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Virginia Tech wins shake up this week's NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll

by Jason Bryant, NWCA

Manheim, Pennsylvania – With over a third of Division I teams in action this past weekend at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, there wasn’t a ton of dual meet action to impact the rankings last week, but there was one major outcome that reconfigured the top five as the most recent NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday.
Virginia Tech (3-1) went to Columbia, Missouri and trounced then-No. 17 Northern Iowa 39-3 and then upended then-No. 3 Missouri 18-16. The Hokies moved up two spots to No. 8, while Missouri (4-1) dropped seven spots to No. 10. The loss broke Missouri’s dual meet win streak at 16.
Top-ranked Iowa won its annual Cy-Hawk dual with Iowa State in front of a spirited crowd of nearly 10,000 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. Iowa improved to 3-0 after the 22-11 victory. Penn State remained unbeaten, but it wasn’t pretty as illness has kept a number of highly ranked Nittany Lions out of the lineup. Penn State beat host Penn 20-16 in Philadelphia before returning home and fending off then-No. 22 Lehigh 23-16.
The only other dual action involving ranked programs saw NC State improve to 2-0 after it won all 10 bouts in a dual against Gardner-Webb. Rutgers leads Division I in dual meet victories in the first month of the season. The Scarlet Knights improved to 9-0 after beating American 41-3 last week.
This week: With many schools hitting the end of their semester or taking first semester finals, action is again limited this coming week. Rutgers hosts Army West Point on Friday, while No. 23 Illinois will see its first dual action of the season as the Fighting Illini face Chattanooga and host SIUE on Saturday. Sunday will have two ranked matchups as No. 22 Pittsburgh will hit the road to take on No. 6 Ohio State and Bedlam gets underway in Norman as the fourth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys will take on No. 17 Oklahoma. No. 5 NC State will head to Boone to take on always pesky Appalachian State.
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.
NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll

December 7, 2021

RankTeam (First)RecordPointsConferencePrevious
1Iowa (14)(3-0)350Big Ten1
2Penn State(5-0)336Big Ten2
3Michigan(3-0)315Big Ten4
4Oklahoma State(3-0)310Big 125
5NC State(2-0)294ACC6
6Arizona State(1-0)274Pac-127
7Ohio State(3-0)273Big Ten8
8Virginia Tech(3-1)251ACC10
9Nebraska(3-0)235Big Ten9
10Missouri(4-1)220Big 123
11Cornell(1-0)206EIWA11
12Rutgers(9-0)191Big Ten14
13Iowa State(2-1)179Big 1213
14Minnesota(1-1)176Big Ten12
15Purdue(6-0)139Big Ten15
16Wisconsin(4-0)126Big Ten16
17Oklahoma(2-1)124Big 1218
18Lehigh(3-2)107EIWA22
19North Carolina(3-4)86ACC19
20Northern Iowa(0-2)69Big 1217
21Princeton(0-1)67EIWA20
22Pittsburgh(3-1)54ACC23
23Illinois(0-0)45Big Ten21
24Northwestern(0-0)36Big Ten24
25Wyoming(0-0)34Big 12NR

Others Receiving Votes: Central Michigan, Stanford 18, Cal Poly, Campbell 15, Virginia 6, Appalachian State, Michigan State 3.
Dropped Out: No. 25 Stanford (1-2).
Upcoming Coaches Poll Release Dates for 2021-22: Dec. 14, Dec. 21, Jan. 4, Jan. 11, Jan. 18, Jan. 25, Feb. 1, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, Feb. 22.
Mid-Major Poll Release Dates to be announced.