Penn State-Iowa is annually one of, if not the most-anticipated dual meets on the wrestling calendar, and this year, there are slated to be multiple unbeaten battles.
Matchups aren’t a guarantee until the night of the dual meet but usually fans have a pretty good idea leading up.
If the Penn State-Iowa matchups happen as projected, fans will be in for quite a show.
It’s easy to forget sometimes since the gap between Penn State and the rest of the wrestling world is so wide but Iowa is still pretty darn good.
Here are the three biggest matchups of this No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown.
165
No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. No. 2 Mikey Caliendo
Photo by Penn State athletics: Mitchell Mesenbrink
Mesenbrink is the man at 165 after coming within a point of winning it all as a redshirt freshman last season. The Penn State star has been one of the best pound-for-pound folkstyle wrestlers on the planet in 2024-25. Not only is he 13-0, 11 of his wins have been by tech fall with the other two being via forfeit. That’s good for a 100% bonus point rate. Yeah, that’s pretty solid stuff.
Although Caliendo is no slouch (13-0 with a 77% bonus point rate), Mesenbrink has a quality track record against him head-to-head. Mesenbrink went 3-0 against Caliendo last year, beating him in the regular season, Big Ten Championships and NCAA Championships. The Big Ten win was the most emphatic (23-7 tech fall) and the NCAA win also was of the bonus point variety (17-9 major decision).
Although Mesenbrink sees value in wrestling opponents multiple times, the focus isn’t necessarily on beating Caliendo, but making himself better.
“If I’m focused on one person… I wanna win world titles and Olympic titles and I want to be the best wrestler I can be,” Mesenbrink told reporters Monday, “and if I’m focused on something else, than that’s really counterintuitive to that.”
197
No. 1 Stephen Buchanan (Iowa) vs. No. 4 Josh Barr (Penn State)
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.This can be a statement match for Barr, who is following four-time national champ and 2024 Hodge Trophy winner Aaron Brooks at 197. Barr has about as much momentum as a guy could want going into a bout with the No. 1 wrestler in the country. Against Rutgers’ John Poznanski this past Friday, Barr got seven— yes, seven— takedowns in the third period to win 22-6.
It was perhaps the most impressive performance a Penn State wrestler has had so far this season, and for teammate Carter Starocci, it showed that Barr is a “lunatic,” in a good way.
“I mean, I remember when (Barr) first came in here a few years back,” Starocci said Monday. “When I wrestle the new guys, I just like to see where guys are at, like, with their mentality, because our coaches are going to get all these guys ready to go with their all their technique and stuff like that.”
“So, it’s only a matter of time until they catch on, but I’ll keep going. And I want to see how long these guys can go for, until they break. Because it’s always that one guy when you’re wrestling, he’s like, ‘all right, bro, I gotta go.’ so it’s who’s gonna be that guy?”
Barr will have the toughest test of his career Friday night. Buchanan is a three-time All-American who transferred from Oklahoma. This year, he’s 13-0 with an 84.6 bonus point percentage.
A win would quite possibly make Barr the man to beat at 197.
184
No. 1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) vs. No. 4 Gabe Arnold (Iowa)
Photo by NCAA: Carter Starocci
If this bout happens— there’s a possibility Iowa coach Tom Brands throws Angelo Ferrari at 184–, it will be the most-anticipated bout on the card. Although Arnold has never wrestled against Penn State, he has quite a history with the program. We’ll see if that history continues Friday night.
Penn State-Iowa is scheduled to begin at 7 on the Big Ten Network.
