Pittsburgh Wrestling’s Upset Over Buckeyes Earns Panthers Weekly Award and Sends Rankings Into Chaos With a Massive 5-Spot Leap

Top-seeded teams, Penn State and North Carolina State remain the major attractions at the ACC-Big Ten Wrestling championship. Both are performing well on the wrestling mat this season. While Penn State is No. 1 with 350 points, NC State is in the second with 327 points, according to the NWCA Men’s Wrestling Coaches Poll. However, one of the participating teams other than these two is making headlines.

Pitts wrestling team has stormed social media and is honored as the NCAA Team of the Week. The major triumph is not only limited to the NCAA Team of the Week honor, as the team has also clinched an upset win against a ranking opponent Ohio State Buckeyes.

Pitts Panthers’ massive boost in ranking

Pittsburgh’s wrestling team has been on fire this week. The major reason behind the team’s exceptional performance is its early season dual against No. 5 ranking Ohio State. This match molded the path of the Pitts team to the weekly honor. The recent tweet by NCAA Wrestling was captioned, “ NCAA Team of the Week.”

The senior team caption of the Pitts wrestling team sparked the match against No. 5 Ohio State. In the last-second takedown, Cole Matthew pined the No. 3 ranking opponent Jesse Mendes in the 141-pound wrestling category. His 4-2 win formed the basis for a 6-3 dual while igniting a 21-13 win in the top-20 ACC Big Ten Matchup, marking the first top-five dual win in a decade. 

Therefore, the Pitts wrestling team was awarded the NCAA Team of the Week honor to acknowledge the recent remarkable win. In addition, team Pittsburgh, with an upset win over Ohio State, was uplifted from No. 19 rank to No. 13 according to the NWCA Division I Men’s Wrestling Coaching Poll released this Tuesday. However, Pitts is not the only team improving the rank. 

Which wrestling teams have improved their rankings this week?

While the Panthers improved to the NO. 13 rank, Ohio State slid five spots down to the No. 10 rank this week. The top 10 also saw the Oklahoma State wrestling team improve two spots to No.9 after a couple of wins against ranked opponents. Interestingly, top-ranking Penn State reigned the throne this week after the Nittany Lions beat Hofstra by 43-10 over the weekend. 

Read more: Pittsburgh Wrestling Star Pulls Off Unprecedented Feat to Propel Panthers to Stunning Upset Victory Against OSU

In the ranked duals held last week, No. 12 Minnesota improved to 5-0 after defeating Dakota State by 33-7. While No. 13, then Rutgers, won the battle with Princeton, it lost against Buffalo over the weekend. However, these are just temporary rankings, and it may see many more ups and downs until the end of the tournament. Stay hooked to find out! 

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