We're up to the sixth edition of FloWrestling's official Hodge Rankings as we come to the stretch run of the 2019-20 season.

Just like we anticipated, the first weekend in February gave us some huge shakeups in the race for wrestling's Heisman. There were no changes to tier one, where Zahid Valencia has an edge in pin rate over Spencer Lee by 15 percent (40-25).

One Nittany Lion replaced another in the second tier as Mark Hall lost to Michael Kemerer and Vincenzo Joseph got his first win over Alex Marinelli. Kemerer moved up six spots from last week while Hall and Marinelli were obviously removed from the ranking. Brock Mauller also knocked Boo Lewallen out of the honorable mention.

In their place come Roman Bravo-Young and Tony Cassioppi, both of whom have huge opportunities this weekend. RBY will see Seth Gross on Friday night, and Cassioppi faces Mason Parris on Saturday. The latter is the only head-to-head between guys on this list for the coming weekend.

For the purpose of these rankings, only matches against other Division I wrestlers are factored in, and bouts against teammates are thrown out. Here is a brief overview of the baseline states from our contenders:

Pretty consistently you will see that I put a lot of stock in winning one of CKLV, Midlands, or Scufffle, mainly because there are so few opportunities to see D1 wrestlers in a high-level tournament setting. I also believe strongly in falls importance to the Hodge, since the award's namesake Danny Hodge is maybe the most statistically dominant pinner in NCAA history (36 pins in 46 matches).

Lastly, I frequently use past credentials as a separation point and tiebreaker. So guys like Zahid, Spencer, and Cenzo who already began this season with a pair of NCAA titles had a head start, and then past placements are an easy thing to look at when comparing two guys with similar resumes.

We're down to four honorable mentions, with Shane Griffith improving to 19-0 on the year following his big win over Arizona State's two-time All-American Josh Shields.

Honorable Mentions:

• Pat Glory (Princeton), 125
• Chas Tucker (Cornell), 133
• Shane Griffith (Stanford), 165
• Noah Adams (West Virginia), 197

13) Tony Cassioppi (Iowa), 285

Grandmaster Cass is 15-0 on the year with seven bonus-point victories and two wins over All-Americans. When Iowa heads to Ann Arbor this Saturday he'll get a crack at Mason Parris, currently #10 on this list. The last time those two met was as graduated high school seniors in Fargo, with Big Tony teching Parris in the semis of the Junior freestyle tournament. 

Dominance Score - 4.13

Bonus Rate - 47%

Average Time on Mat - 5:17

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12) Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State), 133

While it is not RBY's fault that he didn't get to wrestle Sebastian Rivera and Austin DeSanto injury defaulted, it's too late in the season to have him not be in the ranking, particularly with a huge showdown looming against Seth Gross on Friday night in Madison. The Nittany Lion making it through Big Tens and the national tournament unscathed would be incredible, but he has just two pinfalls in his career, both of which happened in November of 2018.

Dominance Score - 3.93

Bonus Rate - 64%

Average Time on Mat - 6:49

11) Jack Mueller (Virginia), 125

Another fall for Mueller gives him a 40-percent pin rate. The only guys he hasn't majored are all ranked nationally. UVA has three more duals, the last of which will be the final home match of Mueller's college career at John Paul Jones Arena. With he and David McFadden both graduating, the ACC will need a new set of flag bearers, like Hayden Hidlay, Austin O'Connor, and Trent Hidlay.

Dominance Score - 4.6

Bonus Rate - 70%

Average Time on Mat - 4:56

10) Mason Parris (Michigan), 285

The three youngest guys on this list are Parris, Gable, and RBY, all coming out of the class of 2018. This past weekend, Parris sealed the Wolverines' win over Rutgers with a first-period pin, after which he shushed the crowd at Madison Square Garden. He'll be looking for revenge this weekend over Cassioppi in Michigan's final home dual of the season.

Dominance Score - 4.33

Bonus Rate -62%

Average Time on Mat - 5:14

PARRIS REMAINS UNDEFEATED.

The HWT gets his eighth pin of the season & seals the win for Michigan. #B1GatMSG@umichwrestling | @FloWrestling pic.twitter.com/5gEH4xQb2w

— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) February 1, 2020

9) Ryan Deakin (Northwestern), 157

I was having trouble last week getting Gable over Deakin, and it was no easier this time around. Deakin pinned Eric Barone while Gable pinned Brandon Streck and teched Thomas Penola. I mentioned Deakin's strength of schedule last time around, and he may have the distinction of being #1 in both the coaches' rank and RPI once he hits 15 matches.

Dominance Score - 4.23

Bonus Rate - 62%

Average Time on Mat - 6:04

8) Gable Steveson (Minnesota), 285

With Kemerer leapfrogging him, Gable only moves up one spot this week. He and Deakin represent the fourth tier, the guys on the outside looking in of being finalists even if they go undefeated. The thing that hurts Steveson the most in that regard is that he's a sophomore, and doesn't have a defending national champ to knock off like Zahid did when he was a finalist or Yianni last year being one of only four guys who made it through without a loss. The field as a whole appears much stouter this year.

Dominance Score - 4.67

Bonus Rate - 89%

Average Time on Mat - 5:07

7) Michael Kemerer (Iowa), 174

Perhaps the most difficult decision this week was where to fit in Kemdawg after he beat Mark Hall and ascended to the #1 spot at 174 pounds. He also beat Dylan Lydy 8-4, who just majored Devin Skatzka. I settled on this seventh spot, for a couple reasons: 1) He didn't wrestle at Midlands, and although he would have been favored to win that and ultimately beat the champ there, I place a high value on winning major tournaments. 2) Once the Nick Lee/Luke Pletcher match actually happens they'll have a win close enough to Mark Hall to justify being ahead of Kemerer. 3) I'm not convinced Kemerer can beat Hall three times or that one of Pletcher/Lee beat the other three times, so I think they all knock each other out of the Hodge running, regardless of who ends up being the NCAA champ.

Dominance Score - 3.9

Bonus Rate - 50%

Average Time on Mat - 6:35

6) Nick Lee (Penn State), 141 

Can we skip ahead to that February 15 match against Luke Pletcher at the Bryce Jordan Center? Lee earned a pair of techs this weekend, but neither guy is a likely NCAA qualifier.

Dominance Score - 4.86

Bonus Rate - 93%

Average Time on Mat - 5:30

5) Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), 141

Once again, Pletcher's numbers against common opponents stack up better than Lee's, so he remains ahead until their mega match in 12 days. The Buckeyes' strength and conditioning coach praised the senior's discipline and commitment in the offseason for his increased attack rate and leg attack efficiency this season.

Dominance Score - 4.0

Bonus Rate - 64%

Average Time on Mat - 6:33

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4) Kollin Moore (Ohio State), 197

I don't apologize for using some projection in this, and as I mentioned above, I'm not so sure the Pletcher/Lee and Kemerer/Hall rivalries leave anyone unscathed. Beyond that, Moore has better career accomplishments than anyone else in this third tier, and only Nick Lee has better stats but with a weaker strength of schedule. There's no rule about the number of finalists, but if I had to guess it would be Moore, Cenzo, Spencer, and Zahid.

Dominance Score - 4.33

Bonus Rate - 76%

Average Time on Mat - 6:08

3) Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State), 165

With Mark Hall's loss, Cenzo moves clearly into tier two by himself. Aside from Kemerer's win over Hall and DeSanto's win over Seth Gross, no one this season has a victory as impactful as Joseph's on Friday night. His two NCAA titles and three finals appearances factor in huge, as does his quality of competition even beyond the Bull. I've mentioned Cenzo's senior leadership all year, and his win over Mekhi Lewis at the Bill Farrell shows his level of focus. If he can topple Marinelli twice more, he'll be a surefire Hodge finalist.

Dominance Score - 4.56

Bonus Rate - 56%

Average Time on Mat - 5:31

2) Spencer Lee (Iowa), 125

I do not have a Hodge vote, but Ben Askren does, and he made the point on FRL 453 that, while the criteria includes pins and the award's namesake was a legendary pinner, he cares more about the overall dominance of someone. Spencer has a higher dominance score and ATOM than Zahid (albeit against a weaker schedule), and is still on pace to be the first person ever to finish a season with a 100 percent bonus rate. Ultimately, the pin vs tech debate will define this race, especially if Zahid picks up a few more this month while Spencer continues to "only" tech people.

Dominance Score - 5.17

Bonus Rate - 100%

Average Time on Mat - 2:58

1) Zahid Valencia (Arizona State), 184

This past Friday was Zahid's final home match as a Sun Devil, which means his legendary career is soon coming to an end. If he scores 25 team points in Minneapolis, he'll finish as a top-15 point scorer in the history of the NCAA tournament. He wants to get to 200 takedowns this season, and he'll also be looking for some pins to close out his season and strengthen his Hodge candidacy.

Dominance Score - 4.93

Bonus Rate - 93%

Average Time on Mat - 5:21