Can anyone derail Dake?

walter peppelman will absolutely be in national finals this year. i dont see anyway it cant happen. he wrestled dake in EIWA finals last year(the match was relatively boring) i however feel like he would be a darkhorse finalist this year. he wont win but he can make the final.

that is a fair assessment of the situation, steve.

thanks for the answer.
I am rooting for Rutgers to pull through this year, so I will be hoping for the best.
a strong rutgers program is good for the sport and for NJ. the more strong programs we have, the better.

Steve P, honest question, as I know it must be frustrating over the last few years watching Rutgers not meet certain expectations.

How would your feelings change, if Mason, Melde (who is a complete non factor for AA IMHO) and Winston all fail to AA this year? Would your feeling regarding Goodale change at all, would the fan base start to clamor for a new coach?
I am curious as to how much lee-way the fans are giving Goodale. Because at some point he needs to do what he said he would do when he was hired. If he can't do it, you have to move on.

@Steve P.
Noone needs to hate on Rutgers. They're just overrated at the most and frankly all credit goes to NJ folks cuz they wont shut up about how bada$$ the NJ kids are and they should deliver in college. True, many of them are talanted but they havent delivered in along time. The wrestlers you named are average for the country but even the best coming out of high school still cant AA in his 3 years of compition. On top of that he's getting worse every year, like rest of his teammates.
PS... Love NJ wrestling and wish Rutgers kids were making some noise in college.

rutgers does have a couple kids that can place this year stop hating on them so hard. molinaro in that room will pay off big time. melde at 141 coming off a redshirt year will succeed with 141 wide open. mason at 149 will be a good shot to AA along with winston squeezing in at 157. visicaro is a year or two off at 165, zanetti is a monster at 174. give billy smith a couple years at HWT and he will be there.

When Taylor wins 3 titles in 3 weight classes and is on his way to a 4 title, then you can talk about how Taylor might be Dakein folk.

until then, its just blah blah blah blah blah

"Okay so these are just a few boxing examples off the top of my head. But people talk so ignorantly about this whole Taylor-Dake match they had. Like it is set in stone Dake would smash Taylor if they met again. It was freestyle, not folkstyle. There was no top or bottom. We did not to get to see a full college match. Was Dake better prepared for this event? Is Dake just a better freestyle wrestler? Did the Howe match take away Taylor's confidence? I do not know.
I honestly think Taylor beats Dake in a college match(though Dake winning would not surprise me either), and I hope they somehow can wrestle at least once this year. I think this "beat down" has motivated Taylor,and now he has something to prove. Taylors weakness from what I see is his lack of strength, but his technique more than makes up for it 99% of the time. But I believe him getting stronger would help him against say a Howe or Dake. Now I like Taylor only cause I am a PSU fan, but I admit he is a crybaby when things do not go his way. I just think "that day" Dake was at his best and Taylor was not.
I would just like them to wrestle a college match where both are well rested and at their best. I used to be a fighter, and I had my good days of sparring. And there were bad days where those same guys you are used to beating are getting the best of you. I guess my only point is too many people put way too much into this one freestyle match. It's actually quite comical. I also wrestled in HS a long time ago, but only in the last few years did i get into college wrestling. I usually just followed the local HS guys. I missed out on a lot. I like Dake and he is a beast, and in his interviews seems like a very cool guy. "

-I hope you know Dake's top is his BEST position, Taylor's mat wrestling isnt anywhere close to Dake's
-Also freeestyle is a neutral game... Taylor's best position is Neutral. Dake won that.
-Dake's strength is like a bull.
-it will be a GREAT match.. but some of your arguements are not well supported.

I was one of those guys who thought Taylor could beat both Howe and Dake. But after watching the World Team Trials, it's pretty clear that Howe and Dake are better -- at least on the feet. Both Howe and Dake soundly beat Taylor with moves that could have been used in folkstyle, too. So as a betting man (I do sports stats), I'd give both Dake and Howe the advantage in any style. There is a sort of trend with Taylor: he demolishes lower ranked guys and those very few instances he wrestlers a high caliber dude, he has probs. I think he has "tailored" his style to get bonus points against inferior opponents, which has hurt his strategic wrestling.

"Dake smashes Taylor in any style". Typical ed hater comment. Thanks for your insightful views, we need more fans like you.

Somebody gonna pull it off. I gotta gut feeling. Theres somebody working really hard right now while Dake is reading my comment.
Get your a$$ off that couch and drop the xbox controller, kid. Theres somebody out there wants the peace of your legacy. You dont wanna be in the finals to lose. Its gonna be the most important 7 minutes of your life. Dont miss that moment cuz they are after you, son.

Leonard vs Duran. Duran wins first fight. Leonard wins rematch.
Bowe vs. Holyfield. Bowe wins first fight. Holyfield wins rematch.
Castillo vs Corrales. Corrales wins first fight. Castillo wins rematch.
Chavez vs. Randall. Randall wins first fight. Chavez wins rematch.
W. Klitschko vs Brewster. Brewster wins first fight. Klit wins rematch.
Lewis vs Rahman. Rahman wins first fight. Lewis wins rematch.
Lewis vs McCall. McCall wins first fight. Lewis wins rematch.
Morales vs. Barrera. Morales wins first fight. Barrera wins rematch.
Carbajal vs. Gonzalez. Carbajal wins first fight. Gonzalez wins rematch.
S.Brown vs Norris. Brown wins first fight. Norris wins rematch.

Okay so these are just a few boxing examples off the top of my head. But people talk so ignorantly about this whole Taylor-Dake match they had. Like it is set in stone Dake would smash Taylor if they met again. It was freestyle, not folkstyle. There was no top or bottom. We did not to get to see a full college match. Was Dake better prepared for this event? Is Dake just a better freestyle wrestler? Did the Howe match take away Taylor's confidence? I do not know.
I honestly think Taylor beats Dake in a college match(though Dake winning would not surprise me either), and I hope they somehow can wrestle at least once this year. I think this "beat down" has motivated Taylor,and now he has something to prove. Taylors weakness from what I see is his lack of strength, but his technique more than makes up for it 99% of the time. But I believe him getting stronger would help him against say a Howe or Dake. Now I like Taylor only cause I am a PSU fan, but I admit he is a crybaby when things do not go his way. I just think "that day" Dake was at his best and Taylor was not.
I would just like them to wrestle a college match where both are well rested and at their best. I used to be a fighter, and I had my good days of sparring. And there were bad days where those same guys you are used to beating are getting the best of you. I guess my only point is too many people put way too much into this one freestyle match. It's actually quite comical. I also wrestled in HS a long time ago, but only in the last few years did i get into college wrestling. I usually just followed the local HS guys. I missed out on a lot. I like Dake and he is a beast, and in his interviews seems like a very cool guy.

i agree it is not fair to compare dake to cael. cael was better

Alton vs Green final. Dake takes 3rd

Rutgers aint gonna do much, at least that what I think. There are couple of guys who have an ability to place. Mason and Winston. Indeed very dissapointing career for NJ's best kid coming out of HS. Come on Scottie. You can do it man.