"You can see that we are improving," Iowa State associate head coach Cael Sanderson said. "We had a great atmosphere today. Knipp did some good things today and Backes dominated the No. 1 man in his weight class. Backes still has room for improvement. He didn't take advantage of all the opportunities he had during the match."
Gallick, a two-time All-American, kept his perfect record intact at 26-0 as he picked apart Penn State's DeWitt Driscoll for a 17-6 major decision at 141 pounds for his 100th career victory, tying Dan Gable. The senior from Tucson, Ariz., blitzed Driscoll with a flurry of four takedowns in the third period and added three minutes of riding time to down the 10th ranked Nittany Lion. The major decision marked Gallick's 13th win this season resulting in bonus points.
"To be on a list of all the great wrestlers here is a great honor," Gallick said. "I've been wrestling as much as I can this year and it was nice to give the team some bonus points. He (Driscoll) wrestled a very physical match but I could feel him getting tired in the third period."
ISU's Knipp improved to 15-7 with his 6-4 decision over the 11th ranked Woodall. Knipp, a junior from Waterloo, overcame a 1-3 deficit at the start of the third period with an escape and two takedowns. His final takedown came with 0:37 remaining.
"I came in as the underdog today," Knipp said. "I met his style and tried to wrestle a physical match.
After third-ranked Trent Paulson blanked Penn State's 14th ranked Nathan Galloway, 7-0, at 157 pounds, ISU's No. 9 Travis Paulson worked PSU's 12th ranked freshman David Erwin for his second pin of the season at the 4:34 mark.
The ninth-ranked Backes dealt Bradley, the nation's No. 1 wrestler at 184 pounds his first loss of the season with a 10-2 major decision in a battle of two All-Americans hailing from New Jersey. Bradley (Plaistow, N.J.), a 2005 All-American and two-time Big 10 champion, had only given up three takedowns in his career prior to facing Backes, with two of them coming against three-time NCAA champion Greg Jones formerly of West Virginia. After a scoreless first period, Backes took down Bradley twice in the second-period and scored a three-point nearfall halfway through the final frame. Backes (Neshanic Station, N.J.) is now 16-5 this season.
"I have been working really hard the last three weeks and just came out to wrestler hard the entire match," Backes said. "I was proud of (Jason) Knipp. He wrestled a great match. My spine was tingling during his match when I was warming up."
The Cyclones continue Big 12 competition this weekend, hosting Missouri Feb. 12. ISU dropped a dual to the Tigers in January at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, 21-18.
No. 8 Iowa State 20, No. 9 Penn State 18
125 - Brad Pataky maj. dec. Ben Hanisch (ISU), 13-0
133 - Jake Strayer dec. Jesse Sundell (ISU), 6-4
141 - Nate Gallick (ISU) maj. dec. DeWitt Driscoll, 17-6
149 - Jason Knipp (ISU) dec. James Woodall, 6-4
157 - Trent Paulson (ISU) dec. Nathan Galloway, 7-0
165 - Travis Paulson (ISU) pinned David Erwin, 4:34
174 - James Yonushonis dec. David Bertolino (ISU), 5-3 SV2
184 - Kurt Backes (ISU) maj. dec. Eric Bradley, 10-2
197 - Philip Davis maj. dec. Joe Curran (ISU), 13-1
HWT - Aaron Anspach maj. dec. Richard Schopf (ISU), 15-5
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