Can anyone stop the mighty juggernaut that is the Penn State wrestling team? The Nittany Lions will be in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this Friday, where the Wolverines will do all they can to end PSU's NCAA record of 83 consecutive dual meet wins and counting. 

Where: Crisler Arena - Ann Arbor, Michigan

When: Friday, February 6, 2026 at 6:00 PM ET

How to Watch: Big Ten Network (cable subscription required)

Projected Lineups

125: #25 Diego Sotelo, Michigan vs #1 Luke Lilledahl, Penn State

133: Gauge Botero, Michigan vs #4 Marcus Blaze, Penn State

141: Dylan Ragusin, Michigan vs #13 Braeden Davis, Penn State

149: #17 Lachlan McNeil, Michigan vs #1 Shayne Van Ness, Penn State

157: #13 Cam Catrabone, Michigan vs #4 PJ Duke, Penn State

165: Justin Gates, Michigan vs #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State

174: #11 Beau Mantanona, Michigan vs #1 Levi Haines, Penn State

184: #7 Brock Mantanona, Michigan vs #1 Rocco Welsh, Penn State

197: #21 Hayden Walters, Michigan vs #1 Josh Barr, Penn State

285: #5 Taye Ghadiali, Michigan vs #8 Cole Mirasola, Michigan

Last dual: February 7. 2025 - Penn State 37, Michigan 0

5 Things To Watch For

Heavyweight Showdown

The marquee matchup of the evening is at 285, where two top ten wrestlers are slated to rumble in what should be one of the most competitive bouts of the evening. 

Both heavies are coming off strong performances. Ghadiali defeated Nick Feldman for third time in four career meetings last Sunday. One of those wins was at the 2024 All-Star Classic and another was at the 2023 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where Ghadiali was up big late in the third period when Feldman injury defaulted. 

Sunday was a much closer bout, with Ghadiali needing overtime before getting the match-clinching, and only, takedown of his 4-1 victory over his Buckeye rival. The newly minted Wolverine via transfer from Campbell also won his bout against Northwestern on Friday and is now 16-2 on the season (not counting his All-Star Classic win) with those losses being to #7 Christian Carroll and #4 AJ Ferrari.

Speaking of Mr. Fast Twitch, Ferrari handed Mirasola his third loss of the season last Friday, though it was a near run 2-1 final score with a riding time point for Ferrari being the deciding factor. Mirasola only has two other losses on the season, to Carroll and #10 Nathan Taylor. 

Ghadiali is a seventh-year senior but appears to be raising his game as the postseason draws near. He'll be a lot for the redshirt freshman Mirasola to handle, but the young Nittany Lion has also been upping the ante lately. Mirasola will also want to take advantage of the opportunity to improve his Big Ten Championship seed with a minor upset.

Watch Ghadiali over Fedman from the 2024 NWCA All-Star Classic: 

Mesenbrink Hodge Watch

Penn State has the possibility of getting multiple Nittany Lions in the list of 2026 Hodge Trophy finalists. Some would even go so far as to say that that is very likely to happen ( I am one of those people). 

As of now, however, Mitchell Mesenbrink is the favorite to take home college wrestling's top honor, as he is the only wrestler in the D1 to currently possess a 100% bonus rate. The Wisconsin native and 2025 national champion has 7 pins and 6 tech-falls among his 15 wins on the season. 

Mesenbrink will be the overwhelming favorite to win on Friday, allowing him to maintain pole position in the Hodge race.

Watch Mesenrbink win his first NCAA title last March:

Mant-Men Upset Watch

Redshirt sophomore Beau Mantanona and redshirt freshman Brock Mantanona are two siblings of California's Wrestling Mantanona Clan. They're poised to make podium runs in March in an attempt to become Michigan's first set of siblings to make the podium in the same year since Josh and Ryan Churella in 2005 (I think, anyway. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Note: In 2022 Myles and Cam Amine became the last set of cousins to All-American for Michigan). 

Both Mant-men will have an uphill climb against their number one ranked opponents, though neither are invinceible. Levi Haines just had a very tough bout with Chris Minto last weekend, while Rocco Welsh has been held to a regular decision five times this season. If you're looking for a Wolverine upset, 174 and 184 would be decent places to potentially find one. 

Davis and Ragusin's Return

An All-American at 133 pounds in 2024, Dylan Ragusin had his subsequent season cut short in December of 2024 after the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Ragusin was able to return in the second semester of this season after getting a medical redshirt for 2025. The Illinois native is up at 141 for his final season of NCAA eligibility. 

He'll have Penn State's Braeden Davis, who is also moving up to 141 after earning All-American honors at 133, accomplished in 2025. Davis began the year in redshirt but had that torn off when teammate Aaron Nagao had to unfortunately shut down his season due to injury.  

Both competitors are still finding their form up a weight class. Ragusin had a rough go at the Kent State Holiday Classic in December, dropping two bouts to unranked wrestlers. Davis has had limited opportunities so far and notched just one ranked win at 141 over #31 Henry Porter. 

Nittany Lion Win Streaks

Like the aforementioned Mitchell Mesenrbrink, there are six other Penn Staters who have unblemished records so far this season. Luke Lilledhal, Marcus Blaze, Shayne Van Ness, Levi Haines, Rocco Welsh and Josh Barr have also yet to drop a 'countable' match. I use the qualifier 'countable' here because Lilledahl technically lost to his teammate, Nate Desmond, at the Black Knight Invite in November, however, that match does not count for NCAA qualification purposes, as no matches between teammates do. 

Incredibly, Penn State will be favored to remain undefeated in seven weight classes by next weekend. The Lions will for sure be tested the following weekend against Ohio State, but only have that dual and a final regular season dual against Princeton before the Big Ten Championships. 

Watch Barr win a 2026 Southern Scuffle title: 

Predictions

125: Lilledahl decisions Sotelo - PSU 3, UM 0

133: Blaze majors Botero - PSU 7, UM 0

141: Davis decisions Ragusin, Michigan - PSU 10, UM 0

149:  Van Ness major McNeil - PSU 14, UM 0

157: Duke majors Catrabone - PSU 18, UM 0

165: Mesenbrink pins Gates - PSU 24, UM 0

174: Haines decisions BeauMan - PSU 27, UM 0

184: Welsh decisions BrockMan - PSU 30, UM 0

197: Barr techs Walters - PSU 35, UM 0

285: Ghadiali decisions Mirasola - PSU 35, UM 3

Obviously, that's a lot of points for Penn State, though if anything, I felt like I was being conservative with some of the predictions. That is in no way a slight on Michigan, it is a testament to how insanely talented this Penn State team is. 

AI Predictions

I defeated ChatGPT last time I compared my predictions to that of an AI LLM, now I will see if I can go 2-0 and beat Perplexity. 

125: Lilledahl by regular decision (3–0 PSU)

133: Blaze by regular decision, with bonus possible but not assumed (6–0 PSU)

141: Davis by close decision (9–0 PSU)

149: McNeil by tight decision (9–3 PSU)

157: Duke by regular decision (12–3 PSU)

165: Mesenbrink by major decision (16–3 PSU)

174: Haines by regular decision, with upset potential if Mantanona catches something early (19–3 PSU)

184: Welsh by regular decision (22–3 PSU)

197: Walters by regular decision (22–6 PSU)

285: Ghadiali by regular decision (22–9 PSU)

Perplexity is far more bullish on the Wolverines than I am. In particular, I am very sceptical of Walters' chances against Barr, but I've been wrong before!

I've beaten one computer prediction last week. Can I do it again? We'll find out Friday night!