After a fairly quiet week in NCAA Division I wrestling, the status quo largely held in the latest USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll, with Penn State, Ohio State and Oklahoma State holding a solid grip on the top three spots.
Each of the top three teams holds a 3-0 record, with the Buckeyes picking up their second and third dual-meet victories in the Thanksgiving Throwdown, toppling Kent State and Cleveland State in an all-Ohio tri-dual meet at St. John Arena. The team travels to Sin City this weekend for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational; Eleven Warriors will preview the two-day tournament later this week.
The Nittany Lions were idle last week, but face a huge test Sunday as they travel three hours to the east to face the No. 5 Lehigh Mountain Hawks, perhaps the hottest team in the sport at this point in the season. Lehigh, fresh off a huge upset of then-No. 4 Michigan, already has two victories over ranked teams in its 3-0 record.
Oklahoma State opened up Big 12 competition with a 40-3 victory over North Dakota State in Fargo. The Big 12 includes NDSU as an affiliate member for wrestling, along with Fresno State, Northern Iowa, Air Force, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming; Iowa State, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Oklahoma State are the only full Big 12 members who field wrestling teams.
Seventh-ranked Iowa beat No. 22 Rider in Carver-Hawkeye Arena 35-6 to improve to 4-0. Ten Big Ten teams feature in this weeks' Top 25 rankings.
| Rank | Team (First) | Record | Points | Conf. | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penn State (16) | 3-0 | 400 | Big Ten | 1 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 3-0 | 383 | Big Ten | 2 |
| 3 | Oklahoma State | 3-0 | 369 | Big 12 | 3 |
| 4 | Missouri | 6-0 | 350 | MAC | 4 |
| 5 | Lehigh | 3-0 | 335 | EIWA | 5 |
| 6 | NC State | 6-0 | 316 | ACC | 6 |
| 7 | Iowa | 4-0 | 303 | Big Ten | 7 |
| 8 | Minnesota | 2-1 | 281 | Big Ten | 8 |
| 9 | Michigan | 1-1 | 279 | Big Ten | 9 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech | 3-1 | 257 | ACC | 10 |
| 11 | Rutgers | 3-0 | 239 | Big Ten | 11 |
| 12 | Arizona State | 2-2 | 216 | Pac-12 | 12 |
| 13 | Nebraska | 2-0 | 206 | Big Ten | 13 |
| 14 | Cornell | 1-0 | 188 | EIWA | 15 |
| 15 | Illinois | 1-1 | 187 | Big Ten | 14 |
| 16 | Northern Iowa | 1-1 | 143 | Big 12 | 17 |
| 17 | South Dakota State | 0-2 | 137 | Big 12 | 16 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 2-0 | 125 | Big Ten | 19 |
| 19 | Central Michigan | 1-1 | 123 | MAC | 18 |
| 20 | Purdue | 3-0 | 104 | Big Ten | 20 |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 1-2 | 74 | Big 12 | 21 |
| 22 | Rider | 1-1 | 63 | EWL | 22 |
| 23 | Edinboro | 2-1 | 54 | EWL | 23 |
| 24 | Pittsburgh | 1-2 | 17 | ACC | 24 |
| 25 | Stanford | 2-2 | 15 | Pac-12 | 24 |
