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NCAA Wrestling power rankings: Penn State Wrestling or Iowa No. 1?

By Chris Snyder

Mar 20, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Roman Bravo-Young wrestles Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestler Daton Fix in the championship match of the 133 weight class during the finals of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 20, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Roman Bravo-Young wrestles Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestler Daton Fix in the championship match of the 133 weight class during the finals of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Alex Marinelli of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates after defeating Vincenzo Joseph of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the Big Ten Championships (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
Alex Marinelli of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates after defeating Vincenzo Joseph of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the Big Ten Championships (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

. Hawkeyes . 2. team. 878. .

Rank: 1
Record: 6-0
Ranked Wrestlers: 10

125 No. 1 Spencer Lee
133 No. 2 Austin DeSanto
141 No. 2 Jaydin Eierman
149 No. 12 Max Murin
157 No. 12 Kaleb Young
165 No. 1 Alex Marinelli
174 No. 2 Michael Kemerer
184 No. 18 Abe Assad
197 No. 6 Jacob Warner
285 No. 6 Tony Cassioppi

Hey, look at this shocker! A guy who covers Penn State wrestling has Iowa No. 2. How convenient.

Let me explain.

Yes, this is virtually the same Iowa team which won the national title last year.

Yes, this team has last year’s Dan Hodge Trophy co-winner Spencer Lee and national runner ups Jaydin Eierman and Michael Kemerer.

Yes, this team has a perfect dual meet record and they’ve beaten several ranked teams along the way.

But here’s the thing … While this Hawkeye team is deep from top to bottom, they still have some holes in their lineup which absolutely showed in their National Collegiate Duals final against NC State.

NC State is obviously a solid team but did anyone think they would actually be leading in the dual? At any point, even with Michael Kemerer out of the lineup for Iowa?

Well, that ended up being the case as the Wolfpack took a 15-13 lead late in the dual thanks to a decision at 149, a fall at 157 (No. 23 Ed Scott pinned No. 8 Kaleb Young), and back-to-back decisions at 174 and 184.

The Hawkeyes gutted it out and hung onto the 19-15 win, but this dual showed Iowa is human and the dominant wrestling machine they’ve assembled in Iowa City is beatable.

Especially if the team is loaded with top-end talent.

Next up on the Hawkeye’s schedule is the Southern Scuffle on January 1st and 2nd in Chattanooga Tennessee.

Speaking of top-end talent …

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