Penn State wrestling legend Carter Starocci knows how to wrestle, as evidenced by his four national championships.
He also knows how to get people talking, and there are plenty of examples of this.
The two latest examples came this weekend.
First, Starocci announced that he’d be returning to Penn State wrestling for his fifth and final season of eligibility, giving himself a chance to do something no man has done before, win five national championships.
The morning after, Starocci sent another social media post that got people talking.
It read: “Now let’s sell out the Beaver Stadium in November 👀👀.”
Now let’s sell out the beaver stadium in November 👀
— Carter Starocci (@carterstarocci) May 2, 2024
We don’t yet know what this means.
On the one hand, if Penn State is to wrestle in Beaver Stadium this fall, Starocci would probably know before the information got out to the public.
On the other, Starocci’s tweet could have simply been encouraging Penn State to put on the inaugural “Beaver Stadium dual”— assuming that’d be the name of it— in November.
In any case, Starocci once again got people talking, and Christian Pyles and JD Rader of FloWrestling were two of those people.
The two spoke about this topic on FloWrestling Live Radio.
“Iowa did this in 2015,” Pyles said. “The question is, who are the going wrestle, are they going to be able to do this?”
“Can Penn State break the attendance record Iowa set against Oklahoma State?” Radar said. “The number was 42,287.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“They can,” Pyles responded. “Would they, though?”
If Penn State hosts a dual in their football stadium, will they break Iowa’s current dual attendance record of 42,287?#FRL pic.twitter.com/BlnKdrqKYa
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) May 3, 2024
Pyles pointed out that, when Iowa wrestled Oklahoma State at Kinnick Stadium in 2015, it was before a football game.
The dual meet took place in the afternoon, and the football team took on Minnesota that night.
Unfortunately for Penn State wrestling and its fans, this format will probably be difficult to follow. A lot has changed since 2015, and one thing that’s different is that the Big Ten now has TV deals with NBC, Fox and CBS, which is what determines when teams play.
In November, Penn State takes on Ohio State, Washington and Maryland at home.
At least one of those games figures to be Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” feature.
Penn State did play its regular season finale last season on the road against Michigan State at last year’s Ford Field, so perhaps Nov. 30, which is the scheduled date for this year’s regular-season finale against Maryland, is in play.
But that will be out of Penn State wrestling’s hands.
“Penn State football is an insane draw,” Pyles said. “Probably more so than Iowa football. Theoretically, you get those people in. Yeah, I think absolutely they could.
Pyles also said that, for this to work, “it has to be the right dual.”
“Which I’m certain they’re not going to have… I don’t know, I don’t even want to throw a team out there,” Pyles said. “But you know, you can read between the lines and imagine a non-competitive dual. So they need to make it a dual worth watching. Not just them stunting on a team but they get the right dual in there and it’s the right football game, I think, for sure (it could break the attendance record.)
