TOM Duals of the Week of December 5th

Well this should be one exciting week for all of the College Wrestling fans. We have two big duals and the Las Vegas Invitational (Which we are doing a separate preview for on Thursday).

We have already seen some major shake ups in the rankings this year and expect even more after this week. We do feel after this week we will have a very good idea where teams and individuals are at currently. We correctly picked last week’s winner and had the score just about perfect. We are now 4-1 on the season.

This week we will breakdown the #4 Minnesota vs. #3 Oklahoma State dual and the #5 Iowa vs. #24 Iowa State Dual.

#4 Minnesota vs. #3 Oklahoma State
(Line-ups may change)

Projected Line-up

• 125: #5 Zach Sanders vs. #9 Jon Morrison
• 133: Bart Reiter or Thane Antczak vs. #1 Jordan Oliver
• 141: #4 Mike Thorn vs. #12 Luke Silver
• 149: Danny Zilverberg vs. #5 Jamal Parks
• 157: Joe Grygelko vs. #10 Albert White
• 165: #11 Cody Yohn vs. #8 Dallas Bailey
• 174: #12 Scott Glasser or TBD vs. #8 Mike Benefiel
• 184: #20 Kevin Steinhaus vs. #7 Chris Perry
• 197: #5 Sonny Yohn vs. #4 Clayton Foster
• Hwt: #10 Tony Nelson or Ben Berhow vs. Blake Rosholt

Well there are a few questions for Minnesota again this week. What kind of condition is Scott Glasser in? Will we have any chance of seeing Bart Reiter or David Thorn in this Dual? Who will go 157? Who will go Heavyweight? That sure seems like a lot of question marks heading into their biggest dual of this young season.

Oklahoma State seems to be going in the other direction. It hurt losing “Z” for an extended amount of time but they still have 9 of 10 wrestlers ranked in the top 20. They get Mike Benefiel back and that helps their cause.

One paper we have Minnesota favored at 3 weights (125, 141, and Hwt). We have Oklahoma State favored at 7 (the rest). On paper this seems like one tall Mountain for Minnesota to climb. Minnesota will need upsets and some bonus points to pull this one out in their home opener. Their best chances come at 165, 174 (If Glasser is healthy) and 184.

The Match-ups

125: Well we start off with what we view as the match of the night. We are very much looking forward to this one. Morrison has been on fire this season. Sanders has looked his usual self as well (less the All Start match). One thing we noticed from Sanders this year is that he has really been looking to turn guys more. I think we will see Sanders really push the pace in this one and try to really open things up in that 3rd period. Sanders wins.

133: Well this almost seems like a gimmie for the pokes. Oliver is #1 and has looked very good so far this season. We have noticed him getting more aggressive and attacking more on his feet then he did last year. Minnesota will need to really try and avoid giving bonus points in this one.

141: Here we expect to see Thorn and Silver square off. Thorn won a 3-0 match a few weeks ago at UNO. Can silver close the gap? Sure he can, but on the flip side of that coin Thorn could widen the gap. The Gophers need him to really try. Much like Sanders Thorn has the ability to open things up later in matches and we think he will try to do just that in this one.

149: Another one on paper should be an obvious win for the Cowboys. Parks will take on freshman Zilverberg for the Gophers. Zilverberg is talented but Parks has looked solid all year and after watching last weeks dual we think Zilverberg needs some more seasoning. With that said we fully expect this to be a more exciting match then some may think.

157: Joe Grygelko will most likely get the nod for the Gophers against the Cowboys Albert White. White, who moved up after a wrestle off loss to Parks, has been winning.

165: Here we will get a rematch of the Kaufman-Brand Finals where Bailey was trailing and earned a fall over Yohn. This should be a close one again and should be considered one of the better match-ups in this dual. We see Yohn reversing that pin in this one.

174: Well we are going to look at this from the perspective that Glasser will wrestle in this one. We know we are going out on a limb as Glasser did look to be in a lot of pain last weekend. Benefiel is a favorite here, but we do not think you can count Glasser out of this one. This is another key match-up for both squads. They last met a few weeks ago with Benefiel winning in OT 2-1. If Glasser is healthy he could reverse this one. If he isn’t we see Benefiel coming out on top. If Glasser does not go look for the Cowboys to put up some bonus points.

184: Yet another match we are interested in watching. Steinhaus has been impressive and grinds his opponents down. Perry edged him out by 1 at UNO and if Steinhaus opens up some he could reverse that result. We have Perry as the slight favorite here in the rematch.

197: Well the question is can Yohn make a big improvement over the All-star result with Foster? We are not so sure that Yohn has an answer for Foster on his feet. The best chance he will have is to see if he can get on top and control the match. We do not see that happening and see Foster winning here.

Hwt: Based on last week it looks like Nelson has the upper hand right now for the Gophers. He looked pretty solid losing on riding time to Trice. He does need to get more aggressive on his feet, but seems to be coming along well. He will face Blake Rosholt for the Cowboys who is filling in for the injured Z. No matter if it is Nelson or Berhow we see the Gophers winning here.

TOM’s Prediction

Oklahoma State – 17
Minnesota – 15

#5 Iowa vs. #24 Iowa State
(Line-ups may change)

Projected Line-up

• 125: #1 Matt McDonough vs. Ryak Finch or Patrick Hunter
• 133: #10 Nick Moore vs. Brandon Jones
• 141: Mark Ballweg vs. #8 Chris Drouin
• 149: Jeret Chiri vs. #16 Nate Carr Jr
• 157: #9 Derek St. John vs. Trent Weatherman
• 165: #7 Jake Kerr vs. #15 Andrew Sorenson
• 174: #16 Ethen Lofthouse vs. #4 Jon Reader
• 184: #9 Grant Gambrall vs. Kyven Gadson or Cole Shafer
• 197: #14 Luke Lofthouse vs. #15 Jerome Ward
• Hwt: #11 Blake Rasing vs. #20 Matt Gibson or Matt Simonson

Well based on the Team Rankings you may think this is a lame Dual of the Week. But as most of you know this is a huge rivalry and both teams always bring their A games. Both are also sitting at 4-0 in duals. We think thus far the Cyclones have been doing better then some may have expected. Iowa has some injury issues of their own this year so we will see how deep they are.

Iowa loses Carew for maybe the year and we are unsure of the status of Clark at this time. Iowa is in good shape if Clark can not go so that one should not be much of a concern for the Iowa faithful.

One paper we have Iowa favored at 7 weights (all but 141, 149 and 174). We have Iowa State favored at the remaining 3 weights. Much like the previous dual it appears to be a tall order for the Cyclones. But not so fast there are numerous matches that could go either way and should result in another classic Iowa vs. Iowa State dual.

The Match-ups

125: Look for McD to start things off with a dominate performance. Interesting that ISU has listed Ryak Finch as a possible starter in this one. Although we think Finch could make this one more interesting, we would still expect a McD win. We also doubt that Coach Jackson will pull Finch from redshirt, but we could be wrong. If it’s Finch we might see a decision vs. a Major or more.

133: Iowa is another heavy favorite here. Be it Moore or Clark they will also be looking to add some bonus points in this one. The first of two matches where the Hawks could get bonus and the amount of bonus points will most likely decide this dual.

141: The Cyclones will enter this match as the favorite. But many of the Hawkeye fans have high hopes for Ballweg and would like to see him have his coming out party in this one and knock off former AA Drouin. We are not sure that will happen, but it may be closer then most Cyclone fans would like. We see Drouin winning a tight one.

149: Nate Carr Jr has been doing well for the Cyclones this year and gets Carew’s backup in this one. But as we have learned over the years that does not mean much when you consider the depth of the Iowa room. We do see Carr winning this one though.

157: In a match that all wrestling fans in the state of Iowa are excited to see, we will have Derek St. John take the mat against Iowa State’s Trent Weatherman. St. John has looked very good so far, but has not faced much competition yet. Weatherman on the other hand has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride thus far. With all of that aside we fully expect this to be an exciting one. We have St. John in a Decision.

165: We get two ranked wrestlers at this weight when we see Kerr and Sorenson take the mat. We have Kerr ranked pretty high and are interested to see if we are justified. Sorenson has started the season off pretty well and should provide a good challenge. This is a key match for the Cyclones if the want to pull the upset off.

174: Here we have another match that we are looking forward to. Reader of Iowa State will face off against Ethan Lofthouse in a match between two top 20 guys. A lot of people are very high on Lofthouse but he is facing one of the better 174 guys in the country. Reader wins this one.

184: Grambrall should be a heavy favorite here. He is coming off a dominate win over a ranked wrestler last week. Look for him to try and add some bonus in this one. Another interesting note is that ISU also listed another freshman as the possible starter here in Kyven Gadson. Would they pull two of their freshman out of redshirt for this? We doubt it.

197: Maybe the match up of the night between Luke Lofthouse of Iowa and Jerome Ward of Iowa State. They are ranked 15 and 16 respectively. This should be a very close one and fairly low scoring. We see ward pulling this one out and keeping things a bit interesting.

Hwt: Two ranked big men will go head-to-head in this one. Raising is a big fella and has been good so far. He most likely will face off against Gibson who has been good also and against some better competition. He has split sometime but we are thinking he gets the nod in this one. But if Simonson goes he is just as capable. Another Key match for the Cyclones to have a chance at an upset.

TOM’s Prediction

Iowa – 20
Iowa State- 15