Once Taylor and Ruth graduate Penn State will fall back. Err, wait a minute, once Nolf and Bo graduate Penn State will fall back.
This year's team has 3 national champions in the lineup, 4 other AAs, and 2 others who were junior world medalists (gold and bronze). If that is falling back, OK. If beating the hawks at Carver and winning the Bigs and NCAAs again is falling back, OK. If the Hawks finally having a shot at finishing second to the Lions is Penn State fall back, then yeah I guess they have fallen back.
For several reasons I am kind of rooting for Iowa to finally find a way to climb to the seat of second best. One, it used to be routine to root against Iowa wrestlers. Mostly because Iowa was perceived as a legitimate threat, somewhat because of the push, push scream for a stall technique. Lately however, with so many PA kids giving Iowa legitimacy combined with the cognitive recognition that Iowa is only a threat if your team is chasing a team medal for 3rd or 4th place it has become routine to cheer for Hawk wrestlers. It is still tough to deal with the push, push scream for a stall technique, but they are still PA kids.
The second reason is the history of Iowa wrestling. There are individual champions and team champions galore and it would be nice to watch the team and Iowa fans have the opportunity to cheer something more than that 3rd or 4th place trophy.
