Penn State Vs. Iowa Wrestling: What to Know About the Match of the Year
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A year ago, Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands left Carver-Hawkeye Arena spinning from a 29-6 loss to Penn State. The Hawkeyes coach called the Nittany Lions "not normal." He meant it as a complement.
“They have a high-powered team,” Brands told reporters in Iowa City in 2024. “They score a lot of points, and you have to be ready, like, beyond ready. And if you just think you're ready, and you think it's normal, it's not normal. It's not a normal team, and that's not me putting them on a pedestal. That's not me conceding anything. We have to be better when we go out there. We have to be more ready when we go out there.”
Will Iowa be ready Friday when it visits top-ranked Penn State for college wrestling's match of the year? Iowa is the last team to beat Penn State in a dual match — five years ago Friday, in fact. Since then, the Nittany Lions have won 65 consecutive matches (the longest streak in school history) and three of the last four national championships. Brand recognizes what his team is confronting.
"You're wrestling the best team in the country, and it’s a measuring stick," the Iowa coach said this week. "There are individual matchups that have postseason seeding implications, so you gotta be ready. It’s really no different than any other weekend, but it’s different. I mean, it’s different."
There's already been some trash-talking, and about 16,000 Penn State fans surely will welcome Iowa warmly to the Bryce Jordan Center. Can't make it to State College for the event? Here's how and what to watch ahead of No. 1 Penn State vs. No. 2 Iowa.
RELATED: Penn State vs. Iowa: Tale of the tape
Penn State (9-0) vs. Iowa (9-0)
- When: 7 p.m. ET Friday
- Where: Bryce Jordan Center, State College, PA
- TV: Big Ten Network
- Streaming: B1G+
- Betting Line: Yes, there's a line. According to DraftKings, Penn State is a 21.5-point favorite over Iowa
- Series History: Iowa leads 28-13-2
- Last Meeting: Penn State 29-6 in 2024
- Noteworthy: Friday marks the fifth time that Penn State and Iowa will meet as the first- and second-ranked teams in the NWCA Coaches Poll. The teams have split the past four meetings: Iowa won the first two as the No. 1 team in 1986 (35-6) and 2020 (19-17); Penn State won the last two as the No. 1 team in 2022 (19-13) and 2023 (23-14).
About the Nittany Lions: The nation's most dominant team has been even more dominant in duals this season. Penn State has outscored its nine duals opponents 389-19 and its five ranked opponents 187-16. The Nittany Lions are 84-6 in individual bouts during those duals and 27-3 in Big Ten matches. Two of the losses were to wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the country. All 10 of Penn State's starters are ranked in the top-7 of their weight classes, according to InterMat. Five of those starters have not allowed a takedown this season. Penn State has scored an astonishing 68 technical falls this season, 11 by 165-pounder Mitchell Mesenbrink, who has teched every opponent he has wrestled. Want more? Penn State has scored 199 more takedowns in duals than its opponents (214-15). Yet as per his process, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson won't discuss stats or the win streak, which appears nowhere in the team's weekly statistical release.
"We don’t think about that stuff as a program," Sanderson said this week. "We just always just want to have the best team we can have. We take dual meets seriously. Every match is pretty much the same. It’s not something we’re focused on or worried about. Sometimes losing can be a blessing. You don’t have to lose to learn, obviously, but it’s certainly not something we’re worried out about, our won-loss record."
About the Hawkeyes: Iowa has been good this season, entering the match as one of three unbeaten Division I teams in the country (Oklahoma State is 11-0). The Hawkeyes arrive in State College following back-to-back wins over No. 13 Illinois (28-6) and No. 4 Ohio State (24-13). But Brands knows the challenge his team faces, and has faced really since 2010.
"Sanderson gets hired at Penn State, there’s instant change, so [the rivalry] evolves naturally that way," Brands said this week. "I think they’re a worthy opponent, and we gotta do our job."
Iowa has plenty of intriguing wrestlers, including unbeatens Kyle Parco (157 pounds), Michael Caliendo (165) and Stephen Buchanan (197). But the pivotal wrestlers to watch will be Drake Ayala (133) and Jacori Teemer (157). Ayala (11-1) missed the Ohio State match last week, but Brands predicted that the returning 125-pound NCAA runnerup would be in the lineup. Similarly, Teemer (3-1) returned to action against Ohio State after missing more than a month of action. Ayala and Teemer are matched in key bouts vs. Penn State's Braeden Davis and Tyler Kasak. Iowa's chances at the upset hinge largely on their availability. As for the pre-match trash talking, both coaches judged it benignly.
"You don’t micromanage that," Brands said. "Is it my style? It really doesn’t matter if it’s my style or not. I think it’s something that is naturally a part of athletics and athletic entertainment. And I think it’s good. If that’s what you want to do, go do it."
Said Sanderson, "I blame Fortnite. That’s just because, when people shoot me, they talk trash and dance. … It’s all part of the game. It’s just another aspect. You can engage in it or not, it doesn’t really matter. It’s up to you. To each their own. For us, we just enjoy wrestling and competing, The bigger the match, the better we’re gonna be."
How to Watch Penn State Vs. Iowa Wrestling
Big Ten Network will televise the Penn State-Iowa match beginning at 7 p.m. ET from the Bryce Jordan Center in State College. Shane Sparks and Jim Gibbons will call the match. Streamers can watch on BIG+.
More Penn State Wrestling
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Penn State dominates first NCAA Coaches Rankings of the season
Could college wreslting's National Duals Invitational go on without Penn State?
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