The Wisconsin wrestling team will face its stiffest competition to date this weekend when they take on 12th-ranked Minnesota and 6th-ranked Penn State. The 14-2 Badgers are having one of the most successful seasons in program history, earning a national ranking of 13th while turning heads with their strong younger class.
The praise aside, head coach Barry Davis believes his team will have to come up with a few upsets and win their close matches if they are to finish off the weekend with two wins.
“You’ve got to win matches you’re not expected to win,” Davis said. “It’s not that we don’t expect to win those matches. It’s the other people who don’t expect us to win those matches. The guys are gearing towards that.”
The Badgers have gone 13-2 in non-conference action this season. They have wins over Purdue, Rider and Cornell — all ranked teams. As is usual when good teams meet each other, Davis said Wisconsin will have to get some good breaks.
“We’re going to have to score at the end of a match or period to win,” he said. “We’ve just got to find a way to get the job done. If we do those things, we’ll have a successful year. I tell the guys all year that great teams do that and we’re on the brink of being a great team.”
Davis and his team will travel to national powerhouse Minnesota Friday night to kick off the weekend action. Minnesota finds itself ranked 12th — an unusually low standing considering it has finished ranked in the top five the last few years. Still, Davis believes rankings go out the door when any Big Ten teams go at it.
“Well, I look at the Minnesota dual meet and see that we are favored in two [matches] and they are favored in two,” Davis said. “The next six matches are toss-ups. Same with Indiana. They had five ranked guys. Out of those five matches, we won three of the five.”
On Sunday, the Badgers will take on Penn State at the Fieldhouse. Davis believes the match will be a toss-up and come down to close matches and bonus points.
“You look at Penn State and the match-ups are probably 50-50 in that dual meet there,” Davis said. “It will probably come down to bonus points. Remember, if we’re going to turn things around, we have to win the close matches at Minnesota as well as (at home) against Penn State is what it comes down too. As of right now, the young kids are stepping up and doing a very good job, but who’s going to win the one or two-point matches or who’s going to score the takedown at the very end is going to win the match. So, it’s six matches at Minnesota and five and five at Penn State, so it will be interesting.”
For those fans that will not be able to attend the Minnesota match, Fox Sports will be airing the match after the Wisconsin-Minnesota hockey game Friday night. Davis welcomes the opportunity to wrestle in front of a regional audience and believes it could help the program in its recruiting efforts.
“Any time you get a chance to be on TV like that and you get more exposure for your program, I think it’s very good,” Davis said. “Especially a dual meet like this one at Minnesota; they have been very competitive in the past and we do a lot of recruiting there in Minnesota. So being in Minnesota, doing well at Minnesota, that way of getting more exposure on TV, I think it’s very good.”
Wisconsin’s matchup against Minnesota will air on Fox Sports Net North at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Friday night. They will return home to wrestle Penn State at 1 pm on Sunday at the Field House.
