It’s not easy to lose when you’re accustomed to winning, and the Missouri program is extremely familiar with the W.

But the #7 Tigers, 1-3 heading into this weekend’s Cougar Classic at Southern Illinois, have gotten off to a slow start, losing to #8 Virginia Tech, #19 Illinois and #11 Northern Iowa by 13, nine and 14 points, respectively. Longtime coach Brian Smith, with a career slate of 335-115-2, has won 74 percent of his dual matches since 1998, so the start has been a bit frustrating.

“This program doesn’t like to lose,” Smith said. “Everybody talks about toughness and all this, but this is mental toughness that we have to continue to grow and figure out what we're doing, and I think that's a big part of this as a challenge to me as a coach. We haven't had a losing season since 2001, so it's putting us in a predicament we haven't been in in a long time.”

The Tigers were 7-10-1 in 2000-01 and 7-7 in 2009-10 and have far exceeded the .500 mark in each season since.

Smith has yet to put a full lineup of starters on the mat with #15 Noah Surtin (125), #14 Cam Steed (165) and #3 Rocky Elam (197) rehabbing various injuries. 

“But I think the challenge is good; I think we will really find out more about ourselves,” Smith said. “I just look at the effort in the room, that it's still there and we have good guys that when it all comes together, it's going to be a good thing. But it's having the ability to come in the room and have the right mindset and not getting down and not getting frustrated, and that's hard. We do a lot of talking and a lot of mental stuff with that. We've got to battle through this. We wouldn't be the first team that starts off slow. 

Smith cited the NFL’s World champion Kansas City Chiefs from last year and the NHL’s 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues as a couple of examples.

“The good thing is, we have a tough schedule that we knew was going to be very difficult, and we knew the front end was loaded,” Smith said. “Not that it’s going to ease up, but it eases up where it’s not as many dates.”

The Tigers are home throughout January, hosting Cornell, Stanford, Utah Valley, Arizona State and West Virginia, and the injury list is shrinking. Surtin will compete this week and Steed and Elam have been on the practice room mats. 

“So there is a light and I do love the effort that they give, and they continue to want to get better,” Smith said.

Personnel Chatter

Two-time NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole (174) will not compete this weekend at Southern Illinois. 

“He's healthy, but he wants to stay strong through the season, because he's up a weight and we haven't had a weekend off in like six weeks, so he needs to put some bulk back on,” Smith explained.

With Surtin’s return at 125, Smith and the Tigers can preserve freshman Gage Walker’s redshirt. Walker has competed in the NCAA-allowable five dates this season. 

“That was always the plan,” Smith said about Walker. “And we have (four-time Idaho champ) Mack Mauger in the room if something happens and we need him for a match.”

Freshman Aeoden Sinclair at 197 is close to his allotment of dates as well and won’t compete at the Cougar Classic because Smith is saving him for another date, contingent on Elam’s return at 197. 

The Tigers will take 15 wrestlers to Southern Illinois and then prep to face Binghamton, Little Rock and #1 Penn State in the Collegiate Wrestling Duals Dec. 22 outside of Nashville. About 15 or 16 wrestlers will compete in Soldier Salute Dec. 29-30 in Coralville, Iowa, as well, Smith said.

The Collegiate Duals will be held over the course of just one day this year and that’s a good thing, according to the Tigers’ coach.

“When they said we're gonna wrestle them all in one day, I was excited,” he said. “Athletes would rather just do three matches in a day — they do it in practice often — instead of having two weigh-ins. The mindset is, we can go to Nashville for one full less day and get back and so it's not bad.”

Looking Ahead

Barring injury in either camp, the Duals’ marquee bout at Nashville’s Ensworth Frist Campus, a high school 14 miles southwest of the city, will be between Missouri’s top-ranked O’Toole and Penn State’s #2-ranked Levi Haines at 174. The two have three NCAA titles between them.

Smith is not only looking forward to that bout but to facing the Nittany Lions as well. 

“Penn State, obviously, is a loaded lineup, but I'm looking forward to matching up,” he said. “We haven't gotten to wrestle them in a long time, so when I saw that we had had them for the day, our program was excited because we haven't gotten to wrestle them. I hope I have a healthier team there so we can match up better with them.”

The Lions and Tigers haven’t met since 2004 and Penn State leads the six-match series 3-2-1.