Five FIRE Duals To Watch This Sunday
Five FIRE Duals To Watch This Sunday
A preview of Sunday afternoon's best duals and matches.
It's January and that means the dual season is upon us - it also means every Sunday afternoon you don't have to do anything but watch college wrestling. This Sunday Spey and I will be joining you all to enjoy some of the nation's best college wrestling with our Big Ten Sunday Watch Party!
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Take a look below at a quick breakdown and prediction of the duals we'll be watching together this Sunday.
#1 Iowa Vs #21 Purdue
Iowa is set to face off against Minnesota on Friday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena and will welcome the Boilermakers on Sunday afternoon. The question on everyone’s mind - Will we see Drake Ayala this weekend? The Iowa freshman is the best option for the Hawkeyes at 125 after Spencer Lee announced his season-ending surgery last week. Ayala proved he’s ready to go with the best in the country last week when he placed third at the Southern Scuffle when he defeated #13 Noah Surtin twice. He also narrowly lost to returning All-American #5 Patrick McKee. Should Ayala take the mat this weekend, he’ll be challenged once again by McKee on Friday and #9 Devin Schroeder on Sunday.
On top of the potential matches for Ayala, there will be up to six head-to-head matches between ranked wrestlers in the Iowa vs Purdue dual - #3 Austin DeSanto vs HM Matt Ramos, #2 Jaydin Eierman vs #18 Parker Filius, #9 Kendall Coleman vs #10 Kaleb Young, #19 Abe Assad vs #23 Max Lyon, #3 Jacob Warner vs #13 Thomas Penola, and #5 Tony Cassioppi vs HM Michael Woulfe. While Iowa will be the big favorite in this dual, Purdue is capable of making it interesting and securing upsets throughout the dual.
Dual Prediction - Iowa 29, Purdue 11
Time and where to watch: 3:00 pm (ET) - Big Ten Network
Drake Ayala's incredible comeback victory over #13 Noah Surtin:
#13 Wisconsin vs #16 Rutgers
14 of the 20 wrestlers competing in this dual are featured in the top 33 of our rankings and the feature matchups in this dual are at 149 and 197. At 149 Mike Van Brill is 9-0 on the year but will face his biggest challenge in Wisconsin’s Austin Gomez. Up from 133, Gomez has put together a 7-1 record on the season with his biggest win coming over returning All-American Zach Sherman. At 197, Greg Bulsak and Braxton Amos will face after wrestling a week ago at the Illinois Matmen Open. There, Bulsak came out on top with a 6-2 victory and then went on to beat NCAA runner-up Nino Bonaccorsi in the finals. On Sunday we’ll find out if Bulsak will continue to his impressive run or if Amos will secure his first signature win of his college career.
On top of those feature matchups, the dual will also showcase two of the more dominant wrestlers in college wrestling this season - Sebastian Rivera and Dean Hamiti. Rivera is currently 12-0 on the year with all of his wins coming by bonus (10) or forfeit (2). Hamiti, a true freshman, has been almost as dominant with 10 of his 11 wins coming by bonus. Some of Hamiti’s most impressive wins of the year have been over #15 Phil Conigliaro (21-6), HM Danny Braunagel (10-0), #14 Zach Hartman (pin), and #13 Izzak Olejnik (pin). Sunday could be another day for Rivera and Hamiti to display their dominance or an opportunity for their opponents (Joe Zargo & Andrew Clark) to pull a huge upset. Either way, it will be fun to watch.
Dual Prediction - Wisconsin 18, Rutgers 16
Time and where to watch: 1:00 pm (ET) - Big Ten+
Sammy Alvarez and Sebastian Rivera drilling last summer:
#6 NC State Vs Princeton
The Princeton Tigers missed last year due to Covid-19 but are making up for their time off the mat by wrestling some of the best teams in the country. In the second week of the season they traveled to Iowa to take on the #1 Hawkeyes. Next week, they’ll welcome the #5 Arizona State Sun Devils to New Jersey. This week, they face off against #6 NC State in a dual that will produce some compelling matchups.
Right off the bat, #3 Pat Glory vs #14 Jakob Camacho has the potential to be fantastic. Glory is riding a 28-match win streak and hasn’t lost since March of 2019. Although Camacho lost to #13 Noah Surtin a few weeks ago, Camacho was competitive with Spencer Lee and was a match away from All-American honors last season. After the match at 125, #6 Quincy Monday vs #15 Ed Scott at 157 is the “Can’t-Miss” match of the dual. Monday’s only loss on the year is to #2 Ryan Deakin and he has wins over #10 Kaleb Young, #13 Will Lewan, and #7 Peyton Robb. Scott took an early loss to AJ Kovacs but has rattled off 11 wins in a row highlighted by a 3-2 win over #17 Jarrett Jacques and a pin over #10 Kaleb Young. Monday and Scott both wrestle an exciting style - their match on Sunday has the potential to be one of the best of the year.
Dual Prediction - NC State 27, Princeton 7
Time and where to watch: 1:00 pm Eastern - ESPN+
Pat Glory's win in the finals at the 2021 CKLV:
#2 Penn State Vs Indiana
The start of the new year for Penn State means we could see major lineup changes for the Nittany Lions. Will All-American Drew Hildebrandt take the mat against Jacob Moran? Will Alex Facundo’s redshirt be pulled at 165? Oh yeah, and Brady Berge is back on campus for the 157 spot after coaching at South Dakota State for a semester!? So many questions that can’t possibly be answered in one dual!
After the off the mat stories, the match of the dual should be at 184 with #1 Aaron Brooks vs #20 Donnell Washington. As the defending national champion, Brooks is a huge favorite in this match but Washington is a dangerous opponent - just ask Carter Starocci. Although Starocci ended the year on the top of the NCAA podium, his first match of the season was a 10-9 loss to Donnell Washington. The win over Starocci may have been surprising but it also showed what Washington is capable of when wrestling his best. Now up at 184, Washington has put together a 10-0 season with 9 matches coming by bonus-points (with 8 pins). The match against Brooks on Sunday will show us just how close Washington is to threatening the best in the country at 184.
Dual Prediction - Penn State 32, Indiana 3
Time and where to watch: 2:00 pm (ET) - Big Ten+
Highlights of Drew Hildebrandt's win in the quarter-finals of the 2021 NCAA Tournament:
#3 Michigan Vs Pittsburgh
What’s better than 1 dual on Friday? 2 duals on Sunday! Pittsburgh was originally scheduled to wrestle Pennsylvania on Friday but due to Covid-19 precautions, the dual was canceled. No worries, the Panthers were able to secure duals with Army and Michigan on Sunday afternoon.
While the Pitt-Army dual will be good, the Michigan-Pitt dual has the potential to be fantastic! Nick Suriano is now officially on the roster for Michigan and could start his season off against a tough Gage Curry. After that, there are seven ranked match-ups with a number of toss-ups. Take a look at those match-ups below:
133 - #8 Dylan Ragusin vs #7 Micky Phillippi
141 - #4 Stevan Micic vs #20 Cole Matthews
157 - #13 Will Lewan vs HM Elijah Cleary
165 - #10 Cam Amine vs #9 Jake Wentzel
174 - #6 Logan Massa vs HM Hunter Kernan
184 - #2 Myles Amine vs HM Gregg Harvey
197 - #10 Patrick Brucki vs #7 Nino Bonaccorsi
While it’s unlikely Pitts pulls the upset, anything can happen in dual meet action and the Panthers have enough firepower to make it an interesting dual.
Dual Prediction - Michigan 22, Pittsburgh 12
Time and Where To Watch: 2:00 pm - ACC Network/Espn+
Watch Myles Amine's dominant performance from this past week:
