Tom Brands honest about Iowa's 29-6 loss to Penn State

Tom Brands knew what hit his Iowa wrestling team: Penn State’s power. The No. 1 Nittany Lions won eight of 10 bouts Friday night to win 29-6 over the Hawkeyes.

Iowa got off to a good start with 125 pounder Drake Ayala knocking off Penn State freshman Braeden Davis 4-2. It was an upset by the rankings as the 7th ranked Hawkeye gave his team a 3-0 lead with a win over the No. 2 guy in the country.

However, Penn State won eight of the next nine, pouring on bonus point victories.

“They have a high-power team, they score a lot of points,” Brands said, via Hawk Central. “You have to be beyond ready. If you just think you’re ready and it’s normal, it’s not normal. It’s not a normal team. That’s not me putting them on a pedestal, that’s not me conceding anything. We gotta be better when we go out there, we gotta be more ready.”

Trailing 7-3 going into 149 pounds, Iowa needed a win. But the Hawkeyes were up against it with the remaining bouts.

No. 12 Caleb Rathjen knocked off No. 10 Tyler Kasak 11-8 in sudden victory. Rathjen led the bout 6-1 at one point, but hung on for the victory.

“He’s letting it be known what he believes himself about,” Brands said. “That’s a good thing.”

Despite cutting the team score down to 7-6, Brands’ team could not win any of the toss up bouts in the next two weight classes.

From there, Penn State’s hammers from 174 all the way through heavyweight, dominated. Brands and crew fell to 10-2 on the season and 5-2 in the Big Ten.

Penn State vs. Iowa wrestling results

125: No. 7 Drake Ayala IA dec. No. 2 Braeden Davis PSU, 4-2
133: No. 6 Aaron Nagao PSU maj. dec. No. 20 Cullan Schreiver IA, 12-0
141: No. 1 Beau Bartlett PSU dec. No. 2 Real Woods IA, 7-1
149: No. 12 Caleb Rathjen IA dec. No. 10 Tyler Kasak PSU, 11-8 (sv)
157: No. 1 Levi Haines PSU maj. dec. No. 5 Jared Franek IA, 12-0
165: No. 7 Mitchell Mesenbrink PSU dec. No. 6 Michael Caliendo IA, 12-6
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci PSU maj. dec. No. 7 Patrick Kennedy IA, 13-5
184: No. 6 Bernie Truax PSU maj. dec. Aidan Riggins IA, 8-0
197: No. 1 Aaron Brooks PSU dec. No. 11 Zach Glazier IA, 5-1
285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet PSU maj. dec. Ben Keuter IA, 9-1