Penn State goes wire-to-wire atop NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll, ends dual season 12-0
by Jason Bryant, NWCA
Penn State was No. 1 wire-to-wire in the NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll, ending with 12-0 record. The top five in final poll are No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Iowa State.
With 639 duals involving Division I men’s wrestling teams in 2023-24 now complete, Penn State closed the regular as the only unbeaten and a wire-to-wire unanimous No. 1 as the final NWCA Division I Men’s Wrestling Coaches Poll of the season was released on Tuesday.
Penn State (12-0) finished out the regular season with a 55-0 home win over Edinboro to run its dual meet win streak to 54 in a row. The Nittany Lions will start next season with the fourth-longest win streak in major college wrestling history.
Iowa returned to No. 2 after heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma and taming then-No. 2 Oklahoma State 22-9 in front of over 13,000 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena in the third-largest dual meet crowd in school history. Oklahoma State dropped back to fourth this week.
Nebraska closed out its season ranked third, finishing a 12-2 season with a road win at then-No. 19 Arizona State. Iowa State (13-2) closed out its regular season with a 41-3 drubbing of reserve-laden Missouri, which came in ranked seventh.
Missouri, which also fell to then-No. 16 Northern Iowa 31-6, dropped three spots to No. 10. NC State closed the regular season with a 16-2 mark after a 20-12 win No. 13 Virginia Tech, giving the Wolfpack the regular-season ACC championship.
Cornell beat Binghamton 33-6 and Michigan shutout Central Michigan 39-0 to end those respective school’s dual-meet seasons.
The only other ranked matchup in the season’s final week saw Arizona State top then-No. 15 Lehigh 24-14 in Tempe. The Sun Devils finished 7-6 and jumped to No. 16 in the final regular-season poll.
The final poll of the season comes out later this week with the final NWCA Division I Men’s Wrestling Mid-Major Poll.
Methodology: The NWCA Division I Men’s 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. Teams who are not competing this season are not included in the voting process.
NWCA Division I Men's Wrestling Coaches Poll
February 27, 2024
Rank/Team (First)/Record/Points/Conf./Previous
1 Penn State (14) (12-0) 350 Big Ten 1
2 Iowa (12-2) 327 Big Ten 4
3 Nebraska (12-2) 326 Big Ten 3
4 Oklahoma State (14-1) 309 Big 12 2
5 Iowa State (13-2) 292 Big 12 5
6 Ohio State (15-2) 278 Big Ten 6
7 NC State (16-2) 259 ACC 8
8 Cornell (12-4) 243 EIWA 9
9 Michigan (8-4) 234 Big Ten 10
10 Missouri (10-4) 221 Big 12 7
11 South Dakota State (13-4) 218 Big 12 11
12 Minnesota (11-2) 201 Big Ten 12
13 Virginia Tech (9-4) 183 ACC 13
14 Rutgers (12-5) 169 Big Ten 14
15 Northern Iowa (8-6) 151 Big 12 16
16 Arizona State (7-6) 127 Pac-12 19
17 Lehigh (7-4) 124 EIWA 15
18 Little Rock (15-5) 117 Pac-12 17
19 West Virginia (10-5) 91 Big 12 18
20 Stanford (10-4) 79 Pac-12 20
21 Oregon State (7-5) 63 Pac-12 21
22 Campbell (14-3) 52 SoCon 22
23 Pittsburgh (10-8) 44 ACC 23
24 Appalachian State (10-3) 31 SoCon 24
25 Penn (6-5) 17 EIWA NR
Others Receiving Votes: Oklahoma 12, Cal Poly 10, Indiana 10, Northern Illinois 7, North Carolina 4, Army West Point 1.
Dropped out: No. 25 Oklahoma (5-7).
Read More#
12 Senior National Team berths determined at True-Third Place Matches prior to Final X
National Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2025 honored in moving induction ceremony in Stillwater, Okla.
The Hall of Fame’s Presentation of Plaques is all about family and friends celebrating wrestling excellence
Lehigh adds Women's Wrestling as 26th varsity sport, with competition to begin in 2025–26