Michigan Stuns Penn State at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships

Penn State defeated Michigan 29-6 in a January dual. The Wolverines got their revenge at the Big Ten tournament.

Penn State's Carter Starocci spoke declaratively, resoundingly and perhaps a bit too soon Sunday at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships.

"We're not neck-and-neck with Michigan," Starocci said on BTN after winning the Big Ten title at 174 pounds. "We're a lot better than Michigan."

And yet, Michigan was better at the two-day Big Ten tournament. The Wolverines won the Big Ten team title, edging Penn State by 1.5 points (143-141.5), on the strength of a huge decision that followed Starocci's declaration.

Michigan's Myles Amine, a 2020 Olympic bronze-medalist wrestling for San Marino, defeated Penn State's Aaron Brooks by scoring a sudden-victory takedown for a 6-4 decision. Had Brooks won, Penn State would have taken the team lead, which Michigan would have been hard-pressed to recoup. Instead, the Wolverines increased their lead to 5.5 points and held on to win their first tournament title since 1973.

Brooks' loss was Penn State's only one of the final session. The Lions went 4-1 in the finals, with Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds), Nick Lee (141), Starocci and Max Dean (197) winning titles.

Penn State qualified nine wrestlers to the NCAA championships with a chance to get Creighton Edsall an at-large bid at 165. Those invitations will be announced Wednesday. Penn State has qualified at least nine wrestlers to nationals eight times under head coach Cael Sanderson.

The NCAA Wrestling Championships are scheduled for March 17-19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Penn State trailed Michigan by 11.5 points entering Sunday's final session and 15.5 after Michigan's Nick Suriano (who once wrestled at Penn State) won the 125-pound title. But the Lions clawed back, getting to within 1.5 points of Michigan with Starocci's win.

And then...

Starocci wasn't necessarily wrong, considering that Penn State defeated Michigan 29-6 in their dual meet in January. But the Wolverines won their first Big Ten tournament title since 1973 on the strength of a strong Saturday of bonus-point victories and Amine's comeback victory.

Nevertheless, Penn State has an opportunity to finish the season in a way with which Sanderson is familiar. Penn State twice has won team national championships, in 2017 and '18, when it placed second at the conference tournament.

Here's a look at Penn State's Sunday at the Big Ten championships.

125: Drew Hildebrandt bounced back from a tough first day, in which he lost twice, to earn an automatic bid to nationals. Hildebrandt, the No. 2 seed, defeated Indiana's Jacob Moran 4-0 in the mini-bracket to decide the ninth and 10th place, the final two automatic qualifiers from the Big Ten. Hildebrandt officially finished 10th after not forfeiting out of the ninth-place bout.

133: Roman Bravo-Young continued his mastery of Iowa's Austin DeSanto, scoring a takedown with 31 seconds left to secure a 3-1 victory and his second Big Ten title. Bravo-Young (17-0) defeated DeSanto for the fifth consecutive time, including his second straight in a Big Ten final.  Bravo-Young also won his 31st consecutive bout dating to the 2020 Big Ten championships.

141: Defending NCAA champ Nick Lee finally got his Big Ten title, though he still hasn't won one on the mat. Lee claimed the title after Iowa's Jaydin Eierman chose to take a medical forfeit. Lee lost to Eierman in last year's Big Ten final but got his revenge in the NCAA final. Lee said on the BTN broadcast that he respected Eierman's decision. The forfeit gave Penn State two extra team points as well.

149: Beau Bartlett hit a third-period takedown for a 3-1 decision over Michigan's Kanen Storr, serving the Lions with a key win in the team race. Bartlett (14-8) went 3-2 at the conference tournament to qualify for his first NCAA championships.

157: Brady Berge scored a huge boost in the team standings with his 3-1 sudden-victory decision over Iowa's Kaleb Young. Berge (9-2) rebounded from a semifinal loss with a pair of big team-point wins, including a pin, Sunday.

Clutch! Berge wins in SV to take 3rd place #psuwr pic.twitter.com/t4FmQbeL3f

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) March 6, 2022

165: Creighton Edsall, who went 1-2 Saturday, awaits a possible at-large bid to nationals.

174: Top-ranked Carter Starocci, Penn State's leading points-scorer in the dual-meet season, launched the team's comeback into hyperdrive with a 5-1 win over Michigan's Logan Massa. In this first of two head-to-head matchups between Penn State and Michigan, Starocci scored the first takedown and essentially controlled the bout thereafter, riding out Massa the entire third period. The win was Starocci's third over Massa and second this season.

184: Michigan's Myles Amine stunned Aaron Brooks, getting a pair of late takedowns to win 6-4 in sudden victory and restore the Wolverines' team lead. Brooks labored at bout's end, giving up a takedown with 10 seconds remaining, gutting out an escape and then allowing another takedown in sudden victory. The result was even more surprising, since Brooks scored the first takedown. Brooks and Amine entered the tournament ranked 1-2 in the country and are likely to meet once more in the NCAA finals.

197: Max Dean, who transferred to Penn State from Cornell, defeated top-seeded Max Schultz of Nebraska 4-2 for his first Big Ten title. Dean (18-1) had a strong tournament, avenging a regular-season loss to Michigan State's Cameron Caffey before defeating Schultz in the final.

285: Greg Kerkvliet had the Big Ten title on his shoulders, albeit the odds weren't good. The heavyweight needed to pin Michigan's Mason Parris for Penn State to win the team title by a half-point. Kerkvliet has five falls this season, including one Saturday, but could not put Parris on his back. Stilll, Kerkvliet won 5-3 to place third.

AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.