There was a moment Friday afternoon when Nebraska surged to the top of the team standings at the NCAA Championships. 

There was a stretch midway through Friday night’s semifinal round when the Huskers were still hot on Penn State’s heels. 

College wrestling’s 2025 team title race has seemingly been a foregone conclusion since the Nittany Lions showed up at the starting gate with most of the same characters who shredded the field last March in Kansas City. And it still might turn out to be another runaway win for the Nittany Lions in Philly as Penn State finished the night with a 34-point lead.  

But Nebraska injected a dose of drama into the race with a red-hot Friday performance inside the Wells Fargo Center. 

Three Huskers reached the finals, matching a program record. Eight earned All-America status (another program record). 

Nebraska had never eclipsed the 80-point mark at the NCAA Championships before Friday. The Huskers finished the night with 101.5 — 10.5 more than third-place Oklahoma State.  

“We have a high standard on our team,” Nebraska coach Mark Manning said. “This doesn’t surprise us. All our guys thought, ‘We’re coming here not only to be an All-American but to be a national champion.’ I think the belief is high on our team and the commitment’s awesome.” 

Manning and the Huskers had plenty to celebrate the last time the tournament came to Philly. Their biggest star — Jordan Burroughs — finished his career by winning his second NCAA title roughly 20 miles from where he grew up in Sicklerville, N.J. Nebraska has had several title threats since, but no Husker has been able to win on the big stage since Burroughs that night in 2011. 

This might be the weekend Nebraska’s title drought ends. The Huskers will get three straight cracks at an individual title when Brock Hardy (141), Ridge Lovett (149) and Antrell Taylor (157) wrestle for championships Saturday night. 

“Let's be honest, the NCAA Tournament is crazy,” Hardy said. “This team is really freaking good. And there was a possibility that we came in here and didn't perform well, but the coaches peaked us at the right time. And I think we're just having our day, and we're just feeding off each other.”

Everything was turning up Huskers for most of the day Friday. Nebraska won 17 of its first 19 matches Friday. At one point, the Huskers were 15-1 in consolation matches for the tournament. 

In addition to the three finalists, Caleb Smith (125), Jacob Van Dee (133) and Camden McDanel (197) bounced back from Thursday defeats to secure podium spots. Christopher Minto (165) and Silas Allred (184) also clinched All-America status. 

“It's a culture,” Lovett said. “Coach Manning talks about it a lot. We are a blue-collar program. We work. That's what we do. Doesn't matter what the predictions are, the seeds are, the rankings are, those are all just numbers and people guessing. They look super smart when they guess it right, but when they don't, it's just a prediction.

“Let all that stuff go. We built a culture that's a winning culture. We love to do what we do. We love to be in the room. We love to go in there and scrap.”