Big Ten Wrestling Power Rankings: Is it Penn State Wrestling and everyone else?

Penn State's Carter Starocci, right, wrestles Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis at 174 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.220319 Ncaa Session 6 Wr 056 Jpg
Penn State's Carter Starocci, right, wrestles Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis at 174 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.220319 Ncaa Session 6 Wr 056 Jpg
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Mar 19, 2022; Detroit, MI, USA; Nebraska wrestler Eric Schultz celebrates after defeating Rutgers wrestler Greg Bulsak (not pictured) in the 197 pound weight class seventh place match during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Cesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 19, 2022; Detroit, MI, USA; Nebraska wrestler Eric Schultz celebrates after defeating Rutgers wrestler Greg Bulsak (not pictured) in the 197 pound weight class seventh place match during the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Cesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Dual Rank: 17
Record: 0-1
Ranked Wrestlers: 4
125 No. 18 Liam Cronin
157 No. 4 Peyton Robb
174 No. 3 Mikey Labriola
197 No. 24 Silas Allred

Looking at this year’s Cornhusker’s wrestling team from top to bottom, it’s not hard to believe this is one of their weaker teams in quite some time. By no means are they “bad”, they just aren’t the top five Big Ten team most wrestling fans are used to seeing.

It does hurt slightly that they are going to be without the services of Taylor Venz and 2022 All-Americans Eric Schultz and Christian Lance as they wrestled their last matches for Nebraska.

To further dampen the mood, the Cornhuskers already have an “L” on their resume as they fell to No. 22 North Dakota State 20-16 in a hard fought dual on November 4th.

Nebraska went just 1-2 in the three matches between 184, 197, and 285 with a decision win by Allred. However, the two losses were a technical fall at 184 and a decision at 285. The reason I bring this up is the fact that Venz and Lance occupied these two spots last year, and instead of losing the matches at 184 and 285, they would have most likely been wins.

Therefore, this explains the difference between being top five in the Big Ten versus being in the eighth spot.

The Cornhuskers look to put a tally in the win column as they square off against Army and NC State in the Journeymen Wranglemania on November 12th.