What 2 Watch 4: NCAA Opening Weekend
What 2 Watch 4: NCAA Opening Weekend
Hard to believe it's finally here! Allow us to guide you through the first weekend of the 2019-20 NCAA wrestling season.
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Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like the opening weekend of the 2019-20 NC2A wrestling season! How splendid.
Hard to believe it's finally here. Both the start of the college season and this edition of "What 2 Watch 4." This is now my third year of previewing each upcoming weekend of rad college wrestling. Unfortunately, it's week one and I'm already behind my deadline, as I'm just starting this blog post on Thursday night and wrestling starts Friday morning. So there's a good chance the first whistle has already blown by the time your eyes clamp down on the pixels I'm sending up into the cloud right now.
But that's why I'm skipping Halloween, to curate the weekend's events for you, dear reader. Now, it literally is October 31 when this will be published, but it will almost definitely be November 1 by the time you read it, so we're going to skip all the spooky nonsense that's been cluttering up everyone's social media feed and stick to the wrestling!
Let's start by cutting and pasting all the scheduled events, collected and shared by our friends at Wrestling by Pirate.
All times Eastern, with local times in parentheses.
*-indicates a one-pound weight allowance shall be granted.
Friday, November 1:
The AFC Duals at Broadway Pier (coverage page link)
Fresno State vs. Wisconsin at San Diego, CA, 12:00 PM (9:00 AM)
Army West Point vs. Wisconsin at San Diego, CA, 2:00 PM (11:00 AM)
Fresno State vs. Navy at San Diego, CA, 2:00 PM (11:00 AM)
AFC stands for America's Finest City, which is San Diego's nickname. A tad presumptuous, but when you give nicknames to yourself, why not go for something positive?
Also, San Diego is quite nice. Our own Mike Mal is there now and he Instagrammed this glorious vista as evidence.
Not too shabby. And here's Mike on the aforementioned Broadway Pier letting you know why you should watch.
The college wrestling season kicks off tomorrow at Noon ET from sunny San Diego. pic.twitter.com/CUwCt7Yegf
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) October 31, 2019
I'm pretty pumped to see the return of Seth Gross. He's #1 at 133 pounds and in the P4P rankings. Want to know how he's grown since his 2018 NCAA title? Good news, Mike Mal asks him that exact question, and Seth answers!
Southern Illinois Edwardsville at Chattanooga, 4:30 PM
SIUE recently left the SoCon for the MAC. Will Chattanooga punish them for their betrayal?
Case Western Reserve at Cleveland State, 7:00 PM
John Carroll at Cleveland State, 7:00 PM
The Vikings host two DIII programs which are also from the Cleveland metro area. Did you know Flo now has DIII Rankings? It's true — check 'em out!
CSU Bakersfield at Minnesota, 8:00 PM (7:00 PM) (coverage page link)
The first home dual for the Gophers. We could see an early-season test for junior freestyle national champ #10 Brayton Lee against three-time NCAA qualifier #17 Russell Rohlfing of the Roadrunners.
Battle on the Midway
Army West Point vs. Fresno State at San Diego, CA, 9:30 PM (6:30 PM)
Navy vs. Wisconsin at San Diego, CA, 9:30 PM (6:30 PM)
These duals are taking place on the actual aircraft carrier that has since been turned into a museum. They will also be aired on local television and on the CBS Sports app.
Saturday, November 2:
Michigan State Open
Buffalo, Cal Poly, Central Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Illinois, Ohio,
Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn, Pittsburgh, Purdue at Michigan State Open, hosted by Michigan State,
9:30 AM
An excellent Saturday tournament streamed live by our esteemed competitors at Trackwrestling.
RU Quad
*Long Island vs. Pitt-Johnstown at Rutgers, 10:00 AM
*Centenary at Rutgers, 10:00 AM (coverage page link)
*Long Island at Rutgers, 11:30 AM (coverage page link)
*Long Island vs. Centenary at Rutgers, 1:00 PM
*Pitt-Johnstown at Rutgers, 1:00 PM (coverage page link)
Where once there were the Iowa Duals, in a tradition like no other, now we have the RU Quad.
Kent State Duals
Ashland vs. Edinboro at Kent State, 1:00 PM
Mercyhurst North East at Kent State, 1:00 PM
Edinboro vs. Mercyhurst North East at Kent State, 2:30 PM
Ashland at Kent State, 2:30 PM
Edinboro at Kent State, 4:00 PM
We also have the Kent State Duals. Really, it is as if the Iowa Duals never left us at all.
UVA Tri-meet
Maryland vs. Southern Virginia at Virginia, 10:00 AM
Southern Virginia at Virginia, 12:00 PM
Maryland at Virginia, 2:00 PM
SVU is both a television program spin-off of Law & Order and a small DIII university in Buena Vista, VA, which is pronounced a BYOO-nuh VI-sta. Do not pronounce it BWAY-nuh VEE-sta, lest you be identified as a carpetbagging Yankee.
Cowboy Open (Coverage page link)
Hosted by Wyoming, 11:00 AM (9:00 AM): Air Force, Northern Colorado, Wyoming and many more. Our own David Bray breaks down all the reasons to check out this early season tourney, which is conveniently located a few hours away from the OPTC in Colorado Springs where many EAP wrestlers train.
Ranked wrestlers, elite high school hammers, and the debut of Andrew Alirez.
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) October 31, 2019
Take a look at everything you need to know before Saturday's Cowboy Open.
#7 Missouri at #18 Virginia Tech, 12:00 PM
Two top 20 teams mix it up in the best dual of the weekend. A lot of young talent is going to compete from both benches. Here's the expected lineups, courtesy of a nice graphic from Mizzou. Dual will be streamed on ESPN3.
*Navy at California Baptist, 10:00 PM (7:00 PM)
After their battle on the Midway, Navy steams up the California coast to take on the Lancers.
Sunday, November 3:
The Clarion Open (coverage page link)
Hosted by Clarion, 9:00 AM: Bloomsburg, Clarion, Cleveland State, Lock Haven and more.
You won't get in time for Halloween, but this helmet still makes for a badass, and fashionable, trophy.
Helmets have arrived for the Clarion Open Champs! Register at the link below for your chance to earn one of these bad boys! https://t.co/B9oUGUuu7t pic.twitter.com/yPRZd3bCK5
— Clarion Wrestling (@WrestlingCUP) October 15, 2019
Our own Brock Hite has more on why you need to tune into this east coast staple.
Princeton Open
Columbia, Hofstra, Lehigh, Princeton, Rider and more hosted by Princeton, 9:00 AM
Catch it on the World Wide Leader's newish streaming platform.
Southeast East Open (Coverage page link)
Campbell, Chattanooga, Davidson, Gardner-Webb, George Mason, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina,
Virginia Tech, VMI, West Virginia and more at Roanoke, VA, 9:00 AM
This one is going to rock, we have proof.
Top-10 wrestlers competing at the Southeast Open this weekend.
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) October 31, 2019
David The Brayman has even more proof.
Battle of the Citadel
American, Duke, North Carolina State, Old Dominion, Presbyterian, Stanford, hosted by The Citadel, 10:00 AM.
Sounds adventurous!
CSU Bakersfield at North Dakota State, 3:00 PM (2:00 PM) (Coverage page link)
The Roadrunners try to avoid being trampled under hoof by the Bison. Cordell Eaton of NDSU vs Dom Ducharme of CSUB is my sleeper pick for a match to watch.
Then watch Silicon Valley on HBO because it's Sunday and that's when new episodes are and there is literally no more wrestling to watch.
And OK, fine, one last Halloween link before we go.
That's it. Enjoy the competitions wrestling fans!