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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Jack Muni added to this discussion on January 9, 2026
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Probable lineup per OSU website:
125 (3) Nic Bouzakis vs (12) Jacob Moran
133 (2) Ben Davino vs Blaine Frazier/Logan Frazier
141 (1) Jesse Mendez vs (24) Henry Porter/Lucas Peters
149 (4) Ethan Stiles vs Joey Buttler
157 (2) Brandon Cannon vs Bryce Lowery
165 (19) Paddy Gallagher/e'Than Birden vs (20) Tyler Lillard
174 (4) Carson Kharchla vs. Derek Gilcher
184 (6) Dylan Fishback vs (14) Sam Goin
197 (10) Luke Geog vs (13) Gabe Sollars
285 (3) Nick Feldman vs Caleb Marzolino
Shumate beat Sollars 13-3 at the Midlands in the semi finals, but they are going with Geog on Sunday. Interesting...plus we might be seeing Birden also.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on January 9, 2026
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Bucks schedule gets more challenging after this Sunday:
Jan 23 (Fri) 7 p.m. Away University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN (Maturi Pavilion) -
Jan 25 (Sun) 2 p.m. Away University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE (Bob Devaney Sports Center) -
Jan 30 (Fri) 6 p.m. Home University of Wisconsin Columbus, Ohio (Covelli Center) -
Feb 1 (Sun) Noon Home University of Michigan Columbus, Ohio (Covelli Center) -
Feb 6 (Fri) 8 p.m. Home University of Iowa Columbus, Ohio (Covelli Center) -
Feb 13 (Fri) 7 p.m. Away Penn State University University Park, PA (Bryce Jordan Center) -
Feb 15 (Sun) 2 p.m. Away University of Maryland
Bucks scorched Minny and Neb. at National Duals but those schools will be very motivated to reverse those outcomes. Neb. dual would have a second matchup between Mendez and Hardy. Not sure that Mendez benefits by wrestling him at this point in time esp. with Big Tens and NCAA's looming. Hardy, of course, has gotten handled by Okie State frosh Sergio Vega on two occasions. Wisconsin and Michigan will be relatively easy by comparison. My alma mater has lots of money and great facilities. If they replaced Sean Bormet with a killer coach, they could be a top three program given their assets. As currently comprised, they suck --s at developing talent and rely heavily on transfers to remain relelvant.
Then the rubber meets the road. A rematch with Iowa. A dual with Penn State. Ohio State is the only team in the country even remotely talented enough to give PSU a battle. Historically, it's been ugly. Is this the year that changes?
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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OHST is hitting on all cylinders right now. If they can continue at this level leading into B1Gs and then find another elevated gear, look out dugout!
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Nick Lecklider added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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Bouzakis wins 11-2 against a kid Mccrone is 0-2 against. Bouzakis is now 5-0 against top 12 guys and most matches haven’t been close. If there was even a debate before today there should be none now. Bouzakis may be the favorite to win an NCAA title this season.
Kudos to the coaching staff on getting Stiles and Fishback. Stiles is looking better as the season has gone on and Fishback is right there with everyone at 184. A lot of teams spent a lot of money on portal guys that have not looked good at all. Figuroa, swiderski, Williams, and Bailey off the top of my head and the buckeyes have hit two home runs in the weights of need. I never thought I would say this but Rocco Welsh leaving was probably the best thing to happen. Ohio state saved a lot of money and is Fishback even a downgrade? I am circling that match on my calendar.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Jack Muni added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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Nick, what is your take at 197? Geog beats Sollars 7-5, and Shumate beat him 13-3 at Midlands.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Nick Lecklider added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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197 I go back and forth on and is truly a hard decision. Shumate also lost to Correa this year who Geog beat. I think both guys are probably bloodround type guys. Right now I think Shumate looks like the better wrestler. He has seemed to improve since early season. Shumate also has won matches at the NCAA tournament and is going to score more bonus points. If two guys are pretty equal who is going to score more? Shumate is the choice imo.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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Nick: Excellent observations esp. about Stiles and Fishbach. A number of teams grabbed wrestlers out of the portal, presumably paid them and are getting poor value.
Wrestling requires an intense desire to excel. One has to wonder if getting significant cash has a negative impact on motivation. Someone more motivated than me should look at every AA who has portaled and transferred over the last few years to see how they're doing. Richie Figueroa? OMG. What a diaster for the Cowboys. Oops, they can just enroll Jax Forrest early.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Jack Muni added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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Shumate is definitely the most dangerous of the two. Last year he lost to Salazar(Minn) at Big Tens then pinned him at the NCAAs. I hope we get to see him in a few of the remaining duals. IMO 125 belongs to Bouzakis, he has adapted to the weight cut and is a beast with more weapons than McCrone. TR said it, he is very, very STRONG and it shows.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Drew Taylor added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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Quote from Nick Lecklider's post:
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"197 I go back and forth on and is truly a hard decision. Shumate also lost to Correa this year who Geog beat. I think both guys are probably bloodround type guys. Right now I think Shumate looks like the better wrestler. He has seemed to improve since early season. Shumate also has won matches at the NCAA tournament and is going to score more bonus points. If two guys are pretty equal who is going to score more? Shumate is the choice imo."
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Just can’t see the staff putting any value in opening weekend results against true freshman Correa. There are many better data points.
Which wrestler do those data points favor? It’s close. But it appears Geog is the pick at this point. It’s been a while since Shumate got varsity action.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Scott Nicola added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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lots of good points. I was at the match today and as many have mentioned, the Bucks just have a different energy this year. The lower weights are so dominant and they just pick up steam as they go. 45-0 is a butt stomping of a decent team with 4 top 20 wrestlers.
125-As mentioned, Bouzakis has been wrestling great and looks the part of a national title contender. Very good in all three positions and constantly looking to score. I feel like his offense from neutral has greatly improved since last year. He has definitely separated himself from McCrone and is the presumptive starter at this point. Has anyone but McCrone scored an offensive point on Bouzakis this year?
133-Davino is a buzzsaw. It's hard to not get excited about how this kid wrestles. Really interested to see how he matches up with Blaze and Forrest. I think those guys have an edge in freestyle but I would like to see them go 7 minutes with Davino's pace.
141-Mendez is a total machine. Hardy and Echemendia have wrestled him fairly close and he has smoked everyone else. Vega (oky state) has put it on Hardy twice but that seems to be a match up thing.
149-Stiles started the season slow but is definitely picking up steam. He is incredibly hard to finish on and scores a ton from other's offense. Can you imagine the scrambles in the room between him and Cannon?
157-This Indiana kid wrestled Cannon close for 2 periods before Cannon opened it up in the 3rd. Always looking for bonus!
165-Birden won a hard fought battle today. I found myself wondering if Paddy would have got it done were he in the lineup. Big contrast between styles and body type between Paddy and Birden but I have to believe these guys are withing a point or two of each other.
174-Kharchla has looked refreshed this year. He was rolling and gave up a takedown in the second which slowed him down a bit today. Still won comfortably. The Indiana guy was enormous for a 174.
184-I agree with most that Fishback is amazing and could compete with anyone in the country. Can score big points from any position. Indiana guy (Goin) is tough but had absolutely nothing for him. I would love to see him beat Welsh.
197-Geog looked much better early in the season but Shumate has picked up steam. What concerns me is that Geog seems to run out of gas, particularly in duals. Maybe it's the weight cut. I think wrestling him today against an opponent that Shumate just majored was a great strategy to see where the two are at this point in the season.
285-Feldman got right down to business today. I love how he attacks quickly and efficiently. He locked up the cradle today with the quickness.
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Discussion Topic: Ohio State/Indiana
Nick Lecklider added to this discussion on January 11, 2026
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Bouzakis got taken down by Volk. He somehow is in better shape this year than last year it looks like.
Davino is going to be a problem for everyone. 133 may end up being one of the toughest brackets ever. Crookham has finally came back. Byrd, Davino, Forrest, and Blaze. Ayala looks like he is hurt or something but he has time to figure it out. Davino is the one who has still never gave up on offensive point in college. He is nearly impossible to score on. In the last 4 or 5 years I think he’s only been taken down once in folk style. He lost at the last second at super 32 to Vega who he went on to beat 7-1 later in the year. We all see how good Vega is. Blaze didn’t take him down at Ironman either.
Penn state Ohio state prediction. Let’s start at 197 to make things as fun as possible
197 Barr md 4-0
285 Feldman 4-3
125 Bouzakis 6-4 OS
133 Davino 9-4 OSU
141 mendez 13-4 OSU
149 van ness 13-8 OSU
157 cannon 16-8 OSU.
165 Messenbrink 16-13OSU
174 haines 16-16
184 fishback 19-16
Dual streak ended. Rocco welsh loses it for his team. Let a man have a dream guys.
I was being nice to Penn state to giving them Haines. Kharchla had him 6 min and 30 seconds last year lol. In all seriousness I only see three weights where we have absolutely no chance of winning. Then we have two weights where we will win. We would need 4/5 remaining matches to probably win as they will win bonus point battle.
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