As is the case most seasons, Friday night's dual meet between Penn State and Iowa was the most-hyped showdown of the season, a matchup of the #1-ranked Nittany Lions and the #2-ranked Hawkeyes. The dual featured two teams loaded with wrestlers ranked in the top-10 at their respective weights and packed with former All-Americans. A thoroughly dominant showing from Penn State in a 30-8 victory proved only one thing: the gap between #1 and #2 is an absolute chasm right now.
#1 Penn State won eight of 10 matches in the dual and did so in one-sided fashion at many weights; the Nittany Lions recorded two technical falls and two major decisions among their eight victories. The Nittany Lions dominated from neutral, dominated on the mat, dominated in ties, dominated in space... they dominated the bout in pretty much every way possible.
The dual began with a taste of what was to come, as #7 Luke Lilledahl used his superior quickness and technical ability to bury #26 Joey Cruz under a flurry of takedowns. Lilledahl's pace and pressure wore down Cruz, allowing him to explode for multiple takedowns in the third period and lock up the 22-6 technical fall.
One of the few bright spots for Iowa came at 133, where #3 Drake Ayala returned to the lineup and answered Lilledal's technical fall with one of his own. 133 was meant to be a top-10 matchup between #3 Ayala and #7 Braeden Davis, but with Davis not wrestling, Ayala faced backup Kurt McHenry instead - and dismantled him with a rapid-fire series of takedowns in the first and second periods, which was enough to earn a 19-4 technical fall.
Cullan Schriever got the start at 141 and showed some grit in fending off #3 Beau Bartlett and holding him to a 7-3 decision win in a stop-and-start match delayed several times by blood stoppages. Schriever wasn't able to finish any of his attacks, but he didn't back down from the challenge posed by Bartlett.
The dual really went sideways for Iowa with the middle weights. Those weights -- 149, 157, and 165 -- have been one of the key strengths for Iowa this year, featuring wrestlers ranked #2, #1, and #2, respectively. On Friday night, those three wrestlers -- #2 Kyle Parco, #1 Jacori Teemer, and #2 Michael Caliendo -- recorded just one takedown combined and were outscored 41-12 in three successive defeats that took Iowa's deficit in the dual meet from 8-5 to an insurmountable 20-5.
Parco was up first and for half the match, things seemed to be going well -- after getting taken down early by #4 Shayne Van Ness, Parco had fought back with an escape and a crisp takedown of his own to level the match. A reversal in the second period even gave him a brief lead. Everything turned on an explosive double leg attack by Van Ness that took Parco from his feet to his back; after a brief struggle, Van Ness was able to rack up four near fall points on top of the three-point takedown, turning a 6-5 deficit into a 12-6 lead. That large gap on the scoreboard made the third period largely academic, though Van Ness was able to add another takedown to secure a major decision.
The match between #1 Jacori Teemer and #3 Tyler Kasak didn't feature as many fireworks, but it showcased Penn State's ability to grind out wins when they need to do so. Kasak got the decisive takedown in the second period but his ability to ride Teemer hard decided the match as much as anything; Teemer's strength comes from his explosive attacks from neutral -- hard to do that when you can't get off the mat. Teemer's likely to get more shots at Kasak at the Big Ten and/or NCAA Tournaments, but he'll need to show an ability to finish his attacks from his feet -- and get out from underneath Kasak -- in order for any rematches to have a different outcome.
The 165 lb match was ultimately a microcosm of the dual meet as a whole: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink versus #2 Michael Caliendo, but the gap between #1 and #2 was massive. Mesenbrink continued his mastery of Caliendo, improving to 4-0 in his career against the NDSU transfer with his most one-sided win yet, a 19-4 technical fall. Caliendo was able to fend off Mesenbrink's attacks briefly, but once Mesenbrink broke though, it was like a dam breaking -- the takedowns came fast and furious after that and it was just a matter of when, not if, the match would be stopped for a technical fall.
Caliendo is very, very good in his own right -- his #2 ranking is not undeserved -- but he looks utterly helpless against Mesenbrink and he isn't finding any answers as their series progresses. He wasn't particularly close to finishing any attacks against Mesenbrink on Friday night and he wasn't any better at stopping the PSU wrestler's blizzard of attacks.
#2 Levi Haines made it five wins in a row for Penn State in the dual with a 10-3 win over #6 Patrick Kennedy at 174. Kennedy gave a game effort and stymied a lot of Haines' attacks early, but he struggled to finish his own offense. That was a recurring problem for Iowa wrestlers in the dual; only three Hawkeye wrestlers recorded takedowns and only one (Ayala) scored more than one takedown in a bout. That's not enough to win many duals and certainly not enough to stay competitive against top-ranked Penn State.
Freshman phenom Angelo Ferrari got the nod over #5 Gabe Arnold to face top-ranked Carter Starocci at 184. While he didn't get the win, Ferrari certainly didn't look out of place against the four-time NCAA champion. Ferrari's defense was impressive, as was his flexibility in scramble situations. His low attacks couldn't penetrate Starocci's defense and his inability to get a quick escape in the second period proved costly as that led to a riding time point for Starocci. Aside from that riding time point, the only other points in the match were escapes for both men -- and a penalty point for stalling against Ferrari.
Iowa's second and final win in the dual came at 197, where #1 Stephen Buchanan edged #4 Josh Barr in a 5-1 victory. Buchanan used a strong ride in the second period to earn over a minute of riding time, then got a lightning-quick escape in the third period to give himself an effective 2-1 lead. After coming close to scoring on Barr earlier in the match, Buchanan was finally able to finish an attack late in the third, turning a potential 2-1 win into a 5-1 win. It wasn't the point-scoring display Buchanan has produced for most of the season, but it was a solid win over a strong opponent -- something in very short supply for Iowa on Friday night.
The intrigue around 285 was whether #11 Ben Kueter had closed the gap on #2 Greg Kerkvliet at all. Based on tonight's result, the answer is a pretty clear "no." After losing to Kerkvliet 9-1 last year, Kueter lost 12-1 to Kerkvliet this year. Kueter continued to struggle to get escapes from under Kerkvliet and wasn't close to scoring any of his own attacks. While Kueter has improved from where he was a year ago (though it wasn't on display in this match), results like this show that he's still very far from catching the top guys at 285.
Friday night's blowout result doesn't change the fact that #2 Iowa does, in fact, have a good team this year -- potentially a very good team. But "good" and "very good" aren't "great" and this loaded Penn State team, stacked with top wrestlers at virtually every weight, is undeniably a great team. Iowa wrestling had few answers for them on Friday night; not many teams this year are likely to have many answers for this PSU team. The Hawkeyes got a glimpse of the top of the mountain on Friday -- and also saw just how far away it is right now.
NEXT: #2 Iowa continues its East Coast swing with a trip to College Park to face #25 Maryland (8-6, 3-1 Big Ten) on Sunday, February 2 (1 PM CT, BTN+).
