College wrestling match of the week: No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 3 Iowa

Two juggernauts of college wrestling face off against each other this Sunday as the No.2 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys take the trip to take on the No.3 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

Oklahoma State is undefeated this season while Iowa has one loss which is to the No.1 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions.

This match will be the Cowboy’s biggest test and the biggest test for their new head coach, David Taylor.

Taylor went 180-2 in high school and won four state championships. Taylor wrestled at Penn State under Cael Sanderson where he won two national championships.

Taylor ended his competitive career at the age of 33 after losing to fellow Penn Stater Aaron Brooks at the Olympic Trials in April.

The Cowboys have shined since Taylor has come in and Taylor has recruited some of the top high school recruits in LaDarion Lockett, Jax Forrest and DreShaun Ross.

Iowa on the other hand, is led by five-time Big Ten Coach of the Year Tom Brands. Brands is currently in his 19th year as the head coach of the Hawkeyes.

He has led Iowa to four national championships and three straight from 2008 to 2010. They only lost one dual match during those years which was to Oklahoma State in Iowa City.

Some of the wrestlers Brands has coached are Spencer Lee, Brent Metcalf and Matt McDonough. He will also coach one of the most hyped up wrestlers of all time: Bo Bassett.

Every match of this contest will have everyone watching because of how highly anticipated this match is.

At 125, it will most likely be a sophomore battle between Iowa’s Joey Cruz and Oklahoma State’s Troy Spratley.

Cruz is coming off his 3rd ranked win of the season against Minnesota’s Cooper Flynn in sudden victory and Spratley is coming off of a tech fall against Little Rock.

At 133, it will most likely be the top healthy wrestler in the weight class in Iowa’s Drake Ayala vs Oklahoma State’s Reece Witcraft.

Ayala is 14-1 this season and his only loss is to Stanford’s Tyler Knox. Witcraft is coming off of a loss against Nasir Bailey where he put up no points and almost gave up a tech fall.

At 141, it will most likely be Iowa’s Cullan Schriever against Oklahoma State’s Tagen Jamison.

The 141 weight class for Iowa has struggled this season and they have rotated many different guys, but nothing hasn’t really clicked. Schriever is Iowa’s only unranked wrestler and Jamison of Oklahoma State is ranked 5th in the weight class.

At 149, it will most likely be Iowa’s Kyle Parco against Oklahoma State’s Carter Young.

Parco is one of the best in the 149 weight class with wins over Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett and Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio and his one loss is to Penn State’s Shayne Van Ness.

It will be a very tough match against Parco but if Young pulled off the upset, it would be a huge win in the match for the Cowboys.

At 157, it will most likely be Iowa’s Jacori Teemer vs Oklahoma State’s Caleb Fish.

Teemer started the season 2-0 but missed 2 months due an injury against Iowa State in November. Since coming back, Teemer is 2-1 with wins against Ohio State and Minnesota and one loss to Penn State’s Tyler Kasak.

Fish dropped in the most recent rankings with a loss to Little Rock’s Matt Bianchi and will hope to take a big jump in the 157 weight class with a win over Teemer.

At 165, it will most likely be one of the best matches of the night with Iowa’s Michael Caliendo going up against Oklahoma State’s Cameron Amine.

Both of these wrestlers are in the top 6 in the 157 weight class and it could really go either way.

Both meetings between Caliendo and Amine happened in last year's Big Ten Tournament when Amine was with Michigan. Caliendo won both matches in sudden victory including the third place match.

At 174, it will most likely be Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy or Nelson Brands going up against Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti.

Kennedy has been impressive this season but with Brands back from injury, either could get the start.

This is Hamiti’s first year with Oklahoma State and wrestled for Wisconsin at 165 pounds before moving weight classes. Hamiti has yet to lose a match this season for the Cowboys.

At 184, it will most likely be Iowa’s Gabe Arnold or Angelo Ferrari going up against Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott.

Arnold has wrestled for the Hawkeyes for the most part this season but sat out against the Nittany Lions. Ferrari may get the start but it’s all up to head coach Brands.

Even though Plott has two losses this season, he is still ranked 3rd in the weight class because both of his losses are to Parker Keckeisen.

At 197, it will most likely be the best in the weight class in Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan going up against Oklahoma State’s Luke Surber.

Buchanan has been put to the test this season since joining the Hawkeyes from the Oklahoma Sooners. He has come up big for Iowa with wins over Penn State’s Josh Barr, Minnesota’s Isaiah Salazar and Northwestern’s Evan Bates.

Surber’s only loss this season is to Virginia Tech’s Andy Smith. Surber and Buchanan faced off in the Big 12 tournament last season where Buchanan won by decision.

At HWT, it will most likely be Iowa’s Ben Kueter vs Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson

Kueter is coming off of a loss against the best in the weight in Gable Steveson and Hendrickson is ranked 3rd in the weight class.

The Cowboys haven’t beaten the Hawkeyes since 2019 but head coach Taylor has the Cowboys looking red hot and Taylor knows a thing or two about beating Iowa.

Massimo Buonagurio is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at mkb6750@psu.edu.