2019 Nebraska vs Northern Iowa | NCAA Wrestling

8 Questions Before Nebraska's Big Weekend vs Wyoming And Northern Iowa

8 Questions Before Nebraska's Big Weekend vs Wyoming And Northern Iowa

Nebraska faces a huge weekend against Wyoming in Lincoln and then Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Here are eight questions that will get answered.

Nov 21, 2019 by Cody Mainquist
8 Questions Before Nebraska's Big Weekend vs Wyoming And Northern Iowa
The #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers have two big duals this weekend. On Friday, they host the Wyoming Cowboys. Sunday, they head to Cedar Falls to take on the #3 Northern Iowa Panthers. 

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The #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers have two big duals this weekend. On Friday, they host the Wyoming Cowboys. Sunday, they head to Cedar Falls to take on the #3 Northern Iowa Panthers. 

Both duals can be seen live on Flowrestling.

Watch Nebraska vs Wyoming & Nebraska vs Northern Iowa LIVE on FloWrestling

Friday, Nov. 22 @ 8 PM ET & Sunday, Nov. 24 @ 2PM

Here is what we are watching for in the Nebraska-Wyoming dual.

1. How do the Huskers bounce back?

Nebraska heavy hitters Taylor Venz, Chad Red, and Mikey Labriola will all be hitting the mat for the first time since their finals losses at The Journeyman Classic. Venz lost to #1 Zahid Valencia 8-7 in a match that literally came down to the last second. Red will be looking to get back on track after being pinned by #2 Dom Demas. Labriola, after walking through most of his bracket, ran into a tough #2 Jordan Kutler in the finals and lost 4-1. All three wrestlers will have a chance to gain some confidence against Wyoming in Lincoln before heading to Cedar Falls for a tough, highly-anticipated match.

2. Will we see the fabulous freshmen?

Ridge Lovett and Kevon Davenport will give coaches headaches. Both are promising freshmen coming off championships at the Daktronics open last weekend. Davenport knocked off #16 Henry Pohlmeier from SDSU. Mark Manning has said he would wait to see how they compete in opens before making that ultimate decision. 

Does he pull the redshirt this weekend? Or does he wait to see how the wrestlers do at Cliff Keen in a couple of weeks? If Lovett does get the nod at 133, he will have #7 Montorie Bridges. 

3. Can Schultz, White, & Robb continue the early-season momentum?

All three wrestlers won titles at The Journeyman Classic two weeks ago — can they keep rolling? Eric Schultz will have a tough match against #22 Cale Davidson. White has already knocked off #5 Josh Shields from ASU and D2 #1 Matt Malcom from Nebraska-Kearney. Robb has wrestled tough to start his redshirt freshman. All three look to keep their unblemished records through the weekend.

4. Who will be the heavyweight?

Nebraska returns #13 David Jensen from last season. He was a tough out a year ago and picked up a lot of good wins. He was tough on top and showed it when he rode Sam Stoll for nearly five minutes in the Iowa dual. At Daktronics, Jensen was defeated by teammate Christian Lance. Does Manning go with the experienced Jensen, or give Lance a shot to make a name for himself?

Wyoming will be a tough test for the Huskers: a well-coached team with a young nucleus looking for an upset. Nebraska won the dual last season 22-12 in Laramie. It will be a good early-season battle to prepare for Sunday's matchup in Ceder Falls.

Here are the questions to ask for Sunday’s dual against the UNI Panthers.

5. How do Huskers handle expectations?

Nebraska heads to UNI in what will be the first of many top-10 duals for the Huskers this season. It will be the first road duals for Alex Thomsen (125), Peyton Robb (157), and possibly Lovett (133), so how will they handle the environment? How will the Huskers handle tough competition of equally talented wrestlers in rated matchups? Nebraska is the lower-ranked team but looking to enter to contender conversation.

6. Who steps up?

The dual with the Panthers will feature rated matched at 149, 174, 184, and heavyweight. Can Alex Thomsen knock off a rated Jacob Schwarm at 125? Will Eric Schultz, Isaiah White, and Chad Red hold their own to pick up needed wins in favored matches? That will leave 133 and 157 as the only undecided weights where both teams will look to pick up much-needed points.

7. Who will set the tone?

With many rated matches between the two schools, who gets the early season confidence boost? 149 pounds will feature #3 Max Thomsen (UNI) vs #19 Colin Purinton. #4 Mikey Labriola (NU) will face off with #5 Bryce Steiert (UNI) at 174. #7 Taylor Venz (NU) takes on #4 Taylor Lujan (UNI) at 184. Finally the big boys #13 David Jensen (NU) and #18 Carter Isley square off at heavyweight. Every wrestler will be looking to pick up the early-season win to build on moving foreword. 

8. How does Nebraska handle adversity?

If results start to go south for the Huskers, who steps up as a leader and makes a statement? It could be an upset by Venz or Purinton. It could be a pinfall. Maybe a statement win by White. Last season, Nebraska could rely on Tyler Berger to change the momentum and get the guys going. Will there be someone who steps into that spot and leads by example?

Each team is looking for early-season positioning to build on for the rest of the season. It will be a matchup of two star-studded programs with a lot on the line. Nebraska won the dual 22-12 last season. The only repeat matchups will be at 149, where Thomsen won 11-4, and 165, where White won 2-1. 

Who wins this year? We will find out Sunday at 2 PM CT.