Manheim, Pennsylvania — After completing the 2019-20 Big Ten regular season unbeaten, Iowa remains the unanimous No. 1 in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll released on Tuesday. Heading into the final week of the regular season, Iowa (12-0) is one of two unbeaten teams left in Division I. Third-ranked NC State (14-0) is the other.
The top-ranked Hawkeyes finished 9-0 in the Big Ten and closed out its conference slate with a 35-6 win over rival Minnesota on Saturday in front of over 12,000 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. With one home dual left, the Hawkeyes have drawn over 10,000 fans in all seven home duals this season. It’s expected to be eight after No. 9 Oklahoma State (13-2) comes to visit on Sunday evening. Speaking of big crowds, second-ranked Penn State saw 15,995 witness its 20-16 win over No. 6 Ohio State at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday night. The crowd was Penn State’s third highest all-time and the fifth-highest to witness a dual meet in NCAA history.
Third-ranked NC State clinched a share of the ACC regular season title after outlasting seventh-ranked Virginia Tech 21-18 in Raleigh in one of the most exciting duals of the year. The Wolfpack can claim the title outright with a victory over winless Duke on Friday night in Durham. Fourth-ranked Nebraska improved to 10-3 after beating No. 22 Michigan 25-15 in Lincoln. Fifth-ranked Arizona State improved to 14-1 after a trip to California gave the Sun Devils two more victories. Zeke Jones’ squad shut out Cal Poly 43-0 before beating CSU Bakersfield 31-10.
No. 8 North Carolina (13-2) went on the road and beat two ranked teams. First, the Tar Heels beat No. 9 Pittsburgh 22-14 in yet another Top 10 ACC dual. A day later in Ithaca, the Heels beat 17th-ranked Cornell 21-13. No. 10 Oklahoma State drew over 7,000 at Gallagher-Iba Arena as the Cowboys beat Oklahoma 27-8.
In other ranked head-to-head duals this past week, No. 12 Wisconsin (11-5) beat Michigan 20-12, No. 15 Purdue (12-5) dropped then-No. 23 Illinois 18-14 and then-No. 19 Iowa State topped then-No. 16 Northern Iowa 18-16 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. Rutgers re-entered the Top 25 after beating then-No. 25 Northwestern 26-13 at the RAC, while then-No. 21 Stanford had an abysmal swing through the Upper Midwest, falling to North Dakota State 28-13 and South Dakota State 34-4.
Ranked Duals This Week: Eight ranked duals close out the regular season. On Thursday, No. 17 Northern Iowa travels to Madison to face No. 12 Wisconsin. On Friday, fifth-ranked Arizona State starts its East Coast swing with a dual at No. 11 Lehigh. No. 13 Minnesota will host No. 4 Nebraska. On Saturday, No. 19 Iowa State will head south to face No. 24 Missouri, while it’ll be yet another Top 10 ACC dual as No. 10 Pittsburgh hosts No. 7 Virginia Tech. On Sunday, three ranked duals close the dual meet season as Arizona State faces No. 8 North Carolina, No. 25 Rutgers heads down the road to face No. 14 Princeton and No. 9 Oklahoma State heads to Iowa City to face top-ranked Iowa.
Methodology: The NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by two coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Each first-place vote is worth 25 points, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 25th-place vote. The poll is based on dual meet results.
NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll
February 18, 2020
Others Receiving Votes: Appalachian State 6, Northwestern 6, North Dakota State 3, South Dakota State 3, Northern Illinois 1
Dropped Out: No. 25 Northwestern
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