Just over a month out from the season starting and Missouri has officially put out their schedule. It’s a bit lighter this year but has some open spots that could get filled with tournaments later. There’s a new Big 12 dual championship so now every conference team will face off with each other throughout the season.
They kick off with the Missouri duals where they can showcase other local colleges at various levels. Then they’ve got the annual Tiger Style Invite, where Oklahoma is out but they’ve added in PAC-12’s Oregon State and EIWA’s Morgan State. The new tournament this year is the Keystone Classic in Pennsylvania, the Tiger’s first time competing in it. National Duals returns to finish the first semester where Missouri will be looking to improve upon their eighth place finish last season.
The second semester is almost entirely Big 12 duals after one with Little Rock. There were going to be some Big 10 ones, but other teams ended up pulling out late. This time of year could see another small tournament added to the schedule. It’s certainly a lighter schedule than usual but could be a nice change of pace after a grueling schedule last season led to some wrestlers missing out on the national tournament with some of the qualifying factors.
November 2: Missouri Duals (Columbia, MO)
- Participating Schools: Central Missouri, Central Methodist, Avila, Drury and Maryville
The Tigers started the Missouri duals to give fans an opportunity to get together and watch local talent from a variety of divisions. Last year they faced off against Central Methodist, Maryville, and Drury and went 29-1. The lone loss came to the returning D2 champ Cole Ritter over a bumped up Joel Mylin at 174.
Look for the Tigers to use a variety of wrestlers and some depth wrestlers get a chance to compete at the Hearnes. It should be a good opportunity for first looks at wrestlers like Kollin Rath and true freshmen.
November 14: Tiger Style Invite (Columbia, MO)
- Participating Schools: #19 Little Rock, #21 Purdue, Oregon State, South Dakota State, and Morgan State
The Tiger Style Invite continues to be a great early season opportunity for starters to get three to four matches against other D1 starters and some early ranked wins. It’s difficult to predict what starters will show up, but Mizzou tends to send their full lineup and there are solid teams.
Little Rock returns an All-American in Stephen Little and four ranked wrestlers. Purdue returns an All-American in Joey Blaze and three ranked wrestlers. Oregon State has six ranked wrestlers, South Dakota State has five, and Morgan State has one. Again look for a number of Mizzou wrestlers in the brackets and pseudo wrestle-offs at a handful of weights.
November 22: Keystone Classic (Philadelphia, PA)
The Keystone Classic is one of the better early season tournaments that typically features a number of teams Missouri doesn’t match up with in the regular season.
Penn hosts and last year had teams like Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Lock Haven, Edinboro, Drexel, Central Michigan, Harvard, and Michigan State. Last year there were at least three eventual All-Americans and a number of highly ranked starters from those teams as well.
If the Tigers are able to come in and contend for the title and get multiple champs/placewinners, it gives them a strong resume early in the year. Especially getting wins over teams they don’t usually see, it could add a big bump to some of the metrics when looking at post season qualifying/seeding.
December 12-13: National Duals (Tulsa, OK)
- Participating Schools:
- Big 12: #9 Mizzou, #2 Oklahoma State, #8 Iowa State, #13 Oklahoma, #15 Arizona State, #23 Wyoming
- Big 10: #6 Ohio State, #10 Minnesota, #16 Rutgers, Maryland
- ACC: #4 Virginia Tech, #7 Stanford, #12 North Carolina, #17 NC State, #20 Pittsburgh
- PAC 12: #26 Little Rock
Once again the premier collegiate dual event will feature 15 top 30 teams and seven in the top 10 preseason rankings. With the date being moved to November the invitations looked a bit different with teams having to decline due to finals. It also gives time for the rankings to fluctuate and adjust, which will change up the seeds beforehand.
Last season Mizzou hit the top seed Iowa as they only seeded the top eight, but the Tigers should be in a place to get seeded this season. They’re the fifth highest ranked team currently but have some weights they could make jumps and climb before then.
Once again the top eight teams are paid, with all teams making $20k for attending. Eighth makes $20k, with the payout getting as high as $250k for winning. There are also team takedown bonuses that teams can win round by round. That money makes a big impact financially to these teams along with premier matches, so this will be another event to watch.
December 20: #26 Little Rock (Columbia, MO)
The only out of conference dual not at National Duals, the Tigers could see Little Rock at the Invite, National Duals, and this dual. That happened last season where the Tigers won 34-6 at National Duals and 33-9 in the later dual.
The Trojans are always tough and finish with returning All-American Stephen Little at 197 and heavyweight Endene Massoma, who was a title contender at Iowa at 197 before an injury last season and took a visit to the Tigers when he was in the portal.
January 8th: #13 Oklahoma (Norman, OK)
The Sooners brought in another transfer heavy class along with some redshirts coming in to make them a team to keep an eye on. That was the case last year as well but injuries hit them throughout the year that stunted things. They brought in All-American Paddy Gallagher, and could feature new starters at seven different weights.
The Tigers won this dual 23-14 last season but almost every match will be different this season. The transfers they brought in over the past two seasons include aforementioned Paddy Gallagher, Tyler Wells, Isaiah Powe, Jack Gioffre, Rafael Hipolito, Ty Eise, and Jersey Robb. If they pan out as expected then the Sooners are a sleeper impact team.
January 10th: #2 Oklahoma State (Stillwater, OK)
The returning Big 12 champs and NCAA runner-ups, the Cowboys are going to be tough to beat. They’re the favorite at National Duals and discussions of them dethroning PSU have been happening since the NCAA finals. They return three national champs, five other All-Americans, and brought in the top recruiting class.
Last season this was a tough 33-3 loss for the Tigers and it’ll be an uphill battle once again. They have a lot of lineup questions and potential weight changes but I’m expecting most of them to be figured out at this point in the season.
January 14th: #22 West Virginia (Columbia, MO)
West Virginia finished outside of the top 20 after consecutive years there but have another solid lineup with some standouts. They have four returning qualifiers led by All-American Ty Watters. Alot of those qualifiers are young as well with potential to make jumps this season.
Last year the Tigers won this dual 26-13 but that included an injury default. There were also five matches within a takedown, showing that it was closer than the team score showed. They’re another Big 12 team that may not be challenging for the title but have few holes.
January 22nd: #19 Northern Iowa (Columbia, MO)
For the first time since 2023, UNI will be traveling for a dual in Columbia. They’ve done a home and home typically but two years ago the Tigers chose to have a dual at Arrowhead HS for Keegan O’Toole’s senior season. UNI returns four qualifiers this season. Despite not having All-Americans, nearly all of their qualifiers have made the bloodround in their career.
They’ll have new starters in a number of weights but have veterans at 125, 164, 174, and 285. They almost always have a surprise starter who becomes a contender as well. Last year the Tigers lost this dual 23-14 where they gave up bonus points in three matches. This is one they should have circled to get some revenge and adjust from later in the season.
February 5th: Utah Valley (Orem, UT)
The only preseason unranked dual on the schedule, Utah Valley continues to be a program to keep an eye on with HC Adam Hall entering his third season. They return four qualifiers from last season, including the Espinoza-Owens brothers from SDSU.
The Tigers dominated this dual 31-9 last season where they scored bonus points in unranked matches. That gives them a lot of confidence in this dual overall, but between the solid coaching and altitude of Orem it adds a level of chaos that can lead to upsets if the Tigers aren’t prepared.
February 6th: #23 Wyoming (Laramie, WY)
The Cowboys are coming off their highest NCAA finish with HC Mark Branch, where they outplaced the Tigers at 12th. They did that with their murderer’s row from 184-285 where Eddie Neitenbach, Joey Novak, and Christian Carrol were All-Americans. They’ve got two other qualifiers and brought in Jace Roller, who transferred from Mizzou and could be their starter at 141.
Wyoming may not have the same full lineup strength as Missouri but like Utah Valley are always a tough dual in Laramie. The altitude is even higher, and a long weekend trip could add to the challenges. Even in unranked or lower ranked matches they’ll need to be ready to compete in a tough dual.
February 11th: #15 Arizona State (Columbia, MO)
Arizona State had a solid finish last season at NCAA’s, finishing one spot ahead of the Tigers. They did despite some of their premier seeds not making the podium. This year they return Big 12 champ and All-American Nicco Ruiz, along with four other qualifiers. The Larkin brothers headline and have plenty of question marks with both bumping up two weight classes from last year.
Missouri won this dual 22-17 on the road where two pins made the difference. This year are some premier matches throughout as ASU also brought in notable transfers at 125 and 133 with Christian Castillo and Adrian Meza. ASU has a lot of potential and will be an interesting team this late in the year with rankings.
February 17th: #8 Iowa State (Columbia, MO)
Iowa State had a lot of hype last season but injuries plagued their post season where they finished 8th. They only return one All-American in MJ Gaitan but have previous All-Americans in the Frost brothers. They also brought in solid transfers at 125 and 197 along with true freshman Coby Merrill looking like a title threat at heavyweight.
Last season the Tigers lost this dual 20-14 with both teams missing starters. The Cyclones have been the final dual on Mizzou’s schedule since 2022 and always makes for a tough entertaining dual to finish the season.
March 5th-6th: Big 12 Tournament
March 18-20th: NCAA Tournament