Rutgers Wrestling: the polls don’t like losing

When the new rankings came out yesterday, Rutgers felt the wrath of the pollsters. Both as a team and individually.

Following the loss to No. 10 Cornell at the Grapple at the Garden on Saturday, Rutgers dropped two spots in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches’ Poll to No. 12.

Individually, Rutgers wrestlers also paid a price. The Knights only won three bouts against Cornell, and for some it meant a drop in the rankings at their weight class. Anthony Ashnault, Ken Theobold, and John Van Brill each won their bouts. Van Brill is not ranked, while Ashnault held his position in all the rankings and Theobold was pretty much steady as well. But to show the unpredictability of the rankings, Theobold went down one spot in WIN Magazine’s poll and up three spots with the Open Mat.

Nick Gravina, who pinned his Columbia opponent in the first minute, but lost by a major to No. 1 Gabe Dean, went up one spot in two polls and down one in another. Tyson Dippery, ranked as high as No. 12 by WIN Magazine, fell out of the rankings by Open Mat (previous 18) and AWN (previous 20). Richie Lewis, who didn’t wrestle at all in the Grapple, actually moved up two spots in the Open Mat rankings. Ya never know!

Wrestling at 157 pounds, redshirt freshman Willie Scott went 1-1 on the day at the Grapple. But his sudden victory win versus a ranked wrestler caught people’s attention. He’s the first one shown on RVision’s Top 5 of the week.

Big Ten Wrestler of the Week

197 lb. – Sr.

• Earned a 7-2 decision over sixth-ranked Preston Weigel of Oklahoma State
• Tallied three takedowns and an escape in the match
• The three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earns the second Wrestler of the Week Award of his career

Last Minnesota Wrestler of the Week: Brett Pfarr (Nov. 10, 2015)

Up next

Anthony Ashnault must be pretty good. I mean. look who they put on the promotional Tweet for Saturday’s invitational at Hofstra.