Iowa Wrestling Coach Tom Brands Previews Oklahoma State Dual

Tom Brands has been the Hawkeyes’ head coach for 18 duals against the Cowboys, but Sunday will mark the first time someone other than John Smith is on the other side of the mat.

No. 2 Oklahoma State (13-0) and No. 3 Iowa (13-1) will wrestle at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It’ll be new OSU coach David Taylor’s first taste of the rivalry, but Brands carries a 10-7-1 record against OSU into the dual, with his Hawkeyes winning the past four meetings.

“I think the tradition is set,” said Brands this week. “I think when you have new faces or new blood or whatever, how they’ve invested, I think there’s always that. I think John Smith packed a pretty good punch. And then you look at Joey Seay and (Dan) Gable, and you look at Myron Roderick and Gable, all that history. Some of my international assistants were there — Bruce Burnett. Definitely a place where wrestling is relevant, and that’s exciting. We love it.”

Iowa’s only dual loss this season came at Penn State, where the national-favorite Nittany Lions won 30-8. Outside of that, the Hawkeyes have navigated a tough Big Ten schedule with four top 1o wins since January.

OSU and Iowa have two common opponents this season in Oregon State and Iowa State. The Hawkeyes started their season with a 30-7 victory against the Beavers, and about a week later, the Cowboys beat Oregon State 36-3. The Hawkeyes and Cyclones wrestled Nov. 23, where Iowa won 21-15. The Cowboys beat the Cyclones 27-12 on Jan. 26. A lot had changed for the Cyclones between their dual with Iowa and OSU, though, as only two Iowa State wrestlers wrestled at the same weight in both duals.

There are a few spots in Iowa’s lineup that aren’t totally solidified heading into this dual. Jacori Teemer, Iowa’s 157-pounder, has missed time with a hamstring injury this season, but he did wrestle in big duals against Minnesota, Penn State and Ohio State, so signs point to him matching up against Caleb Fish on Sunday.

Patrick Kennedy has been the Hawkeyes’ guy at 174 for much of the season, but Nelson Brands returned from injury to wrestle in the Northwestern dual this past Sunday. Intermat has Kennedy as the No. 11 wrestler at the weight. Whichever wrestler goes for the Hawkeyes will have a tough match, going up against unbeaten Dean Hamiti Jr.

Perhaps the most interesting lineup decision of the dual comes at 184 pounds for the Hawkeyes. No. 8 Gabe Arnold is Iowa’s regular starter, but Brands has been using true freshman Angelo Ferrari, younger brother of former OSU national champ AJ Ferrari, in some big matches while maintaining the younger Ferrari’s redshirt. Angelo has one more match he can wrestle and keep his redshirt, and this is Iowa’s last outing before the postseason. Ferrari wrestled No. 1 Carter Starocci in Iowa’s dual against Penn State, and Ferrari held the unbeaten, four-time national champ to a 3-1 decision. So, there’s a chance of Ferrari taking on No. 3 Dustin Plott.

“We’re just not gonna talk about that stuff,” said Brands on his lineup. “It’s gonna always be vague. I know we got a lot of good guys, and the problem is there’s 10 weight classes and we got maybe more than 10 guys that can do very well that we believe in.”