Cyclones to face top ten Oklahoma State

Who: #8 Iowa State vs. #7 Oklahoma State
Date: Sunday January 25th, 2015
Time: 2:00 PM – Central
Location: Ames, Iowa
Online: Cyclones.tv

#8 Iowa State Cyclones 6-1
125- Kyle Larson
133- #6 Earl Hall
141- Dante Rodriguez or John Meeks
149- #13 Gabe Moreno
157- Luke Goettl or Danny Woiwor
165- #4 Mike Moreno
174- #10 Tanner Weatherman
184- #17 Lelund Weatherspoon
197- #3 Kyven Gadson
285- Quean Smith

#7 Oklahoma State Cowboys 5-2 (1-0)
125- #10 Edward Klimara
133- Gary Wayne Harding
141- #18 Dean Heil
149- #4 Josh Kindig
157- Anthony Collica
165- #1 Alex Dieringer
174- #17 Jordan Rodgers or Kyle Crutchmer
184- #15 Nolan Boyd
197- Austin Schafer or Luke Bean
285- #5 Austin Marsden

Fresh off their upset of Virginia Tech, the Iowa State Cyclones will look to play spoilers at home again this weekend when they host the #7 Oklahoma State Cowboys in what be a top ten dual team matchup. Iowa State defeated the Hokies 21-12 on their home mat, and their upset effort was led by Big 12 wrestler of the week Tanner Weatherman. Weatherman’s weight will once again play a large role in whether the Cyclones can pull off back-to-back upsets.

Looking at 125 it’s easy to say that Oklahoma State will be favored with #10 Eddie Klimara, but lately Kyle Larson has looked like a very improved wrestler. A round of 12 finish at the Southern Scuffle and a 3-2 defeat by Joey Dance on Sunday is starting to reveal the type of wrestler Larson is. So far Larson has shown that he can slow down some of the best wrestlers at his weight (go re-watch his matches with Gilman and Dance) and one of these times he is going to steal a win with his ability to keep matches close.

All-American Earl Hall will have a big match at 133 where he will face true freshman Gary Wayne Harding. A bonus win by Hall would go a long ways in the team score, so look for Hall to try and leverage his experience against the relatively untested Oklahoma State wrestler.

141 will be a bit of a toss up match no matter who the Cyclones start in John Meeks or Dante Rodriguez against Dean Heil. While a win here by the Cyclones would be deemed an upset, I fully expect them to be in this match, especially from what we have seen out of Rodriguez this season, who gave highly ranked Josh Dziewa a good match in his debut and scored a big win over Grey of Cornell.

Expect the Cowboys to be heavy favorites at 149 and 165 where they have NCAA runner-up Josh Kindig and NCAA champion Alex Dieringer respectively. The Moreno brothers (Gabe and Mike) will need to pull all the stops to get a win over the these Cowboy opponents.

157 will be another “toss up” or “swing” match when senior Luke Goettl will go up against sophomore Anthony Collica. The Oklahoma State wrestler spent some time in the rankings this year, but this is definitely a match that could go to the Cyclones favor. Goettl had a big major decision victory against Virginia Tech.

At 174 Tanner Weatherman will have an important match against either Jordan Rodgers or Kyle Crutchmer. Weatherman faced both Oklahoma State wrestlers at the Southern Scuffle, losing 3-1 to Crutchmer and winning a 10-8 SV match against Rodgers. Weatherman showed his toughness against Epperly last Sunday, and if he keeps wrestling like that he should come out on top this weekend as well.

Nolan Boyd will present a tight matchup with him being #15 and Lelund Weatherspoon ranked #17 at 184. Boyd has really come on of late, with his momentum starting at the Southern Scuffle and then he picked up a top eight win over Iowa’s Sammy Brooks in Stillwater.

Cyclone All-American Kyven Gadson should vastly out rank his opponent this weekend whether it be Austin Schafer or Luke Bean at 197. The Cowboys have been looking for someone to step up at this weight, and with Gadson being one of the best in the nation, he will be the heavy favorite (and hopefully some bonus too).

The final bout is #5 Austin Mardsen and Quean Smith at 285. Mardsen is having a great season considering he won the Southern Scuffle title, so Smith will need to be sharp this weekend. Coming out too loose, or making too many mental mistakes could prove fatal in the Cyclones bid to to defeat the Cowboys.

On paper the match favors Oklahoma State 5-3 (with the Cowboys favored at 125, 149, 165, 184, and 285) and with two no discernible favorite matches (at 141 and 157). If Iowa State is able to win both of the toss ups, and then pull the upset at 184, they would be in business to have two straight top ten victories.