MajorMike
12-03-2007, 10:12 AM
December 2, 2007
100 times better than OU
Justin Wilmeth
STILLWATER – It's always big to have the all-time edge in a series against a major rival.
And in the case of the Oklahoma State wrestling program, having a 100-dual advantage over a top-five program historically means a lot. Especially when that top-five program is Bedlam rival Oklahoma.
In front of 4,144 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday afternoon, the Cowboys (5-0) won Bedlam for the 124th time, 21-9, making the advantage over the Sooners an even 100 dual meets. The all-time series now stands at 124-24-9. It's not like the Sooners have a bad wrestling program – after all, OU has seven national titles to its credit – it's just that the Cowboys have just that much of a better one. Since 1995, the Cowboys are 25-0-1 against the Sooners, even while the Sooners won two Big 12 Titles during that period.
Those historical figures aren't lost to current members of the Cowboy program, who take pride in the dominance over a solid Sooners program.
"It means a ton to me," 157-pounder Newly McSpadden said. "I remember coming whenever I was little and watching this dual stuff and it's still a battle every time. But having this advantage, I feel that they come to try and keep it close and win a close one. They know that they've got to keep it close and we need to open it up and we have a chance to."
A departure from the recent past, this installment of Bedlam was pretty mundane. The Cowboys jumped out to a quick 9-0 advantage on the team scoreboard with wins in the first three weight classes, which included a 1-0 win by No. 2 Coleman Scott at 113 pounds and a 9-4 win by No. 4 Nathan Morgan at 141 pounds.
From there, OSU slowly built up a commanding lead over the Sooners (4-1), who only won three matches in the dual. Even so, Cowboy head coach John Smith wanted to see more out of his group.
"Those four Northeast Duals, three of them weren't really a test, Hofstra was," Smith said. "I thought we did a little bit of the minimum in the first periods, I thought we let it just click away without any real offense. All of a sudden, you're in a tough match. I guess the one positive I can take from this match other than winning is when it was time to pick up an important takedown, we got it. I'm looking at 57, I'm looking at 165, those particular weight classes where they went scoreless in the first, we broke it open, even at heavyweight picking up an important takedown."
While the team victory was never really in doubt for OSU, there were some exciting individual matches toward the end of the dual, including an upset at 165 pounds, where Jake Dieffenbach posted a 3-2 decision over No. 16 Max Dean of the Sooners. That was the first time Dieffenbach competed for the Cowboys on the orange mat inside Gallagher-Iba. He is a former two-time NAIA champion from Lindenwood University, who transferred to OSU to go to graduate school and use his final year of eligibility with the Pokes.
"It was a good win for (Dieffenbach)," Smith said. "I was pleased with the fact he did get a little more aggressive to pick up that takedown in the second. I didn't like him shutting it down a bit, but that was an important win for him and make no mistake, the OU wrestler transferred from Indiana, won three matches and lost two at the NCAA Championships, a top 10-12 kid in the county, so it was against a quality opponent too."
While the Cowboys won the overall dual, they didn't come out strong in the first period. Only four of the ten Cowboy wrestlers managed to score takedowns in the first period, with only five scoring points of any kind in the first frame.
"I want more, as far as when the whistle blows," Smith said. "It's not that I'm just that demanding, it's that I understand what this team is going to have to do to be successful, or at least I think I know. It's just not enough in this particular dual meet, it wasn't enough in some of those early periods. Especially the first. You set the pace. You've got to hit people in the nose and keep hitting them.
"I thought we had two or three wrestlers – including (Jake) Rosholt – out there not wanting to make a mistake rather than taking an attitude of 'I'm going to beat this guy, and I can beat him bad and if I get taken down one time I can still beat him bad.' I think it's a matter of us dropping our level, coming down to the level we're competing against. I'm not taking anything away from the OU wrestlers, they did a good job of what they needed to do to give themselves a shot to win. Overall, we'll take a win for now and we'll have to get a lot better before next Sunday with maybe the best team Penn State's ever had."
The Nittany Lions are the next challenge for the Cowboys. That dual is set for a 2 p.m. start next Sunday.
100 times better than OU
Justin Wilmeth
STILLWATER – It's always big to have the all-time edge in a series against a major rival.
And in the case of the Oklahoma State wrestling program, having a 100-dual advantage over a top-five program historically means a lot. Especially when that top-five program is Bedlam rival Oklahoma.
In front of 4,144 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday afternoon, the Cowboys (5-0) won Bedlam for the 124th time, 21-9, making the advantage over the Sooners an even 100 dual meets. The all-time series now stands at 124-24-9. It's not like the Sooners have a bad wrestling program – after all, OU has seven national titles to its credit – it's just that the Cowboys have just that much of a better one. Since 1995, the Cowboys are 25-0-1 against the Sooners, even while the Sooners won two Big 12 Titles during that period.
Those historical figures aren't lost to current members of the Cowboy program, who take pride in the dominance over a solid Sooners program.
"It means a ton to me," 157-pounder Newly McSpadden said. "I remember coming whenever I was little and watching this dual stuff and it's still a battle every time. But having this advantage, I feel that they come to try and keep it close and win a close one. They know that they've got to keep it close and we need to open it up and we have a chance to."
A departure from the recent past, this installment of Bedlam was pretty mundane. The Cowboys jumped out to a quick 9-0 advantage on the team scoreboard with wins in the first three weight classes, which included a 1-0 win by No. 2 Coleman Scott at 113 pounds and a 9-4 win by No. 4 Nathan Morgan at 141 pounds.
From there, OSU slowly built up a commanding lead over the Sooners (4-1), who only won three matches in the dual. Even so, Cowboy head coach John Smith wanted to see more out of his group.
"Those four Northeast Duals, three of them weren't really a test, Hofstra was," Smith said. "I thought we did a little bit of the minimum in the first periods, I thought we let it just click away without any real offense. All of a sudden, you're in a tough match. I guess the one positive I can take from this match other than winning is when it was time to pick up an important takedown, we got it. I'm looking at 57, I'm looking at 165, those particular weight classes where they went scoreless in the first, we broke it open, even at heavyweight picking up an important takedown."
While the team victory was never really in doubt for OSU, there were some exciting individual matches toward the end of the dual, including an upset at 165 pounds, where Jake Dieffenbach posted a 3-2 decision over No. 16 Max Dean of the Sooners. That was the first time Dieffenbach competed for the Cowboys on the orange mat inside Gallagher-Iba. He is a former two-time NAIA champion from Lindenwood University, who transferred to OSU to go to graduate school and use his final year of eligibility with the Pokes.
"It was a good win for (Dieffenbach)," Smith said. "I was pleased with the fact he did get a little more aggressive to pick up that takedown in the second. I didn't like him shutting it down a bit, but that was an important win for him and make no mistake, the OU wrestler transferred from Indiana, won three matches and lost two at the NCAA Championships, a top 10-12 kid in the county, so it was against a quality opponent too."
While the Cowboys won the overall dual, they didn't come out strong in the first period. Only four of the ten Cowboy wrestlers managed to score takedowns in the first period, with only five scoring points of any kind in the first frame.
"I want more, as far as when the whistle blows," Smith said. "It's not that I'm just that demanding, it's that I understand what this team is going to have to do to be successful, or at least I think I know. It's just not enough in this particular dual meet, it wasn't enough in some of those early periods. Especially the first. You set the pace. You've got to hit people in the nose and keep hitting them.
"I thought we had two or three wrestlers – including (Jake) Rosholt – out there not wanting to make a mistake rather than taking an attitude of 'I'm going to beat this guy, and I can beat him bad and if I get taken down one time I can still beat him bad.' I think it's a matter of us dropping our level, coming down to the level we're competing against. I'm not taking anything away from the OU wrestlers, they did a good job of what they needed to do to give themselves a shot to win. Overall, we'll take a win for now and we'll have to get a lot better before next Sunday with maybe the best team Penn State's ever had."
The Nittany Lions are the next challenge for the Cowboys. That dual is set for a 2 p.m. start next Sunday.