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Penn State moves to No. 2 in NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll; slight change in Top 25 going into last week of regular season

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by Jason Bryant, NWCA

Manheim, Pennsylvania – While there were no new teams in the NWCA Division I Coaches Poll released on Tuesday, there were slight shifts of teams within the Top 25.

There’s a new No. 2 as Penn State (4-0) beat Michigan 18-13 on Sunday morning to move the Nittany Lions behind No. 1 Iowa (5-0). Michigan slid to fourth after the loss. Virginia Tech closed out a perfect regular season at 9-0 after a 27-12 win over No. 16 Pittsburgh to claim the ACC regular season title.

Seventh-ranked NC State topped Duke 37-6, while Minnesota opened up the weekend with a brunch time 27-7 win over then-No. 19 Wisconsin. The Badgers were also upended by unranked Northwestern and dropped six spots to No. 25 this week.

From a dual meet perspective, the top event on the weekend saw Arizona State beat a pair of ranked teams in Iowa. The Sun Devils moved back into the Top 10 after a 20-15 win over No. 13 Iowa State and a 24-10 win over Northern Iowa. Earlier in the week, ASU beat Cal Poly 34-6 in Pac-12 action. Also in the tri-meet, Iowa State topped Northern Iowa 23-17.

In the ACC, No. 15 North Carolina beat then-No. 21 Virginia 25-9 in Chapel Hill. The only other matchup between ranked teams came in the Big Ten as No. 17 Purdue bested then-No. 22 Michigan State 21-12.

Navy moved up to No. 18 this week and snapped its four-dual losing streak to rival Army West Point 20-13. Rider topped Drexel 20-16.

Methodology: The NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll is voted on by two coaches from each Division I wrestling conference. Each first-place vote is worth 25 points, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 for a third-place vote and so on through to one point for a 25th-place vote. The poll is based on dual meet results. Teams who are not competing this season are not included in the voting process.

NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll
February 16, 2021

Rank

Team (First)

Record

Points

Conf.

Previous

1

Iowa (14)

(5-0)

350

Big Ten

1

2

Penn State

(4-0)

335

Big Ten

3

3

Virginia Tech

(9-0)

310

ACC

4

4

Michigan

(4-1)

308

Big Ten

2

5

Missouri

(10-0)

298

MAC

5

6

Oklahoma State

(9-0)

282

Big 12

6

7

NC State

(6-1)

259

ACC

7

8

Nebraska

(6-1)

253

Big Ten

8

9

Minnesota

(6-2)

233

Big Ten

9

10

Arizona State

(6-0)

226

Pac-12

11

11

Illinois

(5-2)

210

Big Ten

10

12

Ohio State

(5-3)

201

Big Ten

12

13

Iowa State

(9-3)

182

Big 12

13

14

North Carolina

(5-2)

173

ACC

14

15

Northern Iowa

(4-4)

148

Big 12

15

16

Pittsburgh

(3-4)

121

ACC

16

17

Purdue

(3-5)

109

Big Ten

17

18

Navy

(5-1)

97

EIWA

20

19

Oklahoma

(5-4)

88

Big 12

18

20

Virginia

(3-3)

85

ACC

21

21

Central Michigan

(5-2)

51

MAC

24

22

Campbell

(8-1)

40

SoCon

23

23

Michigan State

(2-4)

36

Big Ten

22

24

Rider

(4-1)

28

MAC

25

25

Wisconsin

(1-6)

27

Big Ten

19


Others Receiving Votes: Rutgers 21, Northwestern 19, Wyoming 17, Binghamton 9, Appalachian State 8, West Virginia 7, Hofstra 5, Lehigh 4, Northern Colorado 4, Stanford, 3, North Dakota State 2, Army West Point 1.

Dropped Out: None

Remaining 2020-21 Poll Dates: February 23.

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