Huge regular season Finale for #5 Mizzou Wrestling

Have a tune up at Appalachian State on Friday, followed by a YUUUUGGGGEEE showdown with #3 NC State on Sunday. App State has one ranked wrestler at heavyweight, but other than that it should be a bloodbath and a tune up match.

NC State will be a battle for the best of the Non-Big Ten schools. NC State is undefeated in duals this year, including a 19-15 victory over Oklahoma St. They have run through the ACC by large margins, and also hold commanding victories over B1G's Nebraska and Minnesota. NC State, Mizzou, and Oklahoma St. are the 3 best non-B1G teams in the country, so if Mizzou can pull off a victory resulting in a 1-1 record between the 3, that will be big for seeding at National Duals.

The Wolfpack are very top heavy. They have 4-5 All American caliber guys who carry the team.

125: #9 Barlow vs UR Fausz: This is the type of match where Barlow needs to open up and get bonus points. He can't afford to lose, and the team needs bonus points.

133: #14 Synon vs Morris: Morris is no slouch, but still sits outside the top 20. Synon has to stop his backslide. His confidence is shot right now. Needs a win to get back into it before the postseason.

141: #5 Manley vs #3 Jack: This is a big one. If Manley can pull the upset, it would establish him has a Top 4 guy, and set up nicely for NCAA seeding. These guys have different body types, but similar styles of wrestling. Both are big counter attackers and great at scrambling. Manley is a more stocky, low to the ground guy, frequently wrestling on his knees. Jack is a tall lanky dude, like Synon. Jack had #1 Heil beat in their dual until he collapsed late. For seeding purposes, if Manley can win here, sliding jack to a #4 seed at NCAA's, Manley would have a path to the finals and potentially a national championship. This one is YUUUUUGGGGEEEE.

149: #3 Mayes vs UR Melikian: Mayes can't have another performance like he had at NIU. Has to find ways to score more. Close matches will come back to haunt him if he doesn't fix it quickly.

157: UR Barnes vs #4 Gantt: Gantt is a stud. I'm a bit surprised that Barnes hasn't had a look in the rankings, but perhaps people are still waiting on results at 157 to rank him. An upset of Gantt would really get their attention, but is no easy feat. Barnes has been solid lately, filling out and getting into a respectable undersized range.

165: #9 Lewis vs #6 Rohskoph: Mikey England had a couple battles with Rohskoph, and the dude is no joke. Lewis has his hands full. Hopefully the staff has worked on some offense with Lewis, because Rohskoph does most of his damage from neutral.

174: #6 Butler vs UR Hall: Blaise needs to do Blaise things and rack up bonus points.

184: #9 Miklus vs #18 Renda: While Willie has been out/resting, 184 has been turned on its head. Everything we thought we knew has flown out the window and the weight becomes crazy open like 141 and 174. As for this matchup, hopefully Willie's ankle is back to 100%, because we need a win here. Renda is solid.

197: #2 J'den vs #14 Boykin: A good opponent for J'den. Needs to wrestle mistake free and wrestle his match. He has been so focused on attacking people who run away from him that he hasn't been in a competitive match for awhile. This should help him reset and get back to being J'den.

285: UR Romero vs #1 Gwiazdowski: Gwiz is an animal. #2 on most P4P rankings behind Dieringer. Going for his 3rd strait national title this season. Any notions of J'den bumping up should be thrown out the window. For one, there is a more than likely chance that Gwiz would win, and two, wrestling heavier guys is a recipe to get yourself hurt.

125, 133, 149, and 174 are heavy favorites for us. Need to win, and get some bonus. 285, 157, we are big underdogs. Barnes might have an outside chance, but Romero is a 100% loss by pin. 141 and 165 we are slight underdogs, but basically a toss up. Really good opponents. 197 and 184 we are slight favorites, who should win. Meaning a 6-2-2 split. If we win 6 I think we win the dual. Would take a major upset and lots of bonus for NC State to win. But we are in their house. Lots of good matchups though.