Penn State didn’t waste any time looking like Penn State.
The No. 1 team in the country and defending national champions opened the season Thursday night with a 42-3 rout of Bloomsburg at Rec Hall, piling up eight bonus-point wins and winning 10 of the evening’s nine bouts. One of the biggest takeaways came at 133, where Masanosuke Ono made his collegiate debut and rolled to a 20-9 decision.
Ono, the 2024 senior world champion from Japan, is now in the lineup at 133 as he makes the jump from freestyle to NCAA folkstyle. His debut also came with a shuffle in Penn State’s weights, as Marcus Blaze moved up to 141, though Hayden Cunningham got the start there against Bloomsburg.
Cunningham was the only Nittany Lion to lose on the night, falling 8-1 to Bloomsburg’s Scott Johnson. Blaze is expected to be back in the mix Sunday, when Penn State faces No. 13 Oklahoma in Norman in the lone ranked matchup on the Nittany Lions’ non-conference dual schedule.
The Sooners are coming off a pair of convincing wins of their own, beating Northern Colorado 41-4 last Sunday and blanking Northeastern State 46-0 in Norman. Roger Kish’s team now gets the toughest test on Penn State’s schedule.
That Sunday in Norman is already crowded, too. An FAA ground stop on Friday afternoon pushed the Oklahoma-Ole Miss football game back to Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Blaze, ranked No. 3 at 141 by InterMat, is listed as a possible entrant against the Sooners, according to Cael Sanderson this week. Penn State does not appear set for any other lineup changes from Thursday’s opener. Blaze, who won bronze at the Senior World Championships in Kazakhstan, would be stepping into a matchup with Oklahoma’s Tyler Wells, the No. 11 wrestler at the weight.
Wells is a senior who went 19-11 last season as the Sooners’ starter at 141 and climbed as high as No. 18 in the InterMat rankings.
Penn State also got strong starts from several other wrestlers in the opener. Luke Lilledahl, PJ Duke, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Rocco Welsh and Josh Barr all won by technical fall.
At 149, No. 4 Shayne Van Ness is coming off a first-period pin against Bloomsburg after falling in last year’s national title match.
His next opponent, No. 14 Jack Gioffre, did not wrestle last season because of a medical redshirt.
Before that, at Virginia in 2024-25, Gioffre qualified for the NCAA Championships at 149, finished 11-8, and picked up four ranked wins.
In Other News...
Marcus Blaze Just Gave Penn State Fans A Rivalry To Watch
Bo Bassetts latest comments only added more buzz to a matchup Penn State fans have already started circling. The Virginia Tech freshman, fresh off a Senior World Championship at 65 kilograms, talked about the possibility of facing Marcus Blaze, who is moving up to the 141-pound weight class and drawing plenty of attention of his own. Both wrestlers just medaled on the Senior World stage, and both are already being talked about as future cornerstones in American wrestling.
Bassett sounded genuinely excited about the idea, even if he made clear the timing would likely come later in the season. He also acknowledged what makes the weight class so tricky, with a deep field standing between any one wrestler and a true postseason run. For Penn State, Blazes move creates another storyline worth tracking, especially if the sports next big rivalry ends up waiting until the stakes are highest. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Still Waiting On Minnesota Game As Uncertainty Grows
A nationwide ground stop tied to communications problems at regional air traffic control centers created an unexpected wrinkle for Minnesotas trip to State College, delaying the Gophers departure for their Week 11 game at Penn State. The FAA lifted the stop after about four hours, but by late Friday evening Minnesota still had not finalized its travel plans, leaving the schedule for one of the weekends Big Ten matchups in a holding pattern.
The disruption was not limited to this game, either, as Purdue and Washington were among the other conference teams affected by the same issue and forced to adjust their travel plans. For Penn State, the uncertainty adds an unusual layer to a routine home weekend, with fans left waiting to see when Minnesota will actually arrive and whether the delay changes anything about the buildup to kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces Another Nerve-Racking Test Under The Lights
Penn State heads into another Week 11 spotlight game with Minnesota, and the matchup has the feel of a tight, physical test rather than a comfortable homecoming. The discussion around the game has centered on how the Nittany Lions handle a defense that should make them earn everything, with contributors pointing to the importance of Penn States own defense and the kind of steady, mistake-free football that usually decides November games.
The predictions around the matchup reflect that uncertainty, with final score picks leaning on a competitive night under the lights and player of the game selections spread across the roster. For Penn State, the bigger question is not just whether it can win, but which side of the ball delivers the kind of performance that turns a nerve-racking game into a statement. [Read more 🡒]