No. 1 Penn State Wrestling grades, MVP from throttling of No. 3 Iowa

No. 1 Aaron Brooks 8-3 decision over No. 18 Abe Assad

Grade: A-

Penn State Wrestling was holding onto a 13-10 lead in the dual meet when Brooks took to the mat against Assad. If Aaron could find a way to win his match and earn any bonus points then it would force Iowa to win the remaining two matches and earn bonus points of their own to try and tie or win.

Looking at their lone match from the past, the last time Brooks and Assad squared off was back in 2020 during both of the wrestler’s true freshman year, with Brooks winning a 7-3 decision.

A lot can happen in two years. In Aaron Brooks’ case, he has taken many steps forward in his wrestling progression as he’s cemented himself as the nation’s best grappler at 184. He could potentially make history down the line if he’s able to hoist his fifth Big Ten title. But we’ll talk about that when the time comes.

Back to the match from Friday.

The third period began with Brooks up 7-2, in the top position, and with 1:40 in riding time. The ideal scenario would have been for Brooks to either catch Assad early for some near fall points or cut him loose and try to earn two quick takedowns. Both options would give Brooks a major decision and put the Nittany Lions up 17-10.

This would be huge considering two major factors:
-Max Dean was going up against No. 4 Jacob Warner, and he just lost to No. 10 Cam Caffey last weekend

-Greg Kerkvliet has only faced No. 5 Tony Cassioppi once before, a 9-0 major decision loss in the Big Ten Championships last season

Now look, there’s a better chance of me bench pressing my house than Penn State Wrestling’s Max Dean losing a match and giving bonus points. But there was a very real possibility he could have lost a close decision to Warner.

The same goes for Kerkvliet. Obviously, he’s a vastly different wrestler this season but Cassioppi is in the top 5 in the country for a reason.

All of this points back to how important Brooks’ match would be if he could secure a major decision.

In the end, Brooks’ cut Assad loose 14 seconds into the third period and defended numerous shots from his opponent. AB did try a couple of shots in the third but they didn’t look as committed as they normally are. And so the match ended with Brooks taking home an 8-3 decision, further extending Penn State’s lead to 16-10.

I realize I’m really nitpicking here because at no point was the result of the match ever in question. It just felt like the right time for Aaron to use his immense talent and confidence and go for Iowa’s jugular.

Well in the end it didn’t matter because …