I said Friday the result wasn’t in doubt, and it wasn’t. The #2 Oklahoma State Cowboys blanked Drexel 45-0 Sunday afternoon in Gallagher-Iba Arena, won all ten matches, got bonus points in eight of them, and matched the exact score of the last time the Dragons visited Stillwater in 2021. The Pokes piled up 46 takedowns across the ten matches to Drexel’s ZERO, which is crazy. That’s the 27th straight home-opening win for the Pokes, the 14th straight win inside GIA, and David Taylor is still undefeated at home.
Before we get to the wrestling, the number that mattered most to me Sunday was 6,870. That’s what the Cowboys drew for a Sunday afternoon dual against an EIWA opponent most fans couldn’t have named a starter from, and according to Jason Bryant of Mat Talk Online, it was the biggest crowd for any dual in the country during the opening week of the season (Oct. 30 through Nov. 8). I wrote Friday that the test this year was whether the fan base shows up for the program and not just the opponent. The early result was positive. The turquoise singlets, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma leading the team out, the shirts and rally towels and the tailgate on Hall of Fame all helped, but 6,870 for Drexel is a program number, not a promotion number. Nebraska on Friday night should blow past it.
Here’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
THE GOOD
The freshmen, again. Four true freshmen made their dual debuts and all four won, three of them with bonus. Rocklin Zinkin got the start at 125 with Troy Spratley still being held out, and the first ranked opponent of his career (#33 Oumar Tounkara) didn’t slow him down a bit. Four takedowns, a reversal and a two-point nearfall for a 17-3 major. Tounkara was supposed to be Drexel’s best chance to keep a lower weight close but he clearly wasn’t.
Jayden Raney and Mikey White went about their business like guys who have been in the lineup for years. Raney, now ranked #15, put seven takedowns on Anthony DePaul and teched him 22-6 at 5:37. White’s line was almost identical, a 22-6 tech of Ethan Wilson at 6:32.
