Up to twenty nationally ranked wrestlers could take the mat this Friday inside the Covelli Center when the #4 Ohio State Buckeyes host the #8 Minnesota Golden Gophers in Columbus. The contest is slated for a 7:00 PM eastern start time and you can catch it streaming on BTN Plus. 

Projected Lineups

125: #7 Cooper Flynn, Minnesota vs #16 Brendan McCrone, Ohio State 

133: #12 Tyler Wells, Minnesota vs #10 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State

141: #8 Vance Vombaur, Minnesota vs #1 Jesse Mendez, Ohio State

149: #26 Drew Roberts, Minnesota vs #8 Dylan D’Emilio, Ohio State

157: #9 Tommy Askey, Minnesota vs #19 Sammy Sasso, Ohio State

165: #15 Andrew Sparks, Minnesota vs #12 Paddy Gallagher, Ohio State

174: #21 Clayton Whiting, Minnesota vs #5 Carson Kharchla, Ohio State

184: #4 Max McEnelly, Minnesota vs #17 Ryder Rogotzke, Ohio State

197: #10 Isaiah Salazar, Minnesota vs #18 Seth Shumate, Ohio State

285: #1 Gable Steveson, Minnesota vs #8 Nick Feldman, Ohio State

Key Matchups at 133 & 165

Both teams have ten nationally ranked wrestlers which would make for a severely loaded dual meet if every starter takes the mat. It should be noted, however, that Paddy Gallagher did not wrestle in Ohio State's last dual, and Cooper Flynn was not in the lineup in Minnesota's last dual meet. 

But if everyone does show up and it all goes chalk with all the higher ranked wrestlers winning, then the teams would split matches, each winning five bouts. 

This could make the bouts at 133 and 165, where the rankings are the closest, the pivotal bouts upon which the dual might turn. 

Both wrestlers at 133 were at the NCAA Championship last March, and both won matches. Tyler Wells reached the bloodround while Nic Bouzakis lost in the round of 16. Both also have several quality wins on the season as well as some losses that are keeping them out of the single-digit rankings. 

An additional curve ball could come from the Buckeyes as true freshman phenom Ben Davino might be able to wrestle in the dual and keep his redshirt. Assuming Davino wrestled unattached at Midlands and the F&M Open would mean he still has a fifth varsity event in which to compete. 

Watch Bouzakis wrestle his teammate Davino at the 2024 Clarion Open:

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At 165, a match between Andrew Sparks and Paddy Gallagher would be a toss-up. Gallagher only has two collegiate bouts at 165 as he moved up from 157 just a few weeks ago, swapping weights with teammate Sammy Sasso. Sparks has a longer track record at 165, though he did spend all of last season at 174. 

And while Gallagher's truncated 165-pound resume doesn't offer much to go on with regards to making a prediction, we do have several seasons worth of data for both wrestlers that all point to an exciting match between two All-American contenders. 

Bonus Points the Difference Maker? 

Nick Feldman is a 2024 All-American and one of the best athletes in college wrestling, but Gable Steveson is simply on another level. Maybe a couple of levels. It's difficult to see Steveson walking away with anything less than five team points, and six is a real possibility, as Steveson recently pinned All-American Yaraslau Slavikouski just last week. 

Watch Steveson pin Yara:

Which brings us back to those swing matches. Assuming they split, and neither the Gophers nor the Buckeyes pick up two wins at 133 and 165, and assuming no other upsets occur, Ohio State will need some bonus points of their own to match Minnesota's team scores. And that's assuming no other Gopher wins by bonus. 

That's a lot of assumptions, for sure, but one that's about as safe as you can get is Steveson picking up bonus. It will then likely fall on the shoulders of Jesse Mendez, Dylan D'Emilio, and Carson Kharchla to make up that difference, as they will be the biggest favorites in the Buckeye lineup. 

It will also be up to Seth Shumate and Ryder Rogotzke to limit the damage when they wrestle as substantial underdogs to Isaiah Salazar and Max McEnelly respectively. 

A Pair of NCAA Champs

Not that it really needed pointing out but a friendly reminder nonetheless that Gable Steveson and Jesse Mendez are top-ranked NCAA champions, and it's also nice to watch wrestlers of that caliber on the mat when you have the chance. 

Watch Mendez win a 2024 NCAA title:

Predictions

I've got decisions for Minnesota at 125, 157, and 197. I've also got decisions for Ohio State at 133 and 165. I think Minnesota gets a major at 184 and a tech-fall at 285. For the Buckeyes I'm saying majors at 141, 149, and 174. 

Sidenote: the three point takedown making major decisions much more likely and almost always a possibility has been a tremendous benefit to college wrestling and not one many were expecting or touting when the rule was first proposed. Just wanted to mention that. 

Anyway, a 5-5 dual meet with three bonus points for each program makes for an 18-18 tie score. The NCAA rule book has tiebreaking procedures for just such occurrences, and I believe the fourth criteria would come into play here, which is most points in decisions, majors and techs. I'm guessing if it does come down to this, the tech-fall from Gable would be the difference maker, and Minnesota would leave Columbus a winner by the narrowest of margins. 

And while I believe that exact prediction is a distinct possibility, it's also more likely that we get some other result. We'll get to find out what that is this Friday!