Assessing Tom Brands' 'cupcake' decision plus 3 other Penn State wrestling takeaways from the Lions' win over Iowa

No. 1 Penn State wrestling won eight of 10 matches and won the takedown battle en route to a 30-8 victory over No. 2 Iowa on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Lions scored multiple upsets and even overcame the absence of a key starter. Our takeaways, plus full results, are below.

Arnold is Iowa’s guy at 184, but not Friday night

All week, much of the match’s buildup focused on Iowa 184-pounder Gabe Arnold calling out four-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci, as he’s done since high school. It was fun, and both sides seemed to feed off of it. Yet, when the bout sheet came out, Arnold was not in the lineup, and freshman Angelo Ferrari was.

“You get five (matches), we’re going to use them for Ferrari, we’re going to use them and we’re not going to use them against cupcakes,” Brands said, referring to the number of matches a wrestler gets before burning his redshirt, per PennLive. “We need to make sure that (Arnold’s) feeling pretty doggone good down this stretch, he’s going to be our guy at (184).”

There is certainly some defensible logic behind the decision. Except most of it goes out the window when you consider the fact that Arnold beat two top 20 wrestlers in as many duals before Friday night. Neither opponent is on the same level as Starocci, but Edmond Ruth nor Ryder Rogotzke are “cupcakes.” Ferrari could have wrestled against either or both and still would have been under the redshirt limit going into Friday night, if that’s what Iowa wanted to do. Instead, Brands let Arnold talk the talk but not walk the walk. And that, in our opinion, is indefensible. We’ll now wait to see who wrestles non-cupcake No. 11 Jaxon Smith of Maryland on Sunday.

1. What’s up with Braeden Davis?

Top-10 Penn State 133-pounder Braeden Davis was a surprise scratch opposite No. 2 Drake Ayala on Friday night. The Hawkeye beat Kurt McHenry, who bumped up from 125 pounds, by technical fall. Why was the Nittany Lion not in the lineup?

“Just a little banged up from a week ago, and Kurt’s, he’s a little undersized obviously but he has a huge heart and is a great wrestler and wanted that shot,” Lions coach Cael Sanderson said, per PennLive. “That’s a tall order with Ayala. Davis was a little banged up from last week. So we thought it’d be in his best interest to rest a little bit.”

Expect Davis to be back on the mat next Friday when the Nittany Lions host Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center.

2. The Lions came to wrestle

And that should be a surprise to no one. In his post-match interviews, Brands expressed great displeasure over the fact that Penn State scored early, late, and everywhere in between in most of its victories. And, that led to some upsets. No. 4 Shayne Van Ness scored a major decision over No. 2 Kyle Parco, 17-6, at 149, and No. 3 Tyler Kasak beat No. 1 Jacori Teemer 5-2 at 157. The Lions have long had an edge over Iowa thanks to their aggressive style. It benefitted the home team yet again on Friday night.

“I think our guys wrestled well,” Sanderson said, per PennLive. “We had a couple of situations that we can really learn from and make some improvements. But overall, our guys are consistent and like to compete. That’s how we wrestle. We’re going to move forward and try to score points.”

3. Mitchell Mesenbrink continues to roll

There may not be a wrestler who is performing better but is talked about less nationally than Mitchell Mesenbrink. The 165-pound redshirt sophomore still has won every match this year by either technical fall or forfeit after dominating No. 2 Mikey Caliendo 19-4 in 6:24. Coming into the season, most figured Starocci was a shoo-in for the Hodge Trophy, which is college wrestler’s version of football’s Heisman Trophy. Mesenbrink is going to have something to say about that, though. There is not a challenger in the weight class who can match up with the second-year Nittany Lion for seven minutes. And, most won’t event make it that long.

Full Penn State-Iowa results

Courtesy of Penn State Athletics:

125: #7 Luke Lilledahl PSU tech fall #26 Joey Cruz IOWA, 22-6 (TF; 6:43)                                 5-0

133: #3 Drake Ayala IOWA tech fall Kurt McHenry PSU, 19-4 (TF; 3:42)                                    5-5

141: #3 Beau Bartlett PSU dec. Cullan Schriever IOWA, 7-3                                                         8-5

149: #4 Shayne Van Ness PSU maj. dec. #2 Kyle Parco IOWA, 17-6                                            12-5

157: #3 Tyler Kasak PSU dec. #1 Jacori Teemer IOWA, 5-2                                                           15-5

165: #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink PSU tech fall #2 Mikey Caliendo IOWA, 19-4 (TF; 6:24)           20-5

174: #2 Levi Haines PSU dec. #6 Patrick Kennedy IOWA, 10-3                                                     23-5

184: #1 Carter Starocci PSU dec. Angelo Ferrari IOWA, 3-1                                                          26-5

197: #1 Stephen Buchanan IOWA dec. #4 Josh Barr PSU, 5-1                                                      26-8

285: #2 Greg Kerkvliet PSU maj. dec. #11 Ben Kueter IOWA, 12-2                                                            30-8