at 157, will be looking to overcome his DNP result from last year along with Jacob Van Dee at 133, who hasn’t had the best start to the year, and Harley Andrews at heavyweight. Based on the current seeds, the Huskers are projected to finish 3rd behind Ohio State and Oklahoma State. No Chris Cannon + Northwestern brings up and coming squad There won’t be any sightings of Chris Cannon competing this weekend for Northwestern, but the Wildcats are bringing some fire power to Vegas as Trevor Chumbley will be leading his team back to Sin City with his eyes on a higher finish than his eighth place result a season ago. Along with Chumbley, there are few guys to keep an eye on this weekend. The first is 10th-seeded Dedrick Navarro at 125. Navarro will most-likely see one of the hottest 125-pounders in the country right now in Vince Robinson of NC State in the earlygoing. Navarro currently has 4-2 record on the year. Along with Navarro, another guy to watch is Maxx Mayfield at 165. Mayfield gets the eighth seed and will face a very impressive Brock Mantanona of Michigan to kick things off in a match you won’t want to miss. As stated by Coach Storniolo in the pre-season he has a good bit of newcomers and this weekend will be a huge test for them. Michigan bringing experience and youth Dylan Ragusin will be excited for this tournament and will have a chance to attack a deep field of talent. Additionally, Sergio Lemley should have a chance to get some consistent and strong competition from his first match of the day with the depth of talent at 141. Hoping to see the ever-elusive Lemley versus top-seeded Jesse Mendez match, which we could see in the semifinals. It’ll be interesting to see how Chase Saldate and Jacob Cardenas compete in this tournament as well. Cardenas has competed here in the past, placing fourth last year while with Cornell, while Saldate will take his first trip to CKLV. Cardenas enters as the No. 2 seed behind only NCAA Champion AJ Ferrari, now wrestling for Cal State Bakersfield. Several of the weights for Michigan are largely known commodities, but 125, 165, and to some extent, 285 will be interesting to see who competes here for Michigan. 125 has been a combination of Christian Tanefeu and Nolan Wertanen. It appears that Wertanen is getting the nod this weekend and the chance to compete in a deep competitive pool. Brock Mantanona has been their top scorer at 165, so seeing how he fares in this deep field of competition will likely have something to do with whether he redshirts this season or jumps into full time competition as a true freshman. Josh Heindselman, the recent transfer from Oklahoma, will eventually be their guy at heavyweight, but for the time being it looks like they’re sticking with Dzhabrail Kurshidov. Can Mendez continue his reign? + Sasso's biggest test in return The Buckeyes are in an excellent position to shine in Las Vegas. Jesse Mendez leads the way for a strong and deep squad who is ready to compete for a team trophy. Mendez has looked as sharp as ever early on this season, and the rare opportunity to have a defending national champ come in as the second ranked guy in the country appears to have provided the chip on the shoulder that helps someone like him push himself to the next level. He enters this tournament, as he does most tournaments, as the favorite to win. Meanwhile, we also have Paddy Gallagher looking to see where he stacks up against a deep 157 bracket. The junior will have a chance to use this tournament as a springboard into a more prominent place in the public perception. Nick Feldman will have a chance to make a statement here as well. Despite being technically undefeated this year, he’s dropped in the rankings after losing to Taye Ghadiali of Campbell at the All-Star Classic. He will have a very talented and experienced field to get through to make the finals, but I expect him to be ready to go and looking to show what he’s capable of. Last, but certainly not least, we’ve seen Sammy Sasso a couple of times this season and he’s looked good. This weekend will be a great test for him as he enters as the No. 2 seed at a loaded 165. This is the stiffest competition that he’ll face so far this season, so it’ll be interesting to see how he responds within the tournament format. An interesting thing of note is that they don’t have anyone listed at 174, and there has been a change at 184 with Seth Shumate being registered. It’ll be interesting to see how these results impact the competitive landscape for the Buckeyes as the season goes on. Ramos looking to continue dominance CKLV is known as one of the tougher tournaments of the year for a reason. For example, you can be ranked third in the country and seeded second here. This will be Matt Ramos’ first shot at Caleb Smith this season, assuming they meet in the finals. Greyson Clark has had a slower start to the season than I’m sure he had hoped, but he’ll have a chance here to go up against some very strong competition and show the field what he’s capable of. Another true sophomore competing for the Boilermakers is Joey Blaze who will also have an opportunity to attack a very deep weight class. 157 is insanely deep and has a wide range of outcomes based on this tournament. I expect there to be a ton of shake ups specifically at this weight with some youth and talent looking to make names for themselves on the backs of veterans in their path. 165 will have Stoney Buell looking to build on some early season success. He enters the tournament as the 22nd ranked wrestler at 165, but I fully expect him to have a big tournament, and to build on what has been a competitive schedule to this point in the season for him. Additionally, James Rowley will be in position to get some nice wins and raise his position in the rankings. 184 feels like it has been inconsistent this season. Now would be a good time to attack some of the competition and set himself up for a run at NCAAs.

The crew goes weight-by-weight and discusses this weekend's 2024 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational field and makes their picks and predictions for the upcoming tournament.

So much went on in week 4. This week we discuss Gable Steveson's first match back, ACC vs B1G dual meets, what's happening with PSU's lineup after Black Knight finals, CyHawk and our thoughts on UNC's 2-piece singlet.

A month into the season and we’ve got some awesome developments happening across the country in the Big Ten. So, let’s discuss some of the biggest things that caught our eye last week. Penn State flexes (obvious) depth at Black Knight Invitational We’re not new here, Penn State’s depth has always been something to behold and this year that is truly on full display as they boast a strong lineup and then some this season. At the Black Knight Invitational, the Nittany Lions had a finalist in all weight classes except for 133 where they didn’t send starter Braeden Davis. They also had teammates make the finals in 5 of the 10 bouts. Most notably, the two weight classes where there could be changes gave us significant results as Tyler Kasak defeated Alex Facundo at 157. Facundo got the start in the team’s first dual of the season, but in this head-to-head matchup with Kasak it was the returning All-American that took the win. Also, at 197 Josh Barr defeated teammates Connor Mirasola and Lucas Cochran in the semis and finals, respectively. He gave up a combined one point, which was scored in the finals by Cochran as he recorded scores of 11-0 and 10-1 in those matches. As we know, these results could have no bearing on who gets the start in those weight classes, or it could mean everything. But one thing is for certain, PSU’s depth and strength is still very high. Same ol’ Gable, but better Surely, we all expected Olympic gold medalist and NCAA champion Gable Steveson to be dominant, but after a good bit of time doing side quests, he looks like he’s in full final boss mode. Steveson needed less than 2-minutes to get an 18-3 technical fall win against SDSU in his first match back before absolutely overpowering #7 Taye Ghadiali of Campbell by 20-4 tech fall as Minnesota claimed back-to-back dual meet shutout wins for the first time since 1997. Iowa takes Cy-Hawk Dual As always, the Iowa vs Iowa State dual did not disappoint. The lineups looked different than a year ago, but there were still some similarities. Once again Drake Ayala was coming off a loss from the previous week and got a win over a higher ranked guys only this time it was at 133, not 125. Patrick Kenndy “put the scoreboard in a position of exhaustion” with a high scoring match, but this time around he kept the double digits on his side of the scoreboard with a 19-4 technical fall. And at 184, Angelo Ferrari, a freshman who we aren’t sure will be redshirting or not, made his debut against the in-state rival and claimed a big win over a ranked senior. Ferrari even sealed the win by blowing a kiss to the Cyclone bench just like Gabe Arnold did a season ago. Overall, it was another exciting Cy-Hawk dual which was the 20th time in a row that the Hawks claimed victory. Purdue wrestles tough in Chattanooga The Boilermakers travelled south for a tri-meet hosted by the Mocs of Chattanooga. The competition started at 10am EST as the tri-meet started with action between Purdue and Princeton. The dual was fairly lopsided for the Boilermakers, including the only two ranked matchups between the teams. James Rowley got the win over 27th ranked Mikey Squires at 184, and Matt Ramos got the win at 125 over 28th ranked Ethan Rivera. They finished off the tri-meet with the more lopsided win over Chattanooga, 41-3. The only loss came from Greyson Clark, who has had some ups and downs early this season. Purdue has started this season very strongly, with their only loss coming to Army by criteria, but other than that they have looked excellent. After CKLV, they’ll look to continue their strong start to the dual season with Cleveland State and Kent State before beginning their B1G schedule. Michigan has a strong ACC road trip Michigan continued their solid start to the season with a trip to ACC country. Last weekend they began by heading to Durham, North Carolina, as they took on the Blue Devils of Duke, before heading to Charlottesville, VA for a dual Sunday night against Virginia. Michigan is still sorting out a couple of the weight classes but had some positive signs to point to this weekend. At 125, the Wolverines brought Nolan Wertanen, where he went 1-1. He looked great against Duke but dropped his match with Virginia’s Keyveon Roller. It’ll be interesting to see how things develop as the season goes on at 125, with Christian Tanefu looking good this last weekend against Columbia. At 149, Michigan is basically just waiting on Dylan Gilcher to be ready to go, in his absence the Wolverines went 0-2 at that weight over the weekend. Lastly, at 165, the Wolverines dropped their match against Duke, but against Virginia they brought out Brock Mantanona once again. A week ago Mantanona got a tech fall against 25th ranked Cesar Alvan of Columbia, and this week he continued his impressive showing as he got an 11-3 major decision over 12th ranked returning ACC Champion, Nick Hamilton. Mantanona continues to show next level scrambling abilities, paired with a dangerous arsenal of attacks, which may show to be the undeniable option for the Wolverines this season. Michigan, like Purdue, will compete next at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on December 6th and 7th. Illini dominant against ACC and Big12 Opponents Things started on Thursday night as Illinois hosted Missouri for a dinner-theater event where the crowd attending got dinner and a show, the being a 23-14 win over the visiting Tigers. Illinois took six of the 10 matches in front of their home crowd, including most of the ranked matches. Even in a loss, the Illinois faithful were impressed with Danny Braunagel, who had scored a couple of takedowns against Keegan O’Toole, before KOT eventually took over the match. Bonus points, and the extra win, helped to seal the win before heading to Chapel Hill on Monday to take on UNC. Illinois kept its positive momentum going as they once again took six of 10 matches against North Carolina. This could have been worse for North Carolina, but they won most of the close battles with the biggest being at 149 where Lachlan McNeil defeated Kannon Webster. The match ended with an overtime takedown for the Tar Heel to get the 4-1 win. Edmond Ruth has had an up and down season thus far, as he dropped another match against a ranked opponent up at his new weight of 184. This one was a 9-5 loss to #22 Gavin Kane. Illinois begins B1G competition on December 6th as they take on the Hoosiers in Indianapolis.

We discuss the NWCA All-Star Classic plus the other big time duals that went down in week 3 before diving into what we are looking forward to watching this week.