Penn State at Iowa. This is as big as dual meets get in college wrestling. The two programs own 8 of the last 10 national championships (PSU 5, Iowa 3).
This one is at venerable Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where Dan Gable went 5 straight years without a loss - until Penn State beat Gable’s Hawks in 1988.
The last time our Nittany Lions visited, in 2015, they came away with a hard-fought 24-12 victory. Just two Nittany Lions remain from that squad: Jimmy Gulibon (who got caught in a cow-catcher from noted Lion-killer and World Team member Tony Ramos), and everyone’s current number one, Zain Retherford, Destroyer of Worlds. Then true-frosh Retherford posted a 5-0 victory over fellow PA-product Josh Dziewa.
The Hawks wrestled poorly on the road last week. But that only assures they’ll be fighting hard tonight. There’s far too much pride in those black singlets to curl up into a ball, and go quietly into another loss - especially at home. The collar ties will be swung harder than usual. And since our Lions love that kinda party, we’re getting 10 awesome fights tonight. Disco Inferno, baby. Burn that mutha down, y’all. Let’s open thread.