TOM Duals of the Week November 15-21, 2010

We enter week 3 having learned a little more about some teams and excited to get a real glimpse at a few more. We went 1-0-1 last week and will try to see if we can go a perfect 2-0 this week.

This week brings a whole slew of duals are slated. We get to see the #1 team in the country take to the mat in a dual this week and should get a decent test from a solid Central Michigan team. We are also looking forward to seeing Wisconsin and Ohio State this weekend.

This week were focusing on Cornell vs. Central Michigan and Wisconsin vs. Virginia Tech.

Here are some other duals to keep and eye on this weekend.

• #15 Michigan vs. #18 Lehigh
• #4 Penn State vs. #13 Rutgers
• #22 Pittsburgh vs. #17 Ohio State
• #12 Oregon State vs. Missouri

#1 Cornell vs. #8 Central Michigan
(Line-ups may change)

Projected Line-up

• 125: #15 Frank Perrili vs. Kyle Waldo
• 133: Joe Stanzione vs. #4 Scott Sentes
• 141: Corey Manson vs. Scott Mattingly
• 149: #1 Kyle Dake vs. Donnie Corby
• 157: DJ Meagher vs. Eric Cubberly
• 165: #5 Justin Kerber vs. #3 Mike Miller
• 174: #1 Mack Lewnes vs. #4 Ben Bennett
• 184: #4 Steve Bosak vs. Chad Friend
• 197: #1 Cam Simaz vs. Craig Kelliher
• Hwt: Stryker Lane vs. #2 Jarod Trice

Well, we get to see #1 Cornell this weekend in a dual against another top 10 team. On paper it is really hard to imagine Cornell losing this one, but we will dig a bit deeper and see what we come up with.

One team you never take lightly is Central Michigan. Year in and year out, the Chippewa’s surprise us with how solid they are. Coach Borrelli seems to always get the most out of his guys.

One paper we have Cornell favored at 6 weights (125, 149, 165, 174, 184, 197). We have Central Michigan favored at 2 (133 and Hwt). We see 141 and 157 as toss ups in this one. As you see the Chippewa’s will most likely need some upsets here to knock off the top dogs.

The Match-ups

125: We have Perrilli listed as the started but he did lose to his back up Tyler Biscaha. Some have stated that he may get a shot, but we think Perrilli gets the nod here. Either way they will face Kyle Waldo who did make it to the semi-finals at the MSU open last week before dropping a 3-0 match to #13 Reber (Bucknell) and ending the day 5th. We are going with Perrilli here, but this may be one that CMU could steal.

133: #3 Scott Sentes will be favored here and is expected to meet up with Stanzione. Much like the previous weight, this one may not be as clear as some may think. Stanzione is coming off a great weekend where he knocked off #14 Kyle Hutter (ODU) on his way to winning the Binghamton tournament. This is a must win for CMU and if Stanzione can pull out a win here it would be big.

141: One of two toss-up matches will take place at this weight. Cornell is expected to put Corey Manson out against Scott Mattingly from CMU. Both wrestlers are currently unranked. Manson made a heck of a run at the Binghamton tournament last week losing in OT in the finals against #19 Kemmerer (Penn). Mattingly placed 6th last weekend at the MSU open. We are going with Manson here.

149: The exciting top ranked Kyle Dake will represent Cornell here and will lock up with unranked Donnie Corby of CMU. The key here is that CMU needs to try avoiding bonus points in this one.

157: In our second “toss-up” match of the night we will see Meagher of Cornell taking on Cubberly of CMU. Meagher is coming off a weekend where he won the Binghamton Open. He did not face any top 20 guys, but he did win the event so that shows that he is ready for the season. Cubberly has not been real visible yet this year. He did win the inter-squad match. Hard to say where this one ends up. We are going with the hot hand and Meagher in this one.

165: This is our “Co-match” of the night. Cornell’s #5 Justin Kerber will meet up with #3 Mike Miller of CMU. Kerber is coming off a tournament title last weekend and looked good. Miller will be making his season debut in this one. This should be a very exciting match. We are going with Miller in this one, but it will be close.

174: The other “Co-match” of the night will pit #1 Mack Lewnes of Cornell against #4 Ben Bennett of CMU. We are very interested to see where these two are at in the early part of the year. We are pretty high on Bennett but Lewnes is one tough customer. Lewnes in a close one.

184: Cornell will be favored here with #4 Steve Bosak. He will be facing Chad Friend of CMU. If we were to say there is a match that may end up as a possible upset, this is where we would maybe look for one. We are going with the heavy favorite Bosak here. But one never knows.

197: Another weight where CMU will hope to limit the damage. #1 Cam Simaz will take the mat against Craig Kelliher of CMU. Simaz by major is our prediction here.

Hwt: To wrap things up we should see #2 Jarod Trice of CMU matching up with Stryker Lane of Cornell. Trice will be looking to add some bonus points in this one. We think he will get them.

TOM’s Prediction

Cornell – 20
Central Michigan- 13

#6 Wisconsin vs. #21 Virginia Tech.
(Line-ups may change)

Projected Line-ups

• 125: Tom Kelliher vs. #10 Jarrod Garnett
• 133: #3 Tyler Graff vs. #6 Devin Carter
• 141: Greg Burke vs. #7 Chris Diaz
• 149: Cole Schmitt vs. # 16 Brian Stephens
• 157: Kelvin York or John Prezzia vs. #13 Pete Yates
• 165: #1 Andrew Howe vs. Matt Epperly
• 174: #19 Ben Jordan vs. Nick Vetterlein
• 184: #7 Travis Rutt vs. #8 Tommy Spellman
• 197: #2 Trevor Brandvold vs. Chris Penny
• Hwt: #13 Eric Bugenhagen vs. #18 David Marone

We selected this one, because on paper it looks to be a good dual. We are looking to see two things here. The first is if Virginia Tech can show us the loss to a rebuilding Iowa State team was a bump in the road or if they are more of a deep tournament team vs. a dual team. Second, we have Wisconsin ranked pretty high this year and we are interested to see if they will hold true to that ranking.

On paper we have Wisconsin favored at 6 weights (133, 165, 174, 184, 197, and Hwt). We have VT favored at 4 weights (125, 141, 149, and 157). We would argue that a few of these should be considered toss ups.

The Match-ups

125: #10 Garnett is the favorite here, but he is coming off a tough weekend. Kelliher makes his debut as the Badger starter in this one. We look for Garnett to rebound from last weekend and turn in a solid performance. He may be looking for bonus points to keep his team in this one.

133: This is our “Co-match” of the night. We see #3 Tyler Graff of WI taking on freshman sensation #6 Devin Carter VT. This should be a very exciting match for the fans. Can Carter continue his run? Graff a national title hopeful will look to end Carter’s run. We see Graff winning a very intense match.

141: Greg Burke will most likely take the mat for Wisconsin against #7 Chris Diaz of VT. This should be Diaz’s match to lose.

149: We are issuing a possible upset alert in this one where Cole Schmitt of Wisconsin will face #16 Brian Stephens. Schmitt is a very solid guy and if he has improved from last year, he could pull out the win here.

157: We are unsure at this time who will represent the Badgers here. It is most likely going to be Kelvin York or John Prezzia. They will face # 13 Pete Yates for Virginia Tech. Either way Yates should secure a win in this one.

165: #1 Andrew Howe will square off against Matt Epperly at 165. Howe is looking to keep things on track for his 2nd National Title. Epperly who was ranked earlier is a formidable opponent. Epperly needs to keep this close to limit the score.

174: Wisconsin will have #19 Ben Jordan face off against Nick Vetterlein of VT. Jordan is looking to improve upon last season and should get a victory in this one.

184: In our second “Co-match” of the night we expect to see #7 Travis Rutt take on #8 Tommy Spellman. We see this match to play out in an 8-7 type of affair. Look for Rutt to get his hand raised when the dust settles.

197: Wisconsin will look to add some bonus points when they send out #2 Trevor Brandvold against unranked Chris Penny. Brandvold showed us a lot last year and we expect him to be even better this year.

Hwt: The final match gives us two ranked heavyweights in Wisconsin’s #13 Eric Bugenhagen and VT’s #18 David Marone. We are interested to see how Bugenhagen has developed since last season. Marone has had some tough matches already this year. We think Bugenhagen.

TOM’s Prediction

Wisconsin – 23
Virginia Tech- 10