Victory Bell Rings
Fansided

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 /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 5
Next
Penn State Wrestling
Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Aaron Brooks celebrates (Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports) /

806. . . . Nittany Lions . 1. team

Rank: 2
Record: 8-0
Ranked Wrestlers: 7

133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young
141 No. 1 Nick Lee
149 No. 20 Beau Bartlett
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks
197 No. 3 Max Dean
285 No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet

It seems strange to have the No. 1 ranked team in my NCAA Power Rankings have the least number of ranked grapplers. And that’s because the latest InterMat rankings have yet to find a slot for the newly announced member of the Nittany Lions’ Wrestling Team, Drew Hildebrandt.

While we at Victory Bell Rings broke the story of Hildebrandt’s transfer back in early November, Penn State just made the official announcement in the past couple of days.

And this drastically changes the dynamic of Penn State’s squad from both a dual and a tournament perspective.

Rather than spotting three or more points in the 125 match, Penn State should now be able to hang with some of the best wrestlers in the nation as Hildebrandt was an All-American last season and finished in 4th place in the NCAA Championships.

The additional of Hildebrandt is potentially a six to eight point swing in dual meets, which is huge when going up against the likes of Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan, and Iowa.

Now onto the Nittany Lions‘ season so far.

As the record above shows, Penn State is a perfect 8-0 on season. But this isn’t to say it’s been smooth sailing the whole way.

The Nittany Lions fought through two very close duals in the span of only two days against inter-state foes Penn and Lehigh. Oh, and the team was ravaged with the flu that’s been going around college campuses.

And in back-to-back duals, the short-handed Nittany Lions took down Penn 20-16 on the road and Lehigh 23-16 at home. It’s interesting to note that Penn State was trailing in both of these duals at the intermission. Which is not something typically seen with a Cael Sanderson led Penn State team.

But as we’ve seen so far this season, the back end of this Nittany Lion team is straight up nasty  and they’re not going to let the team go down without a say in the matter.

Remember I had more to say about Penn State most recent dual against No. 4 Arizona State? Yep.

I think the 29-10 thrashing said way more about the team Penn State has assembled this season than it does about Arizona State. And yes, both Penn State and Arizona State have holes in their lineups, but the Sun Devils don’t have a single wrestler on their squad like Carter Starocci, or Aaron Brooks, or Max Dean.

And this is the difference between really good teams and great teams in college wrestling.

The Nittany Lions have plugged a hole at 125 with Hildebrandt, and if they can somehow figure out someone for 157 or 165, then these power rankings may be how things turn out at the end of the season.

Next up for Penn State is an away dual against Maryland on January 7th at 7pm EST.

Home/Penn State Nittany Lions