University of Minnesota Athletics
Wrestling Opens Big Ten Action
1/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Big Ten Duals
After a rare weekend off, the Golden Gophers will hit the ground running with the opening of Big Ten duals this weekend. Minnesota begins conference action on the road, at Michigan State on Friday Jan. 22, before heading to Michigan just a day later on Jan. 23. Each match is set for a 6:00 p.m. start, and it will be the first conference action for each school.
The Records
The Gophers enter the weekend with a 5-4 record in dual meets, after going 2-2 in their last outing at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals. All four of the No. 5 ranked Gophers losses have come to the teams ranked No. 1 though No. 4. Michigan State will bring a 6-1-1 record into the match, coming off a perfect performance at the Spartan Duals last weekend. Michigan, meanwhile, begins the weekend with a 4-7 record in dual meets and will face off with Iowa before meeting Minnesota.
The Series
The Gophers and Spartans have met 61 times in the all-time series with Michigan State holding a slim 31-30 lead. The Gophers and Wolverines have matched up 57 times with Michigan also leading, by a 30-25-2 margin all-time.
Last Match-Up
Last season, Minnesota also opened the Big Ten portion of the schedule with Michigan State, claiming a 30-6 victory. The Gophers won eight of 10 matches on their way to the victory. A few weeks later, Michigan came to Minneapolis sporting a No. 18 national ranking and upset the No. 8 ranked Gophers 17-16. Each team won five bouts, but the Wolverines won two of the final three to secure the victory.
Follow Along
When the Gophers and Spartans meet on Jan. 22, the match will be streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com. Log on to www.BigTenNetwork.com/ or www.MSUpartans.com to watch. For the match against the Wolverines, go to http://www.MGoBlue.com and click on the wrestling schedule page for coverage details.
Last Time Out
Minnesota was off last week, their final weekend off of the season. In their last action on Jan. 9 and 10, the Gophers placed fourth at the National Duals.
Next Up
The Golden Gophers get to return home for the first time in nearly a month next weekend when they host Wisconsin and Purdue. The Badgers visit first, coming to Williams Arena on Jan. 29 for a 7:00 p.m. match, while the Boilermakers visit two days later on Jan. 31 at 2:00 p.m. in the Sports Pavilion. The Jan. 31 match with Purdue is also the Gopher Wrestling Endowment Meet.
The Next 100 Years
Golden Gopher Wrestling fans, you can help build for the next 100 years, and it's as easy as coming to the meet. When Minnesota hosts Purdue on Jan. 31, it will be the Golden Gopher Wrestling Endowment Meet. 100% of the ticket revenue against Purdue will go directly to fund scholarships for the Minnesota Wrestling team. So when fans buy their tickets, they will be making a donation to the future of Golden Gopher wrestling, and one that a student-athlete will directly benefit from.
Get Score Updates on Your Phone
Fans can get scoring updates from all of Golden Gopher athletics through the Twitter page @GopherScores. Just find and follow @GopherScores, then set up your phone or mobile device to receive the text updates. If you are not already on Twitter, you will need to create an account.
Twitter
Follow the Golden Gophers on Twitter. Just search @GopherWrestling on Twitter to follow all the news updates.