Like the final haymaker of a heavyweight fight, the No. 12 Penn State men's wrestling team finally found its knockout combination.

In the last four Big Ten dual meets, No. 3 Phil Davis and No. 13 Aaron Anspach have scored a combined 45 points for the Nittany Lions, helping the team to a 3-1 record over that span.

Last weekend, Ohio State and Illinois were left reeling after Penn State's coaches decided to start the duals at the 197-pound weight class -- the weight at which Davis competes and which Anspach follows.

The result: Two pins from the junior co-captain at 197 pounds and two major decisions from the senior co-captain at heavyweight set the Lions up with a 10-0 lead in each meet.

"What Phil and Aaron did at [1]97 and heavy[weight] there, they're obviously very tough and they're beating very good, ranked kids," Penn State head coach Troy Sunderland said. "Just the way they really control and dominate a match. It's just very pleasing."

The only difference in the pair's dominance this weekend was that instead of starting off the duals, they closed the matches, securing upsets over No. 10 Northwestern on Friday and No. 6 Iowa yesterday.

"I feel like Phil and I are the bash brothers," Anspach said. "He kinda goes out and takes control, pins almost everyone he wrestles and then kinda sets the way for me. It's always nice to go out to a crowd of cheering fans than a crowd of booing fans."

Davis certainly had the crowd going again this weekend as he scored an 8-2 decision over No. 2 Mike Tamillow Friday before guaranteeing a pin yesterday.

"I can't wait to see [Iowa assistant coach Dan] Gable flip out when I put their guy on his back," Davis said Friday night. "To be honest with you, it's just going to be pleasure to pin Gable's guy. Gable trained him, and I pinned him. So it's going to be quite an experience."

Sure enough, Davis made good on his prediction, pinning Leora in 1:17.

Not to be out done, the second half of the 'bash brothers' also had a strong showing this weekend, scoring decisions against No. 4 Dustin Fox on Friday and the Hawkeyes' No. 6 Matt Fields yesterday.

"It finally puts him as one of the top heavyweights in the country," Sunderland said. "We've felt that way for a long time and just with the kids that he's met it hasn't been a situation where the polls and the ranking people could say, 'Yeah, Anspach's for real.' Now, after this weekend, it's a pretty dominating statement that he just made."

Like any knockout combination, the co-captains feed off of each other, using the other's successes and intensity to finish off an opponent.

"I like it; I like it a lot," Davis said of setting up momentum for Anspach. "I used to like going after Eric Bradley because his dominance on the mat would get me fired up and ready to go. But this year, I'm able to give Aaron that same mindset when he goes on the mat. He sees somebody dominating the match and he's like, 'That's what I'm going to do, go out there and take it to them.' "