James Hackney
The Cowboys had their third largest crowd ever but wasn’t able to overcome some close losses in their first loss of the season. They’ve been winning close matches all season but came up short in a number of tight ones today. Fix, Williams, and Plott all won solid matches but weren’t able to get bonus points. On the other end Doucet gave up an upset while the rest of the wrestlers were not able to get upset wins. It was a massive dual to end the season and a disappointing result, but may not change much in the grand scheme of things for the postseason.
- The takedown ratio is telling.
11:5 was the takedown ratio in favor of Iowa, and they scored the only takedown of the match in five of the matches. Spratley came razor close against Ayala, seeming to come closer each time but unable to finish. Jamison had a harder time in a close match, as Woods’ timing with level changes made it difficult to get through. Plott was the aggressor in his match but Arnold is tough to break through multiple times and there’s an argument for more stall calls. Surber had some big scrambles, including one late that got crazy, but wasn’t able to come up on top for the only takedown.
While those numbers look surprising, the Cowboys have just been excellent at winning tight matches like that. In OSU’s five February duals the team is 9-10 in matches that were within a takedown. Compare that to their last five duals in January where the Cowboys 16-7 in those same types of matches. Now some of that is due to individual competition and doesn’t necessarily represent the whole story. However it is something to look at headed into the postseason where scoring bonus can be big in tournament settings.
- Jordan Williams looks prepared in stopping a Voinovich revenge win.
With Rathjen getting injured in his last match Iowa put out former Cowboy Victor Voinovich in a big swing match. While there was never public word on how matches between these two looked in the room, Williams was clearly ready. Voinovich got to his left high crotch multiple times and was in good position, but Williams countered perfectly and never let Voinovich come too close to finishing. Williams had some flashes of his own offense, but mostly found success off Voinovich offense. This was a solid win for Williams but unfortunately Voinovich hasn’t had that impressive of
