Wrestling: PSU travels to Oklahoma State for Sunday's DCS title event

Just because other terms of geometry are associated with the ruling and technique of wrestling – angles, degrees, parallel – doesn't mean that the transitive property of equality holds when it comes to comparing one wrestler to the next

If Wrestler A wins against Wrestler B, and Wrestler B wins against Wrestler C, then Wrestler A will always defeat Wrestler C, right? Not always, sometimes not at all, but it’s at least partially effective to use as a measuring stick with which to measure competitors who have yet to encounter each other in a season.

With Oklahoma State and Penn State, two undefeated teams set to face each other in the NWCA Dual Championship Series Sunday, that is the case. One the Big 12 champion, the other the Big Ten's, the Cowboys and Nittany Lions will meet each other for the first time in 2016-17 and it'll take place in the Galahger-Iba Arena in Stillwater (4 p.m. ET).

Just because they haven't met this year, they do have common opponents. Some of the individuals have history, as well, that precedes this matchup. Combine it all together and a broader picture begins to emerge of what we might be able to expect when the two teams shake hands, and that is a dual meet that could be decided by just a few weight classes.

“I think we have similar teams right now,” Cowboy head coach John Smith said. “If you look on paper, (Penn State is) favored to win, even though we're ranked No. 1 in some polls. They're No. 1 in other polls, and they're favored. I feel better from the standpoint that our last couple of matches have been good. We've seemed to wrestle better than we have all season long, and for that reason, maybe that gap has closed over the last couple of weeks."

Oklahoma State is fresh off a dual meet win against Oklahoma, 37-3, in which they won 9 of 10 and concluded an undefeated regular season for the first time since 2005 and the 46th time in school history. The Nittany Lions, meanwhile, have won 30 in a row, a streak that dates back to February 2015. In fact, it was the Cowboys who last handed the Lions a loss, a close 21-18 outcome on Feb. 15, 2015. It was also the last time PSU was in Stillwater for a match.

But it was Penn State that won last year’s inaugural DCS title event with a 29-18 victory over the Cowboys in Rec Hall (Feb. 21). It’ll be looking to do so again with a lineup that has the higher ranked grappler, according to Intermat, at seven of the 10 weight classes. And judging by the talk this week, it could also be the last in a two-year trial of the DCS, which aims to establish a NWCA regular-season national champion before the NCAA officially recognizes a champ after the individual tournament (March 16-19).

While the other seven team groupings for this DCS event have come under scrutiny since they were announced Monday, there’s no doubting that the two best teams in the country are paired up for what has the makings of an entertaining college wrestling finale. Penn State is winner of five of the last six NCAA tournaments and this year the team has dominated its regular-season schedule. Not once has it lost more than three of the 10 individual matches in a dual. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, has won eight meets by 30 or more points.

They haven’t faced each other yet this season, not even in a tournament setting, but at most weight classes there is a common opponent. The results from those previous matches only reinforce the idea that this will be one of the closest dual meets for either team. That's, at least, somewhat according to the transitive property.

They both wrestled Minnesota and Iowa this season. PSU topped the Gophers, 33-6, in January, while Ok. State won 34-3 in November, despite the Gophers sending out a vastly different lineup than they would against the Nittany Lions a month or so later.

Both teams were victorious against the Hawkeyes as well. PSU won at Iowa, 26-11, in January, while Oklahoma State won, 24-11, less than a week before that.

In four of the projected matchups Sunday, the PSU and Oklahoma State wrestler have met previously in their college careers. For the other six, it’ll be a first-time meeting with most of them having at least one common foe in their Hawkeye opponent. The previous results are not complete pre-indicators, however. They just provide a gauge of how close – or not so close – these matches might be come Sunday.

125: No. 2 Nick Suriano (Fr.; 16-1) vs. No. 11 Nick Piccininni (Fr.; 18-6)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY n/a

COMMON OPPONENT No. 1 Thomas Gilman- Iowa – Suriano, L 2-3 dec. - (Jan. 20)/Piccininnni, L 12-4 maj. dec. (Jan. 15)

133: George Carpenter (So.;1-11)/Triston Law (Fr.; 0-2) vs. No. 3 Kaid Brock (Fr.; 22-1)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY n/a

COMMON OPPONENT

No. 3 Cory Clark - Iowa – Carpenter, L 19-3 TF - (Jan. 20)/Brock, W 7-6 dec. (Jan. 15)

141: No. 10 Jimmy Gulibon (Sr.; 13-6) vs. No. 1 Dean Heil (Jr.; 23-0)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY Heil, W 9-5 (Feb. 21, 2016)

COMMON OPPONENT

Topher Carton- Iowa – Gulibon, W 8-6 dec. - (Jan. 20)/Heil, W 8-5 dec. (Jan. 15)

149: No. 1 Zain Retherford (Jr.; 18-0) vs. No. 2 Anthony Collica (Sr.; 17-1)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY Retherford, W 4-1 dec. (Feb. 21, 2016), W 2-0 dec. (Feb. 16, 2014)

COMMON OPPONENTS

Brandon Sorensen- Iowa – Retherford, W 9-8 TB2. - (Jan. 20)/Collica, W4-3 TB2. (Jan. 15)

Mike Raccatto - Pitt – Retherford, W 4:43 Fall (Nov. 20/ Collica, W 12-3 MD (Dec. 4)

157: No. 1 Jason Nolf (So.; 18-0) vs. No. 6 Joe Smith (So.; 8-3)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY Nolf, W 7-3 (Jan. 2, 2016), W 11-3 MD (March 18)

COMMON OPPONENT

Michael Kemerer - Iowa – Nolf, W 9-4 dec. - (Jan. 20)/Smith, L 4-3 dec. (Jan. 15)

165: No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph (Fr.; 13-3) vs. No. 8 Chandler Rogers (So.; 17-4)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY n/a

COMMON OPPONENT

Te’Shan Campbell - Pitt – Joseph, W 10-5 dec. - (Nov. 20)/Rogers, W 10-6 dec. (Dec. 4)

174: No. 7 Mark Hall (Fr.; 23-2) vs. No. 9 Kyle Crutchmer (Sr.; 15-4)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY Hall, W 10-3 dec. (Jan. 1)

COMMON OPPONENT

Alex Meyer- Iowa – Hall, L 7-5 dec. - (Jan. 20)/Crutchmer, W 5-2 dec. (Jan. 15)

184: No. 2 Bo Nickal (So.; 17-0) vs. No. 4 Nolan Boyd (Sr.; 18-3)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY n/a

COMMON OPPONENT

Sammy Brooks- Iowa – Nickal, W 0:38 Fall - (Jan. 20)/Boyd, L 13-3 MD (Jan. 15)

197: No. 9 Matt McCutcheon (Jr.; 14-3) vs. No. 8 Preston Weigel (So.; 15-4)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY n/a

COMMON OPPONENT

Cash Wilcke- Iowa – McCutcheon, W 8-7 TB2 - (Jan. 20)/Weigel, W 6-0 dec. (Jan. 15)

Zach Bruce - Pitt – McCutcheon, W 5-2 (Nov. 20)/Weigel, W 15-0 TF (Dec. 4)

Brett Pfarr - Minnesota – McCutcheon, L 2-3 (Jan. 6)/Weigel, L 7-2

285: No. 3 Nick Nevills (So.; 15-2) vs. No. 6 Austin Schafer (Sr.; 18-1)

COLLEGIATE HISTORY n/a

COMMON OPPONENT n/a