You're Going To Want To Watch Nebraska At Penn State On Sunday
You're Going To Want To Watch Nebraska At Penn State On Sunday
As many as six ranked matchups will be featured in this Sunday's matchup between Penn State and Nebraska at Rec Hall.
This Sunday, two of the nation's best teams take the mat in Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State. The Nittany Lions play host to Nebraska in a dual featuring #1 vs. #2 at 157 pounds and five other ranked matchups.
Watch Nebraska at Penn State Live on Flo
Sunday, Jan. 20 | 1 p.m. ET
Last weekend, Jason Nolf majored #3 Ryan Deakin and now he gets an opportunity against #2 Tyler Berger. It's OK to mention that Berger once upon a time beat Nolf in the 2013 FloNationals finals, as long as we also mention that Nolf's last three matches against Berger have gone tech, major, major. Nolf enters the match as a 9.5 point favorite.
Nolf vs. Berger isn't the only match in this dual with history that goes back to high school. Before they were All-Americans, Chad Red and Nick Lee met in the 2016 Indiana state finals. Red won that one 6-4 in one of the best state finals that's taken place anywhere in the country in the past few years. However, Red has fallen out of the rankings after having a tough season so far. Lee opens as a -4.5 favorite, even after dropping a match to Tristan Moran last weekend.
In addition to those two matches, we also have Vincenzo Joseph against Isaiah White. Joseph did not wrestle this past weekend against Northwestern or Wisconsin, and it's still unclear if we'll see him against Nebraska.
If Cenzo wrestles this weekend, it will be the fourth time these two have wrestled since high school. White beat Joseph 9-2 in the 2014 Fargo finals and in overtime a few months later in the Ironman finals. The Nittany Lion finally got his revenge when he beat White 4-2 in the second sudden victory of last year's NCAA quarterfinals.
The 184lb match features two of the top wrestlers in the country at the weight. It is the first major opportunity of the year for Shakur Rasheed, who has just one ranked victory this season. He'll have his shot at improving both his ranking and Big Ten seed against #4 Taylor Venz, a returning All-American.
Venz is 12-3 this season and has picked up points from top in every single one of his wins this season. Three matches ended in a pin, six more he picked up nearfall and in the other three he earned riding time. Likewise, Rasheed is 15-0 and has scored points from the top position in every match: six pins, four matches with nearfall points, and five matches in which he's picked up riding time.
Anthony Cassar registered five takedowns against #9 Trent Hillger on Sunday, and now faces undefeated David Jensen. Star redshirt freshman and Pennsylvania native Mikey Labriola returns to his home state only to face #1 Mark Hall. Bo Nickal will try to continue his bonus streak against #12 Eric Schultz.
Nebraska at Penn State Projected Matchups
125: #15 Zeke Moisey (Nebraska) vs. Devin Schnupp (Penn State)
133: Jevon Parrish (Nebraska) vs. #14 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)
141: Chad Red (Nebraska) vs. #6 Nick Lee (Penn State)
149: Collin Purinton (Nebraska) vs. #10 Brady Berge (Penn State)
157: #2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska) vs. #1 Jason Nolf (Penn State)
165: #6 Isaiah White (Nebraska) vs. #1 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)
174: #9 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) vs. #1 Mark Hall (Penn State)
184: #4 Taylor Venz (Nebraska) vs. #7 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State)
197: #12 Eric Schultz (Nebraska) vs. #1 Bo Nickal (Penn State)
285: #15 David Jensen (Nebraska) vs. #3 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)