The past week in college wrestling saw insane upsets and dominant performances by Penn State and Oklahoma State. Take a look at a breakdown of the biggest stories in college wrestling from this past week.

Penn State Sends A Message Against Michigan

Anyone who thinks Penn State isn’t the best team in the country didn’t watch their 29-6 victory over #3 Michigan on Friday night. In that dual, the Nittany Lions won 8 of 10 matches including two upset wins at 165 and 285. At 165, #17 Brady Berge knocked off returning All-American #10 Cam Amine in a 3-1 decision. At heavyweight, Greg Kerkvliet avenged an 11-3 loss from last season by taking out #2 Mason Parris, 8-5. On top of those wins, #1 Aaron Brooks edged out Olympic bronze medalist, #2 Myles Amine in a close, 3-1 decision while #1 Carter Starocci held on to win 3-2 over #6 Logan Massa. Penn State will truly have the opportunity to prove their supremacy this coming Friday when they travel to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to face Iowa in a showdown of #1 vs #2 in the country!

Carter Starocci following his win over Logan Massa

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Myles Amine after his loss to Aaron Brooks:

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Kharchla And Heinselman Secure Big Wins

Though Iowa defeated Ohio State 21-12  on Friday night, two Buckeyes had major upset victories. First, at 125, #15 Malik Heinselman got out to a quick lead over #8 Drake Ayala and was up 5-2 with 1:30 to go in the third period. Ayala stormed back with an escape and a takedown as time expired in the third period to send the match into overtime. Despite momentum being in Ayala’s favor, Heinselman secured the match-winning takedown just 30 seconds into overtime to seal the upset win.

At 165, #4 Alex Marinelli and #5 Carson Kharchla were knotted at 1 with only 45 seconds to go in the match. However, Marinelli had accumulated 1:02 of riding time to hold a slight advantage over Kharchla. Then, with just under 30 seconds left, Kharchla scored a clutch takedown and held on to win 3-2. 

Kharchla's match-winning takedown against Marinelli:

165| Kharchla knocks off No. 1 with late takedown!#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/prsr4GozES

— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) January 22, 2022

Caffey Upsets Dean

#2 Max Dean was able to escape an overtime scare against #8 Patrick Brucki on Friday night but wasn’t as fortunate against #18 Cam Caffey on Sunday. Caffey used a right-side, sweep single-leg in the second period to secure a takedown to go up 2-1. Dean responded with an escape to tie the match at 2 heading into the third period. Caffey chose down in the third and was able to secure an escape with just 34 seconds left in the match - going ahead 3-2. Despite Dean getting in on a quick attack, Caffey was able to hold on for his biggest victory of the season. 

Caffey's takedown over Dean:

.@camonthelam dropped a big upset. 💪@MSU_Wrestling pic.twitter.com/EZUO74Ogxp

— Michigan St. on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) January 23, 2022

Austin Gomez Is On A Roll

It seems like every week we highlight another notable win by Austin Gomez and here we are again! #8 Austin Gomez upset #4 Ridge Lovett on Friday night - 4-2. In that bout, Gomez used a quick first-period takedown to take a 2-1 lead into the second. Then, Gomez scored on an incredible upper body exchange as time expired in the second period to take a 4-2 lead into the third. Knowing Lovett’s skill on top, Gomez chose neutral in the third - he was able to hold the lead and secure his highest-ranked win of the season. On top of the win over Lovett, Gomez also has wins over HM Anthony Artalona, #16 Zach Sherman, #14 Mike Van Brill, and #11 Yahya Thomas this year and is proving to be one of the nation's best 149-pound wrestlers. 

Signature win.

No. 8 Gomez upsets No. 4 Lovett. 😎

CC: @BadgerWrestling pic.twitter.com/c4t212vDFq

— Wisconsin On BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) January 22, 2022

Roller Coaster Weekend For SDSU

The South Dakota State Jack Rabbits may have secured their biggest dual meet win in program history on Saturday with their 21-12 win over the #8 Missouri Tigers. The difference for the Jack Rabbits came at the last 3 weights when Cade King (184), HM Tanner Sloan (197), and #23 AJ Nevills (285) all secured upset victories. King took out #17 Jeremiah Kent in overtime (6-4), Sloan beat #4 Rocky Elam 5-2, and AJ Nevills held on for a 1-0 victory over #16 Zach Elam. Though South Dakota State lost to Central Michigan 21-17 on Sunday, the victory over Missouri should not be dismissed and will move the Jack Rabbits into the top 25 of our dual rankings this week.

Oklahoma State Moves To 10-0

Oklahoma State continued their dual meet domination on Sunday by taking out Lehigh 26-9. The win over the Mountain Hawks moves the Cowboys to 10-0 on the season and brings their combined score in dual meets to an impressive 336-44. In fact, Oklahoma State’s starters have only lost a combined 13 matches in dual meet competition! The Cowboys have been the most dominant dual team this season and will have a chance to take out the defending national champs, the Iowa Hawkeyes, on February 12th at The Bout At the Ballpark in Arlington, TX. That match can’t come soon enough!

ICYMI: Carter Young's comeback victory put the home crowd on their feet 👏#DynastyDefined I #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/PHqwANAF63

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) January 23, 2022

While the above stories were the most notable in college wrestling on the week, you can take a look at every result at our week 12 box scores here.