Tom Brands photo courtesy of Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com

Tom Brands photo courtesy of Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com

A new NCAA attendance record will be established on Saturday when fourth ranked Iowa hosts top ranked Oklahoma State in Kinnick Stadium to open the college wrestling season. Ticket sales for “Grapple of the Gridiron” have surpassed 34 thousand and Iowa coach Tom Brands says after months of promoting the event he is ready to get started.

“It’s time to compete now and all the fanfare we are going to let the fans take care of that from this point forward”, said Brands. “Our team is excited and we are excited no matter where we have got to go or what we have got to do to get the job done. “I’m excited because it is now a date on the calendar that is upon us. It’s upon us.”

The Hawkeyes and Cowboys have combined to win 57 national championships.

The current attendance record belongs to Penn State. The Nittany Lions drew 15,996 fans to a 27-9 dual meet victory over Pitt on December eighth of 2013.