Arizona State snaps Penn State win streak; Iowa moves to No. 1 in NWCA poll for first time since 2015

Manheim, Pennsylvania - Eleven years ago, Arizona State’s wrestling program was dropped for 10 days. This past weekend, a crowd of over 8,500 saw the Sun Devils knock off top-ranked Penn State and end the Nittany Lions’ dual meet win streak of 60.

Couple that with Iowa’s 29-6 win over Iowa State and it was a recipe for a new No. 1 as Iowa (2-0) moved to the top spot for the first time since February 17, 2015 as the NWCA Division I Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday.

The Hawkeyes received 13 of 14 first-place votes. Nebraska (4-0) moved up one spot to No. 2, while Penn State (1-1) slid to No. 3. Arizona State (5-0) vaulted up six spots to No. 4. Virginia Tech (3-0) was fifth.

The Hilton Coliseum crowd in Ames checked in at 11,238, the 10th largest crowd to see wrestling at the venue and the first wrestling dual to draw at least 11,000 fans since December 2009, also against Iowa.

Arizona State’s movement is significant, not just due to its near demise a decade ago, but it’s the highest the Sun Devil wrestling program has been ranked since February 5, 1998, when the Sun Devils were also ranked No. 4 in the country. It’s also the highest a Pac-12 (or Pac-10) team has been ranked since Boise State was ranked No. 2 in November of 2010.

While Penn State’s win streak of 60 was impressive, the loss also ended a streak of 36 straight weeks ranked No. 1 in the Coaches Poll.

Nebraska topped Northern Iowa 23-17 and Wyoming 28-7. The move to No. 2 ties the highest ranking in school history for the Cornhuskers, who were last ranked second in February 2008. Wisconsin improved to 6-0 with a 31-13 win at Utah Valley.

NC State (6-0) moved up two spots after wins at then-No. 15 Cornell and Binghamton. The upset bug also bit Eastern Pennsylvania as both Princeton and Pittsburgh beat then-No. 7 Lehigh. Princeton (1-0) moves up to No. 12, its highest ranking in school history, after beating the Mountain Hawks for the second straight year, while Pittsburgh (2-1) topped Lehigh on criteria and moved into the Top 10 for the first time since January 20, 2015. Lehigh fell back to No. 13 this week.

Despite beating then-No. 12 Minnesota 21-12, Oklahoma State (2-1) slid to No. 9. There were no new teams in the Top 25 this week as movement outside of the top 15 was minimal. Army West Point (4-1) moved up to No. 21, the highest the Black Knights have been ranked since they checked in at No. 17 on February 21, 1994.
Ranked Duals this week: Saturday, Dec. 1: No. 17 Cornell at No. 8 Ohio State, No. 6 Wisconsin at No. 1 Iowa.

Methodology: The NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by two coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Each first-place vote is worth 25 points, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 25th-place vote.

NWCA Division I Coaches Poll
November 26, 2019

Rank	Team (First)	Record	Points	Conf.	Previous
1	Iowa (13)	(2-0)	348	Big Ten	2
2	Nebraska	(4-0)	319	Big Ten	3
3	Penn State	(1-1)	316	Big Ten	1
4	Arizona State (1)	(5-0)	305	Pac-12	10
5	Virginia Tech	(3-0)	299	ACC	4
6	Wisconsin	(6-0)	284	Big Ten	4
7	NC State	(6-0)	266	ACC	9
8	Ohio State	(2-1)	258	Big Ten	6
9	Oklahoma State	(2-1)	250	Big 12	7
10	Pittsburgh	(2-1)	210	ACC	12
11	Iowa State	(1-1)	204	Big 12	11
12	Princeton	(1-0)	201	EIWA	14
13	Lehigh	(1-2)	165	EIWA	7
14	Minnesota	(1-2)	143	Big Ten	12
15	Northwestern	(2-1)	142	Big Ten	16
16	Northern Iowa	(0-2)	130	Big 12	17
17	Cornell	(0-1)	123	EIWA	15
18	North Carolina	(2-1)	94	ACC	19
19	Missouri	(2-2)	86	MAC	18
20	Rider	(2-0)	68	MAC	20
21	Army West Point	(4-1)	63	EIWA	24
22	Michigan	(1-1)	60	Big Ten	21
23	Purdue	(6-1)	42	Big Ten	25
24	Virginia	(3-1)	39	ACC	23
25	Lock Haven	(0-0)	36	MAC	22

Others Receiving Votes: Campbell 25, Stanford 20, Illinois 19, Rutgers 14, Wyoming 13, Old Dominion 5, Michigan State 3
Dropped Out: None