iowa vs oky state (spoiler)





It was a long day yesterday, but well worth the out and back drive. I got into Stillwater a little early and happened to meet Blake Rasing at lunch. We shared a table since we were the only ones wearing Hawkeye gear in the restaurant. He is a very reserved and well-mannered young man and I was happy to see him pull out the tie with a win in OT. The atmosphere was very exciting but the fans weren't very rowdy. Most of the time it was very quiet and you could hear the Hawk fans yelling against a completely quiet background. The only time I recall a monstrous roar for the Poke fans was when Rosholt got the escape to tie the heavyweight match.

OSU was very good at starting fast and finishing takedowns. Also, those guys are flexible! Several Poke wrestlers had the full splits going and were able to keep the Hawks from finishing TDs. Which brings me to my biggest disappointment of the dual...Iowa has a really difficult time finishing shots (it's not just LL). On a more positive note, they worked their butts off for the full 7 minutes and made lot of headway in the third period when OSU faded noticeably.

I was happy to come out of there with the tie, although I got my hopes up early on. We needed to win the Janssen or the Gambrall match to win. Janssen gave up the cheap 5 and couldn't recover, and Gambrall was another Hawk who couldn't finish a TD. All in all, I think the Hawks did better than most non-Hawk fans thought they would.
 


I believe Gambral has beat wright before (i can't recall if it was freestyle or in an open) but wright turned into a different wrestler while perry was at psu and the problems gambrall has on bottom will only be exacerbated by wrights style. I would rather see marion at 149 and ballweg at 141. I think marion is as good as anyone in the country at 41 or 49 and I like the hawks chances much better with Alton/Ballweg and Marion/Molinaro than I do with Alton/Marion and Molinaro/Ballweg. But I think its irrelevant PSU is absolutely loaded:

125 #11 Pataky
133 #5 Long
141 #5 Alton
149 #6 Molinaro
157 #3 Taylor
165 Kemmerer
174 #2 Ruth
184 #7 Wright
197 Ruggear
285 #9 Wade

So IF marion comes back I think the hawks get wins from McD, Marion, Jannsen, and Luke Lofthouse
 


125: Steele can't be too happy with his midlands outcome and his drive its like no others! I think he comes out firing on all cylinders and i hope the meet starts at 125 for iowa's sake. MCD wins by major 4-0

133: Oliver is a stud and whoever he wrestles here will be a win for oky state. i think ramos is liked by most of hawkeye fans but clark is a good wrestler against strong competition and is hard to take down. i think the smart move here to avoid the major is to put clark in there but oliver wins by decision over clark 4-3

141: Kindig is a smooth wrestler with lots of tricks up his sleeve. this match could go either way because i think ballweg can control him with his strength. being as kindig has been spotty this year i'll give ballweg a win in a crazy close match. ballweg over kindig 7-3

149: Parks is a scary opponent for someone like ballweg i think especially on his feet. again i see this match going either way but parks is wrestling just a bit better than ballweg right now and after midlands my faith in ballweg is lower than normal. parks over ballweg 7-6

157: i think this will be a match for dsj to get his mojo back. hopefully his sickness or mental problems are long gone. dsj knows whats on the line for the hawks if they win this dual and pull a great win for him and his team off. dsj over erisman 10-6

165: Janns is back on my favorites list on this team and i have total confidence he will revenge the 1 point loss to bailey. janns wins a great match and puts the hawks up 13-6!

174: benefiel is another oky wrestler that i think has had his ups and downs but don't see ethan winning this one. benefiel will wrestle good at home and get the cowboys back in this dual. benefiel wins 13-9

184: this match is scary for the hawks because he could be bonus points for the cowboys. grant doesn't wrestle perry very well and has been dominated in the past. grant just can't get it together but holds off the major for a critical team points 13-12

197: luke lofthouse isn't one to beat the guys we need him too and foster will be no difference. foster is a great wrestler and the streak is close to being over. foster beats luke to put the cowboys up 13-15

HWT: which rasing will show up that is the question??? if he wrestles like he did at midlands the streak is over but if he wrestles his match WHICH i think he will the streak will continue. boys this one is up to the heavyweights and i hope HOPE they start at 125 to have it come down to this match. rasing wins keeping the streak alive 16-15



my predictions weren't too bad besides the jans match and af your right A LOT of ppl thought iowa would only walk away with 2-3 matches so hawk fans have to be pleased
 




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