The dual season continues to race by as we reach the conclusion of week 12 of the 2023-24 NCAA D1 college wrestling season. Just five more weeks left of the regular season. Savor them. Cherish them even!

Box Scores | Rankings | Last Week's Roundup

With nearly three months of college wrestling in the books, we also now have a sizable dataset to examine the recent rule changes promulgated last summer, specifically the three-point takedown.

There have been north of 10K D1 wrestling matches so far this season. I have not watched them all, but I have watched a fair amount, and based on my personal experience, I think it is safe to render a successful verdict for the three-point takedown.

Now, as much as I trust my judgment on this topic, I also wouldn't suggest that the discussion is over. We should always be examining every facet of the sport and thinking about ways we can improve. We will never arrive at our destination of a perfect ruleset. When it comes to refining the great sport of wrestling, I blanche at takes that terminate with 'plain and simple, end of story'. 

In my humble estimation, we have seen the three-point takedown, improve college wrestling, on the average, in several ways: 

• Come-from-behind victories are more possible. With two-point takedowns, being down by five points in the third period is nearly insurmountable. That's four takedowns just to tie the score. With the three-point takedown it's just two.
• Major decisions are almost always within reach. Even with the lead, wrestlers are incentivized to go get that extra team point. This creates more drama, which makes for more entertaining matches. 
• Tech-falls work better. Matches where one wrestler is clearly superior are prolonged longer than necessary with a two-point takedown.
• Also, takedowns being worth three times more than escape, rather than just twice as much, makes intrinsic sense. That's more of a personal preference but I stand by it. 

However, I am also receptive to considering the negative consequences of a three-point takedown. So far they have revolved around two hypotheses. 

• The three-point takedowns induce more stalling.
• People like shouting 'TWOOOOOO!' more than 'THREEEEEE!'.

The second complaint is true, there's no getting around the fact that it's more satisfying to yell the word 'two' than 'three'. I'm more skeptical of the first complaint, though I'm open to looking at data that supports it. 

The theory, as I understand it, is that stalling becomes a more effective tactic when you're up by three when stall points start at one a piece. But stalling is not an effective strategy until the third period, and it's unclear to me if three-point leads are now more common than in the past. 

But again, I invite more study on the topic. I welcome it. I demand it!

And now on to the noteworthy events of week 12. 

The Dual of the Century, of the Week

Nebraska bounces back after a rough loss to Iowa with a dramatic victory over Minnesota

Nebraska was treated quite rudely by the Hawkeyes when they hosted Iowa two Fridays ago. As such, it was perhaps more satisfying for the squad to win a come-from-behind victory over the Gophers in Minneapolis a week later. 

And this dual, like last week's Dual of the Century, had everything you could hope for as a fan. Upsets, close wins, unsung heroes now being praised in song, the works!

The box score is below. I also live-blogged the dual for you if you want more details. 

125: #20 Patrick McKee (MINN) over #5 Caleb Smith (NEB) (TF 18-2 5:24) 

133: #22 Tyler Wells (MINN) over Kyle Burwick (NEB) (SV-1 6-3) 

141: #8 Brock Hardy (NEB) over #21 Vance Vombaur (MINN) (Dec 8-3) 

149: #1 Ridge Lovett (NEB) over Drew Roberts (MINN) (MD 11-0) 

157: #14 Michael Blockhus (MINN) over #3 Peyton Robb (NEB) (Dec 12-6) 

165: #17 Antrell Taylor (NEB) over Blaine Brenner (MINN) (Dec 8-2) 

174: #19 Bubba Wilson (NEB) over Sam Skillings (MINN) (Dec 4-2) 

184: #10 Isaiah Salazar (MINN) over #3 Lenny Pinto (NEB) (Dec 4-1) 

197: #14 Silas Allred (NEB) over #26 Garrett Joles (MINN) (SV-1 4-1) 

285: Harley Andrews (NEB) over #30 Bennett Tabor (MINN) (Dec 10-7)

The most important takeaway is Husker heavy Harley Andrews won the whole stinking dual with a lat drop in the final 10 seconds of his match with a ranked opponent. 

Harley Andrews wins the heavyweight matchup to help @HuskerWrestling leave with a W! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/dCOKxZOdM7

— Big Ten Wrestling (@B1GWrestling) January 20, 2024

Who does that? The most dramatic ending to any dual in recent memory. Outstanding!

Checking In On The Top 5

The current top 5 teams in the NCAA according to our tournament rankings (which will be updated very shortly) are Penn State, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma State. Let's see how they did this week!

#1 Penn State crushed both Big Ten teams from the Mitten State

• The Nittany Lion laid waste to #7 Michigan on Friday, 27-9, winning 8 bouts in the process.
• Mitchell Mesenbrink majored #7 Cam Amine at 165. Can Mesenbrink make a title run this season? Two champs, Keegan O'Toole & David Carr, sit atop the rankings, but Mitchell is stating his case with matches like these.
• Terrell Barraclough, who started his career at 149 and this season at 165, was up at 174, giving another champ, #3 Shane Griffith, a tough 2-1 bout.
• Michigan did get this nifty no-control pin from Ragusin over #4 Aaron Nagao. Nagao was about to give up a danger zone takedown in sudden victory so even if you don't think that was a pin, it was going to be a dub for Ragusin regardless. 

Dylan Ragusin gets one back for @umichwrestling! 💪

No. 6 at 133 just pinned No. 4 Aaron Nagao of Penn State. 😳 pic.twitter.com/Xy7MeVQHvh

— Big Ten Wrestling (@B1GWrestling) January 20, 2024

• On Sunday, Penn State shut out Michigan State 35-0.
• The Spartans got great performances from #19 Chase Saldate and #10 Caleb Fish at 157 and 165, but #1 Levi Haines and #8 Mesenbrink emerged victorious. 
• Barraclough was back at 174, getting a win over DJ Shannon. After the Michigan dual we caught up with Carter Starrocci who told us to expect him back on the mat sooner rather than later. 
• David Evans started both duals at 149 and went 2-0, preserving Tyler Kasak's redshirt, though if we were picking a fantasy wrestling team we'd assume Kasak still gets the postseason start. 
• Penn State's Lucas Cochran got the start at 285, bumping up from 197 and subbing for #1 Daniel Kerkvliet. Cochran beat Josh Terrill 5-0. 

Iowa throttled two Big Ten opponents, first on Monday, then on Friday

• Iowa kicked off week 12 with a prime time weeknight dual on the Big Ten Network. They defeated Minnesota 22-9. 
• The freshly minted #1 (the rankings came out the same night!) Drake Ayala defeated #20 Pat McKee despite giving up the first takedown, providing some semblance of normalcy to the 125-pound rankings.
• Kale Petersen got the start at 133, giving erstwhile starter Brody Teske a break. Petersen fell to Tyler Wells 6-4. 
• True freshman Ben Kueter got his first collegiate match. Kueter is also a rostered member of the Hawkeye football squad and this match came less than two months after Iowa's last game on the gridiron. Kueter defeated #30 Bennett Tabor 5-3. He can still maintain his redshirt and if we were to guess, with zero inside knowledge, we'd presume he'll redshirt and Bradley Hill will be the postseason Hawkeye starter at heavyweight. 
• Minnesota did get a big win from Michael Blockhus, who upset #2 Jared Franek. Blockhus also beat #3 Peyton Robb this week. 
• Five of Iowa starters (Ayala, Petersen, Rathjen, Riggins & Kueter) all trained at the same wrestling club in high school. Kudos to the Sebolt Wrestling Academy! 

pic.twitter.com/GPtg5vTcrn

— TJ Sebolt (@TeamSebolt) January 16, 2024

• Iowa also defeated Purdue 34-6 on Friday.
• Alas, Ayala could not escape the curse of 125 this time, as he lost to #8 Matt Ramos 4-1.
• This time it was Cullen Schriever who spelled Brody Teske at 133. Shchriever majored his opponent 20-7.
• At 149 it was Victor Voinovich for the Hawkeyes, who made his case to the be the starter with a tech fall over Marcos Polanco. 
• Patrick Kennedy won both of his matches for Iowa this weekend at 174. Iowa has a lot of roster battles currently raging and we'd guess, again with no inside info, that Gabe Arnold redshirts and Kennedy starts in the postseason. 

Missouri had the week off

• Inclement weather canceled the UNI Open, which was the only event on Missouri's calendar for week 12. 
• Next week the Tigers wrestle West Virginia in Morgantown. 

Nebraska also won two duals against fellow Big Ten foes

• We already discussed their big win over Minnesota.
• Additionally, Nebraska dispatched Purdue 27-14. 
• Purdue did get upsets at 157 and 174, as Joey Blaze took out #3 Peyton Robb and Brody Baumann beat #19 Bubba Wilson. 
• Nash Hutmacher got his third start and second win of his collegiate career. The Polar Bear is now 2-1 after beating Tristan Ruhlman 5-0. 

Oklahoma State has quietly racked up an 8-0 dual meet record

• The Cowboys are not known for being under the radar but their win over #17 Oregon State was their 8th of the season, against zero losses, with perhaps less than the expected amount of fanfare.
• Oklahoma State also has wins over #6 NC State and #10 Lehigh.
• The Cowboys have seven more duals left on their schedule, all against top 20 programs, including #2 Iowa and #3 Missouri. 
• Sammy Alvarez stated his case to be Oklahoma State's starting 149-pounder with a win over #18 Nash Singleton. Carter Young will presumably stay on redshirt while Jordan Williams could still wrestle his way into the lineup. 
• It appears Oregon State will wrestle Matthew Olguin at 174 and insert Kekana Fouret at 165 to replace Travis Wittlake, who suffered a tragic season and perhaps career-ending injury off the mat. 
• #2 Dustin Plott won the marquee bout of the dual, with a 4-2 win over #4 Trey Munoz. 
• The Beavers did score a sizable upset at 141 when #27 Cleveland Belton defeated #6 Tagen Jamison. 

Little Rock, More Like Large And In Charge Rock

Arkansas is not known as a "wrestling state", but that's changing, thanks to folks like super booster Greg Hatcher and Little Rock head coach Neil Erisman.

It wasn't until 2009 that Arkansas hosted it's first high school state championship. College programs soon followed. Ouchita Baptist, an NCAA Division III school, was first. Then came NAIA and other NCAA programs on the DII and DIII level. Lastly, D1 Little Rock started a team, which wrestled its first season in 2019-20. 

What coach Erisman has done since then is nothing short of miraculous. The Trojans are 10-4 this season and it's a near certainty they will finish with a winning record. They defeated #13 Arizona State 18-15 on Friday. 

Arizona State is a program with history. They've won a national championship! Little Rock is a program literally writing their history as I type, and it's enthralling. 

It feels good to get here. Now to keep on going. #LittleRocksTeam | #ROCKedUp pic.twitter.com/Z9XFW5dEO4

— Little Rock Wrestling (@LittleRockWRES) January 20, 2024

Little Rock's next two duals are against two other 'majors', Oregon State and Stanford. Can the Trojans punch above their weight again? I don't know, but I'll be watching!

Other Things Happened

Minnesota's Michael Blockhus beat #2 and #3 in the same week

I mentioned it earlier in the blog but Blockhus' victories over #2 Jared Franek and #3 Peyton Robb deserve another mention. There's no hotter wrestler on the mat at the moment, which is all the more impressive when you consider that Blockhus also started his MMA career this summer. He's 1-0 with a 1st round TKO. So it's not just football players who are proving they can be two-sport athletes. 

Lehigh keeps winning

The Mountain Hawks defeated fellow EIWA foes Navy and Penn. Nathan Taylor exercised some EIWA Championship demons by beating Grady Greiss 11-4. Navy's heavyweight defeated Taylor at last year's EIWA finals.

Sheldon Seymour got both starts at 125 for Lehigh, allowing freshman phenom and McDonald's aficionado Luke Stanich to preserve his redshirt, but don't count out the possibility of Stanich starting in the postseason. 

Also our very own Jon Kozak defeated Lehigh assistant coach Zach Rey and was declared the King of Pong. Congratulation Jon! 

125 won't Stop! Stop it already, why don't you?

Six different wrestlers have been ranked #1 so far this season. We mentioned #8 Ramos win over #1 Ayala earlier.  Will next week bring a 7th, or will some reclaim the top spot? 

I'll let the rankers figure that one out (no longer my problem!) but I'll also highlight some other upsets we saw this week at flyweight. 

• Minnesota's #20 Pat McKee beat #5 Caleb Smith of Nebraska in a key bout that helped make that contest the Dual of the Century of the Week. 
• UPenn's unranked Max Gallagher beat #7 Nico Provo (one of the six wrestlers who has spent time at #1). Expect Gallagher to be unranked no longer. 
• #15 Brandon Kaylor of Oregon State beat Oklahoma State's #11 Troy Sprately. 
• Not an upset but PSU's #14 Braeden Davis remained undefeated by beating #17 Michael DeAugustino of Michigan. DeAugustino later beat #19 Dean Petersen, further bolstering Davis' resume. 
• #10 Eric Barnett, #12 Richie Figueroa, #16 Stevo Poulin and #18 Tanner Jordan also all got ranked wins. Though not upsets, these results will have to be facotered into the swirling cauldron of chaos that is the 125-pound rankings.

Arizona State topped Pitt in the most heartbreaking way possible for the Panthers

Pitt was up by 6 team points going into the last match of the dual, which was heavyweight. Dayton Pitzer needed to not give up six to Cohlton Schultz to secure the win. Unfortunately, Pitzer's shoulder did not comply. Pitzer took injury time, then tried to continue, then finally in the third period he had to injury default. Arizona State got the dub after their loss to Little Rock and Pitt lost in an example of just how brutal the sport can be. The sportsmanship from both teams however was commendable. 

It also caused a conundrum for the dual meet rankings as now ASU beat Pitt, who beat Little Rock, who beat ASU. 

Our most viewed clip of the Week

This wild exchange between Derek Matthews and Tanner Cook has almost half a million views so far on Instrgram. 

Bet the coaches weren’t worried at all during this exchange!

Pure chaos from Derek Matthews and Tanner Cook in their match Friday night. pic.twitter.com/6KCW6VGJkB

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) January 20, 2024

Although that vid may get eclipsed by this heavyweight splade, also featuring a South Dakota State Jackrabbit, that has 200,000 views after being up for just a few hours. 

Luke Rasmussen of South Dakota State closes out the dual against California Baptist with a Spladle 🤯#sdsuwrestling pic.twitter.com/CCHh2h4RmF

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) January 21, 2024

Some Non-NCAA D1 Wrestling Stuff Happened

• I guess I should specify non-NCAA D1 men's wrestling stuff, because the Iowa Hawkeye women's wrestling team continues to make news. Thankfully, our very own Kyle Klingman has that beat covered!
• Team USA won a bunch of medals at the Henri Deglane wrestling tournament in Nice, France. Who else but Jon Kozak has the results for you, the wise and learned wrestling fan. 

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It's one half-hour long. Check it out. It kicks ass in my opinion!

Send Me Tips!

This roundup is for you, so if you see something noteworthy happen in D1 NCAA wrestling, let me know so that I can make note of it! 

Best way to reach me is on Twitter (@speywrestle) or email [andrew.spey@flosports.tv].

Next week? That's correct, more duals! Just like last week. Dual meet season is in full swing. Some people would go as far as to say that there's a dual meet fever going around, and that you should catch it. And I'm one of those people! 

See you next week friends!