Hey, No. 1 Penn State wrestling: Need to 'crank it up' after Ohio State win?

STATE COLLEGE — If anything, Penn State wrestling showed it may still be in wrinkle-ironing, midseason-tuneup form.

Friday night's methodic — or rather sluggish — victory over the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes in another sold-out Rec Hall featured lightweight struggles, frustrating offense and a stunning pin near the end.

Of course, the bar remains highest for the No. 1 Nittany Lions, whose 51st straight dual meet victory was still never in doubt. There just wasn't a lot of fireworks, not nearly as many as expected, against the defensive-minded Buckeyes.

Here's three things we learned from the 28-9 victory over the Buckeyes — coach Cael Sanderson's 199th leading Penn State.

True Penn State wrestling questions?

The Lions nearly were down 6-0 to start the match. The lighter weights are still one of their only concerns heading toward the postseason because of inexperience, illness and some unexpected struggles.

Freshman 125-pounder Braedan Davis pulled out an immaculate escape after an expected Ohio State takedown was not called near the buzzer. The Buckeyes' challenge was unsuccessful.

Davis won 4-3 to remain unbeaten at 14-0.

"He’s getting better every match and (protecting a late lead), that’s something he’s been focusing on," Sanderson said. "He’s doing a better job."

Fifth-ranked sophomore Aaron Nagao followed up Davis with a 13-7 defeat after falling behind huge early. It's Nagao's surprising third defeat of the season.

Later, the crowd was silenced by the night's only pin — a surprising second-period defeat of 185-pound transfer Bernie Truax. The three-time All-American got caught quickly by unranked freshman Ryder Rogotzke, who's already making a name for himself with impressive pin work.

Truax continued his up-and-down season at 8-2.

“It’s easy to come away from a match and think we didn’t wrestle well, but when you wrestle really good opponents sometimes that happens," Sanderson said of the now 12-2 Buckeyes. "We just need to make some adjustments and wrestle with just a little more enthusiasm, and we’ll be OK."

How Beau Bartlett, Aaron Brooks rose up

Beau Bartlett owned the most highly-anticipated match of the night at 141. The Lions' undefeated, No. 2-ranked senior gave his most driven, impressive performance in weeks over one-loss Jesse Mendez (No. 3).

Bartlett attacked harder as the match wore on and owned a big lead in riding time. He won in sudden victory, thanks to a wicked takedown that was upheld by review.

Meanwhile, freshman Tyler Kasak and seniors Aaron Brooks and Greg Kerkvliet gave the most dominating performances.

Kasak, who just won the starting spot at 149, controlled Ohio State's No. 9 Dylan D'Emilio from beginning to end in the 7-2 victory.

As expected, the Lions owned the final two bouts with their No. 1's. Three-time national champ Aaron Brooks (197) overwhelmed a redshirt freshman for PSU's only tech fall of the night. Following, heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet gained more postseason steam by working fast scores to a 12-0 major decision.

Crank up the music for No. 1 Nittany Lions

For the second straight home match, pop music pumped during lead-ups to bouts and during downtime. Sanderson confirmed it's the wrestling team's idea to invigorate the older, often sedate Rec Hall crowd.

Are the fans a bit spoiled, even bored, at times, with their perennial No. 1 team?

"Rec Hall is like awkwardly quiet. And so we need some noise in there," Sanderson said. "If people made more noise we would turn the music off.

"It's just so quiet in there. You can hear a 4-year-old kid up in the corner yell, 'We are!' And if that's the case, it's too quiet. This is a sporting event, let's make some noise.

"We're just trying to make it less awkward so you can have a conversation with someone sitting next to you without everyone in the arena hearing it.

"So the music's not coming off, we like it," he said, a smile widening. "We might crank it up a little bit more."

Frank Bodani covers Penn State sports for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at  fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: How Penn State wrestling, Cael Sanderson beat Ohio State Buckeyes