Takedown Report

ACC Weekly Recap (1/30/2024)

We had an exciting opening week of ACC action on Friday. While the team scores went as expected, there were some big individual upsets. We saw several wrestlers return to the lineup after being out with injuries and making an immediate impact. It seems that most teams have settled on a lineup for the rest of the season, but we will see a few wrinkles be thrown in along the way to spice it up a little (I love the rule allowing five dates for true freshmen…).
All three duals on Friday were lopsided affairs but left us with a lot of good takeaways. 

1. NC State and Virginia Tech are the early favorites for the dual title.
The Wolfpack traveled to Pitt and took eight of ten bouts; their only losses were upsets at 141 and 184. The Hokies hosted the Tar Heels and after losing the opening match in sudden victory, they reeled off nine straight wins. Thankfully the ACC scheduling is better this year and their dual will be the final match instead of the opening dual as it was last year.

2. 141 is bonkers. 
#27 Cole Matthews beat #4 Ryan Jack. #17 Tom Crook beat #5 Lachlan McNeil. Jack Gioffre has been in and out of the rankings this year and has the potential to hang with any of these guys. Jack and McNeil will meet this week. I have no idea how this is going to shake out in dual matchups, but suffice to say, that the ACC tournament is going to be fire at 141. 

3. Virginia looks rejuvenated with five (?!?!) starters back in the lineup after returning from injury.
The Hoos have dealt with a wild run of injuries but returned half of their lineup in time for ACC duals. Those five were a combined 7-1 on the weekend. They shut out Duke 45-0 in a dominant showing on Friday and dispatched American 36-6 on Sunday. The Cavaliers will face a much tougher test when they host Virginia Tech on Friday, but I’m glad to see them healthy and getting back on track.

4. Do we learn anything from early upsets?
There were a lot of upsets on paper, I’m interested to see how those line up over the next four weeks. The Wolfpack will have a tough choice to make at 125 between Jarrett Trombley and Jakob Camacho. 
125: Jarrett Trombley over #31 Colton Camacho
141: #27 Cole Matthews over #4 Ryan Jack
        #14 Tom Crook over #5 Lachlan McNeil … story at … Intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/acc/acc-weekly-recap

February 1, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized