There’s no better weekend for North Carolina State head coach Pat Popolizio to bring his fifth-ranked Wolfpack to Stillwater.

An alumnus of Oklahoma State, Popolizio turned a successful wrestling career under former OSU coach John Smith into an even more successful coaching career in Raleigh. NC State, which has won six straight ACC championships, has turned into one of college wrestling’s household names under Popolizio’s guidance. On OSU’s Alumni Weekend, it will be a fight for Oklahoma State to ensure one of its own former Cowboys doesn’t steal the spotlight.

But these are the duals OSU head coach David Taylor wants his team to be a part of. Oklahoma State beat NC State 22-12 in January last season and Taylor said he expects the Wolfpack to bring the energy to Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“They’ve really been a household name over the last handful of years,” Taylor said. “They have a good dual team, they’re bringing the energy here... We just gotta be ready to go. It’s another good opportunity to go out and compete against a really tough team, and a chance for the fans to come out and support us.”

The Wolfpack will be without All-American Ryan Jack who is taking a redshirt year, along with ACC champ Jackson Arrington. Nonetheless, there’s a boatload of competitive swing matches that can go anyone’s way.

Fans won’t have to wait long for potentially electrifying matches as second-ranked 125-pounder Troy Spratley will face NC State’s freshman standout, #16 Vincent Robinson. Robinson has two losses on the year, both in early December at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Spratley said he’s keeping his same approach and mindset ahead of the matchup.

“(He’s) just another guy I gotta go out and dominate,” he said. 

Of the 10 bouts, nine of them are projected to be ranked matches. 

New-school Theatrics And Fanfare Continue To Take Over Gallagher-Iba Arena

It wasn’t long ago Taylor made it clear the theatrics of wrestling duals in Gallagher-Iba Arena would begin to change. It wasn’t until the first home dual when a new runway with an arch and machines firing flames a dozen feet high that people knew what he meant. “Pinfetti” blasted from the arena ceiling. OSU wrestling truly became an event, just like Taylor envisioned.

“We wanted to make Oklahoma State wrestling a cool place to come and wrestle for,” Taylor said. “You could sit in your chair at home and watch it on ESPN+, and that’s cool you can watch and support us, but it’s not like the energy and atmosphere of being here. This is an event that you want to come to.”

Then, a new singlet with the classic OSU chevron and the Cowboys cursive script debuted. Taylor said many of the changes were made to continue honoring the legacy and tradition of Cowboy wrestling, all while knighting in a new one.

“Our singlets, for example, we want to be traditional, we want to stick with the orange singlet but we want to bring some of the newer trends of the university to the singlet,” Taylor said. “The chevrons, it’s a wrestling-specific brand. It’s one of a kind. There’s no other sport that has a wrestling-specific brand like the chevron. We have them on our warm-ups, so let's integrate them onto our singlet. The ‘Cowboy Script’ is something the university has moved toward, so I think that’s a good balance of the two.”

Taylor Reflects On Soldier Salute

OSU true freshman 197-pounder Cody Merrill and redshirt freshman 184-pounder Jersey Robb wrestled Dec. 29-30 in the Soldier Salute in Corallville, Iowa, and both came back to Stillwater with third-place medals in a highly competitive tournament. 

Merrill went 2-0 before facing Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan in the semifinals, where he dropped a competitive 2-0 bout. Merrill went into wrestlebacks and pinned Navy’s Payton Thomas before beating All-American and 10th-ranked Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota, 4-2.

Robb’s path to third place was the same: Two wins, a semifinal loss and two straight wins in consolations. His defeat came against Iowa’s fifth-ranked Gabe Arnold, 4-1.

Taylor said he liked the way his youngsters wrestled in the tournament, and he’s assessing their wrestling deeper than the wins and losses.

“It was a good tournament for them, I think they both had some good challenges up there,” Taylor said. “We’re not necessarily focused on the wins and losses, especially in a year where they’re not wrestling in the lineup. It’s about how they’re wrestling. I thought they did a good job, I think they made good adjustments from match to match. Both had to rebound after losing matches and wrestle back and get third and that’s what you want to see.”