No. 1 Penn State Wrestling at No. 3 Michigan preview, key matches, predictions
By Chris Snyder
No. 1 Penn State Wrestling travels to Ann Arbor this Friday to face a dangerous Michigan team
Coming off a strong win against No. 12 Rutgers from this past Sunday evening, No. 1 Penn State wrestling hits the road on Friday to grapple with one of the nation’s best teams, the No. 3 ranked Michigan Wolverines.
I’m usually not one to pump up a sporting event beforehand, namely because you can make completely outlandish claims such as “OMG! This is the best ever matchup in the history of existence!“. And then the event turns out to be a dud.
Does anyone remember ESPN blasting out a tweet back in August 2017 stating “It’s official: No. 1 Bama vs No. 3 FSU is the best first-weekend matchup in the history of college football.”?
And does anyone remember Florida State getting creamed to the sun in the game and then finishing the year 7-6?
Yep, me neither. That never happened.
With that in mind, I still believe this could be one of the best dual meets in the country this year.
It could even be one of the best college wrestling duals of the past decade.
Because if so, it will have to supplant this classic.
Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions will be tested in virtually every match on Friday night. But, as we’ve already seen so far this year, things can change in an instant with last-minute scratches and players being put into the protocol.
With that, let’s take a look at the projected lineup for both squads, break down several key matchups, and put together a
highly educated
prediction.
All rankings are as of the latest InterMat rankings.
Everything you need to know about No. 1 Penn State Wrestling at No. 3 Michigan
Here’s a look at the Nittany Lions lineup heading into Friday:
No. 1 Penn State (11-0)
125 – No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt (3-0)
133 – No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (9-0)
141 – No. 1 Nick Lee (7-0)
149 – No. 19 Beau Bartlett (8-3)
157 – Tony Negron (1-5)
165 – No. 16 Brady Berge (1-0) OR Creighton Edsell (7-3)
174 – No. 1 Carter Starocci (11-0)
184 – No. 1 Aaron Brooks (9-0)
197 – No. 2 Max Dean (11-0)
285 – No. 4 Greg Kerkvliet (9-0)
A few items to note with the Penn State squad. Nick Lee missed his second straight dual against Rutgers and Brady Berge made his much heralded season debut in place of Creighton Edsell at 165.
All indications point to Lee being back in the lineup, however, things could be fluid with where Berge ends up settling in.
Brady has wrestled the vast majority of his career at 157 and with him currently occupying the 165 slot it bumps previously No. 24 ranked Edsell to the bench. Clearly, it would be more ideal for the Nittany Lions if either Berge or Edsell can somehow get down to 157.
This is why smart people aren’t paying me big bucks to make these decisions. #trustincael
No. 3 Michigan (5-0)
125 – No. 1 Nick Suriano (3-0)
133 – No. 8 Dylan Ragusin (12-3)
141 – No. 4 Stevan Micic (2-1)
149 – No. 16 Kanen Storr (3-1)
157 – No. 15 Will Lewan (8-2)
165 – No. 10 Cameron Amine (7-2)
174 – No. 6 Logan Massa ((7-0)
184 – No. 2 Myles Amine (7-0)
197 – No. 9 Patrick Brucki (12-2)
285 – No. 2 Mason Parris (7-0)
The Wolverines are fresh off an utter slaughter of No. 8 Ohio State last Friday night in Columbus.
The 29-8 score was partially inflated due to OSU winning a technical fall at 165 as Cameron Amine sat out the dual and his replacement was overwhelmed by No. 7 Carson Kharchla.
Ultimately Michigan went on to win eight of the ten matches and the final pieces of this year’s Wolverines team are starting to round into shape. This isn’t exactly great news for Penn State Wrestling and the rest of the Big Ten teams.
With the addition of Nick Suriano, the return of Stevan Micic, the improvement of Dylan Ragusin, the depth of Cameron Amine, Logan Massa, and Patrick Brucki, and the dominance of Myles Amine and Mason Parris, the Wolverines are a difficult team to defeat in a dual meet.
But, there are some spots in their lineup that Penn State Wrestling can take advantage of.