Wrestling: No. 2 Ohio State Mangles No. 14 Minnesota, 31-7

No. 4 Ethan Lizak never knew what hit him. He failed to record a single takedown against the former NCAA champ and consensus top-ranked title contender.

In the Buckeyes' first home dual since the Thanksgiving Throwdown, fans who braved the ice and snow got their money's worth as the home team abused their guests, winning eight of 10 matches and fielding their complete postseason lineup for the first time all year.

Official attendance was 5,130, though a few of those fans may have opted to stay home given the perilous Central Ohio road conditions.

While Tomasello and reigning NCAA heavyweight champion Kyle Snyder earned tech falls with ease and the final outcome was never in doubt, the Gophers managed two upsets on the evening, with No. 6 Joey McKenna dropping his first match of the season, and No. 13 Te'Shan Campbell suffering his second loss in as many matches.

The rest of the lineup held serve, with Bo Jordan capping the night on a last-second takedown to secure the major decision, and the 31-7 team victory.

Buckeye Breakdown

Ohio State entered the Schott riding an streak of eight dual meet victories this season, most recently unhorsing No. 17 Rutgers 29-11 last weekend. To date, the Buckeyes had outscored their opponents 283-50.

NaTo vs. The Backpack

The most hyped match of the night was No. 1 vs. No. 4 in the 125-pound class. The match lived up to the hype, but not in the manner some may have expected.

After a methodical opening frame that Tomasello finished ahead 2-0, the redshirt senior went to work, earning and takedown midway through the second period that finished with "The Backpack" on his back, and with Tomasello pocketing four near-fall points.

Tomasello would finish the second period with another pair of takedowns, aping Kyle Snyder's patented catch-and-release style en route to a 13-2 advantage heading into the final frame. Two more takedowns, and the match was over, and Tomasello pocketed his second tech fall of the season by a score of 18-3.

Tomasello vs. Lizak was the most anticipated match of the night because it's not every day one gets to see top-four competitors face off, and also because it was Tomasello's first real test of the season. He passed with flying colors, dominating one of the best in the business from the top position, fighting off a bottom start with ease and going right back on the attack.

Tomasello starting to pour it on pic.twitter.com/YWo8GJixRI

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) January 13, 2018

First Blood

At 141 pounds, Joey McKenna opened the night as one of six undefeated wrestlers on the team. His win streak ended at six, however, as No. 11 Tommy Thorn upended McKenna for the second time in as many matches.

The two respected technicians came into the match with a bit of history. Thorn pinned McKenna, the No. 3 seed, in the Round of 16 at the 2017 NCAA tournament.

Things didn't go down quite the same way in Columbus,  but Thorn clearly had McKenna's number.

"We hit a beautiful double-leg to start, we had power, we looked good, the match was going his way, we're up 2-1 to start the second [period]," Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan explained. "Then you go down, you get turned twice for 8 points... that can't happen. A stingy wrestler like Thorn that can scramble well is going to make scoring hard, you can't give up those points."

Ryan said McKenna is "a great wrestler," and will bounce back and learn from the situation.

"He got caught in the same position twice," Ryan said. "On the edge of the mat early in the second period, he had a big advantage from that position, he rolled by the edge, which caused him not to be able to move quite the way he wanted. They go back in the center, he does it again and Thorn made a nice adjustment and put him on his back, and then did it again." head coach Tom Ryan said.

Those back points put the match too far out of reach, and put McKenna on the wrong side of the ledger for the first time all season.

Back in Business

Ke-Shawn Hayes dropped an upset of his own last week at Rutgers, but the 149-pounder came back with a vengeance Friday night. Facing unranked Ben Brancale, Hayes piled on the points in the first period, racking up a takedown and turning him twice for a nice pair of two-point nearfalls.

With another takedown in each of the final rounds and another pair of backpoints in the third for good measure, Hayes looked every bit a Top 6 wrestler in front of the home crowd.

Back to the Drawing Board

Te'Shan Campbell suffered his second consecutive loss in Big Ten action, dropping an 8-5 decision to No. 9 Nick Wanzek. Hayes earned a takedown in the final frame to narrow the score, but simply ran out of time before he could compete the tilt to turn the tide.

"The biggest thing for Campbell is knowing that regardless of your opponent, expect them to fight," Ryan said. "At the end of the match we saw him string three or four things together and pick up the takedown, we need to see that the whole time."

Ryan said the second period was really the deciding point in the match. Campbell picked up three stalling calls in a row for failing to return Wanzek to the mat; those penalty points and Wanzek's takedown at the start of the third, put the match too far in front of Campbell with too little time to recover.

Bonus Points

Five Buckeyes remain undefeated on the season: Tomasello, No. 2 Luke Pletcher, No. 1 Kollin Moore, No. 2 Myles Martin and Snyder.

Five Buckeyes finished with bonus points, including the pair of tech falls from Tomasello and Snyder. The pair have earned bonus points in 100% of their matches.

Snyder, the reigning World Freestyle champion, will wrestle next week versus Iowa, and at Penn State, Michigan and NC State to close the season. He'll miss duals versus Purdue and at Michigan State, however, due to wrestling at the prestigious Ivan Yarygin Memorial tournament in Russia.

The Buckeyes are back in action Sunday, Jan. 21 in their final true home dual of the season, when they host No. 7 Iowa at The Schott.