Where the Missouri dual was largely a struggle of a few very closely contested matchups, the Northwestern dual will be focused on limiting bonus points given up to their studs and collecting when we can with our Stars. 125 (Rivera) and 157 (deakin) are national title contenders and fans in Blacksburg should sit back and enjoy.

125: Prata vs. Rivera
Rivera is a stud at 125. He comes forward always, never a retreat. You'll see him dance side to side and when he ties up it alternates between a bull rush and an attempt to snap the head, pin the lead foot and pick the ankle. In his two losses last season he was ridden hard by Mueller and micic, both with heavy leg riding. Joey has some work to do.

133: Gerardi vs. Valdiviez
A good first match after the forfeit for Colin. Valdiviez beats the guys he's supposed to and gets beat by those he shouldn't. Korbin took the match 6-4 last year and I see Colin winning by a slightly larger margin if he comes out loose. Chance this is a little close for comfort with the rsfr debut.

141: Mitch vs. McKenna
Well Mitch is doing Mitch things already. Last weekend was a very good sign that even after 2 years of film and with a quality opponent and we'll prepared coaches, Mitch can get to his positions and score. Mitch understands his strengths and wrestled well to them in that first match. I see no reason for that to change here. First opportunity for bonus points here, but Mitch has to exhibit that newfound patience with an experienced senior.

149: Brent vs. Thomas
Tough match to mauller last weekend, but top guys do their thing for a reason. Much more manageable match for Brent this weekend with Thomas. Last year Thomas did beat Mitch 2-1 in a typical "freshman" match with college level riding. Brent excelsbin grind em out affairs and I see this one as a tight one going in his favor. Brent will be at his best if he's creating angles early. A period 1 score will allow him to dictate how style and pace.

157: Laprade vs. Deakin
While Deakin's international credentials are incredibly impressive, he is generally regarded as a better freestyle wrestler than folks style. Unfortunately the things I think BC does best are more closely related to freestyle, particularly his defense and counters. The goal here as a team should be to keep it under a major. A good match for bc will have him defending well on his feet and holding Deakin down for more than a token 10 second ride when Deakin has choice. I like bc to keep this close in a loss, much like hidlay last year

165: McFadden vs. Byelick
Byelick is no slouch and should be another great barometer reading for Dave. Again looking at his opponents wins, Byelick has a good win against moody of Iowa. He seems to be able to ride and turn quite well. Dave is the better wrestler but he will need to be sharp, and bonus points are not a given here. I'm actually starting to think Dave will have a very strong strength of schedule if things play out well for March and he is gonna look good...

174: Hughes vs. Morland
I suspect byelick's quality forced Morland to move back up, as he seemed to have much better results at 165 than 174. If that is the case I want to see a confident Hughes moving his opponent early. Cody was more talented than the Mizzou boxscore showed and he looked a little tentative after his initial attack. That needs to change. He's good enough to finish cleanly and should gain the confidence to do so. I see this match as a third period toss up td.

184: Bolen vs. Jessen
Nothing great nothing bad either to say about Jessen based on results. Hunter should win here, up to him if it becomes a bonus victory.

197: Smeltzer vs. Davison
Things don't get easier for stan here, but if he hopes to make noise beyond being a nq, these are the opponents he needs to find a way to beat. Davison is solid, good redshirt results with a very good freestyle season (junior world team). He loves heavy snaps off collar ties and shoots most successfully to his right with primarily a sweep single. Between that and go behinds off snaps he gets it done on his feet. Also has a very good freestyle crotchlock to defend with I could see him whipping out. He did leave both sides (but especially his left open to a hi-c. Interested to see how Stan bounces back.

285:Borst vs. Heyob
I was exceptionally pleased with borsts effort vs. Mizzou. Though the big names were missing borst wrestled well. He showed enough size/strength to get opponents feet moving and utilized good timing and quickness to capitalize. If he consistently wrestles that way he is looking at an interesting March for sure. Heyob is not a large plodding hwt (waiting to see how borst handles those opponents) and is more of the cut of a modern hwt. I think this will be closer than Mizzou, but still a borst victory.