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Penn State Wrestling: Did we learn anything from the Big Ten Championships?

By Chris Snyder

Penn State's Brady Berge, center, has his hand raised after winning in sudden victory against Iowa's Kaleb Young at 157 pounds during the third session of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Sunday, March 6, 2022, at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.220306 Big Ten Wr 033 Jpg
Penn State's Brady Berge, center, has his hand raised after winning in sudden victory against Iowa's Kaleb Young at 157 pounds during the third session of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Sunday, March 6, 2022, at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.220306 Big Ten Wr 033 Jpg /
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Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson, left, watches a match during the third session of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, Sunday, March 6, 2022, at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.220306 Big Ten Wr 048 Jpg /

Can any team really compete with this year’s Penn State team?

Throughout the entirety of the 2021-2022 season, the answer to this question appeared to ebb and flow.

But it’s always going to be a question in the back of every college wrestling fan’s mind because it’s a product of what Cael Sanderson has built at Penn State Wrestling.

And the results from the last couple of years (ie. Iowa’s AARP-eligible squad) made the answer to this question a resounding “yes”. I know there are several factors at play here but the simple fact is that the Nittany Lions have not won an NCAA title and Big Ten title since 2019.

So what about this year?

As highlighted above, the Nittany Lions had a severe hole in their lineup at 157 and at times they had some underperformances at 149 and 165. And we haven’t even mentioned the quagmire at 125 yet. But more on this later.

The opening duals of the season didn’t exactly test Penn State Wrestling and they breezed through them. But this wasn’t the case during the weekend of the Penn and Lehigh duals.

The Nittany Lions’ team was decimated by a flu that had circulated around the team and RBY, Nick Lee, Carter Starocci, and Aaron Brooks put the team on their shoulders and willed Penn State to wins.

Then everyone got to witness what a fully healthy Nittany Lion team could do in the Collegiate Wrestling Duals. Which was do what they had to do against a dangerous Cornell team and then completely wax Arizona State 29-10 in the finals.

Next came the announcements of Drew Hildebrandt transferring to Penn State and Brady Berge coming back. The holes in the lineup where beginning to fill in.

And with a fully stocked and loaded lineup, the Nittany Lions steamrolled through the entire Big Ten regular season. They demolished Michigan 29-6, boat raced Rutgers 27-11, annihilated Ohio State 32-7, bullied Nebraska 21-13, and outmatched Iowa 19-13.

It looked like Penn State Wrestling was going to waltz into the post-season championships and no one was going to be able to stop them.

But, this may not exactly be the case and the results from the Big Ten Championships could possibly be telling of things to come. Which is the fact Michigan and Iowa still have enough firepower to push them.

Especially if the Nittany Lions experience any underperformances. Which can happen to anyone.

Can any team really compete with this year’s Penn State team?
Answer: Yes

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