Is Penn State wrestling becoming a victim of its own success?

Penn State wrestling has become one of the most dominant dynasties in modern collegiate sports. The Nittany Lions recently finished off their fourth straight NCAA Championship and have now won 12 titles in 14 tournaments.

Like any dynasty, winning elevates expectations, often to an unobtainable level. On a recent episode of FloWrestling Radio Live, the hosts discussed whether Penn State has become so good that it now creates the illusion of failure within the program.

Penn State wrestling is the victim of their success

Has Cael Sanderson built the Penn State wrestling program into such a dominant force that its wins have become so expected and non-exciting? FloWrestling Radio Live host JD Rader recently explained how the story from this year’s NCAA Championships was more focused on the teams around the Nittany Lions rather than the program’s run to another record-breaking title.

“Penn State has become such a victim of their own success that the story coming out of NCAAs is the second and third place teams, when this team broke their own record, set the NCAA scoring record, was the second team to have 10 All-Americans, all guys in the top six.

“…And just that Penn State fans were down, and the story coming away is Nebraska and Oklahoma State. They have become such a victim of their own success.”

Radar isn’t the only one who has noticed this trend. Former Penn State wrestling national champion and current UFC star Bo Nickal took to social media to discuss how nobody is talking about the Nittany Lions’ historic performance at the NCAA Championships.

“Pretty crazy the wrestling world isn’t talking about PSU scoring 177, I repeat, 177 team points,” he wrote. “Eight guys top three, all top top six. A boring amount of domination.”

Nothing is surprising for the Nittany Lions

Penn State broke its own NCAA record of 172.5 team points by 4.5 points, but did so with only two national champions. The remaining Nittany Lions all finished in third at their respective weight classes, with the exception of Braeden Davis, who finished fifth, and Greg Kerkvliet, who injury defaulted to sixth.

However, it’s exactly because the expectations for Penn State coming into the 2025 NCAA Championships were so high that the Nittany Lions ended up dominating the tournament quietly.

“While they deserve flowers for putting the best team, maybe ever, on the mat, let’s face the facts that if you look at 125, 141, 149, 157, those are all weights we thought they could win,” Christian Pyles said. “…No one did above because the standard is so high and the expectations are so high.

“And I think that’s how you get to this point. Everyone knows they’re the best team. There was no discussion at any point in time if Penn State was going to win. There was no discussion at any point if it could even possibly be close. That’s exactly how it played out.”

Penn State reloads its roster

Cael Sanderson will return seven of his ten starters from this season and has the No. 1 overall recruiting class, including top prospects Marcus Blaze and PJ Duke, showing up on campus next fall.

While the Nittany Lions have lost some of their depth to the transfer portal, including former top-10 recruit Zack Ryder, the program has only continued to reload. In recent weeks, Penn State has added World Champion Masanosuke Ono and 2024 NCAA Finalist Rocco Welsh to the roster for 2026.

So, while the outside world may think that Penn State wrestling can’t get any more dominant after the last two seasons, Sanderson appears to be out to prove that there is still more room left to climb for the Nittany Lions.

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