PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Off to its best start since 2014-15, No. 12 wrestling (9-0) hosts Army (0-3) on Friday night at Jersey Mike's Arena. The traditional dual will broadcast on Big Ten Plus, with Nick Kosko (Play-by-Play) and Matt Howe (Color) on the call. WRSU (88.7 FM) will provide live radio coverage.
Rutgers Athletics' indoor winter sports – which includes men's basketball, women's basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, and swimming and diving – returned to 100 percent capacity for the 2021-22 season. Fans are required to wear masks while inside Jersey Mike's Arena and are encouraged to read the Scarlet Knights'
COVID-19 policies and procedures before arriving in Piscataway.
Rankings Intermat/FloWrestling
| Weight |
Wrestler |
| 125 |
Ryan Chauvin (1-4) -OR- Jake Staud (2-6) |
| 133 |
Mark Montgomery (3-5) -OR- Dominic Carone (6-3) |
| 141 |
29/24 Corey Shie (3-2) -OR- Thomas Deck (13-3) -OR- Julian Sanchez (7-5) |
| 149 |
24/20 PJ Ogunsanya (5-1) |
| 157 |
29/HM Markus Hartman (2-4) |
| 165 |
Christian Hunt (1-4) -OR- Dalton Harkins (16-3) |
| 174 |
Clayton Fielden (2-4) -OR- 25/NR Ben Pasiuk (1-2) |
| 184 |
30/HM Brad Laughlin (3-3) |
| 197 |
27/HM JT Brown (3-3) |
| HWT |
Ben Sullivan (1-0) -OR- Brandon Phillips (2-3) |
Rankings Intermat/FloWrestling
- Rutgers defeated American, 41-3, last Friday in its last time out, as it won nine of its 10 matchups, including six by bonus, to remain undefeated.
- Michael VanBrill (149) scored his first fall of the season with 25 seconds remaining in the second period in his bout with Patrick Ryan. Sebastian Rivera (141), Robert Kanniard (157), John Poznanski (184), and Greg Bulsak (197) all stopped their matches early with tech falls over their Eagle opponents.
- Rutgers is 9-0 to begin the dual season, matching its best start since a 9-0 beginning to the 2014-15 campaign, its first full season in the Big Ten Conference.
- The Scarlet Knights moved to No. 12 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll after the fifth week of the season. RU remained No. 12 by Intermat, are No. 13 by WIN Magazine and No. 15 by FloWrestling.
- With Kanniard back into Intermat's rankings, nine out of 10 weights are ranked for RU after week five, which includes five who appear in both polls from Intermat and FloWrestling.
- With undefeated records, Poznanski and Rivera continue to hold top-five rankings heading into the weekend. Rivera is as high as No. 3 (FloWrestling, The Open Mat and WIN Magazine), while Poznanski is the consensus No. 5 wrestler in the country at his weight. Sammy Alvarez (133) and Jackson Turley (174) are also No. 10 in their respective weights by WIN Magazine.
- With the program's win against Army, head coach Scott Goodale picked up career win No. 192 as the countdown to 200 shrinks to eight.
- Army is 0-3 this dual season but has wrestled No. 1 Iowa, No. 2 Penn State and Big 12 Power Iowa State in that span.
- Six Black Knights are ranked by Intermat, including No. 24 PJ Ogunsanya (149), No. 25 Ben Pasiuk (174), No. 27 JT Brown (197), No. 29 Corey Shie (141), No. 29 Markus Hartman (157), and No. 30 Brad Laughlin (184).
- Army sent seven wrestlers to nationals last season, the third consecutive season it sent seven or more competitors to NCAAs.
- In a series that dates back to 1932, Rutgers is 15-28-1 all-time against Army. The Scarlet Knights have won the last six matchups in the series, which included a 24-13 win over the Black Knights on Dec. 21, 2014, in the last installment of the series.
- Rutgers is 6-0 against Army since Goodale took over the program in 2007.
- Rutgers gets a few weeks off from competition before it heads to the prestigious 2021 Midlands Championships from Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
