Last year, the Penn State wrestling team sent seven individuals to the national tournament, but it's uncertain if it will send that many this season.

Over the offseason, the NCAA decided to change the qualification procedure for the national tournament because it was the only collegiate sport that used historical data to determine who competed, Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said. He said the committee put the plan in place "in the spirit for doing the best for the student-athletes."

Now, wrestlers can qualify for nationals based on the toughness of their schedule throughout the season and on the ranking system.

"Basically, depending on how in-depth your weight class is in your conference, like if your weight class has guys that are ranked really high, you'll have more qualifiers for nationals," junior Brad Pataky said. "If your weight class is not as in-depth, then you'll have less qualifiers for nationals."

In previous seasons, the Big Ten has sent the top seven wrestlers and two wild cards from each weight class to the national tournament. Now, only the conference champions are guaranteed a spot at nationals, and everyone else is determined through the year, based on rankings and schedules.

Junior Dan Vallimont said he thinks part of the reason the NCAA changed the qualification guidelines is to give smaller or weaker conferences a chance for more representation at nationals. He said they wanted to make it fair for everybody and not just for the stronger conferences.

"It's really confusing," Vallimont said. "The reason so many guys would go to nationals from our conference is because the Big Ten is arguably the best conference in the country, so they would take seven of the 11 wrestlers. I think it's a lot more confusing now than it was last season."

Vallimont said the closest example to the new qualifying system would be the BCS in college football. He said it is similar to what other collegiate sports do to determine who makes it to the national tournament.

So far, the Penn State wrestlers said they don't completely understand the new system. Vallimont and freshman Quentin Wright said there are aspects that are still fuzzy to them, and they are not sure if they will like the new procedure.

"Right now it's hard to tell because nothing has happened yet," Vallimont said. "I don't really like it when they change things because every year it seems like they change something. I don't really like change too much, so I would just rather have it the other way."

The Nittany Lions understand the Big Ten is not guaranteed the representation it has gotten in previous seasons, but Wright feels the procedures won't affect the team. He said since its conference is so strong, wrestlers at the top of the Big Ten will "most likely" attend the national tournament.

Minnesota head assistant coach Joe Russell agreed, saying as long as members of the Big Ten finish like they traditionally have, the conference shouldn't see much differences in numbers of qualifiers.

In past seasons, the Big Ten has had roughly two to four All-Americans in each weight class. Already this season, the conference has at least two wrestlers ranked in the top-10 in every weight class. Both the 141- and 149-pound weight classes have five wrestlers in the top-10.

"The best guys are still going to get an opportunity to compete," Iowa assistant coach Doug Schwab said. "The Big Ten is no doubt the best conference, and I don't think this new system will hurt its chances to be represented."

In fact, Ryan said the NCAA did a mock trial of the new plan on wrestlers from last season. If the system had been installed last year, the Big Ten would have had 85 rather than the 72 wrestlers compete in the tournament.

"The Big Ten will get what they deserve," Ryan said. "To me it makes sense. Change is always scary, but I think this change is for the best."