David Taylor » David Taylor Pre Finals Warmup

I agree, dr. Kemp. Taylor is amazing, but it seems Bubba has the edge. Bubba is now 2-0 against Taylor, and both wins, although different, were decisive. At the NCAAs, they were half way through the match already when Bubba figured out a way to score. Taylor tried a lot of things, but Bubba's defense and counter offense was too strong.

taylor is the better wrestler, just got caught; bubba has been around for a long time on the national scene though. not that big an upset, but the pin was unexpected

I am a devout Christian, but I can understand why people don't like folks bringing religion into sports. As a Christian, I don't like hearing people asking or thanking God or Christ for victories. I don't think it's Christian to ask for such things. Before I wrestle, I pray to God (privately) that my opponent and I have a fair match, and that neither me nor my opponent gets hurt. God should not be asked to choose between two good people. Doing so is anthropomorphizing God into some kind material judge to function on your behalf, as if he is your servant, as if he will serve you better for praying in some way that is more profound than your opponent, as if prayer were a sport, as if that sport had rules, as if one could be a winner if one knew those rules. As if.

he overlooked jenkins he got caught up in the moment, i like taylor, i liked seeing jenkins win, i feel like taylor didnt wrestle his style i fetl like he wasnt as explosive as he ussually is, he took a shot, but he kind of relaxed that allowed bubba to lock it up i felt like he should of been moving there, i was really hoping that taylor would go undefeated and try and do a cael s. go undeated in college, would have been cool, but i hope he goes back and trains and comes back and dominates even more than what he did this year that would be exciting i like watching guys go for it instead of tying up and doing nothing for 7 minutes, its boring, he went for it and thats exciting to watch, so hopefully he learns from it and comes back and
dominates even more

Even though Bubba was stronger the kid was winning until he just got caught being over aggressive. Lesson well learned he will come back Gable style and do better. Congrats to the Wiley older Champion and Congrats to young phenom Runner-up.

Interesting approach to warming up on Caels part.

Haha good one bro. Taylor beat everyone he saw, made it to the finals of the ncaa tournament as a FRESHMAN, was winning 1-0, got a little over aggressive and got caught because the a$$hole he was wrestling has ret@rd strength.

You just gotta love sports for stories like this. The new coach has his golden boy sure thing 4 timer, so he casts away Bubba. And sure enough they meet in the finals of nationals. You could almost feel the weight of the Karma, and even though I wanted DT to win, I loved the sheer drama!

I am a big Taylor fan, and I watched him wrestle many times this season. I really wanted him to win, that's for sure. But I agree with Klaus that Taylor couldn't get any moves going. I've never seen him go half way through a match without being able to score a single offensive point. Bubba is just very good. Taylor looked like Taylor on any other day, and it simply wasn't working. Bubba seems to be the superior wrestler. I think Taylor is 0-2 against Bubba now.

Second rate competition? Im pretty sure he ended up wrestling every top guy in the country besides Hall. Fittery was ranked #1 all year and look what Taylor did to him, then Fittery turns around and beats Hall something like 5-0. I just wish he wouldnt of got pinned so we could see what the rest of the match could of looked like, but Jenkins won fair and square so can't take anything away from him.

Eric, Taylor dominated, yes, but for the most part those were low-caliber wrestlers. 157 had a few great guys at the top, but there was a huge gap between those guys and the rest. Taylor got used to a lot of second-rate competition, so when he came up against some like Bubba who is perhaps more talented than he is, he didn't seem to know what to do. It was half way through the match when Bubba pinned him, and the whole time he couldn't figure out how to get things going. Perhaps next year he'll have some better competition in the regular season.

I'm glad Bubba made those comments about how he felt about Cael. Why should wrestling be some conservative bastion where you don't say anything about the sport's leaders? Cael gets paid six figures -- plus endorsements and bonuses -- to handle criticism. And Bubba's life was turned upside down, because when Cael sacked Bubba, he gave Bubba a "conditional" release, which meant that Bubba couldn't wrestle for a Big 10 or Big 12 school. What a hypocritical jerk. Classless. Cael himself has been blessed with receiving transfers without conditions (like Andrew Long, who got kicked off of Iowa State for drunk and disorderly conduct). So why didn't Cael fully release Bubba? Who knows, but I sure understand why Bubba was pissed. And Bubba sure got sweet revenge.

Freshman vs. Senior. I mean the kid dominated everyone. He won't match Cael's record, but the pressure is off him for the rest of his college career. He really looks like Cael too. It would have been big of Bubba to be above the comments, but he was just speaking his mind. He got the win, so he deserved to say what he felt.

Is there any footage post match? Did anyone interview him afterwards?

if he only knew what was going to happen about 4 minutes later...