No. 1 Penn State Wrestling travels to Ann Arbor this week for dual meet action against both No. 13 Michigan (Friday, 1/19) and Michigan State (1/21)
The marquee matchup will take place on Friday evening between the Nittany Lions and the Wolverines.
Going into this season, Michigan had high hopes of taking down some of the giants of the wrestling world as they returned two All-Americans (Will Lewan and Cam Amine) and picked up four All-American transfers (Michael DeAugustino, Chris Cannon, Austin Gomez, and Lucas Davison) from Northwestern and Wisconsin.
But, between some early season injuries and some underperformances from several guys, Michigan hasn’t exactly set the world on fire so far.
The Wolverines finished eighth in 2023 CKLV, they dropped a dual meet to No. 11 South Dakota State (22-17), and they struggled in a win against Michigan State (29-12) last Sunday.
Before we look at some of the potential matchups, because there are for sure going to be a lot of goods ones, let’s take a look at how to watch the dual meet.
Watch No. 1 Penn State vs. No. 13 Michigan FOR FREE, by signing up for a 7-Day Free Trial for FuboTV
How to watch Penn State Wrestling vs. Michigan
Date: Friday, January 19th
Time: 6:00 p.m. EST
Where: Crisler Center (Ann Arbor)
TV: B1G
Livestream: FuboTV (FREE Trial)
Listen: Free via Lionvision at GoPSUsports.com
Now let’s turn to the potential matchups ahead of the action on Friday evening.
Potential matchups
No. 1 Penn State (4-0) vs. No. 13 Michigan (4-1)
125 – No. 14 Braeden Davis (PSU) vs No. 5 Michael DeAugustino (MICH)
133 – No. 4 Aaron Nagao (PSU) vs No. 6 Dylan Ragusin (MICH)
141 – No. 2 Beau Bartlett (PSU) vs No. 25 Sergio Lemley (MICH)
149 – No. 12 Tyler Kasak (PSU) vs No. 6 Austin Gomez or Dylan Gilcher (MICH)
157 – No. 1 Levi Haines (PSU) vs No. 9 Will Lewan (MICH)
165 – No. 9 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) vs No. 7 Cam Amine (MICH)
174 – No. 1 Carter Starocci (PSU) vs No. 4 Shane Griffith (MICH)
184 – No. 5 Bernie Truax (PSU) vs No. 15 Jaden Bullock (MICH)
197 – No. 1 Aaron Brooks (PSU) vs No. 32 Bobby Striggow (MICH)
285 – No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (PSU) vs No. 4 Lucas Davison (MICH)
Penn State vs. Michigan Prediction
Braeden Davis will potentially face his toughest test to-date as 2022 All-American Michael DeAugustino is back on the mat following an injury he suffered in the CKLV. The big question for Wolverine fans is whether or not DeAugustino is 100%.
However, I don’t think it matters.
Davis is wrestling like a seasoned veteran and I believe he will keep his unbeaten streak alive.
Both Aaron Nagao and Beau Bartlett are set to face ranked guys. And while I think both Nittany Lion wrestlers will prevail, the results probably won’t contain bonus points.
There are three very intriguing matches that might take place on Friday evening, and one of them is the matchup at 149 pounds.
All-American Austin Gomez has only suited up for three matches so far this season. But this does include Michigan’s last two duals against Maryland and Michigan State, so I would fully expect for Gomez to go this Friday.
And based on what Nittany Lions fans have seen from Tyler Kasak this match could be nothing short of a Disney World fireworks show.
I doubted Tyler when he faced Nash Singleton. I was then skeptical about the outcome when Kasak faced Graham Rooks. But the true freshman has proved me wrong time and time again.
However, predicting him to beat a seventh year senior who can wrestle at a super high level is a tall, tall order. And if Gomez takes to the mat, I think he will take down Kasak in a close, high scoring match.
Will I ever learn?
Probably not.
Moving on.
Levi Haines has been slightly up and down this year. He won his first three matches by way of a fall, technical fall, and major decision. Then he struggled against Lehigh’s Max Brignola when he won a 12-6 decision.
Haines went on to pin his next opponent. But it was really surprising to see him losing going into the third period against Oregon State’s Isaiah Crosby. Like all champions, Levi was able to find a way to win in the end, 10-8.
And right on cue Haines was overwhelming in a 17-0 technical fall beatdown this past Sunday. So how will his matchup against Will Lewan go?
You’re guess is as good as mine, however I wouldn’t be surprised to see Haines win and snag some bonus points along the way.
The potential showdowns at both 165 and 174 represent the other two “intriguing” matchups I mentioned previously.
Mitch Mesenbrink is wrestling at a completely different level than anyone he’s face so far this year. And that includes his 17-2 technical fall over No. 13 Matthew Olguin. It was the first time Olguin had ever been tech’ed in his career. And this is the same guy who beat Shane Griffith in last season’s NCAA Championships.
Cameron Amine is a three-time All-American but he hasn’t looked the same this season. In fact, Amine has dropped three of his last four matches. Granted these were against No. 4 Izzak Olejnik, No. 3 David Carr, and No. 10 Caleb Fish, but it’s still a bit surprising.
If Amine isn’t 100% or if there is something else going on, then I highly doubt Mitch will take it easy on him.
Next we have the potential matchup between three-time NCAA Champion Carter Starocci and 2021 NCAA Champion Shane Griffith at 174 pounds.
Griffith moved up to 174 pounds for the first time in his career so these two gladiators of the sport have yet to square off. Shane dropped two matches in the CKLV earlier in the year but he recently dropped No. 5 Cade DeVos 4-1 in sudden victory. So my guess is that he’s finally getting comfortable at the higher weight.
And there’s no way around it, this will be a good match. But I don’t see Carter losing.
Bernie Truax and Aaron Brooks are set to also faced ranked foes in their matchups. However I don’t see any reason why they both don’t win running away.
Even more importantly will be for Truax to wash the bad taste of his 5-2 loss against No. 4 Trey Munoz out of his mouth. And a dominating performance against a top 15 wrestler is the best remedy.
Lastly at 285 pounds there’s a potential top four matchup between Greg Kerkvliet and Lucas Davison.
Davison and Kerk last locked horns in the 2022 Big Ten Championships where Greg won a 5-3 decision.
But just like some of the other guys on this loaded Penn State Wrestling Team, Kerkvliet is also wrestling at an incredibly high level. And I see nothing short of a big win in store for Kerk.
Penn State 30 Michigan 3
MORE: Latest Big Ten Power Rankings
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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.