Penn State Wrestling vs. Rutgers: preview, key matches, and prediction
By Chris Snyder
Penn State Wrestling’s Key Matches vs. Rutgers
149 – No. 18 Mike Van Brill vs No. 19 Beau Bartlett
Obviously, this isn’t one of the highly ranked matchups fans will get to see this Sunday, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a key match.
Nittany Lions fans know Beau Bartlett is a talented wrestler who can go toe to toe with the best in the country. They also know he is susceptible to losing matches to lower-ranked grapplers due to the overall style of how he likes to wrestle.
Van Brill is a battle-tested collegiate wrestler with over 120 matches under his belt at Rutgers. And he’s off to his best start ever in compiling a 10-1 record on the season. It’s worth noting this will be the first matchup between Van Brill and Bartlett, however, with Mike’s vast experience it’s highly doubtful Beau will do anything he hasn’t seen before.
The result of this match can go a long way in determining if the dual meet is going to be a blowout or if Rutgers can try to keep it close.
141 – No. 3 Sebastian Rivera vs No. 1 Nick Lee
Pound for pound, Sebastian Rivera and Nick Lee are two of the top wrestlers in the country. And it showed the two times Rivera and Lee locked horns in the past (both last season).
In the 2021 Big Ten Championship semi-finals, Nick Lee pulled out an incredible 8-6 decision in SV-1 to punch his ticket to the finals. The match was back and forth and it easily could have gone the other way for Rivera.
The duo then faced each other in the semi-finals of the 2021 NCAA Championships. While the 9-3 score in favor of Lee looks like it was a blowout, the final score did not tell the whole story for how close the match really was.
There is one thing to note regarding Rivera for this season. Prior to this year, Sebass had a career bonus point percentage of 48%. This season? It’s hovering around 86%. It’s worth noting this because this is the second season for Rivera at 141, and maybe he’s finally settling into his body and able to wrestle more aggressive and loose. Which isn’t exactly great news for Lee.
Either way, expect fireworks once again when these guys hit the mat on Sunday.
197 – No. 7 Greg Bulsak vs No. 2 Max Dean
I’m guessing you thought I would include the ranked matchup at 184 as one of the key matches of the dual. Rutger’s John Poznanski does represent the highest-ranked wrestler Aaron Brooks has faced so far this season. But with how Brooks has faired with Poznanski in the past along with how well he is wrestling this season, I honestly don’t think the outcome is in question at all.
Which leaves us with the matchup between Bulsak and Dean. And these two do have a prior history. Way back in early 2017, Max and Greg toed the line opposite one another which resulted in a split in the matches.
In their first matchup, Bulsak crushed Dean in a 12-4 major decision, however, Max had the last laugh as he followed up the lost with a 9-5 decision later on in the year.
So these guys know each other, they have a history, they have a wealth of wrestling experience, and they are both immensely talented. This leads to my last point for this match.
Max Dean has looked like a man on a mission this season with a perfect 10-0 record and a whopping 90% bonus point percentage. But Dean hasn’t exactly faced the nation’s best at 197, with his match against No. 10 being the lone-ranked matchup (Dean won a 10-1 MD).
Conversely, Bulsak has faced three ranked grapplers on the season, most notably Pitt’s No. 9 Nino Bonaccorsi and Wisconsin’s No. 24 Braxton Amos. Bulsak has defeated everyone he’s faced, but he’s not the bonus point machine that Dean is.
So I fully expect to see a hard fought, close match when these guys end up squaring off.