After a record breaking performance at the Southern Scuffle, Penn State opens their conference schedule at Northwestern on Friday night.

Watch Penn State at Northwestern Live on Flo

Friday January 11th | 7:00 PM Central

It is the second Big Ten dual for the Wildcats, who fell 26-14 at Nebraska on Sunday. Half of their lineup placed at Midlands, and Sebastian Rivera became the first #1 ranked wrestler of the Matt Storniolo-era thanks to his upset of defending NCAA champ Spencer Lee.

But the marquee matchup will be two-time national champ Jason Nolf against 2017 world Junior silver medalist Ryan Deakin. Nolf pushed his record to 13-0 after winning the Scuffle, while Deakin enters this match 16-1 after winning both CKLV and Midlands but losing to Tyler Berger in the dual against the Huskers.

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Nolf is of course a transcendent talent who is among the favorites right now for the Hodge, but we've never seen him against Deakin. Outside of the injury default against John Van Brill, Nolf has otherwise not lost since the 2016 NCAA finals against Isaiah Martinez, but he has been held to decisions against a few high level guys such as Michael Kemerer, Alec Pantaleo, and Hayden Hidlay.

You'd have to be a fool to pick against Nolf, but the spread will be very interesting for this match. Deakin's good enough on top to negate some of Nolf's riding ability, and the Nittany Lion is prone to giving up the occasional takedown, though not usually against these top notch guys. An 8-4 or 7-3 type match seems to be in play, but Deakin's propensity to shoot may actually get him in trouble.

Looking at the rest of the matchups, the most intriguing angle is if Gavin Teasdale's redshirt gets pulled and he starts his career against the #1 guy in the country, on the road. PSU head coach Cael Sanderson was noncommittal on that front yesterday.

Conan Jennings and Anthony Cassar made the finals of Midlands and Scuffle, respectively, but no one outside of Evanston is picking Jennings to get the win here. However, it did get Conan back in the rankings and reminded everyone that he's got some upset potential in him.

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When I wrote about Roman Bravo-Young's rankability back in December, I made it pretty clear his schedule did not do him any favors. As I mentioned though, even with Valdiviez unranked, an RBY win would help his Big Ten seed, and give him a victory over a bubble guy that would not only preserve his record but help give a little anchor to his place in the rankings.

Nick Lee's bonus streak was finally stopped by Real Woods in the Scuffle finals after starting the year with 14 in a row. We've never seen Lee face Yahya Thomas, so the unfamiliarity could work in Thomas favor about keeping the match to a decision, but the Wildcat will have to be on his A game.

It was nice to see Johnny Sebastian back on the mat, and it's never fun when your first match returning from injury is against the #1 guy. He has held Mark Hall to a decision before, but he's also been teched by him, so perhaps split the difference and call it a major this time.

Penn State Projected Lineup

125: Devin Schnupp

133: #15 Roman Bravo-Young

141: #4 Nick Lee

149: #10 Brady Berge or Jarod Verkleeren

157: #1 Jason Nolf

165: #1 Vincenzo Joseph

174: #1 Mark Hall

184: #7 Shakur Rasheed

197: #1 Bo Nickal

285: #4 Anthony Cassar

Northwestern Projected Lineup

125: #1 Sebastian Rivera

133: Colin Valdiviez

141: Yahya Thomas

149: Shayne Oster

157: #3 Ryan Deakin

165: Tyler Morland

174: #14 Johnny Sebastian

184: Brendan Devine

197: Zack Chakonis

285: #18 Conan Jennings