It’s finally time. The 2024-2025 college wrestling season kicks off in style this year with a Thursday night battle between Campbell and Wyoming before a full slate of duals Friday through Sunday. The dual schedule then, of course, continues all the way through the end of February before conference championships.
Everything starts now. ;Here are five of many duals you to watch this week during this intense opening weekend of the season:
Thursday, October 31, 8pm ET: Campbell vs. Wyoming
Campbell and Wyoming know how to put on a show.
Last year, these two programs battled inside of a barn in Wyoming in dual in which the Camels were victorious 23-12. Now both programs are back in Laramie with a combined ten ranked wrestlers and the potential for a heated matchup in another epic setting.
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This year’s dual will occur less than 24 hours before the official start of the season in Frontier Park, a rodeo site. Nicknamed the “Dual at the Daddy,” this match will be streamed on UFC.
The biggest weight to watch in this dual will be 125 pounds, where Wyoming’s Jore Volk will get his first ranked matchup since March when he earned All-Americans honors for the first time.Volk will be expected to wrestle Campbell’s No. 23 Anthony Molton, an athlete he beat twice last season but both times by decision.
On the grounds.
— Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling (@WyoWrestle)
Volk is the face of the Cowboy wrestling program this year as the lone returning All-American, but he’s joined in the Top 20 by No. 15 Gabe Willochell and No. 16 Joey Novak, both of whom will also be favored in their bouts. Campbell also has one returning All-American in Taye Ghadiali who will start the season ranked No. 7 at heavyweight.
A win in the home state would be huge for Cowboys, but Campbell also battles tough. Expect this dual to be competitive from start to finish, but, more importantly, expect these two teams to highlight the best of college wrestling’s spirit in their unconventional rodeo-venue dual.
Friday, November 1, 10pm ET: Stanford vs. CSU Bakersfield
The Stanford Cardinal open their season on Nov. 1 with a home double header against Utah Valley at 8pm ET and CSU Bakersfield at 10pm ET, and both duals feature a number of ranked matchups. The Utah Valley dual will provide the highest-ranked battle when No. 3 Hunter Garvin takes on the Wolverine’s No. 7 Terrell Barraclough at 165 pounds, but it’s the CSU Bakersfield dual that potentially has the most intrigue.
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The Roadrunners have just one ranked wrestler, but his fame and notoriety make this dual interesting. At 197 pounds, CSU Bakersfield is expected to debut 2021 197-pound NCAA champion AJ Ferrari against Stanford’s No. 18 Nick Stemmet for a rematch where Stemmet has nothing to lose. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Stemmet is 0-1 against Ferrari, dropping a match to him in 2021 by a score of 16-3. But three years have passed since that match and the hype and questions about Ferrari have only increased since then.
Ferrari started his career at Oklahoma State where he won his title before transferring to Iowa, wrestling at the Soldier Salute and then transferring again. In his last folkstyle match, he beat then-Iowa’s Zach Glazier, who ultimately made the Big Ten finals in 2024, before being disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. He’s currently ranked No. 1 by Intermat at the weight, though questions exist around Ferrari's wrestling fitness and ability to stay cool under pressure. This match against Stemmet, one that has already inspired trash talk from both sides, will be a key test.
Saturday, November 2, 2pm ET: Navy vs. Pittsburgh
In 2023, the Navy Midshipmen jumped out to a hot start in their dual schedule, beating Illinois, Morgan State, VMI and then Pittsburgh in November to crack the Top 20. This year, the Panthers of Pitt have their chance at revenge at home. Pitt currently boasts six ranked wrestlers, including all four of their athletes from 184-285 pounds. All of those athletes will be favored to win their bouts, with only No. 19 Luca Augustine expected to meet a ranked opponent from Navy. Pitt will also be favored at 125 pounds with No. 30 Nick Babin and 149 pounds with No. 31 Finn Solomon.
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For Navy to repeat their result from last season, the Mids will need a win, if not bonus points from No. 9 Josh Koderhandt at 141 pounds, an upset win from No. 22 Danny Wask at 174 pounds and wins in all of the unranked matches.
Season Opener.
— Pitt Wrestling (@Pitt_WRES)
🗓️ Saturday, Nov. 2
🆚 Navy
🕑 2 PM
📍 Fitzgerald Field House
🎟️ »
One weight to watch will be 133 pounds where Navy’s Brendan Ferretti could have a rematch with Pitt’s Vinnie Santaniello. Neither of these athletes are starting the year ranked, though both were in the Top 20 at this time last year. Ferretti picked up the upset win over Santaniello in 2023 in Navy’s 21-12 win, and this year’s dual could be even closer, making every match count. Both Pitt and Navy are bringing fewer ranked athletes to the mat this year than last year, and if you’re looking for a match with athletes outside of the Top 33 in this dual to watch, the 133-pound bout in that match. Ferretti and Santaniello are two guys who will be looking to make their way to the NCAA tournament this year after missing qualifying last season, and a win over a familiar foe is a good way to start.
Saturday, November 2, 8pm ET: Missouri vs. Northern Colorado
Missouri, and Northern Colorado even more so, is a team that does not always get the credit it deserves for the quality of wrestlers in the lineup. The Tigers are one of just a few programs in the country with all ten wrestlers ranked in the Top 33 to start the year, including four wrestlers in the Top 15. Northern Colorado, meanwhile, has five ranked wrestlers with two in the Top 10, a significant achievement for a program that only became Division I in 2006. On Nov. 2, these two teams meet in a dual that heavily favors the Tigers but could be close if the Bears win their expected bouts, avoid bonus points at 174 and sneak in another victory across one of the other five weights.
Winning even just the four weights in which the Bears are favored is far from guaranteed.
Northern Colorado’s strengths come at the light and middleweights with No. 9 Stevo Poulin, No. 24 Dominick Serrano, No. 1 Andrew Alirez and No. 17 Vinnie Zerban at 157 pounds. The dual will likely start with Poulin at 125 pounds for a barnburner match with pride and momentum on the line.
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If lineups play out as expected Poulin, Northern Colorado two-time Blood Round finisher will take Missouri’s one-time Blood Round finisher No. 18 Noah Surtin in a bout that could highlight everything that is fun about 125 pounds. Both of these athletes have obviously been on the All-American bubble before, but they are also wrestlers who, if they catch fire at the right time, could be finalists threats in March. That’s just the nature of 125 pounds. This weight class fluctuated so much last season, and the same pattern is expected to play out this year; an early Top 20 win will bring a huge boost to the winner.
The Bears are also favored at 133 pounds with No. 24 Dominick Serrano, though Missouri’s No. 32 Kade Moore has shown flashes of brilliance and is hardly an underdog here. The big show comes at 141 pounds where No. 1 Alirez, the face of this program, will potentially take the mat for his season debut against Missouri’s No. 12 Josh Edmond. A Round of 12 finisher in 2024, Edmond has actually never wrestled Alirez, the 2023 champ at the weight, but he does have a win over All-American CJ Composto, and has wrestled one-point matches throughout his career with Anthony Echemendia, Daton Fix and Kyle Parco. For Alirez to win this match and create some separation for Northern Colorado in the team score, he’ll need to turn up the offense right away.
A little bit about the returning national champion Andrew Alirez.
— Rock Harrison (@rockreax)
Alirez showed his team that you can win national titles at Northern Colorado, and there are a number of athletes on the roster who could put themselves in position to compete for top honors. In fact, at 157 pounds, the Bears have a wrestler who was ranked as high as No. 2 last season in Vinnie Zerban. With a claim to fame that includes a career win over NCAA champion Levi Haines, Zerban has the potential to go on a run again this year, but first he’ll need to stop Missouri’s No. 31 J Conway. A sophomore now, Conway went 14-9 in his rookie year and came up just short of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. But another year in the Missouri room could yield tangible improvements for the young middleweight.
Missouri will look to hang on and wrestle competitively in the first half of the dual before rolling out their top talent at 174. Two-time NCAA champion Keegan O’Toole is set to potentially face Ayden Rix-McElhinney where he’ll aim to start his year, and his quest for a Hodge Trophy with bonus. The Tigers also have big bonus potential at 197 pounds in No. 4 Rocky Elam, a four-time All-American with his sights set on the top of the podium.
This could be a dual of two halves if Northern Colorado and Missouri wrestle to their rankings, but, regardless of the result, seeing these two squads compete in what is potentially at Top-25 team battle is a treat for fans this year in the season.
Saturday, November 2, 10pm ET: Iowa vs. Oregon State
If Northern Colorado vs. Missouri on Saturday night isn’t entertaining enough, the Hawkeyes will wrap up the evening with their bout against Oregon State in Corvallis. The big storyline heading into this dual is the Iowa lineup itself. Who do the Hawks send out at 174 pounds and 184 pounds?
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Iowa’s lineup is deep, with eight of its ten wrestlers ranked in the Top 33, but the Hawks have a logjam at two of the upperweights. Nelson Brands, an All-American for the Hawkeyes in 2023 at 174 pounds sat out last year while Patrick Kennedy filled his spot. With Brands back in the mix, he’ll look to take over 174 pounds again, but the Hawks also have redshirt freshman Gabe Arnold as an option at the weight. Arnold wrestled at 174 and 184 pounds last year in his redshirt season, beating All-Americans Travis Wittlake and Will Feldkamp at the heavier of those two weights. Brands and Arnold will likely go 174 and 184 in some order, though Kennedy can’t be dismissed, as Intermat currently has him ranked No. 8 at 174 with Brands at No. 7 at 184. Brands is currently listed as the projected starter at 174 with Arnold at 184, though Iowa has been known to mix up their probables if the dual warrants a change.
Oregon State is also expected to make some lineup changes at these weights. All-American Trey Munoz, who wrestled for the Beavers at 184 pounds, is now listed at 197 pounds, potentially pitting him against Iowa’s No. 2 Stephen Buchanan instead of Brands or Arnold, creating one of two top-ten matches in the dual.
On Saturday, 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠!
— Oregon State Wrestling (@BeaverWrestling)
🆚 Iowa
📍 Gill Coliseum
📅 Nov. 2
🕖 7 p.m.
📺
📊
🎟️
These early season duals are always so much fun and often inspire speculation over-reactions based on November performances. This first-week lineup will bring all of that excitement and drama, as fans get the first look at their favorite programs in non-conference competition around the country from Laramie to Pittsburgh.
