Rutgers vs #7 Minnesota
- Thread starter Kiddagger311
- Start date
Agree on that. The whole team wrestled a perfect match and was aggressive all night
Pinto tilt at the end was one of the slickest things you’ll ever see on a wrestling mat. Perfect night of wrestling they really wanted this one bad.
100% agree. Could care less what I thought and will take the win any day of the week over being right.
Happy for the team!
Kinda wild winning 125/149/157 was not even on my bingo card
Never say never
Overall, start to finish, I agree. A packed house would have taken it to another level. No students and no freebies to the wrestling clubs to get a ton of kids there? That section was bare. The most electric night for me in the RAC was when Ashnault hammered Kolodznick.
Smith gets major props here. He wrestled tough and smart against a highly ranked guy who looked like a 41 pounder. Clark set the tone with a surprising, early TD and managed the match well after that. A very smart and methodical match. White kept himself out of trouble and squarely in the match. The quick TD in OT was awesome. Overall, Rutgers didnt look outsized up and down the lineup versus the last time Minny visited. And a HUGE difference compared to the last visit was mat and match awareness for RU. A couple of years ago, our guys made bad decisions and gave up late period/last second points. This year was just about a complete reversal. Hats off to the wrestlers and the coaches for planning and executing this awesome effort and result.Kinda wild winning 125/149/157 was not even on my bingo card
I agree with everything except the part where you say we did not look outsized. We sure did in most of the matches! It seems like every Minnesota kid looked like he could have bumped up one or two weight classes. LOL
Yeah I was surprised there were not more people to this match… noticeably less people then our match against Michigan.. agreed on the packed house woulda taken it to another level.
Well, I didn't see that coming. Really great win by the guys who all wrestled aggressively and smart. The RAC was jazzed.
Red suits in the booth for the win! Great night of wrestling!
Fri night was tough with so many HS matches, rec matches, and even Stevens at TCNJ.
When Minny was here last time, my recollection was they all looked huge compared to our guys. There definitely were discrepancies between the two teams last night, just not as big a difference from their last visit I thought. That was my original point I was trying to convey.
idk how much he weighs but I love the fact he credited ”coach Sammy Sasso” at the post match press conference. I think Sasso was a huge addition to the staff and we need to keep him around bc he’s already making a difference
He walks around 125 and Sammy works with our kids mental attitude which is great.
What is Sasso's actual position? Is he a volunteer assistant coach? Is he an SKWC coach?
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Really not in the habit of quoting myself... But hey... As stressed above, I said we needed to be TOUGH!!! Well.. top to bottom we were the tougher team that night... We won this dual for all the right reasons... We out-wrestled them.. we wanted it more... We fought right down to the last whistle... And we were tougher!! Damn PROUD of this team!!! Now let's carry this attitude over!!! Go RU!!
Devil
You are spot on as this is the best I have seen our boys scrap. Now let’s not let up but keep our foot on the gas.
You are spot on as this is the best I have seen our boys scrap. Now let’s not let up but keep our foot on the gas.
You are really relishing this lol.. can’t blame you I guess.. reality is in 2019 RU had first ever two national champs and first ever top 10 finish… this was “supposed” to be what opened the floodgates for RU and NJ wrestling at the collegiate lvl. “Perennial top 10 team” During that half decade since even you must admit we didn’t use that momentum to elevate.. more like stagnant…low National finishes, no AA last year…two big dual win upset during that time, last year vs Illinois and this year vs Minny.
With RU’s resources, location, facilities, is moving towards being a “Perennial top 10 team” eventually even possible? Or is RU’s chances deem slim to none as their chances to beat Minny?
With Knox coming in next year and younger Harer + a good young core… hopefully the win over Minny was the Spark of momentum needed to eventually take RU to the next level.
Dumb question here, but does anyone who attended the match have cell phone video that captured (or kind of captured) our booth reaction during Cotton's pin? Our booth cam wasn't rolling and I only saw one video from BTN from the floor where you kinda see us going nuts. If you have one of two guys in shirts and ties (after the red jackets were tossed due to the heat), I'd appreciate it LOL.
All of that is completely irrelevant. All the negative Nancy’s that rag on the coaches, the athletes, the state of the program, etc because they want to see Rutgers succeed are literally NOWHERE to be found when actually Rutgers succeeds. It’s absolutely pathetic from those supposed fans.
mutiple different people who are usually more pessimistic about the direction of the program have come on here and said they are gladly eating there words or gave props to the coaching staff and team. Im not sure why you and Corby want to bring negativity into a great moment in team history with these “where are the haters now” posts. Just enjoy the victory like everyone else , I’m sure if we finish 10th at big tens or 30th at ncaas you’ll have plenty of time to address the “haters then“
I can be negative and I said those exact words in 2 separate threads. Not sure what else he is expecting.
Why cant we just be happy for the team and enjoy it?
What other comments are people looking for?
overall team wrestled awesome and probably most inspired I have seen in years. Hopefully it continues.
As most on here including the great SCNJ have said its all about March so lets see what March holds and hopefully its good things.
They spent so much time trashing Goody and some kids that when something good happens they got nothin to say
I think you’ve misunderstood my points about it all being March. I don’t want to evaluate how Rutgers performs on a year to year basis based solely on 2-3 days in March.
I don’t think it’s all about March, or at least it shouldn’t be. I do think that’s the meta of the sport right now and it’s a shame. My points regarding it being all about March is that I feel the sport is dying a slow death. Attendance is down in the regular season because coaches like Cael keep peddling the idea that it’s only about March. Therefore, the fans are starting not to care until March. Kids and teams ducking, cheap injury defaults and forfeits. It’s a real shame because nothing beats a competitive dual.
I thought iit was great. Rutgers wrestled with passion and got after it!
I'll reserve praise or criticism for the post season though
I'll reserve praise or criticism for the post season though
Glad to be proven wrong. Happy for this program. Lovely stuff. Let's hope this is what helps our guys round the corner for March!
45-0 over Oklahoma
43-3 over Drexel
36-6 over Lehigh
40-7 over Wyoming
46-0 over NDSU
42-0 over Stanford
46-0 over Rutgers
32-3 over Iowa
51-0 over Northwestern
48-0 over Indiana
51-0 over Maryland
26-12 over Nebraska
38-3 over Michigan
13-0, 7-0 and current and 84 consecutive dual winning streak.
Why do you insist that Cael is ruining wrestling because he only focuses on March? It's absurd.
What fans only care about March? Go to wrestlestat and compare Penn States starting lineups with Iowa , Oklahoma state , Ohio State and Iowa state. Penn state wrestlers this season have more matches than iowa , Oklahoma state and most Ohio state starters and have the same matches as Iowa state. How does Cael only focus on march when his guys wrestle more regular season matches then the people trying to catch up with Penn State.
as for your ducking points you made , the big ten and big 12 seeding starting this year takes into account missed matches and punishes you now , even if u missed with a legit injury.
Where did you find that attendance numbers are down? Maybe at Rutgers but overall nationally theyve been trending up since covid
People also don't understand how hard it is for Penn st to schedule opponents. They didn't use all the allotted dates this year. Getting teams to travel to Penn st isn't easy and they will give teams a few K for travel expenses and still a have issues
I made this point in the intermat forum and got laughed out the room when I said teams don’t want to go to Penn state and get killed and that PSU has been trying to offer $$ or cover travel expenses like BiG Ten and SEC football teams do to get fcs schools to come take a beating.
I’m sure Penn state would wrestle Virginia tech / NC State every year but are Robie and Pat P blowing up Cael phone just to lose 30-6 ? I’m sure they’ll dual Ok State in the future just not at the Paycom duals , that would help Caels main competition raise $$ and hype for the program and he’s not going to do that.
Cael and co once went to wrestle Iowa in Iowa a year they weren’t scheduled to face each other in the big 10 and iowa was supposed to do the same the next time the schedule didn’t match them up and have yet to follow through.
Well they can laugh all they want but it's a fact. I was involved years ago with a team and Penn st definitely paid for the team to travel to Penn st was 3K if I remember right.
And I don't believe Iowa and Penn st have missed each other since have they? I wouldn't expect Tom to schedule them twice in a season. My opinion is Cael won't be scheduling Oklahoma st anytime soon.
This is definitely your high point in the season. Some would be cautious to gloat, knowing it is just one match in many, but not you. You may not have noticed that in life, dissatisfaction generates much more noise than satisfaction. When people get what they want and expect, they're satisfied and quiet. When they don't, they speak up. What do you think car dealers hear more about, problems or things that go well? It's human nature. To answer your earlier question about WTF, yes, this was a WTF moment, not just for us, but, I'm sure, for Minn as well.
It's all about March? That's what Goodale says until the tournament is over. It's not all about March, it's both, season matches and tournament performance. One feeds the other. Thinking one is more important than the other is nonsense. A bad dual season will generate season-long dissatisfaction and not likely result in good tournament results. The top teams at the tournament typically also have good seasons. It isn't one or the other, it's both. If you have a bad or mediocre season, the coach will say it's about March. If March goes badly, there is nowhere to hide.
I am very sorry to have missed the match on Friday night. It would have been great to watch in real time. I was only able to check in briefly when it was all over. I had family visiting for the weekend, which is more important. I did finally get to see the matches and will have much to say. It was a great night, no doubt about it. If whatever got the guys inspired continues, that's even better, but will it? Those who think this is a great turning point are a tad naive. We all want consistency. One great moment doesn't change the systemic problems of the program, but more of what we just saw might. There is no explanation for the sudden change. If I were the AD, I wouldn't consider the problems resolved. What are the Minn fans saying? I'll bet their responses are much like ours when we lose to teams or individual matches we shouldn't. I'll bet they have a few cheerleaders that insist it was just a normal off-night, as every team has.
Now, about the match. I give the most credit to Smith. He was a big underdog and wrestled brilliantly. He set the mood for the rest of the guys. I hope his potential is developed, and he doesn't leave. Shawver finally did what we've been expecting of him. Gibbons continues to show his skill and speed, but gets worn down by being in the wrong weight class. He could be very good. Clark and White wrestled above expectations, so were also heros of the night. I think Barbosa did well against a better wrestler. Lenny performed as he should and as we have expected. He owes it to the team to continue at that level. That was a very slick move at the end of his match. Cotton continues to show potential and contributed the final exciting moment of the match. I didn't expect Catka to win, so he met expectations.