The Nittany Lions’ Big Ten road trip continues with a swing through the Chicago area to take on the Northwestern Wildcats. Northwestern is fresh off a dual meet loss to Wisconsin on Friday, while Penn
State is following up a top five dismantling of the Hawkeyes in Iowa City.
Northwestern has a much younger team than they’ve seen in years, and younger than most PSU will face; the talent is definitely there for the ‘cats, though, as they do feature some young ranked wrestlers.
It’s been a number of years since Penn State has faced Northwestern on the mat, before all current wrestlers were in the PSU singlet. In that last bout, PSU hadn’t yet started their dual meet win streak, and NU was ranked number fourteen; since then, the Lions have just grown stronger and stronger. This match will be just the sort of second-match-of-the-weekend that the coaches love to see this time of year, a talented and well-coached enough team to be a good workout, but not a back-to-back top ten challenge.
How To Watch
What: #1 Penn State vs #30 Northwestern*
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena
When: Sunday, January 18, 3PM EST
Audio: Free (via GoPSUSports)
Video: BTN+ ($)
Lineup
125
The Friday dual will take a lot out of the entire squad, and Lilledahl is no different – which is why I’m only predicting a major decision here. If they meet again, despite Navarro’s ranking, Luke will probably finish this bout before 7 minutes is up; a Sunday of a two-dual weekend, after a tough Friday outing, is a recipe for a lower-scoring bout.
Prediction: Lilledahl by major decision
Score: PSU 4, NU 0
133 LBS
I don’t think this will be particularly close, but similar to the bout before, this may not be as close as it otherwise would be under different circumstances. This will likely either be barely bonus, or over in all but name close to the end of the first period – not much in between.
Prediction: Blaze by tech fall
Score: PSU 9, NU 0
141 LBS
I predicted Davis to fall on Friday, and as the lone Nittany Lion to fall, he’ll need to bounce back. I imagine this bout is just what the doctor ordered, letting him regain some confidence over an otherwise overmatched opponent. Davis gets his offense back on track in this one, and narrowly misses bonus.
Prediction: Davis by decision
Score: PSU 12, NU 0
149 LBS
I’d be very surprised if this bout lasts all seven minutes; Shayne just gets better as the wrestling days go on, and is the rare wrestler that might even be better on the second day in a row of a two-day event.
Prediction: Van Ness by pin
Score: PSU 18, NU 0
157 LBS
After an overall pretty frustrating Friday, I expect PJ to come out pretty pissed off – not at his opponent, of course, but just in general. He’ll channel that into on-mat dominance, and this bout should be over pretty much before Myers knows what’s coming.
Prediction: Duke by pin
Score: PSU 24, NU 0
165 LBS
It’s a day that ends in Y, so the prediction is that Mitchell gets a tech fall. If that turns into a pin, so be it.
Prediction: Mesenbrink by tech fall
Score: PSU 29, NU 0
174 LBS
Haines may be facing a young ranked wrestler with a ton of potential, but he’s Levi Haines – and as so many have pointed out, he seems to be at another level this season. There may be a few wrestlers that will give him tough outings this year, but unfortunately for Northwestern, Enright is not one of them.
Prediction: Levi by pin
Score: PSU 35, NU 0
184 LBS
Speaking of frustrating bouts, despite the TB victory over #1 Ferrari on Friday, Rocco’s got to have been frustrated—-going up against a knee wrestler will do that. This will be a way for him to get back his offense, with him looking to get it going early, and I think he’ll have the bonus point all but locked up before the end of the second period.
Prediction: Welsh by major decision
Score: PSU 39, NU 0
197 LBS
Josh Barr wrestled Maryland’s Branson John at the Southern Scuffle, and pinned him. NU’s Smith wrestled John last weekend, and got pinned himself. Even though the transitive property rarely works out in sports, I’m loathe to predict against it this week.
Prediction: Barr by pin
Score: PSU 45, NU 0
285 LBS
On paper, this bout could mean a lot of bonus points for Cole; especially since he got the boost of an upset win on Friday. But I bet the second day of this trip will have him tired as well, and he’ll be needing an extra takedown at the end in order to get the extra point, but won’t quite be able to get it and will settle for a regular decision.
Prediction: Cole by decision
Score: PSU 48, NU 0
Overall score prediction: Penn State 48, Northwestern 0
*The Penn State athletic department, in its official capacity, uses Intermat’s Tournament Power Index in all its match literature; I’m using Intermat’s Dual Meet Rankings because this happens to be a dual. Penn State is #1 in both rankings; Northwestern is #30 in the Dual rankings, and unranked in the Tournament rankings.
