B1G Wrestling Season!!
This weekend is the opening weekend of the B1G rasslin season and we’re back to preview things and give you the hot takes you never knew you wanted and probably actually don’t want.
January 9th
6:00 PM CST Ann Arbor, MI The B1G dual season kicks off with some intra-state hate in Michigan. Michigan State and Michigan square off in what looks to be a lopsided affair. The Michigan Wolverines have fallen off from some of their recent teams, but they are still ranked a respectable
13th in the Intermat dual rankings. Michigan comes in at 4-2 with a good win over the Arizona State Sun Devils and losses to Nebraska and the Missouri Tigers at National Duals. MSU meanwhile is one of only three B1G teams to fail to crack the top 30. The Spartans are 3-2 with wins and losses over who cares? Honestly, the Wolverines might sweep the Spartans as they will be the underdog in all 10 matches.
7:00 PM CST Evanston, IL The Maryland Terrapins and Northwestern Wildcats face off Friday night. While Maryland is no longer Terrable, neither of these teams are actually all that good either and the best wrestlers for each side aren’t at the same weight classes so it will probably be a boring Wildcat win.
Iowa City, IA The Wisconsin Badgers make the short trek west to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is having a bit of a down year so far with losses to Ohio State and the cross-state rival Iowa State Cyclones, but they will have no trouble dispatching those stinking Badgers. That being said, there are three really great matchups in the bookend matches that I will have my eyes on in this one and definitely worth tuning in for. At 125, #6 ranked Dean Peterson of Iowa takes on #11 ranked Nicolar Rivera. Peterson is higher ranked, but he lost to Rivera in the dual last year as a member of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. At 133, you get #4 ranked former Fort Dodge Dodger Drake Ayala against #14 Zan Fugitt. Ayala beat Fugitt twice last year, but at 4-3 so far this year, the Iowa Hawkeye hasn’t been looking as sharp as he was the last couple of years. Then we jump up to the big bois where you get #5 Ben Kueter for Iowa against #9 Braxton Amos hopefully. Kueter has been hurt so if he doesn’t go, Amos will likely roll, but let’s hope they’re both healthy and square off for the first time.
January 10th
3:00 CST University Park, PA Rutgers travels westward to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the first BTN televised dual of the season. This will be a PSU blowout, probably about 40-3 with Joey Olivieri being the only favored Scarlet Knight grappler. 184 is probably the only real match of note as #4 Rocco Welsh takes on #15 Shave Cartagena-Walsh for the first time. I do know that W_lsh will definitely win that one.
7:00 CST Champaign, IL The Minnesota Golden Gophers take on my Illinois Fighting Illini Saturday evening. I know I’m biased, but I think I can pretty objectively say this is the best dual of the opening weekend. Minnesota is ranked 7th and Illinois 11th (using Intermat dual rankings) and we will get 5 matches with both wrestlers ranked. The cream of the crop will be at 165 and HWT where Illinois sends #9 Braden Scoles and #13 Luke Luffman to the mat against #11 Andrew Sparks and #10 Koy Hopke. I think Minnesota will likely win a competitive dual, probably about 20-12.
January 11
12:00 CST Columbus, OH Ohio State should look to avenge their loss to football powerhouse Indiana this weekend. There will only be about 3 competitive matches in this dual The only drama is looking forward to future opponents for the Buckeyes.. OSU has looked amazing this season getting to 11-0 and perhaps even showing enough to make one wonder if they can’t challenge PSU this year or are they just peaking too soon. It will be fun to watch.. Still, we get three ranked on ranked matches in the upper middles here today that should be fun. 165 gives us #19 Paddy Gallagher for OSU against #20 Tyler Lillard. 184 gives us #6 Dylan Fishback for OSU against #16 ranked freshman Sam Goin. I haven’t seen the youngster for the Hoosiers yet so I’ll tune in for that. At 197, OSU sends #13 Luke Geog against #14 Gabe Sollars. I’ll take Sollars to get the 3 lone points for IU in this one. In the comments below, tell us what you think of OSU’s chances to dethrone the PSU Goliath.
1:00 CST Madison, WI Sunday gives us our second BTN televised dual of the weekend although I can’t really tell you why. Just kidding. Sort of. Anyway, #28 Maryland travels to the land of cheese to take on #24 Wisconsin. There are two matchups that I’m looking forward to catching. At 133, #12 Braxton Brown of Maryland takes on #14 Zan Fugitt. This is Fugitt’s second ranked opponent of the weekend so it will be an important weekend for him when it comes to tournament seeding. Brown majored Fugitt in last year’s dual, but I would not expect a repeat of that. Both of these guys can score and like their offense so it should be fun. At 149, #14 ranked Terrapin Carter Young takes on #17 Joe Zargo. They have not met before as Carter transferred in from the Oklahoma State Cowboys for his final season. I think the Sconnies have enough firepower to win, but it should be close.
