Big Ten reveals Penn State wrestling opponents for 2025-26 season

Penn State wrestling is three months removed from its fourth consecutive NCAA Championship. Now, the drive for title No. 5 officially begins with the Big Ten’s release of the 2025-26 conference schedule on Monday.

While dates and start times will be announced at a later date, we did learn the Nittany Lions’ eight conference dual opponents with Monday’s scheduling update.

Penn State will host two programs that finished in the top five of March’s NCAA Championships, facing Nebraska and Ohio State at home next winter. The Cornhuskers and Buckeyes will likely be the top candidates for the Nittany Lions’ annual Bryce Jordan Center dual. The athletic department could also opt to host both opponents in the larger venue across campus, as it did with a pair of BJC duals last year.

Indiana and Rutgers will round out the home slate for the Nittany Lions.

As for its road schedule, Penn State will head to Iowa, which finished No. 4 in the team standings in March. The Nittany Lions have won four in a row against the Hawkeyes, including a 30-8 victory at the BJC in January and a 29-6 win in Iowa City in 2024.

Cael Sanderson’s squad will also travel to Maryland, Michigan, and Northwestern.

Our 2025 B1G rotation is set!#PSUwr pic.twitter.com/IHpvBDbpYX

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) June 16, 2025

Penn State wrestling has captured the Big Ten Dual Season Championship in each of the last five seasons. The program has won 71 consecutive regular season matches, with its last loss coming at Iowa on January 31, 2020.

We can expect to learn more about the Nittany Lions’ regular-season opponents in the coming months. The full schedule will be released in the early fall.

Changes coming to Penn State wrestling lineup

Incoming Penn State wrestler Masanosuke Ono © Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.

Penn State became only the second team in NCAA history to finish with 10 All-Americans in 2025. While the Nittany Lions return seven of those 10 starters for 2026, there is expected to be plenty of lineup shifting to help replace the losses of longtime starters Beau Bartlett, Carter Starocci, and Greg Kerkvliet.

The Nittany Lions added former NCAA Finalist Rocco Welsh from Ohio State in March, who will likely become a plug-and-play replacement for Starocci at 184 pounds. Redshirt freshman Cole Mirasola is also well-positioned to step into Kerkvliet’s starting role at heavyweight.

But things quickly become more complex at the lighter weights. The program returns Braeden Davis and Aaron Nagao, who each have posted All-American seasons at 133. However, Penn State will also welcome Japanese world champion Masanosuke Ono and top overall recruit Marcus Blaze to campus this fall. All four wrestlers could be viable options to compete at 133 and/or 141 in 2026.

If that wasn’t enough, the Nittany Lions will also add standout prospect PJ Duke, who just defeated four-time NCAA Champion Yianni Diakomihalis to earn a spot on the Senior National Team for the upcoming World Championships. While Duke would more naturally slot into the middle of the lineup, it may be difficult for Sanderson to keep him off the mat as a true freshman.

Exactly how the Nittany Lions’ lineup shakes out will generate plenty of fodder between now and the start of the season in November. But one thing is certain: there will be no lack of talent when Sanderson and the Nittany Lions return to action this season.

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