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What a dual season. Action packed from beginning to end, with upsets galore, this has been one of the most exciting wrestling seasons to date. Set aside all of the moaning about National Duals (and we're as guilty of moaning as the next guy), the 2013/2014 season has been one of the best ever - and we still have the best part of the season to come. Let's take one last look at our dual meet rankings before turning the page into the post season.
| BSD Rank | Last Week | Team | Wins | Losses | Top 20 Ws | Top 20 L's | Last Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Minnesota | 13 | 1 | 9 | 1 | W, 27-12, at Iowa State |
| 2 | 2 | Penn State | 15 | 1 | 9 | 1 | W, 43-3, vs. Clarion |
| 3 | 3 | Iowa | 15 | 2 | 8 | 2 | W, 28-10, at Wisconsin |
| 4 | 4 | Northern Iowa | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | W, 21-19, vs. Old Dominion |
| 5 | 5 | Oklahoma State | 10 | 5 | 3 | 5 | W, 29-10, vs. Arizona State |
| 6 | 6 | Cornell | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 | W, 28-19, vs. Hofstra |
| 7 | 7 | Michigan | 11 | 4 | 7 | 3 | IDLE |
| 8 | 8 | Nebraska | 12 | 2 | 5 | 2 | W, 22-15, at Wisconsin |
| 9 | 9 | Missouri | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | W, 24-9, at Kent State |
| 10 | 10 | Ohio State | 13 | 5 | 4 | 5 | W, 23-16, vs. Virginia Tech |
| 11 | 11 | Pitt | 13 | 3 | 4 | 3 | W, 22-12 vs. UNC |
| 12 | 12 | Oklahoma | 11 | 5 | 3 | 4 | IDLE |
| 13 | 13 | Wisconsin | 12 | 6 | 6 | 4 | L, 10-28, vs. Iowa |
| 14 | 14 | UVA | 18 | 3 | 3 | 3 | IDLE |
| 15 | 15 | Edinboro | 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 | W, 29-6 vs. WVU |
| 16 | 16 | Virginia Tech | 17 | 5 | 4 | 5 | L, 16-23, at Ohio State |
| 17 | 17 | Oregon State | 11 | 7 | 3 | 5 | IDLE |
| 18 | 19 | NDSU | 11 | 6 | 2 | 6 | W, 32-12, vs. SDSU |
| 19 | 20 | Chattanooga | 15 | 7 | 1 | 6 | W, 37-3, vs. VMI |
| 20 | NR | Northwestern | 8 | 7 | 1 | 6 | W, 24-15, vs. NCState |
The Top 3, according to our massive network of pollsters, remain intractable, and, to a certain extent, interchangeable. Wrestle 10 duals each between them, the results would be awfully close - just like they were when they wrestled the first time. A botched referee call here, a surprise pinfall there....Penn State, Minnesota, and Iowa are very close to each other, but a fair distance ahead of the rest of the world.
Congratulations to UNI. The Panthers finished their dual season undefeated for the first time since the invention of electricity, and are the only undefeated squad in Division 1. They accomplished the feat by the most narrow of margins, topping Old Dominion 21-19, despite ODU taking 6 of the 10 bouts. It took 3 pinfalls, and a dual clinching 7-4 decision at heavyweight, for Schwab's crew to go home unblemished. Credit ODU for carrying the fight, led by Billy Curling (174) and Jack Dechow (184), both of whom pulled off upsets against highly ranked foes (Cody Caldwell-174, and Ryan Loder-184). ODU earned the win, but came up just short on bonus points.
Congrats also, to Michigan. New training facilities, outstanding assistant coach hires, and a couple of highly ranked recruiting classes returned the Wolverines into the Top 10 for the first time in too long. And if you can stomach that bit of applause, we might as well toss Pitt (gag) into the mix as well. Congrats to first year coach Jason Peters, winning the ACC in the Panthers' inaugural season in the conference.
Excuse me for a moment, while I get sick to my stomach for having written such things.
Just a second. Almost there...
Okay. Not a lot of shakeup for the final poll. Northwestern, with wins over Stanford last week, and NCState this week, finish with a winning dual meet record despite wrestling in the Big Ten, and earn the final spot in the poll.
Dropped From The Rankings
| Last Week | Team | Wins | Losses | Top 20 Ws | Top 20 L's | Last Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Central Michigan | 10 | 11 | 1 | 7 | L, 14-18, vs. Michigan State |
CMU showed well at National Duals, but then had a bit of controversy in a shocking loss to Michigan State. The Chippewas lost a team point on an unsportsmanlike call, following Spartan Garth Yenter's upset win over #16 Joe Roth at 133. Sparty heavy Mike McClure's pin provided the winning margin in a dual whose bouts were split evenly, 5-5. Tom Minkel's team finished their season on a 3-match win streak, which is an incredible accomplishment from where they began the season.
Others Receiving Votes
| Last Week | Team | Wins | Losses | Top 20 Ws | Top 20 L's | Last Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR | Illinois | 8 | 8 | 0 | 7 | IDLE |
| NR | Kent State | 11 | 13 | 2 | 8 | L, 9-27, vs. Edinboro |
| NR | Lehigh | 8 | 6 | 1 | 4 | W, Harvard |
| NR | Old Dominion | 8 | 10 | 2 | 5 | L, 19-21, vs. UNI |
| NR | Iowa State | 9 | 9 | 1 | 5 | L, 12-27, vs. Minnesota |
| NR | Stanford | 15 | 5 | 1 | 3 | IDLE |
The Week In Upsets
Another week in wrestling, another bevy of upsets. All hail former #7 Ike Jordan, who pulled out overtime wins against former #1 James Green and former #2 Derek St. John in back-to-back bouts. Not too shabby for a freshman. Jordan propelled himself from a likely 5th or 6th seed at Big Tens into the top spot, with an unblemished conference record, at a weight that features a returning national champ, 4 past All-Americans, and 6 top 20 foes, not including himself. What a crazy season.
Last, it wasn't an upset, but it was noteworthy: Kyven Gadson solidified his top ranking by knocking off former #1 Scott Schiller, 6-4, at 197lbs. Schiller started the year 24-0, including a 6-3 win over Gadson, but is just 2-3 in his last 5 bouts (albeit against 3 pretty stout opponents).
| Wt | Upset |
|---|---|
| 125 | Corey Stainbrook(WVU) dec. #18 Kory Mines (Edinboro), 6-4 |
| 125 | Nathan Kraisser (UNC) dec. #20 Anthony Zanetta (Pitt), 6-4 |
| 125 | #13 Ryan Taylor (Wisc) dec. #9 Tim Lambert (Neb), 5-3SV |
| 133 | Garth Yenter (Sparty) dec. #16 Joe Roth (CMU), 8-4 |
| 141 | Todd Preston (Harvard) dec. #20 Laike Gardner (Lehigh), 9-4 |
| 141 | #15 Edgar Bright (Pitt) dec. #6 Evan Henderson (UNC), 3-1 |
| 149 | Christian Barber (UNC) dec. #20 Mikey Racciato (Pitt), 4-2 |
| 157 | #7 Ike Jordan (Wisc) dec. #2 Derek St.John (Iowa), 3-1SV |
| 157 | #7 Ike Jordan (Wisc) dec. #1 James Green, 3-1SV2 |
| 184 | Jack Dechow (ODU) dec. #5 Ryan Loder (UNI), 5-4 |
| 197 | #1 Kyven Gadson (Iowa St) dec. #4 Scott Schiller (Minn), 6-4 |
| 285 | Evan Daley (Clarion), dec. #12 Jimmy Lawson, 7-6 |
| 285 | #10 Conor Medbery (Wisc) dec. #3 Bobby Telford (Iowa), 3-1 |
| 285 | #6 Nick Gwiazdowski (NCState) dec. #1 Mike McMullen, 5-3SV |
