Grapple on the Gridiron

[HI54UNI]

Iowa and Oklahoma State will wrestle tomorrow in an outdoor meet at Kinnick Stadium (Iowa's FB stadium). 35,000 tickets have been sold.

Imagine that feeling in the late summer of 1969 when word spread of a massive concert in New York. Everybody who was anybody was set to take the stage for an event known as the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

They came, they saw, they remember.

Not that Saturday’s Oklahoma State and Iowa dual meet inside cavernous Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City will rival Woodstock, but for collegiate wrestling fans it might just be a pilgrimage of epic proportion. Tickets went on sale in early October ― in the first few hours over 21,000 sold ― and entering the final days before the first whistle over 35,000 are expected to attend the 11 a.m. meet.

Yes, that Kinnick Stadium. Home to the Iowa football team with a capacity of 70,585. Saturday marks the first time two programs of this stature have wrestled on a football field. And with the unbeaten Iowa Hawkeye football team hosting Big Ten rival Minnesota Saturday evening, a few extra bodies will be in Iowa City. Football tailgaters might translate to a large walkup crowd if the weather cooperates.

“Iowa is known for being able to run wrestling events, so I’m not concerned with how this thing is going to run,” said Oklahoma State head coach John Smith, whose Cowboys open the season ranked No. 1 by most prognosticators. “Never experienced anything like this. It is going to be something exciting, something different for everyone involved.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/arti ... tdoor-meet

[HI54UNI]

Another article:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/ ... /75612930/

[clenz]

Most importantly

I hope Iowa loses twice in Kinnick tomorrow

[HI54UNI]

Most importantly

I hope Iowa loses twice in Kinnick tomorrow

Generally I would agree but I'm torn on the football team losing. Part of me wants them to lose now to end the hype now. But part of me wants to wait until OSU crushes them in the B10 championship. Or they could lose to Nebraska in between.

[clenz]

Most importantly

I hope Iowa loses twice in Kinnick tomorrow

Generally I would agree but I'm torn on the football team losing. Part of me wants them to lose now to end the hype now. But part of me wants to wait until OSU crushes them in the B10 championship. Or they could lose to Nebraska in between.

Fuck em...

I hope they lose every single game the rest of the season.


The shitty part is them being good actually helps UNI.

When they are worse they recruit instate boarder line kids harder.Kids that might not get a scholarship when the Hawks are winning all of a sudden get one. That huts UNI recruiting. Guys on UNI's roster like Tim Kilfor, Issac Ales, etc... that turn into All Conference/All American UNI guys end up at Iowa.

When Iowa is good those kids only get walk on offers. Much easier to land those kinds of kids for UNI - a 1/2 or 3/4 ride at UNI where you can play and become a key member of the team or pay full tuition to ride the bench in Iowa City.

The issue is, if Iowa is too good then it becomes "cool" to ride the bench in Iowa City. A top 10 Iowa team probably hurts UNI recruiting as well, to an extend.

Realistically UNI needs Iowa to consistently be 8-4, 9-3 and occasionally 10-2 to really boost recruiting. Iowa then starts going after more out of state players to try to boost profile a bit more and forgets about kids liek Ales, Kilfoy, David Johnson, Austin Steichen, Chad Reinhardt, etc...

[Ibanez]

I suggest you rename this thread. The Delaware folks might think it says "Scrapple on the Gridiron" and get way too excited.