Heading into the year, the Penn State wrestling team was upset about its No. 17 preseason ranking and was determined to prove the pollsters wrong. In the final dual meet of the season, the Nittany Lions made that ranking seem generous.

No. 13 Penn State (10-10, 3-5 Big Ten), fresh off of its highest ranking of the year, lost 21-17 to an Ohio State team that was previously winless in the Big Ten. For a Lions team that was supposed to be pretty good, the loss capped off a disappointing regular season.

"We just wrestled poorly from top to bottom," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. "Even the matches that we won, we weren't as sharp as we need to be at the Big Ten Championships."

Penn State made things tough on itself right from the start. In the first bout at 133 pounds, No. 19 Bryan Heller was taken down in the final seconds by No. 16 T.J. Enright for a 6-5 loss. Then the Lions forfeited at 141 pounds, holding out DeWitt Driscoll to rest a knee he injured last week. At 149 pounds, Ohio State's Steve Wolery defeated Jack Decker, giving the Buckeyes a 12-0 lead.

Penn State did fight back. Nate Galloway came out blazing, defeating Ryan Needle 14-2 for the major decision at 157, but senior Jarrad Turner followed that with a loss to Keegan Mueller at 165. Turner's takedown in the closing seconds was waved off because time had expired, giving Mueller the 5-4 win. James Yonushonis and Eric Bradley won at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively, cutting the Buckeyes' lead to four points.

The marquee match of the night took place at 197 pounds, as No. 15 Phil Davis took on No. 6 J.D. Bergman. The Penn State freshman kept things close, but Bergman took a 6-3 lead in the second period and held on for the 6-4 win. The pressure was on heavyweight Joel Edwards, but his weight disadvantage proved too much to overcome, losing to Ohio State's Kirk Nail 4-3.

Adam Smith (125 pounds) did end the meet with a pin for the Lions, bringing the final score to 21-17. The early deficit was too much to overcome, and the forfeit proved costly. Driscoll, ranked 11th in the nation, most likely would have defeated inexperienced freshman Jason Johnstone, swinging the match in Penn State's favor.

"I try not to think about that right now," Sunderland said about forfeiting at 141 pounds. "We knew it was going to be a close dual. We didn't wrestle good enough to win. We didn't deserve to win with that forfeit or not. That's what's disappointing."

Sunderland was visibly upset with his team's performance in its final dual of the season. With the Big Ten Tournament coming up, he was agitated by the way the team wrestled.

The Lions were timid and sloppy, Sunderland said, and he planned on letting his team know.

"We stood around. We didn't wrestle the way we needed to wrestle," Sunderland said. "We have to make the corrections so we can focus towards the Big Ten Tournament. If were not gonna wrestle well and not perform the way we're capable of, I'd rather have it be now rather than the Big Ten Tournament or the NCAA Tournament."