Big Ten Wrestling power rankings: Can anyone derail Penn State train?

Dual Rank: 1
Record: 16-0 (8-0 B1G)
Ranked Wrestlers: 9
125 No. 5 Drew Hildebrandt
133 No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young
141 No. 1 Nick Lee
149 No. 19 Beau Bartlett
165 No. 11 Brady Berge
174 No. 1 Carter Starocci
184 No. 1 Aaron Brooks
197 No. 2 Max Dean
285 No. 5 Greg Kerkvliet

Penn State Wrestling is No. 1 in this edition of the Big Ten Wrestling Power Rankings for more than one reason.

The Nittany Lions proved early on in the season they were going to be the team to beat as they took down both Penn and Lehigh in back-to-back duals with a team crippled by the flu. Thanks in large part to the back end of the lineup which included Cornell transfer Max Dean.

Then they took a trip down to Florida to participate in the National Collegiate Duals. The Nittany Lions dominated their competition and crushed Arizona State on the way to winning the title in their pool.

Shortly after the National Collegiate Duals came the announcement Cael Sanderson picked up Drew Hildebrandt to fill a glaring need at 125. Which was a huge get for the Nittany Lions just in time for the Big Ten regular season.

Then Brady Berge announced he was coming back to give it one more shot. The rich continued to get richer with Penn State slowly filling holes in their lineup throughout the season.

And during the regular season, the best of the best in the Big Ten took their swing at the king. Time and time they tried but all of them missed.

Cael Sanderson has proved he is an elite coach and he’s proved he can get a team ready when it counts the most. He’s shown it in the past and he continues to show it with this year’s team.

This brings me to a possible shakeup in the Nittany Lions’ lineup.

If you’ve paid attention to Penn State Wrestling then you noticed Brady Berge was absent from the last two duals against Ohio State and Nebraska. Word on the street was that Berge was dealing with a weight issue.

Well, what if the coaching staff was trying to get Brady down to his normal 157 slot? It would fill a hole in that weight class and it would give Creighton Edsell, who was a ranked grappler before Brady came back, a chance to lock down the 165 spot and try to qualify for nationals.

And maybe there’s nothing there. But did anyone hear Cael’s comments after the Ohio State clash in the BJC?

"Reporter: Cael you mentioned Brady was working on his weight. Is that a decent to 157 possibly? Or is that managing his weight at 165? Cael Sanderson: Yeah both. Both if that makes any sense. It doesn’t. Does it. *evil grin*"

Either way, Penn State is back on the top of the Big Ten and Cael Sanderson and his staff have their sights set squarely on the Big Ten and NCAA Championships coming up.