(6) Oklahoma State at (2) Iowa

[BigBadBob]

Today (Sunday) at 3:30 OSU (14-2) travels to Carver Hawkeye arena to face the 41-1 Iowa Hawkeyes. John Smith said that he doesn't much consider this a rivalry right now, because we have not been very competitive, but I think that was his competitive spirit, as we are 4-6 the last 10 matchups. Certainly not as dominant as we'd liek to be (and are against most programs) but not like we are 0-10 or anything. As for this year, we have turned out to be a little more competitive than I think most rational fans expected (looking at you Lee), but this will still take a few upsets to have a chance. to win on the road. Here are the lineups:

125: (28) Reece Witcraft (16-8) v. (1) Spencer Lee (13-0)
133: (2) Daton Fix (21-0) v. (16) Brody Teske (6-1) or Cullan Schreiver (7-6)
141: (15) Carter Young (13-9) v. (2) Real Woods (12-0)
149: (20) Victor Voinovich (14-7) v. (6) Max Murin (16-3)
157: (9) Kaden Gfeller (17-5) v. (13) Cobe Siebrecht (10-3)
165: (23) Wyatt Sheets (12-11) v. (7) Patrick Kennedy (15-2)
174: (11) Dustin Plott (18-3) v. (14) Nelson Brands (5-4)
184: (10) Travis Wittlake (16-3) v. (12) Abe Assad (14-2) or Drake Rhodes (1-4)
197: (17) Luke Surber (17-6) v. (12) Jacob Warner (12-4)
HWT: (22) Konner Doucet (15-7) v. (3) Tony Cassioppi (16-2)

The first thing that stands out is that none of these guys have ever wrestled before, which is a little strange because we wrestle Iowa almost every year. I think it is a function of a lot our guys being young, and a couple at totally new weights. The other thing to consider is that this time of year, lots of programs sit some of their top guys for whatever reason, such as seeding or to keep them healthy, so you never know who ends up on the mat. John Smith doesn't usually do this, however, so expect our best guys.

They are heavily favored at 125, 141, 149, 165 and HWT. However, outside of 125 where anything but a pin will be a win for Witcraft (Lee has a 92% bonus rate, but is rumored to have hurt his knees again), we have a punchers chance for an upset. Young is talented enough to win these big matches, he just needs to finish the shots he ends up with a leg on, Voinovich has shown sparks of greatness, Sheets has had his share of upsets and Doucet keeps it so low scoring, usually all it takes is a late TD to give himself a shot.

We are heavily favored at 133, and while Fix should win easily, it's not as likely he will get 6 like we really need to stay in it.

That leaves 4 what I'd call "tossups" - 157, 174, 194 and 197. The only reason 174 is a tossup instead of us being heavily favored is that Plott has lost 2 of his last 4 and those 2 losses were guys about the same level as Brands. If Plott wrestles like he is supposed to, it will be a win. So that leaves us 3 or 4 other matches we have to take. I just don't see it, but stranger things have happened. 16-18 Iowa.

 

[BisonCowboy]

Great analysis. Thank you

 

[coryhansen91]

Doucet has a great style for big 12 heavyweight action. If he's gonna keep it close against Cass, though, he's going to have to come out with some offense. Cass attacks for 7 minutes, and if Doucet sits and waits, he will get smothered and overwhelmed.

 

[BigBadBob]

Starting at 165 Shsets v Kennedy

1) Lots of ties, then a double by Kennedy with 30 seconds left. 0-2. Looked like an escape near the edge but they didn’t give it to him. Can’t get out. That hurts.

2) Sheets down. Out after 10 or so. No RT. 1-2. Sheets gets an ankle. Stalemate. Another good double by Kennedy on a whistle. Sheets fights him off and gets his own TD! 3-2. Rides him out.

3) Kennedy down. Sheets is a good rider. Kennedy out. Tied up 3-3 with 1:30 left. Another double 3-5. Put with 30
Seconds left. 4-5. Sheets has a leg! But can’t finish and Kennedy gets the td 4-7

0-3 Iowa

 

[BigBadBob]

174: Plott v Brands

1) Lots of tie ups: Stall warning on Plott. Neither one doing much honestly. 0-0

2) Plott down. Out easy. 1-0. Brands gets a leg. Looks like 2 headed off the mat. Calls it. 1-2. Quick escape. 2-2. Plott is not doing anything. Now he shoots. Fight off by Brands.

3) Brands out easy. 2-3. Terrible effort by Plott in a must win for us. Finally some action with 30 seconds. Weak weak weak.

0-6 Iowa

 

[BigBadBob]

184: Wittlake v Assad

1) Wittlake with several feints but no committed shots Assad with a nice shot but Wittlake does a good job fighting it off. Right back on an ankle and real close to a TD but again fought off by Wittlake. 0-0.

2) Wittlake down. Quick reverse. 2-0. Assad out after about 30. 2-1. Assad shoots. Nice sprawl. Assad fights to a TD with 2 seconds. Killer. 2-3.

3) Assad down. Out easy. 2-4. Wittlake shoots x Assad running. Another bad loss.

0-9 Iowa

This is going about as bad for OSU as can be.

 

[BigBadBob]

197: Surber v. Warner

1) Warner gets and elevates a leg. Surber kicks away, lucky/good job there. Warner is thisclose to an ankle pick. Now Surber gets a leg and almost a cradle. Gets the 2! 2-0 and has leaves split. Warner sucks it up and gets a stalemate. Warner out. 2-1.

2) Surber down. Warner putting on a good ride. Over a minute RT. Bad period for Luke. 2-1.

3) Warner down. Needs 17 seconds locked hands on Surber so that’s a killer point there. 2-2. Gets it under a minute. Cuts him. 2-3. Needs a TD. Really quick Potentially dangerous call when Surber looked like he had something going. Smith freaking out. Can’t finish. I can’t call a 3-2 loss to last years runner up a bad loss, but MAN we have to take advantage of opportunities!

0-12 Iowa

 

[Chairman of the Board]

Wow to this

 

[BigBadBob]

HWT: Doucet v Cassioppi

1) Cass really active. Doucet fights off several moves before giving up the single leg. 0-2. Rides him out.

2) Doucet down. More tough riding from Cass. Stall worming on Doucet. Rides him out. Over 3:00 of RT. 0-2.

3) Cass down. He’s not going anything. Finally out after about a minute. 0-3. A minute left. Nothing. 0-4 loss.

0-15. Disgusting.

 

[BigBadBob]

125: Witcraft v Lee

1) Witcraft with the first shot but can’t covert. Then Lee tosses him to his back and despite a valiant effort fighting off the pin, gives it up. Smh.

0-21 Iowa.

 

[BigBadBob]

133: Fix v Teske

1) Single leg by Fix. Finishes quickly. 2-0. Teske almost gets a reverse but ends in a stall warning against Fix. Fix cuts him. 2-1.

2) Fix down. Active ride by Teske. Stall warning on Teske. Fix finally gets the reversal. 4-1. Escape with a few seconds left. 4-2.

3) Teske down. Easy escape. 4-3. Too close. Teske more active than Fix . Fix gets the td and swipes! 10-3, looking for the pin. Gets the RT for the major decision. 11-3. Even though score didn’t show it, that was a good match by Teske. He’s gonna be a problem.

4-21 Iowa.

 

[BigBadBob]

141: Young v Woods

1) Woods on his leg immediately. Good scramble from Young. Back to middle. Woods right back on it this time finishes. Could be an issue from bottom here. 0-2. Like I said. Gives up two stall calls on bottom. 0-3. Back points for Woods. 0-7.

2) Young neutral. No score. 0-7.

3) Woods down. Cuts him. 0-8. RT locked. 0-9. Nothing. Totally outmatched there.

4-25 Iowa.

 

[BigBadBob]

149: Voinovich v Murin

1) High crotch by Vic to a finish. 2-0. Quick escape 2-1. Vic shoots again. Nothing. Double leg by Murin with 15 seconds. Finished. 2-3. That Suuuuucks.

2) Vic down. Out easy. 3-3.

3) Murin down. Myron our after 40
seconds. 3-4. Double by Murin but fought off. Stall warning on Murin. Ugh. Another lost opportunity

4-28. Iowa.

 

[BigBadBob]

157: Gfeller v Siebrecht

1) G on the attack pushing him all over the mat. G gets a leg. Good D by Siebrecht. No score. 0-0.

2) Siebrecht out easy. 0-1. Nothing else.

3) G down. G gets the reversal. 2-1. Escape. 2-2. Stall warning on G. That was nonsense. OT we go.

OT: G immediately on a leg. Stalemate. Weak shot by Siebrecht. Shot by Siebrecht. Counter by G. Might be a TD as time expires or neutral danger. Brick out. No points. Rideouts.

TB1: G down. Escape after 22 seconds.

TB2: G gets the RT! 6 seconds left on restart. Finishes. Whew.

7-28 win by Iowa.

 

[BigBadBob]

Listen, not great of course but most of these matches were within a TD of going the other way. They just wanted it more/more experience, home, etc…I’m not ridiculously embarrassed; but still not great. We are close.r than I think many think we are. Solid and young at almost every weight.

 

[Chairman of the Board]

Good for win for Gfeller. Thanks bigbadbob for the great descriptions

 

[MustangPokeFan]

You can’t get a takedown if you never take a shot. Some of our guys are the most tentative, non-aggressive wrestlers on their feet that I’ve ever seen wearing orange singlets. Plott and Wittlake never even attempted a takedown in their matches. Surber got one but when he needed one to win, he didn’t take a single shot in the 3rd period. Wyatt Sheets was the only wrestler who was hugely outranked but still wrestled his butt off and was at least aggressive in trying to win his match. He darn near pulled the upset. There’s not a single match in those 2nd, 3rd and 4th matches that we couldn’t have or shouldn’t have won, but we just aren’t aggressive on our feet at all.

Of course at Heavyweight and 125 we never had a prayer. This did not have to be the absolute beat down that it turned out to be. We had plenty of close matches that we could’ve easily won with some aggression but the guys on the other team seemed to want it more.

It’s hard to fathom that a team coached by a HOF wrestler who had the single greatest unstoppable single leg takedown in history can’t get takedowns whatsoever and rarely ever attempts them. SMH

 

[zone2poke]

Someone help me. Is it recruiting? Coaching? Wrestler development?

 

[orngblkzebra]

I think its style. Unless a B10 wrestler can over-match their opp (Lee), they stall, lock up and dare the ref to call anything. Our guys are taught to take advantage when an opportunity is presented (why I think many struggle on bottom). If the other guy is just not doing anything our guys go into prevent mode until its too late.
Take Young's match. He spends most of the 1st/2nd just trying to get his wrist free...gets called for stalling then when he tries to be more aggressive with getting free...rolled and back points given up. Then stall by Iowa the rest of the way.
They were also allowed to stall. All the talk about small vs big mat...ref constantly harping about coming back to center...if he doesnt call it Iowa just stands there locked in with his feet on the line or outside...OSU guy is waiting anticipating a shift to the right or left but nothing...time runs out for anything else to develop.

 

[RxCowboy]

Frustrating match yesterday. Most of the matches were close. Iowa would get a stall warning in the 3rd period, but never get hit with a penalty point. They successfully stalled out the 3rd period in 6 matches. We won 2, Witcraft got pinned (which was gonna happen), and Young got MD'd. That means the dual could have really gone either way, with Iowa successfully stalling out the 3rd in the matches that swung the match.

Actually proud of Witcraft. I mean, going for the front cradle against Lee, you never know what kind of crazy stuff can happen. He could have ended up with Lee on his back. Didn't happen, wasn't likely to happen, but holy cow would that have been fun in Lee's last match before his home crowd. I still say Witcraft needs to grow up and become a college wrestler. He is still wrestling like a high schooler who is able to dominate anyone he walks on the mat against and it just doesn't work on this level.

Very proud of Gfeller, purely gutted out a win. His 30 second ride in the second tie breaker period was desperate and brilliant.