Since 2010, Ohio State has finished outside of the top five in the Big Ten just once, winning at least a share of the conference crown three times and finishing in the top three every year since 2015.

With that much success in the toughest conference in the sport, there are more than a few great matches in the history books. With the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships just two weeks away in Piscataway, NJ, we asked Buckeye head coach Tom Ryan for some of his favorite matches at the tournament over the past 10 years.

2017: Bo Jordan vs Mark Hall

Eventual four-time All-American Bo Jordan won the 2017 Big Ten title against freshman phenom Mark Hall of Penn State, the man who would end up as the NCAA champion at 174 pounds that season. After the two traded takedowns in regulation, the man known for his “dad strength” put it to good use early in the period, shooting deep on a single, elevating and finishing the takedown as Hall tried to roll through.

Hall would have the last laugh two weeks later at the NCAA tournament, but Jordan had the upper hand that day in Indiana’s Assembly Hall.

2018: Micah Jordan vs Michael Kemerer

A year later, it was Bo’s younger brother Micah who went hog-wild against one of the top guys in the weight class. Iowa’s Michael Kemerer would earn his second All-America honor that season and came into East Lansing with a perfect record in dual meets that year.

Kemerer squared up against “The Mongoose” in the 157-pound semifinals, and appeared to be in control of the match, leading 1-0 after two periods. Midway through the final two minutes, however, Jordan not only got the Hawkeye on the ground, but he also took him to his back for the fall. 

“He’s down 1-0 against a heckuva wrestler in Kemerer and to find a way . . . ” Ryan said after the match. “It was a great semifinal round for us.” 

The Buckeyes would go on to win the program’s fifth Big Ten championship in no small part due to Jordan’s huge match in the semis.

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2018: Kyle Snyder vs Adam Coon

Speaking of the 2018 Big Ten tournament, the biggest match of the weekend – literally – was the epic finals meeting of Captain American and Michigan titan Adam Coon. Coon had handed Snyder, considered by many at the time the best pound-for-pound wrestler on the planet, his first NCAA loss of the season a month earlier in Ann Arbor.

To say the rematch was highly-anticipated would be putting it mildly.

Coon towered over the 2016 Olympic champion, outweighing the Buckeye by what seemed to be every bit of 60 pounds. Neither man was able to score a takedown in regulation, trading escapes through the first seven minutes of the bout. The first Sudden Victory period was more of the same.

The two would trade escapes in the rideout periods, and so it was that in the ninth minute of the bout, Snyder would fire a shot that would snag Coon by the ankle, and despite the Wolverine’s best defense, finish the shot on the edge of the mat for the victory and the Big Ten title.

2013: Logan Stieber vs Tony Ramos

It’s not a stretch to say that Logan Stieber is one of the greatest athletes in Ohio State history. Not just the greatest wrestler, but on the Buckeye Mount Rushmore across all sports.

Stieber twice met Iowa standout Tony Ramos at the Big Ten championships at 133 pounds, first in 2012 when Stieber defeated Ramos in West Lafayette, IN, and then again a year later when the two met in Champaign, IL. Between the two of them, they had won 47 matches that season without losing one, and were ranked No. 1 and 2 in the country.

At the end of regulation, the score was knotted up at a point apiece. Stieber had a decent shot attempt late in the third period but couldn’t finish, forcing Sudden Victory. Twenty seconds into the period Stieber shot again, and though Ramos fought valiantly for nearly 30 seconds, Stieber ultimately elevated the Hawkeye and planted him to the mat for the go-ahead score and another Big Ten championship.

2015: Nathan Tomasello vs Thomas Gilman

It was a huge year for the Buckeyes. Logan Stieber would win his fourth NCAA title in a row, leading the Buckeyes to their first NCAA team championship in school history. At the conference tournament inside Ohio State’s own St. John Arena, Buckeye Nathan Tomasello met Iowa standout Thomas Gilman.

Gilman had the better of Tomasello in overtime when the two met in dual-meet action earlier in the season, but NaTo heated up after that January loss, going on what would end up as an 18-match win streak to finish the season. After upsetting two-time NCAA champion Jesse Delgado in the semifinals, Tomasello faced Gilman again with the conference crown on the line, and won the first of his incredible four Big Ten titles.

Andy Vance is a Columbus-based journalist who covers the Ohio State University wrestling program for Eleven Warriors, the largest independent sports site on the internet for Ohio State news, analysis, and community. He is co-host of the site’s Eleven Dubcast podcast. Follow him on Twitter @AndyVance