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WRESTLING: No. 1 Penn State Dominates Most Dominant

This Penn State wrestling team is a lot of fun to watch.

The NCAA tracks a stat they name "Most Dominant".  The simple explanation behind the stat is this: when a wrestler steps on the resilite, how many points does he score for his team, on average?  As a reminder:

  • Fall = 6 points
  • Tech Fall = 5
  • Major = 4
  • Decision = 3

Two things jump out from the NCAA's current Top 10 standings.  First, 40% of the top 10 are Penn Staters.  That's pretty awesome.  Second, every time Jason Nolf and Zain Retherford take the mat for Penn State, they're averaging more than a tech fall.

That is ridiculous.

In related news, here are your Big Ten top 50 "leaders" in stall warnings.  Stall warnings are issued when a wrestler stops wrestling, and purposely attempts to make the action boring and miserable.

You'll note the absence of a certain school from the top 50.

Wrestler Team Stall Calls
Domenic Prezzia Ohio State 17
Michael Cullen Wisconsin 16
Drake Stein Purdue 15
Johnny Jimenez Wisconsin 15
Danny Sabatello Purdue 14
Davonte Mahomes Michigan 14
Isaac Reinemann Illinois 14
Matthew Okaiye Michigan State 14
Mitch Rogaliner Michigan State 13
Ben Thornton Purdue 13
Youssif Hemida Maryland 12
Patrick Blommel Michigan State 12
Patrick Grayson Nebraska 12
William Balow Minnesota 12
Kyle Ayersman Purdue 12
Jacob Cooper Michigan State 11
Kyle Langenderfer Illinois 11
Elijah Oliver Indiana 11
Brock Horwath Wisconsin 11
Sam Stoll Iowa 11
Salvatore Profaci Michigan 11
Dean Vettese Michigan State 10
Anthony Giraldo Rutgers 10
Josh Snook Maryland 10
Dimitrus Renfroe Michigan State 10
Timothy Ruschell Wisconsin 10
Benjamin Lamantia Michigan 10
Jacob Aven Purdue 10
Kenny Courts Ohio State 9
Tyson Dippery Rutgers 9
Shane Shadaia Michigan State 9
Francis Edelen Illinois 9
Jake Anderson Nebraska 9
Cody VanderHagen Michigan 9
Kris Williams Nebraska 9
Rylee Streifel Minnesota 9
Norman Conley Indiana 9
Sean McCabe Rutgers 8
Mark Martin Ohio State 8
Kirk Johnson Purdue 8
Skyler Petry Minnesota 8
Ryan Christensen Wisconsin 8
Steven Rodrigues Illinois 8
Conor Youtsey Michigan 8
Jordan Amine Michigan 8
Santonio Cathery Wisconsin 8
Jack Rozema Ohio State 8
Malik Amine Michigan 8
Danny Hicks Illinois 8
Cash Wilcke Iowa 8

It's been mentioned by BTN color analyst Jim Gibbons several times - and it's absolutely true.  Cael and his staff have created a culture of action on the mat.  Sure, it helps having super-talented wrestlers pinning everyone they face.  But the aggressive attitude on the mat pervades the entire squad, as evidenced by the fact that no Penn State wrestler appears on the "stall" list.  Not a freshman walk-on, not a career backup, not the linebacker filling in at heavyweight, and certainly not a starter.  All of our Lions wrestle the full seven minutes.  And that makes all of them a ton of fun to watch.

One last note - as our man in SoCal Frank notes in a writeup here, according to Cael's radio show this week, a certain Nick Nevills has been medically cleared to compete.  Getting big Nick back at 285lbs would be pretty awesome.  And Mouse will be a "go" against Ohio State this Friday, at a sold-out Bryce Jordan Center.   So, yeah - Penn State seems to be getting healthy-ish, finally - and it couldn't come at a better time of the year.

Bonus Coverage

Because it's the dual we all want to see, but won't get to this year - here is Penn State vs Iowa lined up, with "Most Dominant" average points scored for all 20 wrestlers.

Avg Penn State WT Iowa Avg
4.09 #4 Megaludis 125 #2 Gilman 4.75
2.95 #5 Conaway 133 #3 Clark 3.64
1.86 #14 Gulibon 141 Grothus -2.00
5.05 #1 Retherford 149 #2 Sorensen 3.88
5.14 #1 Nolf 157 #16 Cooper 1.18
2.21 #16 Rasheed 165 Rhoads -0.13
4.35 #1 Nickal 174 #10 Meyer 2.89
3.84 #9 McCutcheon 184 #11 Brooks 3.44
4.55 #1 McIntosh 197 #4 Burak 3.31
-2.75 Johnson 285 #7 Stoll 3.56