Week two of college wrestling means another slate of non-conference duals along with a fun Big 12 battle out West between No. 22 Oklahoma vs. Air Force.
Here are the three big storylines to watch this week and which duals might produce some of the most significant results.
Cardinal will look for individual ranked wins in duals against No. 2 Iowa & No. 6 Iowa State
The Stanford Cardinal once again draw the spotlight this week after beating CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley last week 29-12 in both duals. Head coach Chris Ayres team will now travel east for even more intense competition, wrestling No. 6 Iowa State on Friday at 10 p.m. ET and No. 2 Iowa on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Iowa State dual will be streamed on ESPN+ whereas the Stanford dual will kick off the Big Ten Network programming schedule for the season.
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The back-to-back duals will give the Cardinal a taste of elite competition, particularly at 133 and 149 pounds where Stanford's Tyler Knox and Jaden Abas will likely face All-Americans in both of their matches, respectively.
Abas, in particular, has a key opportunity here. He'll likely wrestle No. 4 Kyle Parco in the Iowa match and No. 7 Anthony Echemedia in the Iowa State match, and while he is 0-4 against Parco, the last two matches have been close, with the bout in the 2023 Pac-12 championship decided by one point. He has not wrestled Echemedia yet, given that the Cyclone is moving up from 141 pounds.
Early season duals aren't always predictors of March success, but they can play a role in building an athlete's confidence. For Abas, who has one last shot to finish on the podium again, these matches could be important indicators of his readiness for his final season.
Just getting started 🌲 x
— Stanford Wrestling (@CardWrestling)
Stanford will also be looking for big performances from All-American Hunter Garvin at 165 pounds who took an upset loss last weekend to Utah Valley's No. 6 Terrell Barraclough. Garvin now has a chance at redemption against Iowa's No. 2 Mikey Caliendo and Iowa State's Connor Euton, who is expected to fill in for No. 10 MJ Gaitan. Caliendo is fundamental and strong, so Garvin will have an uphill battle, but wrestling tough against an All-American like Caliendo and getting a feel for his style can only help Garvin moving forward.
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Last weekend, Iowa beat No. 23 Oregon State handily 30-7 with bonus points from No. 7 Drake Ayala at 133 pounds, Caliendo and No. 9 Gabe Arnold at 184 pounds. Iowa State, meanwhile, has not wrestled a dual yet and will make its home debut against the Cardinal. Both teams will benefit from the opportunity to wrestle a Top 25 program like Stanford in their home gym this early in the season and give their athletes some early battles against NCAA tournament-caliber competition.
Top-20 battle between No. 17 Illinois vs. No. 19 ASU gives both teams elite competition early
Outside of the three teams involved in Stanford's set of Iowa duals, only one other ranked program will have a ranked opponent — the Fighting Illini of Illinois — and its dual is expected to be closer than both of Stanford's battles.
Illinois and its ten ranked wrestlers will take on the Sun Devils of Arizona State on Saturday, November 9, and the Illini will be favored in seven of those ten weights. Illinois would benefit from starting the dual at 133 or 141 pounds where the team could roll out its run of Top 20 wrestlers including No. 3 Lucas Byrd, No. 19 Danny Pucino, No.10 Kannon Webster and No. 21 Jason Krassier before transitioning into the team's upper weight depth including the Braunagel brothers at 174 and 197 pounds sandwiching All-American No. 7 Edmond Ruth.
Always working hard. I
— Illinois Wrestling (@IlliniWrestling)
Arizona State's strength comes at the bookend weights with returning NCAA champion Richard Figueroa at 125 pounds and multiple-time All-American Cohlton Schultz at heavyweight. In between, for the Sun Devils to win, they'll need production from No. 14 Jesse Vasquez and a possible upset from No. 18 Julian Chlebove at 133 pounds. In last week, head coach Zeke Jones flagged both Chlebove and Vasquez has guys who are "hungry" and ready to jump levels this year.
I do think there are some that are hungry, like Jesse (Vasquez), Julian (Chlebove) and Cael (Valencia)," Jones said in the press call. "Julian's a senior who should have been already on the podium in his mind and ours too. I think he's coming with a vengeance. He'll sink the boat and he'll leave nothing unturned, so I like where his brain is at."
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The dual against Illinois is the perfect first test for these guys following the team's Maroon & Gold dual last week where Figueroa, Chlebove and Schultz all bonused their teammates, as did Michael Kilic and Nicco Ruiz, the latter of whom is ranked No. 30 at 165 pounds and favored against Illinois' No. 33 Braeden Scoles.
Arizona State will wrestle LIU as its second dual in this event, nicknamed WrangleMania, while Illinois will wrestling Binghamton. Against the Bearcats, Illinois is favored in nine of ten weights. The one weight where the Bearcats lead on paper though will be a top-15 battle between Binghamton's No. 15 Brevin Cassella and Illinois' No. 19 Danny Braunagel. These two wrestlers have never met in college, but Cassella has the potential to push Braunagel, even with the Illini senior's hot start to the season last week following his tech fall over Griffin Ray of SIEU.
Other Top 25 teams around the country set to bust the rust against non-conference foes
Most of the country’s Top 25 teams will not face ranked opponents this week, but their duals against other non-conferences still give athletes a way to break into the season and find their rhythm again.
These ranked vs. unranked duals are also ripe for individual upsets, and this week’s lineup feature a few specific weight classes to watch, starting with 165 pounds in No. 4 Nebraska’s dual against Utah Valley in Lincoln.
The Wolverines of Utah Valley will bring just two Top 33 athletes to the home of the Huskers, and one of those athletes, the aforementioned Terrell Barraclough, will be favored in his bout at 165 against Nebraska’s No. 19 Bubba Wilson. Barraclough is a big story this year more generally because of the five years he spent in the wrestling room of the reigning NCAA champion Penn State Nittany Lions and his return to his home state of Utah for his final chance at a podium run. Billed as one of the best former backups in the country, Barraclough is finally getting his varsity starting opportunity, and he’s embracing it. Wilson, meanwhile, has been a steady starter for Nebraska for the last three years and qualified for the tournament twice times. He too, though, has not been on the podium yet in his career. This is Blood Round-esque kind of a match.
Barraclough will be favored here, and he’ll be the only athlete on his team on paper with the edge against the Huskers. He notched a win against All-American Garvin last week. Wilson, a Big Ten foe, is another Top 20 test.
Two ranked ACC teams — No. 7 NC State and No. 25 North Carolina — will also have unranked opponents this week with the Pack facing off against in-state foe Campbell and North Carolina taking on Drexel and Navy. Campbell will actually be favored in three weights against the Wolfpack with the headliner in this dual coming at heavyweight when No. 7 All-American Taye Ghadiali faces No. 10 U23 world champion Isaac Trumble of NC State. These two have not met previously in their careers because Trumble wrestled down at 197 pounds before taking an Olympic redshirt last season, but both will be podium threats this year.
North Carolina, with its seven ranked wrestlers, will not have any top-10 or even top-15 battles against Navy or Drexel and should be able to use those duals to rack up some individual solid wins nearly up and down the lineup. Navy’s No. 9 141-pounder Josh Koderhandt will be the biggest problem for the Tar Heels, especially now that UNC’s All-American Lachlan McNeil has bumped up to 149, leaving his 141 spot void of a ranked Carolina opponent for Koderhandt, but Spencer Moore and Ethan Oakley will be expected to give the Tar Heels a buffer with strong performances at 125 and 133 pounds before Koderhandt takes the mat.
Oklahoma, and Oregon State, two other Top 25 teams taking on regional opponents this week in Air Force and North Dakota State respectively, will also be heavily favored in their duals. Air Force and North Dakota State each have one ranked wrestler, both outside the Top 20. Even if both athletes No. 33 Tucker Owens of Air Force and No. 32 Drexler of North Dakota State win their bouts, putting together enough team points to push the Sooners and the Beavers will be a challenge.
The competition season is just getting started, but the Iowa and Iowa State home debuts, a loaded list of ranked individual match-ups, the first Big Ten Network dual of the season and a Big 12 battle, there's plenty to be excited about here in week two.
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