The top two teams in the country collide on Sunday night in Ames when Iowa State hosts Iowa in a college wrestling dual. This will be the first time Iowa State’s Kevin Jackson has taken part in this rivalry as a head coach. Jackson says they want to win every time they step on the mat, but their goal is to be national champions.
He says the road to a championship runs through Iowa City and the way to see where you are at is to wrestle Iowa, the two-time defending champions. Jackson says he has been looking forward to this matchup since he was named the Cyclones head coach. He says he circled it on the calendar and Iowa did too. He says it’s a big part of the sport and one of the reasons he is happy to be at I.S.U.
The top ranked Hawkeyes have won 45 straight dual meets and have claimed the last four in the series against I.S.U. Jackson says if you look at it on paper, Iowa is the team that should win the match as the defending champions who are favored in at least six of the matches. But he says he knows if his team goes and and competes the way they are capable of, he will be happy at the end of the day.