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The Nittany Lions head south to prime PSU recruiting territory
Maryland athletics hates Penn State more than they love money, and nothing evinces this more than their recent (read: last few years’) desire to keep their home wrestling and women’s volleyball matchups against the Nittany Lions in their pavilion in the ground floor of the Xfinity Center, rather than their basketball arena proper. This dual is sold out, which is easy to do in a venue that seats roughly 1,500 fans against the biggest draw in the sport; the Maryland ticket office could have easily sold four times that amount had they moved the dual to the bigger upstairs arena, like they had in some years past.
No wonder there’s no high-caliber RTC associated with the Maryland program, despite the hiring of Alex Clemsen a few years ago to helm the Terrapins program; the UM wrestlers, half of whom are ranked right now, deserve more attention paid to them when they have some spotlight. It’s likely not being moved due to some perceived home-mat advantage of the more intimate location, but this isn’t the difference between Rec Hall and the BJC; it’s closer to PSU’s softball arena.
But no matter the venue, these Nittany Lions will take on whatever team, wherever they need to wrestle, and any minute home-mat advantage that Maryland hopes to have will be negated by the dominance of this Penn State squad.
How To Watch
What: #1 Penn State vs Maryland*
Where: Xfinity Center Pavilion, College Park, MD
When: Sunday, January 28, 12:00 PM EST
Audio: Free (via GoPSUSports)
Video: Big Ten Network
125 LBS
With the chaos that has befallen this weight class this season and his redshirt officially being pulled, Braeden Davis finally is ranked about where we’d expect on the year. This bout should be little more than a tune up on the marquee regular season matchup for the Nittany Lion true freshman in two weeks - and it could be over pretty quickly.
Prediction: Davis by tech fall
Score: PSU 5, UM 0
133 LBS
After a tough loss on Friday night in Ann Arbor, the Minnesota transfer bounced back quite nicely in East Lansing on Sunday. Braxton Brown, up at 133 this year after a season as the UM starter at 125, provides a good test for Nagao and if he can keep on his offense when challenged - I expect he’ll pass this one with flying colors.
Prediction: Nagao by major decision
Score: PSU 9, UM 0
141 LBS
The last time these two met on the mat, it was a typical Beau Bartlett affair with the Nittany Lion winning 5-2 off the strength of a takedown and reversal. This should be another low-scoring affair with Beau not giving Miller much of anything - but always looking for his own shot.
Prediction: Bartlett by decision
Score: PSU 12, UM 0
149 LBS
The official PSU write up of this bout only lists Kasak, not David Evans; I’m not convinced that Tyler will have his redshirt pulled. If he does, this could be a high-scoring affair for the Nittany Lion; otherwise, a good test for Evans and how he’ll fare in the post season.
Prediction: Miller by decision
Score: PSU 12, UM 3
157 LBS
I keep predicting bonus for Levi on the strength of last season and how good he was. I do appreciate that he’s still seemingly recovering from his off-season surgery, but he’s still undefeated so it’s obviously still working. So I’m going to keep on doing it.
Prediction: Haines by major decision
Score: PSU 15, UM 3
165 LBS
Every week, Mitch Mesenbrink climbs a little bit more up the rankings - but I’m still not convinced it’s enough. This is a very top-loaded weight but our psycho can line up with any of them; the Terrapin freshman he’s facing on Sunday won’t prove much one way or the other.
Prediction: Mesenbrink by pin
Score: PSU 21, UM 3
174 LBS
Carter is hopefully much better this week after his bout of illness last week (that Shane Griffith, after another low-scoring win in Columbus Friday, is likely super thankful for) and really the only thing stopping this from being a pin is likely Solis’ experience, and a stalling desire to stay off his back.
Prediction: Carter by tech fall
Score: PSU 26, UM 3
184 LBS
This should be the week where Bernie Truax finally gets his offense truly going after a few duals of seeming-tentativeness. I expect the grad transfer will be looking for a tech at the end but will come up just short.
Prediction: Truax by major decision
Score: PSU 30, UM 3
197 LBS
Will Aaron Brooks actually wrestle into the third period this week? Jaxon Smith is, without a doubt, Maryland’s best wrestler, but Aaron Brooks may be the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the nation. This would be a good barometer for how far Smith can go in the post - if he keeps it to no bonus, an All-American-type season is pretty likely.
Prediction: AB by major decision
Score: PSU 34, UM 3
285 LBS
Seth Nevills learned a lot from his time in the Nittany Lion weight room, but wanted to go somewhere and actually wrestle - so chose Maryland. Unfortunately, last week he was the last bout that sealed a close loss to the Indiana Hoosiers; he’s still ranked, but this week his test is much tougher. Both these dudes know each other really well, so the question is, who gets the best of the former teammates? I expect it’ll be Kerk, and not close.
Prediction: Kerk by major decision
Score: PSU 38, UM 3
Overall score prediction: Penn State 38, Maryland 3
*The Penn State athletic department, in its official capacity, uses Intermat Tournament Rankings in all its match literature; I’m using Intermat’s Dual Meet Rankings because this happens to be a dual. Penn State is #1 in both rankings; Michigan State is unranked in the Dual Meet rankings, and #27 in the Tournament rankings.
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By: Cari Greene
Title: Wrestling Preview: No. 1 Penn State at Maryland
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2024/1/27/24052305/wrestling-preview-no-1-penn-state-at-maryland
Published Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:36:00 +0000
