Wrestling Preview: Wisconsin and Purdue are Meat

The Nittany Lions wrestling squad gets two matches this weekend. First up is Bucky the Badger, who swings by Rec Hall on Friday night to get stomped, live on national TV (BTN). Look for a BSD Open Thread for that one. Then the Lions fly out to West Lafayette, IN, on Sunday to feast on Purdue in the first away dual of the season. Per BTN, this matchup will be too much slaughter to air under the guidelines of decency for cable television. So we're outta luck until the typical 11am Tuesday re-broadcast, when no one will be watching.

Dual Meet vs. Wisconsin

125 LBS

#2 Nico Megaludis vs. UR (RSSO) Matt Cavallaris - Cavallaris was just majored by Michigan's Sean Boyle, 0-12. Bucky's dual is unlikely to start well.

Line: Nico minus 12.5

133 LBS

UR Jordan Conaway vs. #3 (RSSR) Tyler Graff - Graff finished 4th in 2011, and took an Oly redshirt in 2012. He started the season up at 141lbs, but is now back at '33. Conaway is unbeaten in duals this year, but Graff represents a big step up in competition.

Line: Conaway plus 4.5

141 LBS

UR Bryan Pearsall vs. UR (RSSR) Tom Kelliher - Kelliher, I believe, bounced Pearsall in last year's BigTen Championships, and played no small part in Pearsall missing the auto-qualifier to Nationals. Kelliher is a wrestling doppleganger for Pearsall. Both are hard-work senior bean-pole guys that struggle to finish shots but ride like maniacs. Pearsall needs this one for his confidence, B1G seeding, and just because.

Line: Pearsall minus 2

149 LBS

UR Jim English vs. UR (RSSR) Cole Schmidt - Schmidt finished 5th at B1G's in 2010; 8th in 2011; and DNP in 2012. He's (4-6) so far this season, with recent losses to Nebraska's Sueflohn and Sparty's Osterman. If Schmidt were a traded equity, he would have had his dead-cat-bounce a while ago. Really crazy to think that just a few years ago his match versus Frank the Tank was a big headliner. Maybe he's sick of wrestling at this point?

Line: English minus 6.5

157 LBS

UR Jim Vollrath vs. UR (RSJR) Kalvin York - Kalvin York decisioned Collin Zeerip - the youngest of the Michigan Zeerip's - 9-7 in his most recent action. Beyond that, Kalvin York coverage is thin. Make of that what you will.

Line: Vollrath minus 3

HALFTIME

Time to stretch, rub your over sized belly, grab a few more beers, hit the commode, and come back to laugh at guys who have to cut weight and be disciplined in their diets. It's awesome.

165 LBS

#2 David Taylor vs. UR (RSSO) Frank Cousins - Cousins is originally from Florida. Yes, there is wrestling in the southland these days. Outside of that, does it really matter what Cousins' record is? No. No it does not.

Line: Taylor by Fall in 6 minutes or less

174 LBS

#3 Matt Brown vs. UR (RSSO) Ben Cox - Cox is originally from Wisconsin. Yes, there is wrestling in the hinterlands these days. Outside of that, does it really matter what Cox's record is? No. No it does not.

Line: Brown by Fall in 6 minutes or less

184 LBS

#1 Mr. Edward Ruth vs. UR (RSJR) Scott Leigel - Leigel is 10-10 on the season. Dear Scott, be careful that you don't ever - and I mean EVER - find your head within 2 feet of your own knee. Or you'll soon be admiring the Rec Hall ceiling.

Line: Ed Ruth smells so damn good, while getting the Fall in 5 minutes or less.

197 LBS

#3 Quentin Wright vs. #20 (RSJR) Jackson Hein - Hein enters the rankings for the first time at #20, after he defeated (former #18) Max Huntley of Michigan in recent action. #3 Quentin is a pretty big step up, though.

Line: Quentin minus 8.5

285 LBS - Match of the Meet

#16 Jon Gingrich vs. #11 (RSFR) Connor Medberry - Medberry is 12-3 on the season with victories over Sparty's McClure and Michigan's Apland. Jon Gingrich beat Jimmy Lawson in the wrestle-off last week, then beat #4 McClure with an awesome, driving double leg to the back. Medberry presents another big test for young Gingrich, who enters the Intermat rankings for the first time ever at #16 (arrow pointing up).

Line: Pick 'em.

OVERALL

The Badgers, after looking like a puke bucket last season, have pulled some nice dual meet wins this season. They're wrestling tough...but they've got zero shot in this one.

Line: PSU minus 30

Dual Meet AT Purdue

125 LBS

#2 Nico vs. #17 (RSJR) Camden Eppert - Eppert's been around the block as a 2-time NCAA qualifier, and he's capable of pulling an upset if Nico isn't on his game. But I've never seen Nico not focused, have you?

Line: Nico minus 11.5

133 LBS

UR Jordan Conaway vs. #14 (RSJR) Cache Quiroga OR UR (RSFR) Danny Sabatello - Quiroga's All-American finish three years ago keeps getting further away. He missed the most recent dual for unspecified reasons (that I could find). At his place in the lineup was Danny Sabatello. Sabatello is tall. He redshirted as a true frosh last year. That's the full extent of my Danny Sabatello knowledge. Enjoy.

Line: Conaway minus 5 vs. Sabatello; Conaway plus 3 versus Quiroga

141 LBS

UR Bryan Pearsall vs. UR (RSFR) Branden Nelsen - Another frosh for Purdue. This one's shorter than the last one. This one was majored by BJ Futrell at the recent Purdue vs. Illinois dual.

Line: Pearsall minus 5

149 LBS

UR Jim English vs. #13 (RSSR) Ivan Lopouchanski - Ivan's got that Eastern European style, which makes sense because he's originally from Eastern Europe. He's long and lean, but doesn't appear overpowering in the matches I've seen. Funky, though. One of the few wrestlers that I've seen actually do something with a Russian tie. (Again, go figure).

Line: English minus 3.5

157 LBS

UR Jim Vollrath vs. UR (RSJR) Tommy Churchard - Churchard made it to the Round of 16 (wrestlebacks) at NCAA's last year. He was 13-3, ranked in the upper teens at one point this season. Since then, he's lost 6 of his last 8 matches, including the last five in a row. Your guess is as good as mine as to what happened.

Line: Vollrath minus 3

HALFTIME

Time to stretch, rub your over sized belly, grab a few more beers, hit the commode, and come back to laugh at guys who have to cut weight and be disciplined in their diets. It's awesome. Still.

165 LBS

#2 David Taylor vs. UR (RSSO) Pat Robinson - not to be confused with Pat Smith or J Robinson.

Line: Taylor by Fall in 6 minutes or less.

174 LBS

#3 Matt Brown vs. UR (RSFR) Chad Welch - Welch is 16-6 in his first campaign for the Boilermakers, but was majored by Illinois' Blanton, and pinned by Iowa's Evans, in his most recent two matches.

Line: Brown by Tech Fall in 6 minutes or less.

184 LBS

#1 Ed Ruth vs. UR (RSFR) Andy Wiseman - Wiseman was pinned by Central Dauphin's (now Illinois') #18 Tony Dallago in under a minute and a half last week. This week Wiseman gets another District III kid, this one from Susquehanna Township. I'm thinking Wiseman doesn't make it out of 3A Regionals.

Line: Ruth by Fall in 3 minutes or less.

197 LBS

#3 Quentin Wright vs. #17 (RSSO) Braden Atwood - Atwood made the Round of 16 at last year's Nationals. If this was a tournament instead of dual 'practice' for Quentin, Atwood doesn't make it the full seven minutes.

Line: Quentin minus 8.5

285 LBS

#16 Jon Gingrich vs. UR (RSSO) Alex White - Alex looks like nearly every high school heavyweight you've ever seen, if that helps paint the picture. In other words, Gingrich isn't wrestling McClure or Medberry in this one.

Line: Gingrich minus 3.5

OVERALL

This could be another shutout, particularly if Quiroga sits again. Shutouts are not supposed to happen in Big Ten conference duals. Yet this shapes up as the third PSU shutout of a Big Ten opponent out of four dual contests. That's kinda stupid. It doesn't even sound right.

Line: PSU minus 33

This Week's Stock Tips

Let's skip this week and enjoy our gains from last week's picks, CELG and XXIA.

Other Wrestling News

Okie State beat Iowa, 18-12. It'd be nice to get Okie State back on the schedule. We can't even manage to have conference foe Minnesota on it every year, as it is. Thanks, Big Ten. Maybe it'll happen if the National Duals ever gets sorted out, though I believe the Sandersons prefer to help out the local schools with duals - which is why we saw Lock Haven instead of seeing PSU at Grapple at the Garden. If you force me to choose between Okie State or helping the PA schools, I'll take the latter.

Follow @BSDtweet on Twitter
And join us on Facebook
All BSD community members should review our current Posting & Commenting Policies before creating any posts or commenting.