The #25 Wisconsin Badgers are continuing to roll. They are currently 9-1 in duals on the season and have a home meet tomorrow night in Madison at 7pm against Northwestern. The Badgers will be the favorite in this dual and I expect to see them moving to 10-1 on the season.
Last weekend the Badgers opened the Big Ten season against the #4 dual team in the country Iowa. The Badgers dropped that dual and despite a 12-23 team score it was very competitive. The Badgers lead Iowa after 5 matches entering the intermission. They won the first 3 of 5 matches and came out of the break with a huge upset as Zargo upset #7 Block in overtime. The Badges dropped two closes matches as Amos lost in OT to #5 Keuter and Mechler looked to get a takedown LATE in the third period over #12 Williams to win the match but it was not awarded. Ultimately a big swing on the team score as if the Badgers secured those victories and the rest remained the same it would be a 18-17 team score in favor of Wisconsin.
All that though the Badgers did fall short and lost their first dual of the season to #4 Iowa but they looked to be wrestling very well. Even in the matches they lost.
Wisconsin then followed it up with a 12pm dual on Sunday against Maryland where they won their first Big Ten dual of the season 28-13. The Badgers won 6 of 10 matches in that dual and never were in real worry of losing this one. Not a bad turnaround after losing to the Terps 13-24 last season.
But that was in the past and the 9-1 Badgers are moving onto Friday night against the Northwestern Wildcats. Another chance for UW to flip the script as they lost to Northwestern last season 11-27. The Badgers only one 3 matches last year. However this year the Badgers will be favored in 7 of the 10 matches against the Wildcats.
Currently Wisconsin is ranked 25th as a dual team while Northwestern is ranked 30th. The Wildcats have 4 ranked wrestlers on their squad. At 125 #26 Dedrick Navarro, 133 #24 Sean Spidle, 141 #32 Billy Dekraker, 174 #32 Eddie Enright.
For the Badgers they will have higher ranked wrestlers at 125 with Rivera coming in at #11 and at 133 Fugitt coming in at 13. I said the Badgers would be favored in 7 matches, but an argument could be made for 8. I’m predicting Cale Anderson to enter back into the lineup Friday night. Despite not seeing him since the Arizona State dual I think he will return. If he does we could make the argument for 8 as neither wrestler will be ranked. On paper it would probably be considered a swing match, but from what we have seen glimpses of this year from Anderson, if he can capture that he should be the favorite.
Despite that the Badgers are rolling and Friday night against Northwestern in the Fieldhouse should be no different. I expect the Badgers to reach double digit wins on Friday claiming their 10th victory of the season which would also already double their victories from last season. After Friday the Badgers will be off until they wrestle Gophers in Minnesota on January 25th.
