Unbeaten Penn State, Ohio State and Missouri hold top three rankings in new NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll

Manheim, Pennsylvania -- Two of the nation’s final three unbeaten Division I wrestling teams are set to meet this coming weekend as No. 1 Penn State will host No. 2 Ohio State at Rec Hall on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. Both Penn State and Ohio State won a pair of conference duals over the weekend to remain atop of the USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll released on Tuesday.

Penn State (11-0) topped then-No. 14 Minnesota 35-8 on Friday at Rec Hall before topping then-No. 18 Rutgers 25-15 in what could be described as a fiesty dual in front of 8,319 fans at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Sunday. In the victory, returning 157-pound NCAA champion Jason Nolf of Penn State lost his first match of the year, falling by injury default to John Van Brill. The Nittany Lions won seven of the other nine bouts. Nolf is expected to miss the rest of Penn State’s regular season schedule due to the injury.

Ohio State (12-0) had little problem with victories over Michigan State 35-12 and No. 24 Purdue 35-7. The only other unbeaten team in the nation, Missouri, improved to 16-0 with a wild 21-19 victory over host Oklahoma State (9-2) on Saturday. Key victories from the Tigers were from 141-pounder Jaydin Eierman, who pinned two-time NCAA champion Dean Heil, and 197-pounder Willie Miklus, who upended fellow All-American Preston Weigel.

There was some movement in the top five as Michigan (8-3) went into Carver-Hawkeye and won the last for weights to rally past host Iowa 19-17. The Hawkeyes, wrestling without All-American 157-pounder Michael Kemerer, slid three spots to No. 7 in this week’s poll. Michigan vaulted back up to No. 4.

No. 5 Oklahoma State stayed put at No. 5 after recovering from the Missouri loss by beating Iowa State 31-3. No. 6 NC State improved to 12-1 with a 32-7 victory over Virginia in the ACC. Virginia Tech (12-2) moved up a spot after two weekend wins, the biggest coming over then-No. 9 Lehigh 20-19 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Cornell (7-2) moved up to No. 10 after the Big Red beat Brown 27-9 and Harvard 35-3. The two wins pushed Cornell’s Ivy League dual meet win streak to 80.

No. 12 South Dakota State (10-2) won its 10th dual in a row and stayed unbeaten in the Big 12 with a 22-13 win at Oklahoma. No. 19 Rider (11-2) handed No. 23 Lock Haven (10-2) a 22-12 dual meet loss to take over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Wrestling League.

Northwestern improved to 8-2 and jumped three spots to No. 20 after a come-from-behind win over then-No. 14 Minnesota. The Gophers (7-7) have been on a recent slide after wrestling without numerous starters the past several weeks. The win was notable for Northwestern as the Wildcats hadn’t beaten Minnesota in a dual meet since January 20, 1996.

The USA Today/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is comprised of two voting coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Points are 25 for each first-place vote, 24 for second, 23 for third all the way to a 25th-place vote is one point.

Rank	Team (First)	Record	Points	Conference	Previous
1	Penn State (12)	11-0	396	Big Ten	1
2	Ohio State (4)	12-0	388	Big Ten	2
3	Missouri	16-0	368	MAC	3
4	Michigan	8-3	338	Big Ten	7
5	Oklahoma State	9-2	327	Big 12	5
6	NC State	12-1	325	ACC	6
7	Iowa	9-2	320	Big Ten	4
8	Arizona State	10-2	289	Pac-12	8
9	Virginia Tech	12-2	272	ACC	10
10	Cornell	7-2	248	EIWA	11
11	Lehigh	9-3	246	EIWA	9
12	South Dakota State	10-2	226	Big 12	12
13	Northern Iowa	5-3	202	Big 12	12
14	Illinois	5-3	191	Big Ten	15
15	Nebraska	7-3	172	Big Ten	16
16	Central Michigan	6-4	153	MAC	17
17	Northwestern	8-2	127	Big Ten	20
18	Minnesota	7-7	122	Big Ten	14
19	Rutgers	4-5	120	Big Ten	18
20	Wisconsin	6-2	104	Big Ten	21
21	Rider	11-2	88	EWL	19
22	Wyoming	9-3	68	Big 12	22
23	Lock Haven	10-2	45	EWL	23
24	Purdue	6-6	34	Big Ten	24
25	North Carolina	8-8	25	ACC	25

 
Others Receiving Votes: Oklahoma 5, Binghamton 1
Dropped Out: None