Iowa remains unanimous No. 1 in NWCA rankings as solid crowds highlight wrestling's weekend
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by Jason Bryant, NWCA
Manheim, Pennsylvania - The flood of upsets slowed in the most recent week of Division I wrestling competition. After eleven ranked teams fell a week ago, just one team was upended by an unranked team, causing scant movement as the most recent NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday.
Unbeaten Iowa (7-0) remained the unanimous No. 1 after pickup up a 26-6 win over No. 7 Nebraska in front of 12,883 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Saturday night. It was the 41st largest crowd for a dual meet in NCAA wrestling history and of the 87 duals in recorded history that have drawn over 10,000 fans, 37 have taken place at the iconic arena. Penn State (6-1) remained second after beating No. 22 Rutgers 38-6. Penn State's attendance is also worth noting as the match was the 53rd straight sellout at Rec Hall and the 58th sellout in the last 60 home duals for the Nittany Lions regardless of facility.
Virginia Tech (8-0) remained third after two weekend wins in New York. The Hokies shut out Binghamton 47-0 on Saturday before heading to Ithaca to beat then-No. 19 Cornell 23-9 a day later. Ohio State (7-1) won a pair of Big Ten duals in convincing fashion. On Friday, the Buckeyes topped Wisconsin 24-13 in Madison before topping Illinois 28-4 at home. Ohio State's attendance has been stellar since the opening of the new Covelli Center. All six home duals thus far this season have drawn over 3,500 fans with four of the six drawing over 4,000.
NC State (10-0) remained one of two unbeaten ACC teams in the top five this week and one of the last three unbeaten Division I squads still standing. The Wolfpack earned non-conference wins on the road at Drexel 44-3 and Hofstra 37-3. No. 6 Arizona State opened up its Pac-12 slate topping Oregon State 26-12, while Oklahoma State hosted a pair of duals over the weekend and improved to 7-1. The Cowboys also drew well, with over 3,000 fans at Gallagher-Iba in a 37-9 win over West Virginia and a 30-10 win over No. 10 Pittsburgh.
Much of the Top 25 remained static, with most of the movement as a result of then-No. 11 Minnesota dropping a dual to then-unranked Michigan 22-15 at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor. The Gophers (7-4) slid three spots to No. 14, while Michigan moved back into the Top 25, tied with Rider, who also won a pair of conference duals over the weekend. Cornell did come away with one ranked win over the weekend. The Big Red edged No. 22 Rutgers 18-16 in front of nearly 4,600 fans at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Friday.
Ranked Duals This Week: Friday sees four duals between ranked teams as No. 2 Penn State will head to Lincoln to face No. 7 Nebraska, No. 12 North Carolina will face No. 3 Virginia Tech, No. 25 Michigan travels to No. 15 Northwestern and No. 4 Ohio State heads to Carver-Hawkeye to face No. 1 Iowa. On Saturday, No. 9 Oklahoma State will go into intimate West Gym and face No. 20 Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, while Sunday boasts three ranked duals as No. 22 Rutgers hosts No. 13 Purdue, Oklahoma State visits No. 16 Iowa State and Ohio State finishes its weekend with a trip to Minnesota to face the No. 14 Golden Gophers.
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. The poll is based on dual meet results.
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NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll
Others Receiving Votes: South Dakota State 6, Appalachian State 4, Central Michigan 1, Northern Illinois 1.
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