Wrestling Preview: No. 4 Oklahoma State Faces No. 6 Minnesota

If you’re coming to town Saturday for the football game and have the ability to stay until 5 p.m. Sunday, my advice is to stick around for this one and have the chance to watch Coach Smith pick up his 400th career dual win.

Every matchup is pretty solid and, though the Pokes are favored, with a few minor upsets the entire dual could come down to HWT.

Minnesota isn’t on the level of OSU as a tournament team, but as a dual team Intermat currently has them ranked 6th, and they match up very evenly with OSU which could make this interesting.

Here’s a breakdown of each weight class.

First whiteboard war of the year, @Kbratke vs @WillieAtFLO pic.twitter.com/k1iSDgGeFP

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) November 16, 2017

125

Piccinnini already knocked off last year’s NCAA champ this season and has an opportunity to take out last year’s runner up this weekend. Lizak from Minnesota finished second at the NCAA tournament last year to Piccininni’s 4th-place finish, but Piccininni takes a higher ranking into this match and so far a better showing in the early part of the season.

133

Kaid Brock and Mitch McKee have wrestled a lot and know each other well. They have a rivalry that goes back to high school. Brock seemed to have the edge last year throughout the season and won every time they met, but McKee has always been the better in freestyle. There is a chance that McKee might not be wrestling in this one, though. McKee qualified for the U23 World Team and will wrestle in Poland next weekend alongside Daton Fix. It’s possible that he’s already traveled to Poland for the tournament.

141

The two-time champ Heil is back looking for his third. He’ll have a top 8 guy with Thorn that could give him trouble. Heil wrestles just about everyone close, but always comes out on top. Thorn’s solid though and beat Brock in a freestyle match this summer.

149

This is a weight where the starting job still looks to be up for grabs, but OSU will likely send out All-American transfer from Boise State and 12th-ranked Martinez to wrestle 8th-ranked Bleise. This is sort of important in the bigger picture at this weight. The top 8 are All-Americans, so you really hope to see OSU work its way up to that seed for the NCAA tournament.

157

Minnesota is favored in this one with No. 10 Short taking on Blaylock. Blaylock’s been competitive with pretty good wrestlers at times, though. Short was a match away from being an All-American last year.

165

No. 5 Rogers for the Pokes has a high-flying style that’s fun to watch and Wanzek was a pretty good wrestler at 174 last year. It’ll be interesting with him down at 165 now. This could be a swing match for the dual. If OSU gets out in front and wrestles well early this could be Minnesota’s last chance to stay in it.

Get a look at an Oklahoma State practice as the Cowboys prepare for #10 Minnesota on Sunday. https://t.co/EwDNCCyr0a

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) November 17, 2017

174

No. 15 Smith had some tough close losses last week, but will be favored in this one and should win. I feel like he may be anxious to get last week’s losses off his back and possibly get some bonus points here.

184

Two pretty young inexperienced guys going at it here with Webster and Moore. Both went to high school in Minnesota with Webster taking out Moore in Freestyle at UWW Cadet Nationals in 2015. Could end up being a big one for the overall dual.

197

Marsden taking on Minnesota’s Steveson. On an interesting note, his younger brother is the only recruit in the country ranked higher than OSU’s recent signee Travis Whitlake, but this should be a decent matchup. Neither are ranked.

285

It may come down to this one. No. 11 White for OSU against unranked Streifel. White’s the favorite on paper, but Minnesota is well known for having a good track record with HWTs.

This sets up to be a potentially great dual. It’s pretty even across the board and there are a number of matches that could go either way. OSU has to get out to a quick start and the first three matches could do a lot to dictate the rest of the match. If OSU can get rolling early and win all of those they’ll have some momentum that could carry into the upper weights where they’re a little less experienced.

My predictions

Match of the night: 125

Match that could tilt the dual in either direction: 165

Final Score: 21-12 Pokes