IU grapples with nation's best

The IU wrestling team is not getting much of a break.

Just a week after dueling No. 5 Minnesota, IU will play host to Penn State, currently tied for the top ranking in the nation.

“We need to go in and still have high expectations of ourselves and try to win as many matches as we can,” IU coach Duane Goldman said.“Penn State’s got a great team. We have our work cut out for us, but we need to go in there like we do for every match and try to win the individual matchups and not worry so much about the team score.”

Nearly every individual matchup will pose a challenge for the Hoosiers. The Nittany Lions bring ranked wrestlers in eight of 10 weight classes and are undefeated on the year in duals.

Among the highly ranked wrestlers for Penn State are a pair of freshmen: David Taylor, who defeated IU senior Paul Young (17-2) earlier this season, at 157 pounds and Ed Ruth at 174 pounds.

“They have a young group but they’re a very, very talented team,” Goldman said. “I don’t think youth is really a factor. Even though they’re young, they have a lot of experience.”

Despite losing 25-14 to Minnesota, Goldman said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the match but that it is an indication of how the team is wrestling rather than a source of momentum.

“We wrestled real well against Minnesota, and I expect us to wrestle well this week,” Goldman said. “It doesn’t really play out momentum-wise match-to-match because each match is different. It turns out this match this weekend, every one of our guys has a very difficult matchup, so we’ve been watching film and working in the room, and hopefully our guys can compete well and hopefully win some matches.”

— Max McCombs