By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com

Stillwater News Press sports editor Roger Moore wrote in a story this week that wrestling season was getting about as twisted as the college football season.

There's something to that, but the season didn't start out with Appalachian State beating Michigan on the mats, although the Wolverines and Mountaineers actually face each other next month in the Dallas area for the Lone Star Duals.

We're still seeing some general craziness in the college wrestling season, and don't look for it to end anytime soon.

We're just over a month into the season and already there have been three teams that have claimed the #1 ranking in the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll.

Minnesota was a unanimous pre-season selection as the top team in the land, but after the Gophers stumbled against Iowa State, it was Cael Sanderson's Cyclones that moved into the top spot - again, unanimously.

And it was short-lived. 

Without the services of returning NCAA champion Mark Perry, Iowa upended the Cyclones in Ames in a similar fashion to how the Cael Sanderson-led Cyclones beat Minnesota a week earlier.

Sparked by upset victories by Joey Slaton at 133 pounds, Dan LeClere at 141 and Matt Fields at 285, Iowa beat Iowa State in front of a "capacity" crowd at the Hilton Coliseum 20-13.

The end result moved Iowa to the #1 position in the rankings for the first time since November of 2000, ending a seven-year drought that saw the Hawkeyes devoid of a top national ranking.

It was hardly over, as at nearly the exact same time, Penn State knocked off Oklahoma State in Stillwater on the strength of two falls - one by Bubba Jenkins at 141 pounds - and the final one by Phil Davis at 197 as the Nittany Lions defeated the Cowboys 21-18.

Penn State walked away from the weekend 2-0 after shutting out rival Lehigh 33-0 on Friday. The win moved Penn State to #3, leapfrogging Minnesota, who dropped despite beating Nebraska, Cal Poly and Cal State-Fullerton over the weekend.

Other ranking shifts saw UT-Chattanooga ascend into the Top 10 for the first time in school history. While the Mocs were idle, they moved up after Wisconsin tied then-unranked Northern Iowa 16-16 and lost on Monday at Ohio State 23-13.

We're seeing that one single performance can throw a dual outcome into a tizzy. We saw it when Josh Haines of Maryland beat Tyrel Todd of Michigan at the Northeast Duals in November. 

In Northern Iowa's case, upset victories by unheralded Trenton Washington over Zach Tanelli at 133 pounds and Andrew Anderson topping Dallas Herbst at 197 led to the tie. The dual featured three matches with one-point differences. 

For his trouble, Brad Penrith's Panthers will have #1 Iowa and #2 Iowa State … this week.

Streaking

Derek DelPorto and his Eastern Michigan squad have won all four duals contested so far this season. The Eagles topped MAC-rival Ohio U. 31-6 to open the season before winning three at the Campbellsville Duals in Kentucky.

EMU dropped Division II Newberry 23-11, host Campbellsville 33-6 and Liberty 17-16 to get off and running with a 4-0 start. 

Maryland has won three in a row to move to 7-3 on the young season. The Terps, ranked 23rd each of the last two weeks, bested a pair of New Jersey schools over the weekend. Josh Haines knocked off another ranked opponent - Rider's Doug Umbehauer - in a 42-6 victory over the Broncs. Eric Medina was also notable in his victory by fall over returning All-American Don Fisch at 149 pounds. Fisch is teetering on the edge of the Top 20 after making the decision to stay up at the weight. The Terps also beat Rutgers 39-4.

Facts and Figures

InterMat is about to release its stats leaders page in the coming days, but before that gets done, we'll tease you here. 

Who's leading the nation in victories? That goes to UW-Parkside's 165-pounder Kyle Becker. Becker's off to a 22-2 start this season.

Most falls? Oswego State's Jake Taylor has a 13-2 record this season and all of his wins have come by fall. In fact, only one of Taylor's matches has gone the distance, his 7-4 loss to MIT's Glenn Geesman. Taylor's other loss came by fall - to Geesman.

It's Division III with a leader in the major decision category, but The College of New Jersey's Tyler Branham isn't alone. Branham has eight major decisions so far this season, tying him with Division II leader Trevor Franklin of Upper Iowa. Franklin's 12-0 this season.

Division I finally gets a leader in the technical fall category. Bloomsburg 125-pounder Mike Sees has seven technical falls thus far.

Leaders

WINS
DI: Alex Conover, Bloomsburg (21)
DII: Kyle Becker, UW-Parkside (22)
DIII: Andre Taylor, Dubuque (21)

PINS
D I: Mike Spaid, Bloomsburg & Matt Kyler, Army (11)
D II: Pino Scavella, Gannon (11)
D III: Jake Taylor, Oswego State (13)

TECH FALLS
D1: Mike Sees, Bloomsburg (7)
D2: Craig Becker, UW-Parkside & Matt Farrell, Nebraska-Kearney (4)
D3: Bud Crosswell, Elizabethtown & Greg Osgoodby, TCNJ (5)

MAJORS
D1: Jordan Burroughs, Nebraska (7)
D2: Trevor Franklin, Upper Iowa (8)
D3: Tyler Branham, TCNJ (8)

Happy 12/12 Everyone.