Nebraska Battles Oklahoma State in Devaney

Dual 14: #4 Nebraska vs. #15 Oklahoma State
Date: Thursday, Feb. 5
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Devaney Center, Lincoln, Neb.
Live Stats: Huskers.com
Live Video: Huskers.com
Live Audio: Okstate.com

Lincoln - The Husker wrestling team faces its third straight ranked opponent, when No. 4 Nebraska (13-2-1, 1-0 Big 12) hosts No. 15 Oklahoma State (12-5, 0-2 Big 12) on Thursday in a midweek Big 12 battle at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Wrestling is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Nebraska opened the conference season with a win for the second straight year, as the Huskers topped No. 6 Missouri, 16-15, at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo., last Saturday. Junior Craig Brester gave NU the come-from-behind victory with his 6-4 decision over Max Askren in the final match of the night. Both teams earned five wins in the dual, with sophomore Matt Vacanti’s major decision at 133 pounds proving to be the difference. Junior Jordan Burroughs (157) improved to 23-0 on the season with a 4-3 decision over ninth-ranked Michael Chandler, Vince Jones (184) shut out out Dorian Henderson for a 4-0 win and Robert Sanders (149) came from behind for a 7-4 decision.

Thursday’s dual with Oklahoma State will be uncharted territory for the Huskers. Nebraska will be facing an OSU team ranked outside of the of top five for the first time since the 1992-93 season, and NU will be seeking its first ever back-to-back wins over a historically dominant OSU squad. Nebraska’s attendance record may also be broken, as the existing mark was set four seasons ago when the Huskers hosted Oklahoma State on a Thursday night. The Cowboys topped Nebraska, 19-18, that night, but a crowd of 3,442 showed up to cheer on the Huskers.

Fans can anticipate five run-ins between ranked foes on Thursday, including three matchups of two wrestlers in the top 10. Brandon Browne, ranked third in the nation at 174 pounds, will wrestle No. 14 Newly McSpadden. No. 19 Tucker Lane will be tested by third-ranked Jared Rosholt. Top-10 matches will be contested between third-ranked Burroughs and No. 10 Neil Erisman at 157, No. 6 Stephen Dwyer and No. 10 Brandon Mason at 165, and No. 2 Craig Brester and No. 8 Clayton Foster at 197.

Nebraska’s dual with Oklahoma State will also feature several special promotions. Admission and Pepsi products will be $1 as part of Pepsi’s Pack the House, while Plattsmouth native Brandon Browne will be honored for Hometown Husker Day. The Nebraska wrestling booster club will also host Alumni Night.

For fans unable to attend, Saturday’s contest will feature live stats and video on Huskers.com, while live audio is available through Okstate.com.

Last Time Out: Brester Bumps Huskers Past Tigers
Junior Craig Brester posted a 6-4 decision over Max Askren in the final match of the night to give No. 4 Nebraska a come-from-behind 16-15 victory over No. 6 Missouri at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo., last Saturday. In the Big 12 opener for both schools, NU moved to 13-2-1 on the season, while MU dropped to 15-3.

In another classic matchup between the two, Brester, ranked second in the nation at 197 pounds, used a first-period takedown to take an early lead on fourth-ranked Askren, but the Tiger was able to escape just seconds later. Askren chose down in the second and Brester accumulated the riding time advantage before Askren could escape to tie the match at two. Brester chose down in the third and Askren cut him before earning a takedown with a minute to go and taking a 4-3 lead. The Husker was able to notch a reversal with 49 seconds left and rode Askren out to take the 6-4 win. He moved to 24-1 on the season, including a team-leading 15-1 in duals.

Brester’s heroics and the Huskers win were made possible by sophomore Matt Vacanti at 133 pounds. Vacanti collected the only bonus-point victory of the night with a 20-7 major decision over MU’s Taylor Crain. Vacanti posted nine takedowns to move his dual record above .500 for the first time this season at 6-5. He is 16-11 overall with three major decisions.

Jordan Burroughs, Vince Jones and Robert Sanders collected decisions for NU, as each team claimed five victories. Third-ranked Burroughs surrendered his first dual takedown of the season to ninth-ranked Michael Chandler late in the third period to tie the bout, but the junior escaped with 10 seconds left to take the 4-3 victory at 157 pounds. Burroughs improved to 23-0 on the season, the best start for a Husker since Travis Pascoe went 23-0 at 184 pounds in 2003-04.

MU’s Dorian Henderson held Jones scoreless in the first period at 184 pounds, but chose down in the second frame. Jones rode Henderson out in the second period and collected a quick escape in the final period to earn a 4-0 decision. Jones is 24-6 overall and 10-4 in duals this season. Sanders also rode out his opponent, MU’s Andrew Sherry, the entire second period after giving up a lead in the first. Sanders escaped in the final period to tie the match at four and earned the winning takedown with a minute left in the match for a 7-4 decision. Sanders is now 22-12 overall and 8-6 in duals.

Scouting Oklahoma State (12-5, 0-2 Big 12)
John Smith has had an incredible amount of success in his 18 seasons as head coach at Oklahoma State, racking up five NCAA team championships and 23 individual championships, but this may be a rebuilding year for the Cowboys. OSU finished third in the Big 12 last season and tied for fifth at the NCAA Championships with four All-Americans. Smith returns just one of those All-Americans and four NCAA qualifiers this season.

As a team, Oklahoma State was ranked seventh in the NWCA preseason poll and opened with a home dual win over No. 20 Old Dominion (30-9) on Nov. 22. The Cowboys were knocked off in the first round of the Northeast Duals by No. 22 Lehigh (18-13), but rebounded to defeat No. 24 Virginia (33-7), Appalachian State (41-3) and American University (34-9). OSU picked up another home dual victory over Northern Colorado (41-9) on Dec. 5, before being upset in Norman by the 20th-ranked Sooners (18-15), as the loss dropped the Cowboys out of the top 10. OSU topped No. 7 Minnesota (23-13) in Minneapolis to start the new year and followed with a third-place showing at the Virginia Duals on Jan. 10. Top-ranked Iowa collected a 20-13 win in Stillwater and OSU fell to No. 3 Iowa State (24-12) in Ames, before Oklahoma State topped No. 22 Northern Iowa (31-3) in its latest action.

Individually, the Cowboys are led by returning All-American Jared Rosholt. After a fourth-place finish at heavyweight last year, the junior started the season 24-0, but an overtime loss to third-ranked David Zabriskie of Iowa State on Jan. 25 dropped him to third in the latest NWCA poll. He is currently 25-1, including 16-1 in duals, with a 6-1 mark against ranked opponents. He has a team-leading 12 pins this year.

Senior Brandon Mason is a three-time NCAA qualifier for the Cowboys, earning All-America honors with a fifth-place showing at 174 pounds in 2007. Mason qualified for last year’s national tournament, but was upset in the second round and finished with a 3-2 record at NCAAs. He is 22-5 this year at 165 pounds, but 2-3 in his last five matches with three losses to top-10 foes. Mason did knock off second-ranked Moza Fay of Northern Iowa in his latest action and is currently ranked 10th. Fellow senior Obe Blanc also earned All-America honors in 2007, wrestling at 125 for Lock Haven University. He took an Olympic redshirt last year while transferring to OSU and has wrestled to a 20-7 record this season. He is 6-6 versus ranked foes and is ranked No. 15 at 125 pounds.

Oklahoma State also has junior Chris Notte (21-6) ranked 14th at 133 pounds, redshirt freshman Jamal Parks (21-6) ranked 15th at 141, sophomore Neil Erisman (26-6) 10th at 157, Newly McSpadden (14-4) 14th at 174 and sophomore Clayton Foster (22-2) eighth at 197.

Husker History Versus Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State has historically had the Huskers’ number. NU owns just a 3-48-1 all-time record against the Cowboys, but recent duals have been close contests. Over the last five years, the Huskers have lost several close matchups in which they had an opportunity to win the dual heading in the final match, but Nebraska reversed their fortunes with an upset of Oklahoma State last season.

Third-ranked NU won six matches, including two bonus-point wins, en route to a 22-13 upset of second-ranked OSU in front of 2,496 fans at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Jan. 20. The Huskers’ win snapped a 14-dual losing streak to the Cowboys and was their first win over OSU since 1993.

Nebraska was led by Vince Jones and Jordan Burroughs, who both scored bonus-point wins. Jones pinned OSU’s Jack Jensen in 1:48 at 184 pounds to put the Huskers up 19-10 with two matches left. Jones earned his seventh pin of the year in high fashion to quiet the crowd. Jones took Jensen down halfway into the first period and caught him a cradle seconds later to earn the fall. Burroughs scored 12 takedowns, including five in the first period, to score a 25-11 major decision over OSU’s Quinten Fuentes at 149 pounds.

Paul Donahoe rebounded from a 2-2 weekend at National Duals with an 8-6 decision over OSU’s Tyler Shinn at 125 pounds. Donahoe was down 5-4 in the third period, but scored an escape and a takedown to earn the come-from-behind victory. Chris Oliver also earned a big win against the Cowboys, racking up 2:23 of riding time to win a close 3-2 decision over No. 15 Newly McSpadden at 157 pounds. Brandon Browne defeated second-ranked Brandon Mason at 174 to improve to 24-2, and Craig Brester won 6-3 over No. 20 Clayton Foster at 197 as the Huskers won three of the final four matches.

Facing the Ranked
Above 157 pounds, the Huskers’ starters have found a fair amount of success against ranked foes. Nebraska is 27-14 in those six weight classes against ranked opponents, including an impressive 6-0 mark by Jordan Burroughs against the top 10. Below 157, NU is 0-26 against the top 20.

Victories for Vacanti
After an 11-5 start to the season, including an eighth-place showing at the Las Vegas Invitational, sophomore Matt Vacanti suffered a five-match losing streak and was in a battle with senior Patrick Aleksanyan for the starting spot at 133 pounds. Vacanti has etched a 5-1 mark in his last six matches to move his record back to 16-11 and secure the 133 starting job. The Papillion, Neb., native earned four straight dual victories over South Dakota State, Maryland, Penn and Virgnia Tech, before losing in the final 10 seconds to No. 20 Conor Beebe of Central Michigan. Vacanti rebounded by scoring the Huskers’ only bonus-point victory against Missouri to give NU a 16-15 win in a dual that saw each team win five matches. The win gave Vacanti a 6-5 record in duals this season, and moved his dual record above .500 for the first time since Nov. 28.

Measuring the Majors
Jordan Burroughs added to his long list of accolades on Jan. 25, as he notched his 10th major decision of the season and became the first known NU wrestler to post back-to-back seasons with at least 10 major decisions. Statistics are incomplete prior to the 1982 season. Burroughs notched 12 last season at 149 pounds and has earned 10 through 23 matches this year at 157.

Pinning Down Vince
Vince Jones collected his 10th pin of the season on Jan. 18 en route to helping the Huskers earn a 43-3 dual win over South Dakota State. The fall was also a bit of history, as Jones became the first Nebraska wrestler since Tolly Thompson to record at least 10 pins in each season he competed in. Jones posted 14 pins in 2005-06 as a true freshman, sat out his sophomore year and notched 10 last season. Thompson accomplished the same feat at heavyweight from 1993-97, racking up 53 total pins.

Fit to be Tied
NU’s 17-17 tie at Central Michigan on Jan. 25 was just the third tie in Head Coach Mark Manning’s 169 duals at Nebraska. Nebraska also knotted Penn at 17 on Feb. 17, 2007, in the final dual of the 2006-07 season and dualed Wisconsin to a 19-19 tie on Jan. 8, 2005, at the Lone Star Duals. All three of NU’s ties under Manning have come on the road.

Totaling 20
Seven varsity Nebraska wrestlers have moved above the 20-win mark this season, including Vince Jones (184) and Craig Brester (197) who lead the team with 24 victories each. Jordan Burroughs (157) has earned 22 wins, while Brandon Browne (174), Robert Sanders (149) and Tucker Lane (Hwt.) have 22. Stephen Dwyer has earned 21 wins.

Last season, eight Huskers eclipsed the 20-win mark, including three (Burroughs, Dwyer and Browne) that topped 30 wins on the season.

Lane Garners Big 12 Honor
Nebraska heavyweight Tucker Lane was selected as the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week, the conference announced on Jan. 13. Lane, a redshirt freshman from Redvale, Colo., shared the weekly honor with Iowa State’s Jake Varner.

Lane was a key component in the Huskers fourth-place finish at the NWCA National Duals, finishing with a 3-1 record at the tournament. He posted an 8-5 decision over Ben Kuhar to give the Huskers a 19-18 victory over No. 20 Northwestern in the opening round, and followed with a 4-2 decision over Cameron Wade to solidify a come-from-behind 20-16 win versus No. 14 Penn State. Against No. 2 Iowa State, Lane scored an early takedown over No. 3 Dave Zabriskie and added a three-point nearfall in the second period to take a 7-6 victory and nearly lead the Huskers to an upset of the Cyclones.

At the time, Lane was 19-5 on the season, including 8-2 in duals, with three pins. It was his first career honor, and he was the second Husker to earn recognition from the Big 12 this season.

Perfect So Far
One Husker wrestler remains in the ranks of the undefeated. Of NU’s 30 wrestlers that have competed, Jordan Burroughs (157) still has an unblemished record at 23-0. Nebraska has 20 wrestlers with winning records in 2008-09.

Ruling the Rankings
The Huskers stayed fourth in the latest NWCA dual rankings after defeating No. 6 Missouri last Saturday. NU moved up to as high as third after winning the Las Vegas Inviational. Nebraska started the season ranked sixth in the nation and has been ranked in the top 25 ever since the NWCA and InterMat polls combined in 2004, including 20 straight polls in the top 10.

Bonus-Point Brester
Craig Brester has been a bonus-point machine for the Huskers this season. A junior from Howells, Neb., Brester has posted an 24-1 record, including a team-leading 15-1 in duals. Twenty of his 24 wins have come by bonus-points, including seven pins, three technical falls and nine major decisions. Brester notched five pins in his first six matches, and has rolled from there. In early December, he went 5-0 at the Las Vegas Invitational to claim the title at 197 pounds. He started the tournament with a fall, posted his first technicall fall of the season in the second round, and finished with three straight major decisions.

Quickest Pin
The award for quickest pin so far this season goes to freshman Josh Ihnen at 184 pounds. Ihnen notched a 28 second fall of Morningside’s Joe Lockett at the UNK Loper Open on Dec. 13 to earn the honor. Ihnen has four pins on the year, while the Huskers as a whole have notched 82 so far.

The Pin King
Vince Jones, Nebraska’s resident pin king, is back at it again this season. He led the Huskers in falls with 12 in 2005-06 and accomplished the feat again with 10 in 2007-08. The senior is well on his way again this season with 10 pins in 26 matches, including three straight to start the year.

Jones has some competition this season from junior Craig Brester, the Huskers’ 197-pounder. Brester is 23-1 on the year with seven pins and three technical falls and nine major decisions. All of Brester’s falls have come in the first period, including one against No. 14 Andrew Anderson of Northern Iowa at the Kaufman-Brand Open on Nov. 22.

Best Start Since
The Huskers rushed to an 8-0 start to this season, before falling to No. 1 Iowa at National Duals. The mark is NU’s best start since 2004-05, a season in which Nebraska finished third at the Big 12 Championships and 19th at the NCAA Championships.

The Wrestler Formerly Known as Jordan
Nebraska’s Jordan Burroughs is quickly earning a new nickname - OW. The junior from Winslow Township, N.J. has claimed four Oustanding Wrestler honors at four tournaments. He started last season with an OW honor at the Cowboy Open. He posted a technical fall and major decision en route to being named the Outstanding Wrestler at last year’s Big 12 Championships, while also earning the title at the Kaufman-Brand Open with a 5-0 record on the day and a defeat of former NCAA champion Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota. Burroughs picked up his third OW honor in early December at the Las Vegas Invitational when he posted another five wins, including two over All-Americans and another against a former NCAA champion in Cornell’s Jorden Leen.

Topping Off National Duals
NU’s fourth-place finish at National Duals this season was the 11th time the Huskers have finished in the top five since the inception of the event in 1989. The Huskers improved their all-time record to 48-29 in the 16 appearances at National Duals.

4-0 for National Duals
Two Huskers posted a perfect 4-0 record at National Duals, leading the Huskers to a fourth-place team finish. Jordan Burroughs was the most impressive, earning victories over three ranked foes and two All-Americans. The junior opened with a decision over No. 17 Jason Welch of Northwestern, before adding another decision against eighth-ranked Dan Vallimont of Penn State, an All-American last season. Burroughs added a 22-7 technical fall over Iowa’s Matt Ballweg and ended with a 12-4 major decision over No. 5 Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State, also an All-American last season.

Senior Brandon Browne also contributed four victories to the Huskers’ cause, winning all his matches by decision. He posted a 14-7 decision against Northwestern’s Robert Kellogg and defeated No. 14 Quentin Wright of Penn State, 3-1, on the first day. Browne got a measure of revenge with a 5-4 decison over No. 5 Jay Borschel of Iowa, who defeated him in the consolation finals of last year’s NCAA Championships, and capped the tournament with a 7-4 win over Iowa State’s Andrew Sorenson.

Double Down in Vegas
The second time around was just as nice for the Huskers in Vegas, as Nebraska won the Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 6 for the second time in NU history.

Nebraska’s other first-place finish came in 2003, when the Huskers piled up 139.5 points en route to the crown. NU claimed three individual titles, while four other Huskers placed in the top eight. Top-ranked Jason Powell of Nebraska knocked off ninth-ranked Mark Moos of Michigan, 4-2, in the finals at 125 pounds, while No. 7 Travis Shufelt pinned Missouri’s Jeremy Spates in the third period at 149 to also finish first. Travis Pascoe rounded out the Huskers’ title winners at 184 pounds.

Tickets on Sale for Big 12 Wrestling Championships
The University of Nebraska has announced that tickets are now on sale for the general public for the 2009 Big 12 Wrestling Championships, which will be held at the NU Coliseum in Lincoln, Neb., on March 7. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the Nebraska Ticket Office at (800) 8-BIGRED or online at Huskers.com.

All-session tickets are $20 for reserved seating (north and south stands) and $15 for general admission (east and west balcony). Individual-session tickets will be available on March 7 for $8 reserved and $7 general admission. The first session begins at 11 a.m., while the second sessions commences at 4 p.m. Finals are contested at 7 p.m.

The Huskers host the conference tournament for the third time since the inception of the Big 12. Nebraska finished fourth when it hosted the event in 2000 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and third at the Qwest Center in Omaha in 2005. This year’s tournament will be contested at the NU Coliseum, which holds more than 4,030 fans. The Coliseum is located in the heart of NU’s campus next to Memorial Stadium and has provided a thrilling match-day environment for fans, including hosting the National Duals from 1993 to 1997.

Non-Varsity Notes
Four Nebraska wrestlers traveled to the Grand View Open in Des Moines, Iowa, last Saturday, with two Huskers capturing second-place honors.

Freshmen Ross Grande and Josh Ihnen led the Husker contingent by placing second at 149 and 184, respectively. Grande posted back-to-back major decisions and topped Iowa’s Ethan Siebert in the semifinals, before falling to Nebraska-Omaha’s Tyler Kottas in the final. Grande is 21-13 on the season with seven major decisions.

Ihnen posted a 4-1 record on the day with two pins and two major decisions, before losing a 6-1 decision to Iowa’s Grant Gambrall in the final. Ihnen has a 24-5 mark this season with six pins and five major decisions.

Fellow freshmen Ethan Studebaker and Livingston Lukow also made the trip. Wrestling in his third tournament of the season, Studebaker went 1-2 at 165 pounds, while Lukow dropped his overall record to 10-12 with an 0-2 mark last Saturday.

NU’s non-varsity wrestlers continue their season at the Missouri Valley Open on Saturday. Held in the Georgia Burns Athletic Complex in Marshall, Mo., wrestling begins at 9 a.m.

Next up: Huskers Continue Busy Schedule
Nebraska hits the road for its third dual in eight days, as the Huskers visit No. X Oklahoma for a 2 p.m. dual at the McCasland Field House in Norman, Okla., on Saturday. NU Head Coach Mark Manning will be returning to his old stomping grounds, after spending four season as an assistant coach under OU Head Coach Jack Spates from 1993 to 1997. The Huskers trail in the all-time series 17-34-1, but hold a 4-2 advantage in the last six meetings between the two programs.