There’s no way to spin this — Nebraska got its butt kicked on Friday night.
Facing the #2 Oklahoma City Cowboys, the seat right behind #1 Penn State in the national pecking order was on the line in this dual, and Oklahoma State hopped right on in there. The #3-ranked Huskers lost eight of ten matches in their 27-6 dual loss to the Cowboys.
With the dual starting at 125 pounds, Nebraska lost the first six matches before returning NCAA finalist Christopher Minto finally got Nebraska on the board.
As a
team, Nebraska scored just two total takedowns in the dual with Minto getting the first one seven matches in.
Honestly, the question all along — after the transfer portal haul by Nebraska and the two-straight monster recruiting classes by David Taylor and Oklahoma State — was whether or not Nebraska is in the same tier as Oklahoma State.
Unfortunately for Nebraska, they currently are not.
Here’s how it all went down.
Weight-By-Weight Recap
125 pounds
Nebraska’s #4 Vincent Robinson — a former national champion for NC State — took on Oklahoma State true freshman Rocklin Zinkin. A three-time California state champion, Zinkin was a big-time recruit coming out of high school.
With Robinson taking the majority of the shots in regulation, the third period ended tied at 1-1, sending things to sudden victory. After a scoreless overtime period where Zinkin nearly took Robinson down late, but Robinson used his splits to ward off the points, the match went to tiebreakers.
In the tiebreakers, Zinkin rode Robinson out for the full 30 seconds, forcing Robinson to choose neutral in the second tiebreaker. Robinson was unable to get through the head and hands defense of Zinkin, handing him his first loss of his Husker career 1-1 in tiebreakers.
133 pounds
Facing the prodigy #1 Jax Forrest, Nebraska’s #7 Jacob Van Dee put up a valiant effort but fell in the end via 21-6 technical fall — giving the Cowboys an 8-0 dual lead.
Forrest scored six takedowns, but Van Dee did score a second-period reversal — not a lot of guys score offense points on Forrest, so it’s noteworthy.
After dropping his opener late and losing to Forrest, Van Dee will look for his first win this season when Nebraska travels to face #20 Penn on Nov. 21.
141 pounds
In a battle of true freshmen, Oklahoma State’s prevailed with #13 Jayden Raney downing Nebraska’s Lincoln Sledzianowski 10-2 by major decision.
Raney scored three takedowns in the match and earned the bonus points with a riding-time point.
The Cowboy freshman was a blue-chip recruit out of high school, so this is no surprise. After a promising debut last week, Sledzianowski was brought down to Earth a little bit on Friday night.
With the loss by major, Nebraska trailed 12-0 in the dual.
149 pounds
These familiar foes wrestled the kind of match they always do — a tight contest with #1 Sergio Vega of Oklahoma State coming out on top.
The returning NCAA champion, Vega scored a first-period takedown on Nebraska’s #5 Anthony Echemendia and used his seemingly impenetrable defense to secure the 4-2 win.
Vega has never lost or been taken down in college — after three tries against him, Echemendia is now 0-3 with zero takedowns scored.
Nebraska was behind 15-0 at this point.
157 pounds
In a rematch of the 2026 NCAA final at 157 pounds, Nebraska’s #3 Antrell Taylor faced off against #1 Landon Robideau of Oklahoma State.
There really wasn’t a lot of action from either wrestler throughout regulation as they traded escapes to start the second and third period, but it was Taylor who was called for two stall calls late in the bout — both within five seconds of each other — that gave Robideau the 3-1 decision win.
I’m certain we’ll see this match again in March.
With the loss, Nebraska took an 18-0 deficit into the break.
165 pounds
Coming out of intermission, Nebraska’s #5 Meyer Shapiro took the mat against Oklahoma State’s #6 Casey Swiderski.
Despite a lot of action, the score was knotted up 1-1 late in the third period when Swiderski got in on a single leg with a duck-under and scored the go-ahead takedown. Shapiro got the escape, but there were only six seconds left.
Swiderski earned the 4-2 decision win over the Cornell transfer Shapiro.
With the loss, Nebraska was down 21-0 on the team score at this point.
174 pounds
When Nebraska needed to stop the bleeding, it was #2 Christopher Minto who delivered.
Facing Oklahoma State’s Lorenzo Norman — a Stanford transfer this offseason — Minto used a low shot in the third period to score the go-ahead takedown, riding the period out for the 5-1 decision win.
With the win, Minto is now 2-0 on the year.
On the dual scoreboard, Oklahoma State held a 21-3 lead after the Minto win.
184 pounds
Taking the mat for the first time in a dual for the Huskers, Penn State transfer #14 Lucas Cochran faced off against Oklahoma State freshman #10 Mikey White.
White shot immediately to start the match, catching Cochran for the takedown to go up 3-0. Cochran recovered to score an escape before starting the second period on top. The Husker senior rode White out the entire period, scoring a stalling point along the way.
In the third, Cochran started the period with an escape to tie the match at 3-3. White then shot in on Cochran’s legs and was able to work for the takedown to take the 6-3 lead before adding another takedown on a low shot in the waning seconds, handing Cochran his first loss of the year — a 9-4 decision after awarding Cochran’s riding-time point.
Nebraska fell behind 24-3 with the loss by Cochran.
197 pounds
In their third career meeting, Nebraska’s #5 Camden McDanel took his third loss to Oklahoma State’s #2 Cody Merrill.
After a scoreless first period, each wrestler scored an escape in regulation, sending the match to sudden victory where Merrill eventually shot in, leading to an extended scramble that Merrill won at the last second, securing the takedown and the 4-1 decision win.
With the loss, McDanel is 0-2 on the year after dropping his opener 4-1 to #4 Joey Novak of Wyoming.
With the loss, Nebraska was trailing the dual 27-3 here.
285 pounds
In a match that on paper didn’t look too monumental — Nebraska’s #9 Cade Ziola taking on #15 Dreshaun Ross of Oklahoma State — this was a match that will help set the pecking order at heavyweight going forward.
A preseason pick by many to win an NCAA title as a true freshman this season, Ross came in with incredible expectations as the top heavyweight prospect in the country out of Iowa.
Not a lot of people were giving Ziola a chance here, but his gains both in the wrestling room and on the scale seem to have paid dividends as he secured the late takedown to win this match 4-1.
After a scoreless first period and an escape a piece, Ross shot a low single-leg late, but Ziola sat the corner and flipped Ross over with a crotch lock for the takedown with two seconds left.
Ziola is now 2-0 on the year with this by far his best career win so far, setting him up for a deserved climb in the rankings.
