Over 60 Upsets In A Wild Week 2 Of NCAA D1 Action
Over 60 Upsets In A Wild Week 2 Of NCAA D1 Action
All the upsets between D1 NCAA wrestlers from week 2 of the 2023-24 season.
Week 1 was just a small sample of the insanity college wrestling fans were soon to witness. Week 2 brought an avalanche of upsets, as over 60 lower ranked wrestlers defeated higher opponents in one of the wildest weeks in recent memory.
Check out our national rankings, upon which our upset calculations were based.
To help parse the large number of upsets, we've grouped this week's results into categories.
Unranked Over Top 15 Wrestlers
These results cause the most consternation for our college rankers, who have to figure out how high to rank the winner and how far to drop the loser (it's almost always a combination of both).
133: Ryan Crookham, Lehigh over #1 Vito Arujau, Cornell
125: Brendan McCrone, Ohio State over #4 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech
157: Joey Blaze, Purdue over #5 Ed Scott, NC State
184: Tony Negron, Arizona State over #6 Gavin Kane, North Carolina
141: David Evans, Penn State over #7 CJ Composto, Penn
285: Keaton Kluever, Hofstra over #10 Lewis Fernandes, Cornell
133: Marlon Yarbrough, Virginia over #11 Ethan Oakley, Appalachian State
149: Sam Cartella, Northwestern over #13 Willie McDougald, Oklahoma
184: Ryder Rogotzke, Ohio State over #15 Sam Fisher, Virginia Tech
Crookham was the biggest shocker of a week that produced quite a few surprises, but Blaze over Scott was not that far behind. Evans will likely stay unranked as he is the backup to #2 Beau Bartlett.
Watch Blaze over Scott at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic:
Ranked Over Ranked With Double Digit Differences
These are the next most difficult kinds of results for rankers to digest, where the difference between the rankings is 10 or larger.
There were 6 times where that happened to a top 10 wrestler.
149: #23 Quinn Kinner, Rider over #6 Graham Rooks, Indiana
285: #19 Nathan Taylor, Lehigh over #7 Owen Trephan, NC State
174: #18 Adam Kemp, Cal Poly over #6 Peyton Mocco, Missouri
141: #19 Josh Koderhandt, Navy over #8 Cole Matthews, Pittsburgh
125: #15 Jack Maida, American over #4 Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech
197: #18 Stephen Little, Little Rock over #8 Jaxon Smith, Maryland
There were three other times where that happened to a wrestler outside the top 10.
157: #32 RJ Weston, Northern Iowa over #13 Jason Kraisser, Iowa State
149: #30 Joseph Zargo, Wisconsin over #13 Willie McDougald, Oklahoma
174: #25 Alex Cramer, Central Michigan over #13 Tate Picklo, Oklahoma
Two of the most impressive results in this category took place in the finals of the Tiger Style Invite, with Kemp beating Mocco and Little defeating Smith.
Watch Little Rock's Stephen Little win the Tiger Style Invite title:
Unranked Over Ranked With Double Digit Differences
These are equally difficult to figure out, but also sometimes the unranked wrestler is a backup and you have to first figure out where that person WOULD HAVE been ranked if he were the starter. We don't have to do that here though, that's JD and Kozak's job!
125: Dom Mendez, Cal Poly over #16 Braxton Brown, Maryland
197: Luke Geog, Ohio State over #17 Andy Smith, Virginia Tech
165: Gaetano Console, Duke over #17 Peyton Hall, West Virginia
133: Braden Basile, Army West Point over #19 Gable Strickland, Lock Haven
165: Cael Carlson, Oklahoma over #19 Maxx Mayfield, Northwestern
149: Noah Castillo, Chattanooga over #19 Derek Raike, Ohio
149: Cody Bond, Appalachian State over #20 Michael Gioffre, Virginia
157: Luke Mechler, Wisconsin over #20 Jared Hill, Oklahoma
157: Zack Mattin, Michigan over #20 Jared Hill, Oklahoma
157: Matty Bianchi, Little Rock over #21 James Conway, Missouri
157: Legend Lamer, Cal Poly over #22 Michael North, Maryland
165: Isaac Wilcox, Ohio State over #22 Connor Brady, Virginia Tech
174: Carter Schmidt, Iowa State over #24 Elise Brown Ton, Nebraska
149: Jeremiah Price, Appalachian State over #24 Zach Price, Gardner-Webb
149: Erik Roggie, Virginia over #24 Zach Price, Gardner-Webb
Ranked Over Ranked With Single Digit Differences
These are often the easiest results to factor in, especially when the difference is one. Then you (usually) just flip the rankers. Easy as pie!
285: #26 Daniel Bucknavich, Cleveland State over #17 Michael Wolfgram, West Virginia
149: #23 Quinn Kinner, Rider over #15 Caleb Tyus, SIU Edwardsville
125: #27 Diego Sotelo, Harvard over #20 Ryan Miller, Penn
285: #14 Grady Griess, Navy over #8 Dayton Pitzer, Pittsburgh
141: #33 Gavin Drexler, North Dakota State over #27 Vance Vombaur, Minnesota
184: #19 David Key, Navy over #13 Reece Heller, Pittsburgh
141: #18 Kal Miller, Maryland over #13 Josh Edmond, Missouri
285: #25 Nick Feldman, Ohio State over #20 Hunter Catka, Virginia Tech
125: #8 Jakob Camacho, NC State over #3 Matt Ramos, Purdue
141: #11 Malyke Hines, Lehigh over #7 CJ Composto, Penn
149: #17 Corbyn Munson, Central Michigan over #13 Willie McDougald, Oklahoma
174: #25 Alex Cramer, Central Michigan over #21 Gerrit Nijenhuis, Oklahoma
Another match from this group was in the finals of the Tiger Style Invite, with Kal Miller defeating Josh Edmond.
Watch that match here:
Unranked Over Ranked With Single Digit Differences
These are the guys on the bubble, and often these losses results in newly ranked wrestlers and wrestlers who get pushed just outside the top 33. It's a very precarious place to be. You also have to look out for backups (and redshirts, etc).
157: DJ Mcgee, George Mason over #25 Alejandro Herrera-Rondon, Clarion
285: Austin Kohlhofer, Army West Point over #27 Isaac Reid, Lock Haven
174: Joshua Stillings, The Citadel over #28 John Worthing, Clarion
133: Nasir Bailey, Little Rock over #28 Zeke Seltzer, Missouri
285: William Jarrell, American over #29 John Meyers, Clarion
285: Jonathan Chesser, The Citadel over #29 John Meyers, Clarion
157: Jalin Harper, Oklahoma State over #30 Nick Delp, Bucknell
125: Max Gallagher, Penn over #30 Robert Howard, Penn State
174: Sergio Desiante, Chattanooga over #30 Sal Perrine, Ohio
125: Dylan Ryder, Hofstra over #30 Robert Howard, Penn State
125: Sean Spidle, Central Michigan over #31 Blake West, Northern Illinois
133: Braden Basile, Army West Point over #31 Dustin Norris, Purdue
165: Will Miller, Appalachian State over #32 Nick Hamilton, Virginia
197: Christian Knop, NC State over #32 John Crawford, Franklin & Marshall
149: Maxwell Petersen, North Dakota State over #33 Drew Roberts, Minnesota
157: Joey Blaze, Purdue over #33 Nathan Lukez, Army West Point
165: Cael Carlson, Oklahoma over #33 Tracy Hubbard, Central Michigan
That's all for week 2. Will week 3 bring even more insanity, or have we crested the latest wave of craziness?