Penn State Wrestling vs. Ohio State: key matches, prediction, more

Key Matches vs. Ohio State

165 – No. 14 Joe Lee vs No. 10 Ethan Smith

Both Lee and Smith have a common opponent in Michigan’s Cameron Amine.

Smith beat Amine via a decision (4-3) last Friday and Lee fell to Amine by decision (1-4) this past Sunday. The last time I tried to use transitive property was in predicting the outcome in the Carter Starocci/Logan Massa match in the Michigan preview. Well, we all know how that one turned out.

I would be great to see Joe Lee come out and wrestle a perfect match. Mainly because it would give Penn State points and give Ohio State no points. More importantly, topping Smith would be Lee’s first top 20 victory on the season and gaining confidence while in the ring can go a long way in the upcoming postseason tournaments.

125 – Robert Howard vs No. 10 Malik Heinselman

Speaking of experience, Malik Heinselman has had his fair share of matches this season versus top 20 opponents. He’s gone 2-1 against three top 20 B1G grapplers with his lone loss coming against Purdue’s No. 14 Devin Schroder (0-1). His other two matches were a major decision versus Wisconsin’s No. 12 Eric Barnett (13-5) and a decision against Sparty’s No. 13 Rayvon Foley.

As for Robert Howard, unfortunately there’s not much to go on for him. Penn State faithful are just pumped he was able to wrestle last week. If making your Penn State debut isn’t tough enough, going on the road in Columbus and taking on an experienced and battle tested opponent will be a huge challenge.

Looking at the potential matchups, there should be some relatively easy opportunities for Penn State to rack up points at various weight classes.

Ohio State’s big guns have shown they like to score bonus points, and lots of them. Lee’s match and Howard’s match could go a long way in keeping Penn State fans from having to sweat it out in this dual.

Same goes for this next matchup.

174 – No. 5 Carter Starocci vs No. 3 Kaleb Romero

Speaking of points, the three matches prior to Romero’s last match, a loss against Iowa’s No. 1 Michael Kemerer (1-3), he outscored his opponents 47-16 and racked up major decisions in each one. But Romero hasn’t had to face any top 20 opponents. Starocci has faced two. Indiana’s Donnell Washington and a match most people have probably already forgotten about, Michigan’s Logan Massa.

Can Carter become the B1G Wrestler of the Week for two consecutive weeks? If he wins this match he might just do it.

The pessimist in me says I shouldn’t put the cart before the horse. But, the optimist in me says Penn State has Cael Sanderson. All we can ask for is a thrilling match against two of the nation’s best at 174. And something tells me we’ll definitely get just that.

Final Score Prediction

Penn State 26
Ohio State 10

This match comes down to Penn State simply being dominant at weight classes in which Ohio State is above average. I think they’re able to capitalize and grab bonus points and maybe a fall or two. As always, we want to see hard-nosed, thrilling matches, and giving Cael his 201st win wouldn’t be so bad either.