Wrestling Splits Tough Trip
Jim Heffernan's first Big Ten road trip as head coach went as it was supposed to, at least on paper. His #19 Illini squad fell at #13 Penn State 24-11 on Friday night, before bouncing back to top unranked Michigan State 23-12 on Sunday. Three Illini went undefeated on the weekend: #14 Jordan Blanton at 174, #2 John Dergo at 184 and #10 Patrick Bond at 197. As the season progresses, it's becoming more clear that those three wrestlers will be the rocks that Heff uses to build the rest of the team.
Also picking up wins on Sunday for the Orange and Blue were John Deneen (125), #11 Ryan Prater (141), Conrad Polz (157) and Joe Barczak (165). Prater has struggled recently, as he was pinned on Friday night, and in the Illini's last non-conference dual at Iowa State, both against unranked wrestlers. Sunday's victory for Prater snapped his losing streak, but the Illini were hoping for a bit larger margin of victory from the junior than the 6-4 decision that he earned against MSU's unranked Dan Osterman.
This year's Big Ten schedule is a headscratcher for several reasons. First, they grouped Penn State and Michigan State as travel partners, which makes no sense. That resulted in the Illini travelling to State College on Thursday, wrestling the Nittany Lions on Friday night, then busing to East Lansing on Saturday before taking on the Spartans Sunday and heading back to Champaign. Given the travel difficulties, the win over MSU looks even more impressive.
Second, the Illini have four road duals to start the conference season, which makes it more difficult to get the fans involved. Next weekend sees the Orange and Blue make a bit more reasonable road trip to Bloomington and Evanston. The Indiana dual starts at 6pm central time on Friday, before they take on Northwestern at 2pm on Sunday. Illinois' first home dual is a week from Friday, when the Minnesota Golden Gophers come to town for a 7pm dual.
Here's how the first weekend of Big Ten competition finished:
Friday 1/22
#13 Penn State 24 #19 Illinois 11
#5 Minnesota 18 Michigan State 16
#19 Wisconsin 21 #11 Indiana 18
Saturday 1/23
Sunday 1/24
#19 Illinois 23 Michigan State 12
#4 Ohio State 21 #13 Penn State 14
Big Ten Standings
| Conference | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | T | Pct. | W | L | T | Pct. | |
| Iowa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Minnesota | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 7 | 4 | 0 | .636 |
| Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 12 | 1 | 0 | .923 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 |
| Indiana | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 12 | 1 | 0 | .923 |
| Penn State | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 9 | 4 | 1 | .679 |
| Purdue | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 10 | 5 | 0 | .667 |
| Illinois | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 |
| Michigan State | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 6 |
3 |
1 | .650 |
| Northwestern | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 5 | 7 | 1 | .423 |
| Michigan | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 |
We'll pass along the updated team and individual rankings when they're released later this week. We'll also preview Illinois' matchups with Indiana and Northwestern this weekend. Thanks for reading.
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