No. 1 Penn State Wrestling vs. No. 6 Ohio State preview: key matches, predictions
By Chris Snyder
No. 1 Penn State Wrestling hosts No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes this Friday in the cavernous halls of the Bryce Jordan Center for an always-exciting matchup
The No. 6 ranked Buckeyes of Ohio State head to Happy Valley to face the No. 1 ranked Penn State Wrestling for this year’s annual “Dual in the BJC”.
Wrestling action is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will air nationally on the Big Ten Network.
While this edition of “No. 1 Penn State Wrestling vs. No. 6 Ohio State Wrestling” won’t necessarily be the same action packed, nail-biting dual meets of the best, it’s still going to feature a number of highly ranked matchups.
Not to mention, it’s always a bonus to hear a fully packed Bryce Jordan Center crowd go bonkers.
No offense to basketball, but this typically only happens when the wrestling squad rents it out for a Friday night every year.
So, how about we take a look at the projected lineup for both squads, dive into some key matchups, and slap on the Nostradamus headgear for a prediction.
All rankings are as of the latest InterMat rankings.
Everything you need to know about No. 1 Penn State Wrestling vs. No. 6 Ohio State
Here’s a look at the Nittany Lions lineup heading into Friday:
No. 1 Penn State (14-0)
125 – No. 6 Drew Hildebrandt (5-1)
133 – No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (11-0)
141 – No. 1 Nick Lee (11-0)
149 – No. 18 Beau Bartlett (10-4)
157 – Terrell Barraclough (6-7) Or Tony Negron (1-5)
165 – No. 11 Brady Berge (3-1)
174 – No. 1 Carter Starocci (14-0)
184 – No. 1 Aaron Brooks (12-0)
197 – No. 2 Max Dean (13-1)
285 – No. 5 Greg Kerkvliet (11-1)
The Nittany Lions are back from their road trip to Iowa City where they successfully dodged beer cans and water bottles thrown their way. Oh, and they beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 19-13 in what turned out to be a dual meet that lived up to every ounce of the hype surrounding it.
Things still haven’t panned out at the 157 slot for Penn State Wrestling on the season. Terrell Barraclough has been the choice of late and it looks like Cael and his coaching staff are going to stick with him for the remainder of the season. Barraclough is knocking on the door to success but unfortunately no one is answering.
Maybe this is the dual he finally gets over the hump and starts gaining some confidence?
No. 6 Ohio State (6-2)
125 – No. 10 Malik Heinselman (13-2)
133 – Dylan Koontz (3-8)
141 – No. 20 Dylan D’Emilio (15-5)
149 – No. 2 Sammy Sasso (16-1)
157 – Jashon Hubbard (11-5)
165 – No. 4 Carson Kharchla (17-1)
174 – No. 7 Ethan Smith (12-4)
184 – No. 6 Kaleb Romero (9-1)
197 – No. 21 Gavin Hoffman (8-5)
285 – No. 13 Tate Orndorff (12-4)
Ohio State started off the season 5-0 in dual meets before losing back-to-back duals to Michigan (29-8) and Iowa (21-12). Which will happen to every single team in the nation with the exception of Penn State.
The Buckeyes then had their “get right” dual this past Sunday in trouncing Maryland 39-4 to push their current winning streak to a full “1” on the dial.
As you can see above, this year’s Ohio State squad has some fairly large holes in its lineup. The Buckeyes are in full-on rebuilding mode to get back to where they were from 2015 to 2019.
And as previously mentioned, there are still a handful of intriguing matchups for this Friday evening.