No. 1 Penn State Wrestling at No. 3 Iowa: preview, key matches, and prediction

Penn State Wrestling Key Matches vs. Iowa

149 – No. 10 Max Murin vs No. 19 Beau Bartlett

Death, taxes, and Beau Bartlett making my list of key matches.

This is another prime-time opportunity for Bartlett to take down a ranked grappler and prove he’s a force to reckon with at 149. And what better way to do this than in front of a crowd of Iowa fans?

Murin and Bartlett have yet to face each other in college however they do have one common opponent this season. Both guys have toed the line against Lehigh’s Manzoni Bryant and surprisingly both wrestlers lost to him. Murin dropped a 7-5 decision and Bartlett dropped a 6-5 decision.

And everyone knows how much transitive property means when it comes to two completely different human beings exerting all of their force against each other. Yeah, it doesn’t mean a hill of beans.

Call it a hunch on my part, but I think Beau takes this one.

141 – No. 2 Jaydin Eierman vs No. 1 Nick Lee

The last time these two faced each other was in the 141 finals in last year’s NCAA Championships. Eierman was sucking wind and Lee was celebrating his sudden victory win while basking in the glory of being crowned an NCAA Champion.

Fast forward to this season and both grapplers sport perfect records with Eierman at 12-0 and Lee at 10-0, but something jumped out at me when looking at their match history. Nick Lee is currently on track to have his highest bonus points percentage of his career while Eierman bonus percentage is the lowest of his career and hovers around 20% lower than his career average.

Maybe Old Man Eierman’s body is finally breaking down after seven seasons of collegiate wrestling. Or maybe it’s because Nick Lee is just that much better than Eierman. And the gap continues to widen.

Let’s find out on Friday.

197 – No. 4 Jacob Warner vs No. 2 Max Dean

There are multiple reasons why this matchup makes my list of key matchups.

Namely, because it involves two of the top 4 wrestlers at the 197 weight class. But more importantly, it’s because I want to see how Dean comes out following his loss this past Sunday to Michigan State’s Cam Caffey.

Max Dean has been through the gauntlet so far this season and in just his last three matches he has faced No. 7 Greg Bulsak, No. 6 Parick Brucki, and No. 10 Cameron Caffey. Through the first two legs against Bulsak and Brucki Dean was a perfect 2-0. And maybe he was a little tired or maybe it just wasn’t his day against Caffey.

Well this matchup against Warner represents Dean’s toughest opponent this season, at least on paper. Will Dean be ready?

You better believe it!