OSU's Jared Rosholt is ranked No. 1 at heavyweight. Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State.

John Smith likes the way his team is wrestling right now.

The fourth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys are 8-0-1 in dual meets this season and won the Virginia Duals this past weekend.

But Smith was quick to acknowledge his team hasn't been tested like it will be on Saturday night against the top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. The teams meet at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

"It's always a tough dual meet, and always very competitive," Smith said Wednesday afternoon during a teleconference with the news media. "We have to wrestle extremely, extremely hard to make it a dual meet. If we don't, we will have a real tough time winning.

"We may need two or three guys to pull off surprises."

No matter the circumstances, this is always a hard-fought dual. It matches the two winningest programs in NCAA history. OSU owns 34 NCAA team titles. Iowa has won 22 titles, including the last two.

Oklahoma State has won 9 of the last 10 duals with Iowa, who won in Stillwater last year. OSU has won the last four times the teams have met in Iowa City. The Cowboys won four straight NCAA team titles from 2003-06 during that stretch.

The Cowboys were the last team to beat Iowa, in 2008, when the Hawkeyes were ranked No. 1. Iowa (13-0 this season) has rattled off a school-record 51 straight dual wins since that setback.

"(The streak) is awfully impressive," said Smith, who has coached OSU to five NCAA team titles. "It's extremely tough to win that many duals in a row. But Tom (Brands, Iowa's coach) has built a lot of depth there."

Smith said 184-pounder Clayton Foster, who has been out with an injury, is expected back in the lineup.

The Cowboys feature one of the nation's most talked about wrestlers in Alan Gelogaev, who competes at 197. Gelogaev is from Moscow, Russia. He is 20-1 and ranked sixth nationally.

"He is making some adjustments collegiately," Smith said. "It hasn't been an easy transition. It's been a little bit of a headache sometimes. He does some things a third-grader wouldn't do out there because he's never wrestled (folkstyle) before. He's wrestled freestyle his whole life. Collegiate wrestling is much, much tougher physically than freestyle on the conditioning side of a match. You have to wrestle in all three areas - feet, top and bottom."

The Cowboys have two of the nation's top freshmen in Jordan Oliver (133) and Alex Meade (165).

Oliver won a Junior World bronze medal in 2009. He is 17-2 this season. He could face Iowa All-American Daniel Dennis, who has been sidelined with an injury. Oliver is ranked sixth. Dennis is ranked fourth.

"(Oliver) is a young freshman at a very tough weight class," Smith said. "He's been a little up and down. He hasn't really beaten any of the best guys yet. He's looking for that one big win to break through and build some confidence. Overall, I'm pleased with where he's at."

Sophomore Mike Benefiel, a transfer from Northwestern, also has wrestled well at 174. He is scheduled to face top-ranked Jay Borschel of Iowa. Benefiel is 24-1 this season.

"He's wrestled well," Smith said. "He hasn't wrestled anyone in the top 10 yet, and he's looking forward to it. He will hit the best wrestler in the country this weekend. The way he's been wrestling has been impressive."

OSU is led by senior All-American Jared Rosholt, who is ranked No. 1 at heavyweight. The Cowboys also have wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in Chris Notte (125) and Jamal Parks (141). Notte is slated to battle unbeaten Hawkeye freshman Matt McDonough, who is ranked fourth.

Oklahoma State's biggest win of the season was a 21-8 home win over No. 5 Minnesota last month. OSU did tie rival Oklahoma 16-16 in Norman in their first Bedlam dual of the season.

After facing Iowa, OSU will battle No. 2 Iowa State on Jan. 24 in Stillwater.

"We have some real tough duals coming up," Smith said. "We've come a long way from the beginning of the year and hopefully we can continue to improve."