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Penn State Wrestling’s top 10 dual meets in the Cael Sanderson era

By Chris Snyder

The crowd reacts as Aaron Brooks of the Penn State Nittany Lions gets a pin during the second period of a 184-pound bout against Rocky Jordan of the Ohio State Buckeyes at Bryce Jordan Center on February 04, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
The crowd reacts as Aaron Brooks of the Penn State Nittany Lions gets a pin during the second period of a 184-pound bout against Rocky Jordan of the Ohio State Buckeyes at Bryce Jordan Center on February 04, 2022 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Iowa’s Abe Assad is introduced before wrestling at 184 pounds during an NCAA Big Ten Conference wrestling dual against Penn State (Image via Getty Images) /

No. 2

December 21, 2013
Iowa City, Iowa
No. 1 Penn State 24, No. 3 Iowa 12

Beating Iowa at wrestling is always going to be a challenge. Beating Iowa in Iowa City is downright impossible and it’s about as rare as a Penn State Men’s Basketball appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

A Sanderson-coached Penn State Wrestling team traveled to Iowa City twice prior to the 2013 tilt, and both times the Hawkeyes were victorious. But the 2013-2014 team finally had the wrestling prodigies to possibly upend Iowa on its home mat.

The first three matches (starting at 125) saw the Nittany Lions win two decisions and the Hawkeyes earn a fall to tie up the score (6-6). Red-shirt freshman Zack Beitz (PSU) topped Iowa’s Michael Kelly in a bit of a shocker, however, Iowa quickly answered with a decision of their own from the No. 1 ranked James Vollrath.

It seems like all of Penn State’s championship teams had a murderers row at some point in the lineup. And between No. 1 David Taylor (PSU), No. 3 Matt Brown (PSU), No. 1 Ed Ruth (PSU), and No. 3 Morgan McIntosh (PSU) they had just that in the 2013-2014 team. This group of experienced Nittany Lions racked up two majors and two decisions to put Penn State up 20-9.

Finally, the Iowa City monkey was off Cael’s back. Two years later the Nittany Lions were again able to take down the Hawkeyes at home. And as the loss in 2020 will tell you, it’s never going to be easy.

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