Penn State opens as massive favorites to win the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships
Penn State wrestling seeks its fourth straight NCAA title this weekend when it heads to the 2025 national tournament in Philadelphia. According to DraftKings, the No. 1 Nittany Lions are a massive favorite to earn it. Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team is listed as a -6000 favorite to win the team title. Put a different way, a bettor would need to wager $60 to win $1 on PSU. By comparison, the team with the second lowest odds, Oklahoma State, would net a $10 bettor $100 at its current odds of +1000. Iowa (+1500), Nebraska (+2200), and Virginia Tech (+2500) round out the top five as of Monday morning.
The three-day tournament starts on Thursday. Penn State is taking all 10 starters for just the fourth time in the Cael Sanderson era. However, this year marks the 12th time that it is taking nine or more starters to nationals.
“I think that, yeah, it was a good effort,” Sanderson told The Penn State Coaches Show last week fresh off his team’s latest Big Ten title. “Obviously, you know, the Big Ten Conference in wrestling is very strong. It’s strong in every sport. But you kind of just got to be ready to go. It’s a small tournament. So, you know, there’s not, not any rounds where you can wake up or warm up. You kind of get thrown right in the fire. So I think our guys did a really good job, and they battled through the tournament.
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“I mean, obviously the first goal is just to get them into the Nationals. Got to get through the conference. It’s a tricky sport. Obviously you want to win as a team. But, as coaches, we’re focused more on the individuals and them each kind of reaching their goals and being at the best they can be.”
More on the Penn State quest at NCAAs
Penn State has four top seeds at NCAAs. They are freshman Luke Lilledahl at 125 pounds, sophomore Tyler Kasak (157), redshirt sophomore Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), and graduate senior Carter Starocci (184). Nine of 10 Nittany Lions are ranked inside of the top four in their respective weight classes. Only sophomore Braeden Davis is outside of that: He is No. 8 at 133 pounds. Still, Sanderson’s side is tracking to have 10 All-Americans for only the second time in college wrestling history. The 2000-2001 Minnesota team was the first program to accomplish that feat. And, it’s still the only one to have done so.
