One of the biggest rivalries in college wrestling history is set to renew this Sunday Feb 23rd in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa enters the dual ranked 2nd in the country while the cowboys bring a 3rd ranked team to battle at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Lots of bragging rights are on the line as Dave Taylor hopes to put Okie State back on top of the wrestling world. A win in Iowa City would go a long ways, in doing just that. The Hawkeyes are 13-1 on the year while the cowboys bring an undefeated 13-0 record into Carver Hawkeye Arena.
History: The Cowboys lead the all-time series, 29-25-2. Iowa has won 7 of the last 9 meetings including a 28-7 victory in Iowa City last season.
Don’t Miss: This dual has quite a few must see match-ups. Caliendo and Amine always have close matches, Brands vs Hamiti should be exciting, as well as Ferrari vs Plott.
Keys To Victory: Both teams enter the meet favored in 5 weight classes each. So bonus points and upsets will be a key to victory for both teams. The most obvious case for bonus points comes at heavyweight.
So without any further ado lets take a look at each match and I will do my best to give you a winner and team score.
125 Joey Cruz #14 VS Troy Spratley #4
133 Drake Ayala #1 VS Reece Witcraft #17
141 Cullan Schriever VS Tagen Jamison #6
149 Kyle Parco #3 VS Carter Young #14
157 Jacori Teemer #2 VS Caleb Fish #13
165 Michael Caliendo #2 VS Cameron Amine #6
174 Nelson Brands or Patrick Kennedy #7 VS Dean Hamiti #3
184 Gabe Arnold#7 VS Dustin Plott #3
197 Steven Buchanan #1 VS Luke Surber #5
285 Ben Kueter #11 VS Wyatt Hendrickson #3
Conclusion: On paper this dual is a toss up. I see both teams winning 5 matches. So it will come down to bonus points. The Hawkeyes have a realistic chance of getting an extra point at 133, and maybe 149. Oklahoma State has that opportunity at 141, and Heavyweight. Wyatt Hendrickson is a bonus points machine and will be going for the pin at heavyweight. I could see Iowa doing something a little crazy, by bumping Brands up to 184, he is 3-0 against Plott, although its been a long time since they have wrestled. In the end I see the final score Iowa losing 16-17.