Iowa is headed to State College, Pennsylvania this Friday for the biggest dual of the NCAA wrestling season as the #1 Nittany Lions host the #2 Hawkeyes in the Bryce Jordan Center this Friday at 7:00 PM ET. The dual will be broadcast on the BTN cable channels so make sure your subscriptions are current so you can watch!

Who Will Wrestle For Iowa?

Penn State will almost definitely send out #1 Carter Starocci, who is in his final year of eligibility and only has four more opportunities to wrestle in front of a home crowd, including Friday's dual. 

Iowa has two options: redshirt freshman #5 Gabe Arnold and true freshman Angelo Ferrari. Both are undefeated on the season (except for Arnold's medical forfeit to Ferrari in the finals of the 2024 Soldier Salute). 

Arnold is coming off two ranked wins (over #12 Edmond Ruther and #18 Ryder Rogtzke). Ferrari has wrestled two tournaments and one dual (an 8-2 victory over #14 Evan Bockman in late November).

Head coach Tom Brands could trot Fererri out to face Starocci and not burn Angelo's redshirt. I have no inside knowledge about who will get the nod but I suspect it will be Arnold, based on Gabe getting the last few starts and my assumption that Ferrari will redshirt this season. 

I would expect, however, for both Arnold and Ferrari to be in warmups and ready to go Friday night. 

Accolades

Carter Starocci has amassed quite a resume in his six seasons in Happy Valley. 

• Four-time NCAA Champs: 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024, all at 174lbs.
• Undefeated 2020 redshirt campaign. 
• 2 losses in 2021 (DJ Washington and Michael Kemerer). 
• Hasn't lost since the 2021 Big Tens (except for two injury defaults at the 2024 Big Tens). 
• Defeated reigning 184lb NCAA champ Parker Keckeisen at the 2024 NWCA All-Star Classic. 
• In freestyle competition, Starocci made the 2022 U23 world team and earned a bronze medal at the U23 Worlds in Ponteverdra, Spain. 
• Starocci also made the 2022 Senior National Team.
• Before Penn State Carter was a two-time Fargo champ. 
• Additionally, he was the #9 recruit on the Class of 2019 High School Big Board. 

Watch Starocci over Keckeisen at the NWCA ASC:

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Gabe Arnold and Angelo Ferrari are much earlier in thier collegiate careers than Starocci, but they've still racked up an impressive collection of accolades.

• Arnold is undefeated in two seasons of collegiate competition except for a 5-1 loss to current #3 and 2024 NCAA finalist Dustin Plott in a February 2024 dual meet. 
• Gabe is a 2023 & 2024 U20 World Team Trials Finalist. 
• In 2023, Arnold was Team USA's rep at the U20 Pan-Am Championships where he cruised to a gold medal. 
• Arnold also acquired a Fargo stop sign and a Who's Number One win during his high school days. 
• He was #5 on the Class of 2023 High School Big Board.
• Ferrari is, as mentioned, also undefeated on the season. 
• He's got a trophy case full of high school accolades, which also includes a win at Who's Number One, which in turn helped him earn the #2 ranking in the Class of 2023 High School Big Board.

Bad Blood?

During the off-season we saw Starocci mix it up with AJ Ferrari.

Might those feelings spill over to other members of the Ferrari family? 

As for Arnold, he made some bombastic comments after last week's dual about the upcoming competition against Penn State, implying he was coming for Starocci's head (skip to the 4:50 mark of the video below for that part of the interview).

Whatever your thoughts on the spirited back-and-forths, there's no denying that it amps up the hype for the event! 

Predictions

I think most people are picking Carter Starocci to finish the rest of his career without a loss and a 5th NCAA title. That doesn't mean Gabe Arnold (or Angelo Ferrari for that matter) has no shot at beating Starocci, but if you're looking for the odds of that happening, you'll find the hypothetical Vegas odds to be on the low side. 

Starroci's defense has proven to be nigh impenetrable. He rarely, if ever, gives up a takedown (I think the last time it happened was against Andrew Sparks in the first round of the 2024 Tournament, which was also his first match since suffering an injury in the last dual meet of the year). 

If either Arnold or Ferrari are going to get the upset, they're going to have to find a way through those defenses or else grind out an overtime victory, and Starocci has shown his stamina also to be second to none. 

I think either Hawkeye will do well to hold this bout to a regular decision, and that's what I am predicting, though bonus points are definitely within the realm of possibilities for Starocci.