No. 1 Penn State wrestling dominated No. 4/6 Nebraska 31-7 Friday night in Lincoln for the program’s 64th consecutive dual win. The Nittany Lions won eight of ten bouts, flexing just how far the distance is between them and the rest of the top teams in college wrestling.
What are we taking away from the win as the 8-0 Nittany Lions head into the heart of Big Ten play?
Penn State wrestling widens the gap in duals
It’s no secret how much of a machine Cael Sanderson has created at Penn State. The Nittany Lions have won 11 National Championships in 13 seasons and are working toward their third four-peat under Sanderson.
That said, Nebraska came into the weekend ranked No. 4 and No. 6 in InterMat’s tournament and dual rankings, respectively. Scoring over 30 points against any top-five-caliber team is impressive, no matter how it was accomplished. For Penn State, it was winning eight of ten bouts against a team that had all ten wrestlers individually ranked.
Simply put, Sanderson has built a buzzsaw this season in Happy Valley. So far, we’ve seen little evidence to suggest that Penn State wrestling will do anything but walk away with the National Championship trophy come March.
The question remains whether this team can surpass the historic postseason marks set by last year’s squad. It appears there’s really no team in the country that can compete with Sanderson’s lineup head-on. There’s a reason that Penn State has won 64 consecutive duals. We will know more in two weeks when the Iowa Hawkeyes make the trip to the Bryce Jordan Center for a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup in what will again be the dual of the season.
The Hawkeyes are the clear No. 2 team in the country right now and have the most talent other than the Nittany Lions. Despite matching up relatively well, even Iowa doesn’t have the bonus point machines like Penn State.
If Penn State wrestling finds a way to throttle Iowa by double digits, who knows when this win streak will end.
Luke Lilledahl has arrived

© Chris Eutsler / Basic Blues Nation, 2025.
How fast will Luke Lilledahl become a contender? It was a question that many in the media and wrestling community had asked all offseason.
Lilledahl was the top overall recruit last cycle and slid perfectly into the 125-pound lineup spot for Penn State with last year’s starter, Braeden Davis, moving up to 133 pounds. After starting the season unranked, Lilledahl moved up within the weight class rankings thanks to a 4-1 decision over Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour in December.
However, Lilledahl hasn’t had many opportunities for quality wins since. As a result, he’s hovered around No. 12 in the national rankings. But the opportunity presented itself on Friday night, and the true freshman made the most of it with a 4-2 upset win over No. 6 Caleb Smith. Lilledahl remained calm yet aggressive throughout the match before securing a late takedown in the third to pull off the victory.
The match didn’t feel like a fluke. Instead, it seemed to be more of an announcement to the rest of college wrestling that Lilledahl has not only adjusted to the next level but is ready to be considered a national title contender.
Not everyone is unbeatable
While Penn State wrestling has a loaded lineup in 2025, not every wrestler is immune to being knocked off.
Sure, Mitchell Mesenbrink and Carter Starocci look like runaway trains. But they are a different breed. Both losses that the Nittany Lions suffered on Friday were considered upsets based on the InterMat rankings.
The first was a shockingly dominant 14-7 decision by No. 16 Jacob Van Dee over No. 5 Braeden Davis at 133 pounds. The score doesn’t even do justice to how dominant Van Dee was in the dual. It looked like Davis would take an early lead after a good shot on Van Dee. But in the blink of an eye, the roles were reversed, and it was Davis fighting for his life to avoid being pinned. The result was a 7-0 lead for Van Dee, and he remained in control until the finish.
While the second loss of the season doesn’t put Davis out of the title picture, his ranking will take a hit. However, he also suffered two losses in the regular season last year before winning the Big Ten Championship and earning the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Championships.
Perhaps more shocking was No. 2 Shayne Van Ness, who fell to No. 4 Ridge Lovett at 149 pounds by a 10-2 major decision. It wasn’t necessarily surprising that Lovett won the match. After all, he was the favorite to win the weight class last year. But the Cornhusker controlled Van Ness throughout the dual.
Van Ness went up 2-0 with a nice reversal in the second period but then got thoroughly dominated. It was the first time this season that we have seen him struggle that much. In addition to his undefeated record, Van Ness had picked up bonus points in nine of his ten wins and had pinned his last five opponents, including No. 10 Jordan Williams of Little Rock, heading into this weekend.
I still think Van Ness has a good shot to win it all this March. The talent is certainly there. Sometimes, a loss like this can be what a skilled wrestler needs to lock in and make a deep postseason run.
The sophomore will get a chance at redemption in two weeks when No. 3 Kyle Parco of Iowa makes the trip to the BJC. A win in that dual and Van Ness will be right back near the top of the rankings with a shot at earning a one or two-seed in the NCAA Championships.
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