No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes visit No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes Wrestling: Watch, Stream, Open Thread

In years past, those of you who live and die with Iowa basketball would’ve been welcome aboard the wrestling bandwagon and found happiness. You still are, of course, but guess what — things could be a lot better! If things go poorly against third-ranked Ohio State tonight at 7 p.m. (BTN), guess what — well, it still won’t be as bad as basketball.

But let’s be hopelessly optimistic about what No. 4 Iowa’s going to bring to the mat this evening, and wish for a better outcome than the last two duals have produced. We’ll see No. 3 Cory Clark take on No. 1 Nathan Tomasello at 133 pounds and a banger of a 149 pound bout between No. 3 Brandon Sorensen and No. 5 Micah Jordan. Oh yeah, Kyle Snyder won’t compete as he’s in Russia being the best wrestler on the planet at 21 while this 23 year old blogger drinks Bushmills in his parents basement!

All joking aside (the wifi doesn’t reach the basement), this should be a very entertaining dual. It could be due to the fact a Tom Ryan-led Buckeye squad has never downed a Hawkeye squad in Carver, but I’m feeling pretty alright about the good ‘keyes chances.

Outside of the 133 and 149 pound matches mentioned above, the big fights to watch are between No. 10 Alex Meyer and top-ranked Bo Jordan at 174. The elder Jordan hasn’t been at 100 percent this season, but even still should have a fun scrap with the hit-or-miss Meyer.

Perhaps more appealing than Meyer-Jordan is No. 5 Sammy Brooks and No. 9 Myles Martin. It’s the defending Big Ten Champ coming off the first truly embarrassing loss of his career — a 38-second pin at the hands of top-ranked Bo Nickal — against the defending 174-pound NCAA Champ. Brooks’ petal-to-the-metal style should mix well with Martin’s speed to give us some great Friday night entertainment.

Predictions are generally dumb, but I’ll give you guys this — Iowa has two sure(ish)-fire victories lined up at 125 and 157 with a sure(ish)-fire loss set at 197. We’ll put the remainder of the bouts in too-close-to-call territory.

Time to prove things aren’t going down the drain, Hawks.

How to Watch, Stream, Follow and Probable Lineups

Grace and Ironside have the call on 800 KXIC and the Hawkeye Radio Network, per usual, and you can follow the Twitter accounts below for coverage. Dual starts at 7 p.m., go ahead and use this bad boy as the Open Thread. BTN2Go (free with your TV provider login) is available here.

@IowaWrLive, @Hawks_Wrestling, @Andy_Hamilton, @kjpilcher, @IAwrestle, @cuellarchris, @RossWB, @rossbcheck, @DI_Sports_Desk, and, as always, @BHGP.

No. 4 Iowa

125 / No. 1 Thomas Gilman, 18-0
133 / No. 3 Cory Clark, 10-1
141 / No. 19 Topher Carton, 17-4
149 / No. 3 Brandon Sorensen, 17-2
157 / No. 2 Michael Kemerer, 19-1
165 / No. 19 Joey Gunther, 12-4
174 / No. 10 Alex Meyer, 15-4
184 / No. 4 Sammy Brooks, 16-2
197 / Cash Wilcke, 11-6
HWT / Steven Holloway, 5-6

No. 3 Ohio State

125 / No. 3 Jose Rodriguez, 11-4
133 / No. 1 Nathan Tomasello, 10-0
141 / No. 13 Luke Pletcher, 20-2
149 / No. 5 Micah Jordan, 21-0
157 / Jake Ryan, 10-7
165 / Cody Burcher, 14-7
174 / No. 1 Bo Jordan, 8-0
184 / No. 9 Myles Martin, 20-3
197 / No. 4 Kollin Moore, 19-2
HWT / Josh Fox, 8-10