No. 4 Ohio State will face a second top three opponent in a week as they host No. 2 Penn State on Friday night. The Buckeyes are looking to bounce back from a tough 21-13 loss on the road at No. 3 Iowa last week with an upset of the undefeated Nittany Lions.
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| #2 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS |
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10–0 overall, 6-0 Big Ten ROSTER | SCHEDULE |
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6:00 PM – Friday, Feb. 3 SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER COLUMBUS, OHIO |
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Live on BTN |
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GoPSUSports.com |
Penn State is led into action by top-ranked wrestlers Zain Retherford at 149 and Jason Nolf at 157. The Buckeyes will counter the Nittany Lions with a trio of top ranked wrestlers in Nathan Tomasello at 133, Bo Jordan at 174, and Kyle Snyder at heavyweight.
The match begins at 6 PM from the Schottenstein Center and will air live on BTN. Follow the action on Twitter with @CurtHeinrichs and @wrestlingbucks for match updates.
#2 Penn State (10-0, 6-0 B1G)
Head Coach: Cael Sanderson
Sanderson is in his eighth season as head coach of the Nittany Lions, and his team has finished in the top ten at the NCAA tournament each season with five national titles. Five NCAA titles in seven years. That’s about as good as it gets. He has coached 11 Penn State wrestlers to individual national championships in his seven previous seasons and is looking for a few more this season. In his seven seasons at Penn State, Sanderson has coached 38 All-Americans including guys like unheralded James English in addition to the national champions like David Taylor and Ed Ruth.
As a wrestler at Iowa State, Sanderson was the first Division I wrestler to win four NCAA titles and go undefeated in the process (though he did lose during his redshirt season). Cael won four Most Outstanding Wrestler awards at the NCAA tournament and won three Hodge Trophies (the wrestling equivalent to the Heisman Trophy). Not satisfied with dominating on American soil, Sanderson won an Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens at 84 kg before largely hanging up his shoes as a competitor.
Sanderson is joined on the Penn State staff by his brother Cody Sanderson (Iowa State), Casey Cunningham (Central Michigan), and fellow Olympic champion Jake Varner (Iowa State). Interestingly enough, Varner won the 2012 Olympic gold medal, but was defeated by Kyle Snyder in his bid to repeat as America’s representative at the Olympics. Snyder, as you well know, ended up having a decent Olympic tournament himself.
Ohioans on the Penn State Roster
None. The Nittany Lions have defied the odds and built a juggernaut wrestling program without any Ohio natives on the roster. It has worked for Penn State, but this should not be seen as a viable strategy for every program.
Notable Nittany Lion Wrestlers
No. 1 Zain Retherford (RS-JR, 149)
Zain Retherford is not a bad wrestler. He’s is notable for being the last man to hand Logan Stieber a loss in college at the dual meet in December of 2014. Stieber avenged the loss in the Big Ten finals and the NCAA semis, and Retherford lost in the consolation semifinals to finish fifth in the country as a redshirt freshman. He hasn’t lost since and most of the matches are absolute bloodbaths. Zain just won his 50th consecutive match last week, and is 15-0 this season with 11 pins. He tops the NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler list and averages 5.60 team points per match (notable because a pin earns the team six points).
No. 1 Jason Nolf (RS-SO, 157)
I didn’t know much about Nolf until he handed Isaiah Martinez of Illinois his first career loss (by pin, nonetheless). IMar avenged the loss in both the Big Ten and NCAA championship matches and the margin of victory was a single point (IMar won the Big Ten title in TB2 based on having more riding time). With Martinez up at 165 this season, Nolf is laying waste to the country’s 157 lbers. He has nine pins during his current 15-0 season and averages 5.4 team points per match. Like Retherford, Nolf is an absolute monster on the mat and only has a single victory this season not decided by bonus points (a 9-4 decision over No. 2 Michael Kemerer of Iowa).
No. 2 Bo Nickal (RS-SO, 184)
If Nickal’s name is familiar to you, it should be; Nickal was the opponent that Myles Martin defeated last season to win the NCAA championship. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Nickal is undefeated with just a single victory this season coming by a decision to a top five opponent. Nickal has 11 pins this season and averages 5.5 team points per match, trailing only Retherford in Division I.
| #4 Ohio State | WT | #2 penn state |
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| #18 JOSE RODRIGUEZ | 125 | #2 NICK SURIANO |
| #1 NATHAN TOMASELLO | 133 | GEORGE CARPENTER OR TRISTON LAW |
| #15 LUKE PLETCHER | 141 | #11 JIMMY GULIBON |
| #5 MICAH JORDAN | 149 | #1 ZAIN RETHERFORD |
| JAKE RYAN OR ANTHONY DECARLO | 157 | #1 JASON NOLF |
| CODY BURCHER | 165 | #4 VINCENZO JOSEPH |
| #1 BO JORDAN | 174 | #7 MARK HALL |
| #10 MYLES MARTIN | 184 | #2 BO NICKAL |
| #4 KOLLIN MOORE | 197 | #9 MATT MCCUTCHEON |
| #1 KYLE SNYDER | HWT | #3 NICK NEVILLS |
Key Matchups
Like the Iowa dual last week, every match will be important in this one. Quite frankly, the Buckeyes will need all of the breaks to go their way if they’re hoping to knock Penn State off at the Schott. Let’s take a look at each match from the top at how it may play out starting at 125.
125: #18 Jose Rodriguez (11-5) vs. #2 Nick Suriano (13-1)
I can’t recite much poetry from memory, but I do remember the Robert Frost poem about two paths diverging in a wood and this match is a case of that poem. Both guys at 125 are redshirt freshmen, but they are trending in opposite directions at the moment. Rodriguez started out hot, but hasn’t wrestled well since the Missouri dual in early December. He’s lost his last three matches by at least ten points to Thomas Gilman of Iowa and a pair of serviceable Big Ten 125s. Suriano has defeated the current fifth, sixth, and seventh ranked wrestlers at 125 and his lone loss was a one-point decision to Gilman. If Rodriguez doesn’t show more life against Suriano than he did against Gilman, he could easily fall to 1-4 against Big Ten competition.
133: #1 Nathan Tomasello (11-0) vs. George Carpenter (1-8) or Triston Law (0-1)
Tomasello looked a bit off in the Iowa dual and seemed frustrated that he wasn’t able to break through Phillip Laux’s defense. He shouldn’t have the same issues against whichever wrestler Sanderson trots out at 133 to fill in for Jared Cortez, who is sidelined for the season due to injury. The Buckeyes will be leaning heavily on Tomasello to score bonus points to make up for some serious mismatches in favor of Penn State throughout the lineup. To this point in his career, Tomasello has an NCAA title and an overall record of 71-5.
141: #15 Luke Pletcher (21-2) vs. #11 Jimmy Gulibon (10-6)
This is one of the bigger matches on paper in the dual as both wrestlers are similarly ranked in the latest InterMat rankings. Both wrestlers were highly regarded recruits out of the same Pennsylvania town (Latrobe), but Pletcher is a true freshman while Gulibon is a redshirt senior. Gulibon shows flashes of brilliance, but then shows lapses on the mat. Pletcher earned a big win over Carton of Iowa, but Gulibon will present a more aggressive challenge in the neutral position.
149: #5 Micah Jordan (21-1) vs. #1 Zain Retherford (15-0)
This is the first of the marquee matchups in this dual with a pair of top five wrestlers squaring off. Jordan held his own against Iowa’s Brandon Sorensen, but was unable to escape from the bottom and Sorensen took the decision. If Jordan isn’t able to get a quick escape against Retherford, he could be in for a quick and painful evening as Retherford is one of the most dominant top wrestlers in college wrestling. Zain is fond of putting the legs in and running a power half, which is a favorite of Micah’s brother Bo, so Micah will have some experience defending it. Retherford has been largely unchallenged this season, but Sorensen may have provided the template for how to beat Retherford after losing to Zain by just a single point in double overtime. Micah will need to be intelligently aggressive in picking his spots because Retherford can turn a mistake into points in a hurry.
157: Jake Ryan (10-8) or Anthony DeCarlo (2-6) vs. #1 Jason Nolf (15-0)
As described above, Nolf is a dominant force at 157 and may very well cruise to his first NCAA title now that IMar is up at 165. Ryan showed some flashes of potential last season, but seems to be missing a spark this year. Nolf only managed a major decision last year thanks to some of what I’ll call “defensive (stalling) tactics” on the part of Ryan. He won’t be so lucky this year and this one may get ugly in a hurry in favor of Nolf.
165: Cody Burcher (14-8) vs. #4 Vincenzo Joseph (11-2)
Burcher, like Ryan at 157, has yet to have the necessary pieces fall into place for him this season. To his credit, Burcher is able to keep losses close, but he often finds himself in nailbiters in matches that he wins against lesser opponents. Admittedly, I don’t know as much about Joseph as the other killers in the Penn State lineup, but he’s got several nice wins under his belt. Burcher needs to keep this one close for the Buckeyes to have much of a shot to win the dual.
174: #1 Bo Jordan (9-0) vs. #7 Mark Hall (20-2)
If you’re somebody that closely follows prep wrestling, these are both wrestlers that have been on your radar for some time now as each were at or very near the top in all recruiting services prior to college. Bo has been hobbled by a foot injury, and it was reported that he hadn’t practiced for two weeks prior to earning a decision against Iowa. Hall was expected to redshirt this season, but Sanderson decided to start him in the Iowa dual in a match Hall ended up losing to Alex Meyer 7-5. Hall won an amazing six state titles in Minnesota (where seventh and eighth graders can compete at the high school state championships) while Bo won four in Ohio, so there are going to be some bragging rights at stake on Friday night. While Hall is an incredible wrestler, he is still a bit green and Bo has been in a college wrestling room for going on four years. If Jordan is healthy, he should have the edge.
184: #10 Myles Martin (20-4) vs. #2 Bo Nickal (14-0)
This one is a rematch of the NCAA finals a year ago where Martin avenged his three previous losses to Nickal and defeated him for an NCAA title at 174 lbs as a true freshman. Martin has had one rough weekend at the Midlands and a tough decision loss to Sammy Brooks on the season, while Nickal has not shown any struggles in moving up a weight class. Both wrestlers are aggressive in the neutral position with Martin looking for the more traditional leg attacks while Nickal likes to pepper in some highlight-reel throws among his shots. Don’t take this match as an opportunity to grab a snack or run to the restroom or you may miss a ton of points in a short time.
197: #4 Kollin Moore (20-2) vs. #9 Matt McCutcheon (12-2)
Moore is a scoring threat from anywhere on the mat with the kind of quickness that you don’t often see in wrestlers of his size. His ankle picks remind me a bit of Cael Sanderson, which is never a bad thing. Moore’s only two losses this season are to the top two wrestlers in the country, so he’s used to a challenge. McCutcheon is one of those guys that I would swear has been at Penn State for the better part of a decade, but he is only a redshirt junior. He found himself needing to move up to accommodate Bo Nickal moving up in weight, so he finds himself as an undersized but successful 197. McCutcheon has a high mat IQ and finds a way to score in tight situations, so this will be a good test for the freshman Moore.
HWT: #1 Kyle Snyder (6-0) vs. #3 Nick Nevills (13-1)
Nevills has a few nice wins including victories over Butler of Stanford and Kroells of Minnesota, but he hasn’t yet faced Kyle Snyder. Nevills was injured and missed much of last season, but he seems to be rounding into form nicely as a sophomore. His lone loss is a one point decision to No. 2 Connor Medbery of Wisconsin. Snyder is returning from a gold medal at last weekend’s Yarygin tournament in Russia. While Snyder was targeted with some ridiculous griping about his decision to skip the Iowa dual for the incredibly prestigious Yarygin, he’s in the lineup against Penn State and could serve notice on Nevills that he’s incredibly focused on wrestling at his best in the United States as well.
Match Outlook
As previously mentioned, the Buckeyes look to be facing a stiff test on Friday night. Penn State will roll out some serious scorers in the middle of the lineup where the Buckeyes are comparatively weak. In the matches where Ohio State features a real offensive threat, Penn State will send out a comparably-ranked opponent in every weight class except for 133. The Buckeyes will need to get some serious breaks in their favor as Penn State’s lineup doesn’t allow for any mistakes.
If the Buckeyes are going to topple the Nittany Lions, they are going to need to minimize bonus points at 125, 157, and 165. Luke Pletcher will need to assert himself at 141 and a minor upset out of him and Myles Martin at 184 will go a long way toward a Buckeye victory. Micah Jordan is a threat to anyone at 149, but he may have his hands full against the excellent Retherford, especially if Jordan gets broken down on the bottom.
Ohio State nearly upset Iowa last weekend despite putting up a lackluster effort several times throughout the evening. If the Buckeyes come out fired up in front of what could be a large, loud crowd at the Schottenstein Center, they’ll stand a real shot at pulling off a significant upset against the Nittany Lions.
