No. 1 Penn State Wrestling is piling into a bus and heading below the Mason-Dixon line to take on Maryland this Sunday at noon (12:00pm) EST.
For an up-and-coming wrestling program like Maryland, this season has been one to forget.
And, that’s before taking on the Nittany Lions. The once No. 21 ranked Terrapins have dealt with injuries, underperformances from various wrestlers, and a whole host of problems as they find themselves with a losing record while smack-dab in the middle of the Big Ten schedule.
In Maryland’s previous two duals, they were obliterated 38-4 by No. 7 Ohio State and they lost 21-15 to the powerhouse wrestling school known as Indiana.
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But as always, there are still a couple of potential matchups which could be interesting. Before looking at these, let’s take a look at how you can tune into the dual meet.
How to watch Penn State Wrestling vs. Maryland
Date: Sunday, January 28th
Time: 12:00 p.m. EST
Where: XFINITY Center Pavilion (College Park)
TV: B1G
Live Stream: FuboTV (FREE Trial)
Listen: Free via Lionvision at GoPSUsports.com
Penn State Wrestling vs. Maryland Potential matchups
No. 1 Penn State (6-0) vs. Maryland (3-4)
125 – No. 4 Braeden Davis (PSU) vs Tommy Capul (MD)
133 – No. 5 Aaron Nagao (PSU) vs Braxton Brown (MD)
141 – No. 2 Beau Bartlett (PSU) vs No. 17 Kal Miller (MD)
149 – No. 12 Tyler Kasak or David Evans (PSU) vs No. 14 Ethen Miller (MD)
157 – No. 1 Levi Haines (PSU) vs No. 33 Michael North (MD)
165 – No. 7 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) vs AJ Rodrigues or Ryan Money (MD)
174 – No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) vs Dominic Solis or Gaven Bell (MD)
184 – No. 5 Bernie Truax (PSU) vs Chase Mielnik (MD)
197 – No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) vs No. 5 Jaxon Smith (MD)
285 – No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) vs No. 25 Seth Nevills (MD)
Prediction
There are four possible matchups I have my eye on.
The first one is the Beau Bartlett/Kal Miller match at 141 pounds. These two met last year in a regular season dual where Bartlett won with a 5-2 decision.
However Kal looks like he’s taken a step forward this year in his progress, and if you couple this with Beau’s recent struggles, this match has “The score is tied 1-1 with 1:00 left in the third period” written all over it.
But hey, I would love to be wrong and to see Bartlett get to his offense early and often.
The next intriguing matchup is the very next one at 149 pounds. Tyler Kasak still has his redshirt preserved and I wouldn’t be surprised to see David Evans get another shot on the mat.
Ethen Miller is as good of a barometer as anyone and this matchup would give the Penn State coaching staff and Nittany Nation a glimpse of just how good Evans is.
The third match I’m looking at isn’t necessarily intriguing or exciting, however, it could be the perfect “get right” match. And this is Levi’s Haines’s possible matchup against Michael North
. Just like Chase Saldate, North is an experienced wrestler who can push some of the top guys at 157 pounds. But unlike Saldate, North can also lose to some less competitive grapplers, so it’s always a mystery as to which guy shows up. In any case, this could be a good match for Levi to control from the opening whistle, get more experience against a solid wrestler, and gain more confidence in his abilities.
Head-space in wrestling is absolutely paramount to success and I have a feeling that Haines’ incredible win last weekend got him out of the semi-rut he’s been in this season.
The last match that I think could be exciting is the Aaron Brooks/Jaxon Smith tilt at 197 pounds. Smith dropped an early season 7-3 decision against No. 11 Stephen Little, however, his only other loss on the year was a 5-2 decision against No. 4 Trent Hidlay.
Conversely, Jaxon has dropped No. 13 Mac Stout (Pitt), No. 23 Wyatt Voelker, No. 6 Tanner Sloan, and No. 33 Gabe Sollars. So unlike the last handful of matches where Brooks’ didn’t even need to tie his shoes, this one will get his attention.
125 – No. 4 Braeden Davis (PSU) major dec. over Tommy Capul (MD), 13-3
133 – No. 5 Aaron Nagao (PSU) major dec. over Braxton Brown (MD), 11-2
141 – No. 2 Beau Bartlett (PSU) dec. over No. 17 Kal Miller (MD), 9-3
149 – No. 14 Ethen Miller (MD) dec. over David Evans (PSU), 5-2157 – No. 1 Levi Haines (PSU) tech. fall over No. 33 Michael North (MD), 19-4
165 – No. 7 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) tech. fall over AJ Rodrigues(MD), 17-2
174 – No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) fall over Dominic Solis (MD)
184 – No. 5 Bernie Truax (PSU) major dec. over Chase Mielnik (MD), 14-3
197 – No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) major dec. over No. 5 Jaxon Smith (MD), 10-2
285 – No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) tech. fall over No. 25 Seth Nevills (MD), 16-1
Penn State 40 Maryland 3
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.