Earlier today, the Big Ten conference confirmed its conference matchups for the 2026-2027 wrestling season, with Rutgers set to take on four conference opponents at home and four more on the road.
Rutgers home Conference matchups will be against Penn State, Iowa, Indiana, and Northwestern, while their away matchups will be against Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Penn State finished last season ranked No.1 overall, with Nebraska finishing No.5 overall, Iowa finishing No.7 overall, Minnesota finishing No.9
overall, Wisconsin finishing No.19 overall, and Indiana finishing No.20 overall. Rutgers finished just outside the top 10 at No.11 overall, posting a record of 14-5 in their dual meets last season. Only two of Rutgers’ future conference opponents finished last season unranked.
Dates and times for the matches will be announced at a later date.
In addition to the conference opponents being announced, we also know that Rutgers was selected to compete in the National Duals Invitational in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on December 12-13. Each team that participates in the event will receive $20,ooo for attending, with additional awards available based on the team’s performance. The event features a 16-team bracket, with the bottom 8 teams receiving no bonuses. Teams that place within the 6th-8th range will earn a cash reward ranging from $20,000-$40,000. 4th and 5th place will get $100,000 each, while 2nd and 3rd will get $175,000. The winner of the entire tournament will receive $250,000. Other schools competing in that event include Oklahoma State, Iowa State, NC State, North Carolina, Wyoming, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Oklahoma, Missouri, Stanford, Pittsburgh, and Maryland.
Rutgers will have five former NCAA qualifiers on the team next year: Andrew Barbosa, Shane Cartagena-Walsh, Remy Cotton, Iowa State transfer Daniel Herrera, and Cornell transfer Brett Ungar. They will also be welcoming in the highest-rated prospect in program history, Anthony Knox.
