In case you haven’t heard, folks, Penn State wrestling is a wagon.

After steamrolling No. 2 Ohio State in a dual that was billed as the best shot another team had against the reigning national champions in years, Cael Sanderson and company have now won 85 consecutive dual meets and will look to finish the season undefeated with No. 86 on Friday night against Princeton.

It’s been 2,210 days since Penn State lost to Iowa on January 31, 2020. Since then, they haven’t lost a dual, and the only times they’ve tasted anything but sweet, sweet victory since were losing out on the 2021 national championship and a few Big Ten titles. Still, as we creep closer to the college wrestling postseason, Penn State has won three consecutive Big Ten titles and four consecutive national titles.

With no end in sight to the dual meet win streak, barring injuries or something unforeseen, you start to wonder what it would take to slay a dynasty that just keeps getting stronger. Could a team of Big Ten all-stars unseat them? Maybe not. Could the entire country come together and send its best wrestlers to slay the beast?

With six No. 1 wrestlers and nine in the top six, that’s not even a guarantee, but let’s find out.

125 Pounds

Luke Lilledahl is the nation’s No. 1 wrestler, a ranking bestowed upon him several weeks ago, but was solidified with his sudden victory defeat of Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis last Friday. Lilledahl has been dominant in his sophomore season, currently sitting (officially) at 16-0 with a pin, eight tech falls, and two major decisions for a 68.75% bonus rate.

After beating the No. 2-ranked Bouzakis, it’s fair to wonder who would put up the best fight. Vincent Robinson of NC State is the reigning national champion, but Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca might be the best wrestler at 125 outside of Lilledahl and Bouzakis.

The answer, though, could be in a man who beat Lilledahl in the NCAA Championships last March. Sheldon Seymour of Lehigh upset the top-seeded Lilledahl in the quarterfinals, limiting his offense to win in tiebreakers. There’s also a case that Bouzakis still has the best chance despite the loss, as he’s one of the strongest wrestlers at the weight and could use that strength in a scramble to put him on his back.

133 Pounds

Marcus Blaze also remains undefeated after winning his blockbuster bout against Ohio State’s Ben Davino in tiebreakers, earning the freshman the No. 2 spot in the latest Intermat rankings. He now stands at 18-0 with four pins, six tech falls, and five major decisions for an 83.3% bonus rate.

The easy answer for who the College All-Stars would send out to face him is reigning national champion Lucas Byrd of Illinois. Byrd is one of three (Jesse Mendez & Mitchell Mesenbrink) reigning national champions to be undefeated in 2025-26, but he’s lacking a signature win with Illinois’ light dual schedule. Byrd dominated Braeden Davis in their meetings last year at 133 and maintains the No. 1 spot by steadily beating everyone in front of him. These two are destined to meet at the Big Ten Championships.

A sneaky pick, though, could be a fellow freshman. Oklahoma State made a bold move in allowing one of the nation’s top 2026 recruits, Jax Forrest, to enroll early at the loaded weight class. He’s passed every test so far, including an impressive 10-9 win over No. 6 Aaron Seidel of Virginia Tech on Sunday. Is a defensive wrestler a better bet to knock off Blaze, or is it an offensive dynamo?

141 Pounds

Penn State is stacked at almost every weight class, but 141 is one where the College All-Stars can pick up some bonus points. The easy matchup is Davis vs. Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez, the reigning two-time national champion who needed less than six minutes to finish off Davis on Friday via tech fall, 18-2.

Of course, if we’re looking at this in a vacuum and assuming there are no injuries, Penn State would also have the currently injured Aaron Nagao and true freshman Nathan Desmond at its disposal, but the result seems inevitable either way.

149 Pounds

Shayne Van Ness remains the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 149, adding another big win over the weekend to improve to 17-0 with four pins, eight tech falls, and three major decisions, giving him an impressive 88.2% bonus rate.

The two-time All-American hasn’t faced the stiffest competition in 2025-26, but his biggest nemesis in the past, Ridge Lovett from Nebraska, graduated last year. He missed out on facing No. 6 Ethan Stiles on Friday, so his lone top-10 win remains No. 4 Carter Young, whom he rallied back from a 7-0 deficit against to win via tech fall in January.

As for who the College All-Stars would send out? Freshman Jaxon Joy has been tremendous at Cornell with a tougher schedule, pinning Stiles in November and defeating Arizona State’s Kaleb Larkin via tech fall. He has three other top 10 wins, all by decision, against Penn’s Cross Wasilewski, Virginia Tech’s Collin Gaj, and Oklahoma State’s Casey Swiderski.

157 Pounds

PJ Duke’s true freshman season has been spectacular for Penn State, as he’s only been taken down once all season and has just one defeat in a controversial match at the Bryce Jordan Center against No. 3 Antrell Taylor, the reigning national champion. Duke sits at 15-1 with eight pins, two tech falls, and one major decision for a 73.3% bonus rate.

Taylor is the obvious pick for the College All-Stars, but there are other options. We missed out on a thrilling matchup on Friday, as No. 1 Brandon Cannon of Ohio State is currently out with an injury, but he’s expected to return by the Big Ten Championship in March. Cornell’s Meyer Shapiro is, like Joy at 149, an offensive machine that can put up points in a hurry. There’s no bad choice here.

165 Pounds

Penn State’s lone reigning national champion, Mitchell Mesenbrink, is ole’ reliable. He’s one of the only wrestlers in the country to pick up bonus points in every single match, currently sitting at 18-0 with seven pins, seven tech falls, and three major decisions (with a forfeit against Northwestern).

Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo entered this year as the wrestler with the best chance of knocking off Mesenbrink, but the reigning national finalist has fallen to No. 4 due to losses to Oklahoma State’s Dee Lockett and Purdue’s Joey Blaze, who are both undefeated and have never faced Mesenbrink. Both would be heavy underdogs if/when they face the Nittany Lion, but with no prior matchups, predicting the result is difficult.

174 Pounds

Levi Haines is looking to get back to the top of the podium after taking third at the NCAA Championships in 2025. The 2024 157-pound national champion is still undefeated as the regular season winds down, sitting at 17-0 with four pins, nine techs, and two major decisions for an 88.2% bonus rate.

Only two wrestlers have held him to a decision in 2025-26, Iowa’s Gabe Arnold and Nebraska’s Christopher Minto. Arnold is not a starter at Iowa, who will almost certainly send out Patrick Kennedy in the postseason, while Minto gave Haines a serious scare in late January. Along with Minto, Cornell’s Simon Ruiz will be a formidable threat in the postseason, currently sitting at 12-0 with a win over former Nittany Lion Alex Facundo. Haines defeated Ruiz, 4-1, in the consolation bracket in the 2025 NCAA Championships.

184 Pounds

Rocco Welsh has had some scares along the way, but the Ohio State transfer remains undefeated after a thrilling comeback victory on Friday against No. 8 Dylan Fishback, improving to 16-0 with one pin, four tech falls, and five majors for a 62.5% bonus rate.

The 184-pound weight class will be truly unpredictable in the postseason, with the top of the weight class primarily preferring low-scoring, one-takedown matches. Minnesota’s Max McEnelly, who came closest to thwarting Carter Starocci’s undefeated season last year, Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair, and Iowa’s Angelo Ferrari all could conceivably go out there for the College All-Stars. Welsh has only faced Ferrari, defeating him in tiebreakers in January.

197 Pounds

On any other team in the nation, Josh Barr would be the feature attraction, but he’s just one of several overwhelmingly dominant wrestlers in State College, going under the radar after missing the start of the season with a rib injury sustained at the U23 World Championships in October. He returned in late December and is currently 15-0 with four pins, six tech falls, and five majors for a perfect bonus rate, dominating numerous top-20 wrestlers.

The only option for this exercise is No. 2 Rocky Elam of Iowa State, as Barr majored No. 3 Stephen Little back in January. Elam is a perfect 13-0 with four top-10 wins, but all four are by decision, while Barr has three major decisions against his top-10 opponents.

Heavyweight

It says a lot about your program when the second-lowest-ranked wrestler in the starting lineup is No. 6, but that’s the case for Penn State after Cole Mirasola defeated then-No. 3 Nick Feldman on Friday for his season-defining win. The redshirt freshman has had a solid season and is coming into his own, sitting at 13-4 with four pins, three tech falls, and one major.

Mirasola has gone neck-and-neck with some of the nation’s best wrestlers, but came up short against the likes of Nebraska’s AJ Ferrari and Michigan’s Taye Ghadiali. A College All-Star team would surely send Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida, though, to the dual, as the senior sits at 20-0 with a 65% bonus rate. Most of his non-bonus victories, however, have come against opponents like Feldman and Iowa’s Ben Kueter.

How Would A Dual Meet Go?

The math suggests Penn State is the favorite, with six No. 1 wrestlers, but all it would take is one or two upsets by the College All-Stars to win.

Penn State’s heavy favorites would be at 165, 174, and 197, as all three have separated themselves from their respective weights with their recent body of work. The question would be who could pick up a bonus, which is a hard one to answer because of likely opponents being in different conferences.

But 141 and 285 would be heavy favorites for the College All-Stars, especially at 141, where we saw first-hand what happens when a Hodge Trophy contender faces Davis. Even with how much Mirasola has improved, Bastida looks like he’s on another level.

Penn State has to feel good about 125, but you’re always one slip-up away from dropping that, especially in a rematch with Bouzakis. After that, it’s completely up in the air. Blaze and Byrd wrestle two different styles at 133, Joy has been a wrecking ball at 149 that Van Ness will have to overcome, and both 157 and 184 are weights where the Nittany Lion is one of several who could go on to win it all or finish in fourth or fifth place.

If this hypothetical dual meet were to take place, it screams a 17-16 dual either way. But if we’ve learned anything from the 17 seasons under Cael Sanderson, it’s never doubt him or his wrestlers.

Give me the Penn State Nittany Lions.