On paper, #2 Iowa looked like a solid favorite to dispatch #16 Wisconsin and improve to 12-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Big Ten. Iowa appeared to be favored at six weights, with realistic bonus point potential at several of those weights. Two of the remaining four weights looked like toss-ups which could easily go to Iowa. A Wisconsin upset in the dual would take several upsets and some unexpected bonus point victories from the Badgers. So how did the dual meet come down to Iowa needing a win from #3 Tony Cassioppi in the final match of the day?

Well, Wisconsin got some upsets -- as well as a big unexpected bonus point victory.

Iowa won four of the first five matches in the dual meet and took a 15-3 lead into intermission. The dual meet turned on a dime after intermission, though, with the Badgers winning four straight matches, including a first period pin from Tyler Dow at 184 lbs. That run of victories gave Wisconsin an 18-15 lead entering the final match of the night, 285 lbs.

A win by Wisconsin's Trent Hillger and the Badgers would have their first dual meet win over Iowa since 2007 (and first in Madison in almost 80 years). A decision win by Cassioppi and the dual meet would be tied at 18-18, with tiebreaker criteria needed to break the tie. Cassioppi earned a 4-1 decision win, meaning that the dual meet did go to criteria, specially total match points, the third criteria. Iowa recorded 31 match points in the dual meet, while Wisconsin recorded 24 match points, so the criteria point was awarded to Iowa, making the Hawkeyes 19-18 winners in the dual meet.

The dual meet got off to a very good start for Iowa, with Spencer Lee doing what he's made a recent habit of doing: pinning his opponents and ending the match early. Wisconsin's Eric Barnett did manage to survive longer than any of Lee's recent opponents -- he made it into the second period -- but he met the same fate as Lee's last five opponents: getting pinned to the mat. Prior to the pin, Lee jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first period after a takedown and a pair of tilts, then extended his lead to 16-3 in the second period after a reversal and another tilt, before settling in for the pin. He remains extraordinary.

Brody Teske continued the good start for Iowa by grinding out a 4-0 win over Taylor Lamont. Teske got a takedown late in the first to go up in the match, then got an escape in the second, and managed to ride Lamont for the entire third period. A no-fuss win. Real Woods started fast again, before slowing down in the final two periods. He again recorded a first period takedown and took his opponent on a few trips to Tilt Town in order to build up an 8-0 lead. The second and third periods were spent mostly in neutral, though, and Woods didn't try to do much from his feet in those periods, especially after conceding a takedown late in the second period. A nice win, but bonus points here certainly would have come in handy given how the second half of the dual meet went.

Wisconsin got its first win of the day at 149, where #2 Austin Gomez edged out #7 Max Murin 5-3, thanks to takedowns in the first and third periods. Murin was in deep himself in the second period but wasn't able to finish the attack, which was ultimately the story of the match -- Gomez was able to finish his attacks, while Murin wasn't. Cobe Siebrecht gave Iowa its fourth win before intermission and earned a solid victory over #18 Garrett Model with a nervy 3-2 win. After they traded escapes earlier in the match, Siebrecht got the winning takedown on a slick misdirection attack late in the third period. He was also very close to another takedown in the second and looked solid throughout the match.

After intermission, nothing went right for Iowa until 285 lbs. #10 Patrick Kennedy dropped a very tight 4-3 decision to #6 Dean Hamiti. The match featured some good action from both men, but ultimately Hamiti was able to fend off Kennedy's shots and scored himself on a reversal and a takedown. Hamiti and Kennedy could be seeing a lot more of one another this season (and in future seasons), but Kennedy didn't look far behind Hamiti at all. Drake Rhodes was the first of Iowa backups to take the mat for Iowa today, and despite leading hi match at 174 early (2-0 and 4-3), he was unable to close out the win. Josh Otto scored the winning takedown on Rhodes in the final minute of the match to earn a 6-5 victory.

The big upset for Wisconsin came at 184, though, as Tyler Dow managed to deck #8 Abe Assad in less than 90 seconds. This was a significant upset and threw a huge monkey wrench into the dual meet -- Dow entered this match at just 4-9 overall while Assad had looked very solid all season; I thought this was a potential bonus match opportunity for Iowa before the dual. Instead, Dow managed to lock up Assad's arms and use his Greco skills to toss Assad to the mat. The pin the ref counted looked a little dubious -- it didn't look like Assad's shoulders were both on the mat -- but there's no disputing that Assad was in an extremely dangerous position. Assad simply can't get into that situation in a match like this. The match ended up being a 9-10 point swing in the dual meet score, as it went from possibly +3 or +4 for Iowa to +6 for Wisconsin in the blink of an eye.

Iowa's other backup wrestled at 197, with true freshman Kolby Franklin subbing for #8 Jacob Warner. Franklin dropped a 4-0 decision to #13 Braxton Amos after Amos was able to ride him out for the entire second period and get an escape and a takedown in the third period. That win gave Wisconsin an 18-15 lead in the dual and meant everything came down to heavyweight. Fortunately, Iowa had Tony Cassioppi in that match. After a cautious start, he came to life in the third period, getting a fast escape and then finishing a strong takedown on a low attack before riding Hillger out to finish the match and earn his seventh straight win over the Wisconsin heavyweight. That win tied the team score at 18-18, but criteria favored Iowa, giving the Hawkeyes the 19-18 victory.

There's no doubt that this was not a great overall performance from Iowa -- those four straight defeats after intermission can attest to that, with the Assad loss being a significant low point. That said, Kennedy's loss at 165 was a skin-of-his-teeth defeat to a guy ranked a few spots higher than him; definitely not a terrible result. The dual meet really turned sour for Iowa because the backups at 174 and 197 lost and because Assad not only got upset, but got pinned at 184. Iowa's regular starters at 174 and 197 probably don't lose both of those matches. As for Assad... well, hopefully this match will be a wake-up call for him -- no one in this sport is immune to a flash pin. He needs to be at his best every match and to avoid bad positions.

Iowa faces its toughest test of the season with a dual meet against #1 Penn State on Friday, January 27 at 8 PM CT (BTN). The Nittany Lions are 10-0 on the season and 3-0 in Big Ten action.