Three takeaways from Penn State wrestling’s victory over Nebraska in the BJC
Penn State’s wrestling team cruised to another Big Ten victory, and their 83rd straight dual win, on Friday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center by topping Nebraska, 26-12.
The Cornhuskers became the highest scoring team against the Nittany Lions this season, surpassing Wyoming’s seven points scored in December.
Penn State has three duals left in the season, and here are three takeaways from the latest victory:
Cornhuskers may have created playbook to slow down Nittany Lions
Penn State has been collecting bonus point victories left and right all season long.
Coming into Friday night’s match, the Nittany Lions had recorded 83 bonus point victories in their duals. They recorded four against Nebraska.
So, what was the difference from the other duals?
The Cornhuskers had solid hand fighting that kept Penn State’s wrestlers at bay, unlike most teams. Nittany Lions’ coach Cael Sanderson said it’s “nothing new.”
“They’re kind of jabbing us in the face and backing up. We see it every week. We have to be able to close the gap, and get in there and get to our tieups and do our thing,” Sanderson said. “It’s hard to wrestle for sure. Refs don’t really call stalling traditionally anymore. It’s just the way it is, so we got to get in there and make it happen.”
Jacob Van Dee’s defense kept Marcus Blaze from not recording bonus points — just the third time that’s happened in a match this season. Taylor’s defense, or lack thereof, handed Duke his first loss, and kept him from recording any bonus points for the first time this year.
Christopher Minto, who was initially shoved off the stage by Levi Haines in the first period, was able to keep Haines from getting to his offense. Haines came away with an 8-6 win, but it was just the second time he didn’t record any bonus points.
In the final bout of the night, Cole Mirasola, who recorded bonus points in his last three matches, was held to just one point total in his 2-1 loss to AJ Ferrari.
Lightning & Blaze
For years, Penn State struggled to have a solid duo to start off their duals at 125 and 133 pounds.
The Nittany Lions would usually have one or the other, but not at the same time — until now.
“Lightning” Luke Lilledahl and Marcus Blaze have given Penn State the ability to know it has two wins for sure, and usually bonus points too. Friday night the dynamic duo got things rolling again as they have all season.
“Starting off a dual with some high scoring matches, scoring as many team points as I can is really fun,” Lilledahl said, “and gets the fans more engaged in the matches. I feel like a lot of times duals may start off slow, and then they pick up the pace. I feel like a lot of our duals, if you’re not here early, then you’re gonna miss something. I think that’s pretty cool.”
Lilledahl had no problems with Alan Koehler at 125 pounds as he rattled off six takedowns. Lilledahl was able to earn a 20-4 technical fall in 5:36.
Blaze was unable to get to his offense against No. 10 Jacob Van Dee. Blaze recorded a takedown late in the first period with a nice fireman’s carry. He stayed in good positioning, as he always does, to come away with a 5-1 win.
Duke-Taylor lives up to hype — sorta
All week long everyone had their eyes on the 157-pound matchup of No. 3 PJ Duke taking on Nebraska’s No. 5 Antrell Taylor.
Duke came out looking to get something going offensively, but Taylor, who is the defending NCAA champion, had a solid defense. The Nittany Lions wrestler kept pressuring, and nearly had a takedown in the first period.
Sanderson challenged the non-takedown call. After review, it was confirmed no takedown, but Taylor was hit for a stall. For the rest of the match, Duke kept the pressure on, but the official didn’t call another stall call.
In the end, Taylor came out on top with a 2-1 win in ultimate tiebreaker No. 2, and pointed to his head to the booing of the crowd.
“It’s a great match for him to get. A tough loss, obviously, in the double rideout situation,” Sanderson said. “It’s just a situation where we got to go get a takedown. Obviously, a tough opponent tactically, he’s hard to get to and strong in a lot of positions. PJ is gonna be fine. He’ll just learn from it, and keep getting better.”
No. 1 Penn State 26, No. 6 Nebraska 12
Friday at University Park
125: No. 1 Luke Lilledahl, PSU, tech. fall Alan Koehler, 20-4 (5:36)
133: No. 4 Marcus Blaze, PSU, dec. No. 10 Jacob Van Dee, 5-1
141: No. 4 Brock Hardy, N, pinned No. 12 Braeden Davis, 5:55*
149: No. 1 Shayne Van Ness, PSU, dec. No. 18 Chance Lamer, 12-5
157: No. 5 Antrell Taylor, N, dec. No. 3 PJ Duke, 2-1 (UTB)
165: No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, PSU, tech. fall No. 7 LJ Araujo, 20-5 (7:00)
174: No. 1 Levi Haines, PSU, dec. No. 4 Christopher Minto, 8-6
184: No. 1 Rocco Welsh, PSU, major dec. No. 6 Silas Allred, 14-5
197: No. 1 Josh Barr, PSU, major dec. No. 9 Camden McDanel, 21-9
285: No. 4 AJ Ferrari, N, dec. No. 12 Cole Mirasola, 2-1
*-Penn State deducted a team point
Takedowns: N 5, PSU 29
Records: Nebraska (9-6, 2-3 Big Ten), Penn State (12-0, 6-0 Big Ten)
Next match: Penn State at Michigan, Friday, 6 p.m.
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 10:37 PM.
