The B1G Schedule, Nonconference, THE GOOSE and a Very Late Sunday Funnies
THE BIG TEN SEASON
The ILLINI's big ten schedule is out! Huge matchups with Ohio State, Stupid Iowa and Penn State in the offing! A tough schedule, but not that much tougher from recent years, as they've switched out Nebraska for Penn State, and Minnesota for Rutgers.
PSU is obviously a taller task than Nebraska, but Minnesota is usually tougher than Rutgers. No dates, times or tv/streaming information at this time. But here's a quick glance at each of the matchups:
NORTHWESTERN
Little brother is having some hard times since venture capitalist wrestling team Michigan swooped in and purchased their lineup last year. Still, the ILLINI needed last minute heroics from Peter Marinopoulos to salvage a tie and the win by criteria.
Expect less stress in their next matchup. Wrestlestat.com has it as a 26-9 win for the ILLINI. That's giving a win to Frankie Tal-Shahar, and Danny Pucino is 2-0 against him. The best match will probably be Kannon Webster versus Sam Cartella, although Braeden Scoles against Maxx Mayfield sounds interesting to me. The algorithm is predicting a Mayfield win, but I'm not so sure.
INDIANA
Over to the Wrestlestat.com, they're calling for a 31-4 win for the good guys. That's with Lucas Byrd getting a regular decision against a guy who is 5-17 against common opponents.
The four points for the Hoosiers comes from a supposed major for Tyler Lillard over Braeden Scoles. Lillard is good, but this could be a match to watch. Other excellent matches involve Ruth/Washington and Luffman/Bullock. Both Edmond and Luke are favorites, natch.
OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes trounced the ILLINI in Columbus last year 36-6 with only Kannon Webster and Edmond Ruth picking up victories. This season, look for it to be much closer. Wrestlestat.com is calling for a 20-12 win for the bad guys, but that includes Lucas Byrd losing to the beta version of Lucas Byrd called Nic Bouzakis.
With that win, the ILLINI would be very much in upset territory for the dual. There are great matches up and down this card, but we'll spotlight Danny Braunagel versus Rocco Welsh, as a match between two insanely tough guys.
STUPID IOWA
This was another 36-6 loss for ILLINOIS last year, and what looks to be a much closer matchup this season. The two winners for the ILLINI were Kannon Webster and Dylan Connell.
Wrestlestat.com is predicting a 22-9 win for the Stupid Hawkeyes, but that includes Drake Ayala beating Lucas Byrd and Ayala is simply not tough enough to do that.
Again, there are lots of great matchups in this dual, but the one everybody will be pointing to is Edmond Ruth versus Nelson Brands. Should we do our first Nelson Brands gambling joke of the new season here? No, let's wait and build up tension.
PENN STATE
The algorithm at Wrestlestat.com is less sanguine about this dual, spitting out a 29-5 win for the evil empire. It also predicts the only ILLINI to win is Ramazan Attasauov, but he'll have to get by Luke Lilledahl to achieve that result. The Nittany Lion is ranked low by the computer because he's a true Freshman. Not for a lack of talent.
On the other hand, it has Lucas Byrd losing to Aaron Nagao, and we don't think that happens again, as well as Zac Braunagel losing to Lucas Cochran and Kannon Webster losing to Shayne Van Ness. I think we'll wait for the actual results of those matches, thank you.
Note that Wrestlestat.com has Lucas Cochran starting for the Lions, but by that late in the season, it might be little Mirasola or Josh Barr bumping up from 184.
The highlight of the event will be Edmond Ruth taking on 4xer Carter Starocci. If Starocci isn't a little baby girl, he'll go upper-body with Ruth. We'll see. We plan to dare Carter on the internet to do just that. Perhaps even a double-dog dare.
MARYLAND, PURDUE & RUTGERS
The ILLINI are predicted to win 30-3 over the Terrapins. Edmond Ruth versus Jaxon Smith is a fun matchup, while Luke Luffman might see Seth Nevills in this one. Wrestlestat.com is going with a two-point win for Nevills.
The winning streak continues against the Boilermakers, as a 21-12 victory is the prognostication. This was a 19-18 nail-biter last year with Danny Pucino getting the pin, while Matt Ramos could only manage a tech fall against Caelan Riley. Then, it was Peter Marinopoulos with the clutch decision at heavyweight.
Lucas Byrd gets old high school chum Dustin Norris again, while Ramazan Attasauov wrestled Matt Ramos into overtime ... three years ago.
Finally, there's a dual with Rutgers and a predicted 15-15 tie. We'll just say this about that: Let's see what happens on the mat because it will probably not be close. The Brawlnagels, Ruth and Luffman will have key matches, and each of the first three matches should be barnburners.
NONCONFERENCE DUALS
Additionally, we have information on a few of the nonconference duals. On November 9, the ILLINI are set to face Arizona State and Bloomsburg. No word on why the Orange and Blue will be taking on a department store in a dual. Actually, Bloomsburg is not a department store. We lied. It is actually part of the Pennsylvania State system and is located in Bloomsburg, PA.
Additionally, the ILLINI will have a return match, presumably in the Tar Heel State against UNC. That match will take place on November 25, just three days before Thanksgiving. You might recall that last year's matchup in Champaign ended with a 20-13 triumph, an early look at three young faces, Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles and Chris Moore, each picking up a win, as well as victories from Edmond Ruth, Tony Madrigal and Luke Luffman.
Some of the matchups to look forward to from the Arizona State dual include Kannon Webster versus Kaleb Larkin, Luke Luffman against Cohlton Schultz, and Lucas Byrd vs. Julian Chlebove. Wrestlestat.com is calling for an 18-17 ILLINI victory.
As for Bloomsburg, their 197-pounder is ranked in the top 100, so there's that. But against UNC, there will be some fireworks despite Wrestlestat.com looking for a 26-6 win for the good guys. The matchups to watch are Kannon Webster against Lachlan McNeil, Edmond Ruth versus Gavin Kane, and Danny Brawlnagel up against Josh Ogunsanya, the ILLINOIS kid who transferred into UNC from Columbia.
Here's a montage of photographs from the rookies during last season's North Carolina match:
THE GOOSE IS ON THE LOOSE!
And the new Lightweight Champion is ... Johnny Mologousis! Last night he fought in an MMA Title bout against another undefeated fighter, Scottie Sopko. The win went to the Goose! He is now undefeated at 4-0 with a Championship Belt.
The card was set up as Matador Fighter Challenge 7. Baan Rachal and We Rachal were scheduled to fight in the undercard, and were confirmed, but we have no results yet.
If you aren't already following the Goose on Instagram, please go do it now. The more followers he has, the quicker the big money fights and endorsements roll in. Also, follow @werachal and @i.am.baan1. You know you wanna.
THE SUNDAY FUNNIES
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