Here’s 5 things we learned from Penn State wrestling’s loss to Iowa and win over Maryland
The past weekend was an eventful one for the Penn State wrestling team.
The Nittany Lions suffered their first Big Ten loss in nearly five years Friday when they fell 19-17 to top-ranked Iowa. Penn State then came storming back Sunday, dominating Maryland 40-3 with six bonus-point victories.
Here’s what we learned:
1) Dual meets matter
Do dual meets matter? It’s the age-old question in college wrestling. With the way the season is structured now, all emphasis is placed on the NCAA Tournament, So no, losing a dual meet here or there doesn’t technically matter when it comes to determining the national champion so long as your best team shows up and gets it done come NCAAs.
But try telling the 15,000-plus people at Carver-Hawkeye Friday night and the Iowa City fire marshal that duals don’t matter. Try telling that to the Iowa wrestlers, who stood on their feet the entire dual, watching their teammates and cheering them on. Try telling that to the Penn State wrestlers, who jumped up and down, high-fiving each other when Vincenzo Joseph took Alex Marinelli to his back with a lateral drop in the all-important 165-pound matchup.
The same excitement that was felt in Iowa City Friday night was felt in Rec Hall two years ago, when Penn State fended off an Ohio State team that some expected to win the national championship that season.
After any exciting dual meet, there are always calls from people on social media to bring back the NWCA Dual Championship Series, which was discontinued for Division I after the 2016-17 season when Penn State knocked off Oklahoma State for the dual championships title. Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson has talked about both the pros and cons of bringing back the series.
But regardless of whether there’s a dual championships, duals are not without meaning. Division I athletes don’t go into any competition wanting to lose. Duals matter for them. Duals also matter for fans. More than 15,500 of them packed Carver-Hawkeye Friday night, and a similar amount will pack the Bryce Jordan Center in a week when the Buckeyes come to town.
The Big Ten Network also increased its number of live dual broadcasts by 40% this season, in response to growing interest.
Whether there’s a dual championship or not, fans and wrestlers alike have shown that yes, dual meets matter to them.
2) Roman Bravo-Young has his sights set on a title
Every college wrestler will you tell his ultimate goal is to win a national title. But obviously, only a few have the skills to match that desire.
In the past week, sophomore Roman Bravo-Young has signaled that he’s ready to make himself part of that title-contender conversation at 133 pounds. Although it’s impossible to know exactly how his Friday bout against No. 2 Austin DeSanto would’ve turned out had the Hawkeye not gotten injured and medically forfeited just before the two-minute mark, it certainly seemed as though RBY had him dead to rights — twice.
DeSanto, who held a 2-0 career advantage over RBY, got in on a shot right out of the gate, but RBY countered by locking up a cradle, and taking DeSanto to his back, when the injury occurred. While DeSanto was visibly limping through what remained of the match, RBY dominated him from the top position, then locked up another cradle and took DeSanto to his back again when the ref stopped the action and DeSanto ended the match.
While we can’t fully assess how DeSanto would’ve fought back had he not gotten injured, it’s clear Bravo-Young came out with the mindset that could win, and he looked like he was well on his way to doing so.
“I was excited,” he said after the Maryland dual Sunday. “I was 0-2 against him and wanted to prove something to myself.”
He kept the momentum going Sunday, toying With Maryland’s King Sandoval for seven minutes, racking up 11 takedowns for the 24-9 technical fall.
We’ll find out soon whether RBY is a serious title contender, when he takes on No. 1 Seth Gross when the Nittany Lions travel to Wisconsin Friday.
Like with DeSanto, RBY is excited for the opportunity to prove himself.
“(I’m going to) just be me and let it fly,” he said. “Looking forward to it.”
3) Penn State can compete
While any competitor will be quick to say there’s no such thing as a “good loss,” Penn State fans should come away form the Iowa dual feeling more optimistic than not.
Most wrestling media pundits were predicting the Nittany Lions to lose by double digits. However, the Nittany Lions took the lead in the second bout of the evening, and didn’t relinquish it until the very end.
From a postmatch video interview with TrackWrestling’s Andy Hamilton, it appears from Sanderson’s tone and comments that he was more pleased than not with his team’s efforts.
“I think we can compete,” Sanderson said, in the video posted on TrackWrestling’s website. “This is the team to beat. All the polls and rankings and everything that’s been out there has them winning by a landslide. I think we’ve just got to close the gap a little bit. Just keep getting better.”
While losing the 174-pound bout hurt — both for the dual and NCAA projections — Penn State raised its stock both at 133 and 184 pounds. Behind defending national champ Zahid Valencia at 184 is a hodgepodge of wrestlers who’ve all, for most part, beaten one another, and are just waiting for somebody to emerge as the clear No. 2. With the win in the tough road environment, the Penn State’s Aaron Brooks showed he has a horse in that race.
As for “closing the gap,” Sanderson also hinted at potential lineup changes in the TrackWrestling interview.
What exactly that means is hard to say, but from that comment it appears making needed changes isn’t out of the question for Sanderson.
While Sanderson earlier referred to this season as a “transition year,” it appears from his postmatch interview that he believes his team can win NCAAs, and is certainly not going to go down without a fight.
4) Joseph vs. Marinelli is this year’s Hall vs. Valencia
Last season, this column declared that the rivalry between Penn State’s Mark Hall vs. Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia had the makings to become the best college wrestling rivalry in recent history. Well, that rivalry now has a serious challenger in Vincenzo Joseph vs. Alex Marinelli.
With Valencia now up at 184 pounds, that series effectively ended at 2-2, with the Sun Devil taking it twice in the NCAA championship. Before Friday, two-time national champion Joseph has been 0-2 against the Iowa junior. A lateral drop for a six-point move changed that.
Joseph was successfully able to make adjustments, and instead of going for his signature inside trip, which has doomed him against Marinelli in the past, he felt him out and hit the throw, showing the evolution of the series.
The two were so close during the bout, and both capable of hitting the big move, that anyone watching knew the match could completely change direction at any time.
With any hope, we, as wrestling fans, will see this series twice more this season — maybe even to determine the team title.
5) Mark Hall is taking his loss seriously
Hall has become known over the past four years for not being shy when it comes to celebrating.
Whether it’s his “Fortnite”-inspired “dropping the hammer,” rocking out with the air guitar or kissing his biceps, Hall has gotten creative over the years.
But on Sunday, two days after taking his first loss of the season, Hall ran onto the mat at Rec Hall, pinned his Maryland opponent in just 51 seconds, and ran straight off. No antics.
Earlier in the season, Hall told reporters he was inspired to stay focused and finish out his collegiate career strong by a TV interview he saw with Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts. The interview took place after the Sooners lost to LSU in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
In the interview, Hall said that Hurts talked about how whenever he would have a bad game or take a loss, he could always look back, see what he did wrong and make adjustments for the next game. But when he ended his final game of his senior season with a loss, he realized there was no going back.
“I don’t want to have those types of thoughts,” Hall said in early January. “So every day, I just come in and look for something I can get better at and look for ways I can put myself in the best position to win and keep winning.”
Time will tell whether Hall will avenge his 11-6 loss to Iowa’s Michael Kemerer. But if the way he exited the mat Sunday afternoon is any indication, he’s taking that loss seriously.
