For a man that is usually hesitant to give his entire team a good report card, wrestling coach Troy Sunderland broke out of character this weekend, seeming almost, well, satisfied.

Probably because, outside of Tim Haas' loss to the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 125, the Nittany Lions only allowed one takedown.

"The Indiana match, I felt, especially the matches that were marquee matchups, we did really well," Sunderland said, speaking both of the Jake Strayer and Phil Davis victories as well as the Tim Haas and Nate Galloway losses on Friday.

"Everyone's starting to peak right now, which is what you want, cause nothing really counts until the end anyway," Strayer, a redshirt freshman, said.

Sunderland was visibly upset by the team's letdown against Iowa State, but the Indiana match seems to have helped him regain the confidence that had been wavering for his team prior to the match.

The near perfection against the Hoosiers will allow the Lions one last opportunity to find every athlete's best friend -- first name Mo, last name Mentum. Penn State's next two matches will be against unranked opponents Ohio State and Purdue before heading into Big Ten Championships.

If there's anyone that would know how valuable a tool momentum can be, it's No. 6 Davis, a returning All-American.

Last year, Davis became just the sixth Penn State freshman to earn All-America honors after placing seventh in the NCAA Championships, but was still relatively unknown, entering the tournament unseeded.

"I'm hoping for two big wins for myself and two big wins for the team. Going into Big Tens and Nationals, a good confidence booster like that for the team as a whole, is key," Davis said.

Davis, in particular, got himself back in the spotlight after a 6-0 shutout of No. 8 ranked Brady Richardson of Indiana. All season, Davis has been sturdy at 197, often picking up bonus points against lesser competitors. But Sunderland said that the battle against Richardson was one of the best matches he's ever seen from Davis.

"It feels like I'm going in the right direction so I have to say I'm happy about that win," Davis said. "Then again, he's No. 8 and I want to be beating No. 1."

An aggressive, confident, yet sly grappling style has Davis in position to pounce once again at the Big Ten Championships, a style that has been improved by learned and forced adjustments.

"Last year everyone came at the freshman. Everyone wanted to dominate me and it gave me just the right look I needed," Davis said. "I like it when guys are right in my face. It makes all your shots available."

Davis and Sunderland said that this season Davis has tightened up a lot of his weaknesses. Davis said his biggest problem lately has been Batman's favorite weapon: the fear of his enemies.

"Lately I've been having a problem with guys running away from me," Davis said.

In matches like these, Davis said he has been more aggressive and tried to instigate his opponents into making angry mistakes that could backfire.

"Sometimes you can just be on a guy until he wants to fight you, then he has to prove himself," he said. "But some people are just too timid to get to that point. You trying to dominate them is just reaffirming that and making them run away even more."

Against Richardson, Davis finally faced the competition level he's been craving for over a month.

"He came at me. He was definitely trying to prove himself. He wrestled like a man," Davis said, trying to cover the confident smile in his eyes. "But it didn't turn out the way he wanted I guess."