STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith met with members of the media Wednesday in Gallagher-Iba Arena to preview this Sunday's dual against No. 2 Iowa State. Among the highlights of what Smith said: 

On Iowa State

"Iowa State is a good team. This team has been together, for the most part, all four years. There are several seniors on this team. This senior group at the time was ranked the top recruiting class in the country. They've held them together pretty well and delivered some All-Americans. They obviously had great plans for this group to win a national championship."

On matching up with Iowa State

"It's going to be a competitive dual meet. They match up with us well, probably better than Iowa. I see it being a very tough battle and I see us in a similar situation we were in at Iowa. If we have somebody get upset, it will be tough for us to win the dual meet."

On his wrestlers squaring off with unfamiliar faces

"We've got new people in the lineup and they don't. That's the biggest difference from last year and the last couple years. We could even have some new ones on Sunday. I look at some of the matchups and obviously, it's some of our youth going against their upperclassmen. The matchups that are key are their upperclassmen against our younger guys."

On facing a tough environment at Iowa before getting back to conference duals

"I think it was a tough dual meet, but I think we gained some things from it. I've taken some teams to Iowa over the last several years that the crowd probably helped us perform better. They seemed to be excited in that environment. This particular team wasn't quite ready for it. I think we lost three matches after the first minute of the match when it looked like we were gasping for air. That experience will definitely help and I think they recognize 'I wasn't ready for the match, I wasn't in the match, I mentally wasn't prepared' and you always come back the next week and look at yourself a little different."

On the rivalry at heavyweight between OSU's Jared Rosholt and Iowa State's David Zabriskie

"I think there is definitely a rivalry. I don't think Jared Rosholt likes him. He won the last one up at Iowa State. It's gone back and forth. This guy is a real scrambler and he does some good things. It's not going to be any different. Jared is going to have to wrestle his style better than Zabriskie does. When Jared does that, he's a notch above him. You've got to be committed to what you need to do in the match to be sure you win by one, you win by five or you win by six. There's a lot of history there, but there's not something we're going to see as a surprise. We know how he's going to score and they know how Jared is going to score. Hopefully you're going to see a high-paced match with a lot of points scored."

On the grind of the schedule

"It's a grind. With the schedule that we have, there's just no room to relax. We've been in that position for the last two or three years where we can't take people for granted. We lost to Missouri last year, we lost to Nebraska last year, we lost to Iowa State last year. It's not the old days where you had to worry about four teams. You have to worry about them all because they're all competitive. You've got to get up every week, that's the grind of the season. If we don't train well this week, which we have up to this point, you're not prepared for the second-best team and maybe the best team in a dual meet."

On the team's improvement from last year

"The one thing this team has done for us is they've gone from about No. 14, 15 or 16 and returning one All-American and we've jumped up to about No. 4 in the country. That's a big jump, but you do that because of your performance and your effort and your commitment. But to make that next leap, it takes something different. I've been here plenty of times and I've seen teams that do make it and I've seen teams that don't make it. We must focus on making that next jump to where we are competitive and can maybe compete for an NCAA Championship. There needs to be another leap with this group. We have come a long way and I can't deny this team of that. They've made some real commitments to get back into the picture."