Championship season is upon us and before you know it, the nation's toughest conference will be doing battle inside the RAC with NCAA Championship berths and seeding implications on the line. 

Watch the 2020 Big Ten Championships Live on Flo

March 7-8 | 10 AM & 11 AM Eastern

A couple quick notes before we get into it: the first number you'll see is the projected Big Ten Championships seed. The number in parentheses is where the wrestler is ranked in our perfect individual rankings. You'll also find at the bottom of the article, I've gone the extra mile and predicted every automatic qualifier. 

Projected 141 Seeds

Automatic Qualifiers - 8

1. (#1) Nick Lee, Penn State
2. (#2) Luke Pletcher, Ohio State
3. (#4) Chad Red, Nebraska
4. (#3) Max Murin, Iowa
5. (#5) Tristan Moran, Wisconsin
6. (#6) Mitch McKee, Minnesota
7. (#25) Parker Filius, Purdue
8. (#20) Dylan Duncan, Illinois
9. Cole Mattin, Michigan
10. Alec McKenna, Northwestern
11. JoJo Aragona, Rutgers
12. Matt Santos, Michigan State
13. Eddie Bolivar, Indiana
14. Hunter Baxter, Maryland

It's crazy to think that Nick Lee and Luke Pletcher have separated themselves from a field that includes two other All-Americans and two other wrestlers who were in the round of 12 last year, but that is exactly what they've done.

Against Big Ten competition Nick Lee is 10-0 with nine bonus-point wins that came in the form of two falls, three major decisions, and four tech falls. Against the projected top six seeds in the tournament, Lee has a four-point win over then-#1 Luke Pletcher, a major over Chad Red and Tristan Moran, and a fall over Mitch McKee. 

Since moving up to 141 after being an All-American the past two seasons at 133, Luke Pletcher has looked better than ever before this season. The senior Buckeye is 13-1 against Big Ten competition and against the top six seeded wrestlers in this field Pletcher has two majors over Chad Red, a major over Tristan Moran, and a four-point and six-point win over Mitch McKee.

Bratke's Predictions

1. Nick Lee, Penn State
2. Luke Pletcher, Ohio State
3. Chad Red, Nebraska
4. Max Murin, Iowa
5. Mitch McKee, Minnesota
6. Tristan Moran, Wisconsin
7. Dylan Duncan, Illinois
8. Cole Mattin, Michigan

After surrendering the first takedown in the dual, Lee stormed past Pletcher and shut him down for the first time this year. While I don't think it will be as one-sided the second time around, I still think Lee comes out on top. The Nittany Lion has too much offense and doesn't lend himself to Pletcher's lightning-quick re-attacks by getting in deep each time he shoots and not letting Pletcher, who is an incredible scrambler, tie him up.

Watch Lee take out Pletcher.

I know I pretty much went chalk on three through six based on the projected pre-seeds, but Red is 2-0 all-time against Murin and the Husker always raises his level of wrestling in March. A year ago, Red went into the Big Ten Championships just 18-10 and the eight seed before he knocked off Mikey Carr and Kanen Storr to make the finals. Red would go on to place for the second consecutive year at the NCAA Championships from the 16 seed. Red's freshman year in Cleveland he made the podium as an unseeded wrestler and knocked off two-time defending NCAA champion Dean Heil in the bloodround. 

Watch Red pin Heil. 

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Murin has wrestled just 13 matches, but has eight wins over ranked opponents. Murin owns wins over #5 Moran, #6 McKee, #11 Josh Heil, #15 Doug Zapf, #17 Shakur Laney, #20 Dylan Duncan, and #21 Dusty Hone. I'll take the Hawkeye against anyone not named Lee, Pletcher, and Red. 

Watch Murin win a Midlands Championship.

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Who knows what you're going to get when Tristan Moran and Mitch McKee meet. They've wrestled three times in their careers with two of the matches ending 7-6 in favor of each wrestler, and Moran picked up a sudden victory fall in last year's dual. I'll go with McKee this time, but you can expect an exciting scramble fest with a fall always in play. 

Watch McKee edge Moran in the bloodround last year at the NCAA Championships. 

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I like Duncan to get revenge on Parker Filius to punch his ticket to his third NCAA Championships and give me true freshman Cole Mattin to make it three straight years with a Mattin in the NCAA Championships.

There's a high likelihood that these predictions will go horribly wrong and make me look foolish, but no matter what happens it will be a blast to watch. Let me know how you see it all going down @Kbratke.