Men’s College Notebook: Top Two Battle Between Nittany Lions and Buckeyes Incoming
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by Brian Reinhardt
Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State (left) and Luke Lilledahl of Penn State (right).
We have had this weekend circled all year—No. 1 Penn State hosts No. 2 Ohio State Friday at 7 p.m. (ET). The dual will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
The two teams are a combined 30-0 overall and 13-0 in Big Ten conference duals.
On the season, Penn State wrestlers are 120-10 in duals, including 65-5 in Big Ten bouts. The Nittany Lions have averaged 41.7 team points in conference duals and shut out four of their seven foes.
Ohio State is off to the best start in program history at 17-0. Its 17-consecutive dual wins are also a new school record. The Buckeyes are 4-0 against top-five teams this year and have 11 wins over top-25 teams overall.
In Big Ten conference duals, Ohio State’s probable starters from 125 to 149 pounds are a combined 20-1 with 12 bonus-point wins.
This is the second year there has been a No. 1 versus No. 2 hosted by Penn State in Happy Valley. Last year, No. 2 Iowa came to town, and the Nittany Lions cruised to a 30-8 win.
Of the 27 undefeated wrestlers remaining in the NCAA, Penn State and Ohio State have 11 of them. Both teams have an undefeated wrestler at both 125 and 133 pounds. Heavyweight is the only weight class in this dual that neither team comes in undefeated (although 157 will also not feature an undefeated wrestler, more on that below).
Despite being in the same conference, there is not much history in rematches occurring in this dual. In fact, there are only a total of three previous matchups between the probable starters (149, 174, 285), with each of those three weight classes only occurring one previous time.
Here is a look at the 10 weight classes.
The first of two matches to feature undefeated wrestlers. In a rarity, both wrestlers have taken a loss to a teammate at an open tournament earlier this season, but those do not count on season records. Lilledahl’s last five bouts have all gone for bonus, four technical falls and a fall. Bouzakis is in his first season at 125, coming down from 133. Seven of his 12 wins have been against ranked foes. The pair were Team USA teammates at the 2023 U20 Pan American and World Championships—both men winning Pan Am gold and earning medals at the Worlds in Amman, Jordan.
Back-to-back matches with a pair of undefeated wrestlers. This will be Blaze’s ninth ranked foe in his last 11 bouts. He has three top-10 wins on the year. Davino is also in his first year in the lineup after redshirting last year. He has started all 17 duals for the Buckeyes and has outscored those foes by a total of 175 points with a whopping 12 technical falls.
Davis was preparing to redshirt, but got called into action in January. This is the third different weight of his career. He started at 125 pounds and was the No. 1 seed at NCAAs as a freshman and had an All-America season last year at 133 pounds. Mendez is the reigning back-to-back national champion at 141 pounds. He has also started all 17 duals for Ohio State. Of his 17 wins, 15 have been for bonus points, and he has racked up eight ranked wins.
The start of Penn State’s Death Row, where five of the six weights Penn State enters with the No. 1 ranked wrestler. Van Ness won the lone previous match-up, at last year’s NCAAs, when Stiles was at Oregon State. Van Ness secured a fall just 1:06 into the bout after both already clinched All-America honors. Van Ness has gone for bonus in 14 of his 16 matches.
According to the Ohio State probable starters, we will not be getting a top-five battle at 157 pounds. Cannon has been out of action after picking up an injury in the dual at Minnesota on Jan. 23. He has missed the last four Buckeye duals and is not expected back this weekend. Redshirt freshmen Landon Desselle and Daxton Chase are listed as probables. Duke’s lone loss on the year was to defending national champion Antrell Taylor of Nebraska, 2-1, in extra time.
Much of the Hodge discussion heading into the final few weeks is centered on Mendez and Mesenbrink. Over the last three collegiate seasons, Mesenbrink is 70-1 (his lone loss was in the 2024 NCAA finals to David Carr of Iowa State), and he enters with a 44-match winning streak. He is at 100% bonus rate this year, with just two major decisions. Gallagher is just 6-5 in duals and 2-5 versus ranked foes this year.
Haines won the previous match-up, 6-4, in last year’s dual. Haines has gone for bonus in 14 of his 16 wins, with only two of those bonus point matches going for a major decision. In his final year, Kharchla has started all 17 duals and has six ranked wins.
Welsh faces the team where he started his career. He was an NCAA finalist as a freshman in 2024 before transferring to Penn State this past offseason. Welsh is the lone wrestler at 184 pounds still undefeated, the only weight class that has just one. Ohio State answered Welsh’s transfer by going out and getting Fishback. Fishback’s first two seasons at NC State both ended in the Blood Round before his move back to Ohio. Of his five losses this year, four have come in overtime.
Barr missed the first six weeks of the season recovering from an injury suffered at the U23 World Championships. He has been in the lineup since late December. Barr is sitting at 100% bonus rate, with just three major decisions. Only four of his 14 matches have gone the entire seven minutes. Geog won a three-way battle for the starting job, claiming the start in 12 duals. Half of his wins have been by bonus.
The two met in last year’s dual, with Feldman claiming a 10-3 decision. Mirasola enters having lost back-to-back bouts, 2-1 to No. 4 AJ Ferrari of Nebraska and 4-1 to No. 5 Taye Ghadiali of Michigan. Before that, he had won seven straight, including 4-3 over No. 5 Ben Kueter of Iowa. Feldman himself is coming off a 3-2 win over Kueter last weekend, and Feldman also has a loss to Ghadiali (4-1), but holds two wins over Ferrari this year.
Here is a look at some of the other top duals of the weekend.
No. 5 Nebraska at No. 11 Illinois – 8 PM on B1G+
No. 18 West Virginia at No. 4 Iowa State – 8 PM on ESPN+
No. 13 North Carolina at No. 6 Virginia Tech – 8 PM on ACC Network
No. 10 Michigan at No. 7 Iowa – 9 PM on Big Ten Network
No. 18 West Virginia at No. 15 Northern Iowa – 8 PM on FloWrestling
No. 5 Nebraska at No. 20 Indiana – 12 PM on Big Ten Network
No. 3 Oklahoma State at No. 6 Virginia Tech – 2 PM on ACC Network
No. 10 Michigan at No. 21 Wisconsin – 2 PM on B1G+
No. 16 Oklahoma at No. 24 Wyoming – 3 PM on FloWrestling
No. 15 Northern Iowa at No. 4 Iowa State – 8 PM on ESPN+
No. 12 Pitt at No. 23 Stanford – 8 PM on ACCNX
Note: TV/Streaming information was compiled by Earl Smith of InterMat. All times listed are Eastern.
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