It seems like some big money is going into the NCAA this year, first with hockey and the youth development core, and now with wrestling and the addition of more national stages for young athletes to make a mark for themselves and colleges to prove supremacy in more than one title. The National Duals Invitational, the first event of its kind, is all set to open at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on November 15–16 of this year. The event, which is backed by the cloud storage conglomerate Paycom and championed by the Cowboys, is an attempt to bring more attention to NCAA wrestling. (At least that’s what it seems to be on the surface; it may very well be OSU’s secret weapon to bring down the top seed, Penn State.)
The Invitational is no joking matter; the new competition already had a prize pool of $1 million, with the chosen elite 16 receiving around $20,000 and the champion taking away ten times that amount! It’s not just a token competition; it’s got some solid stakes and some solid prestige attached to it.
The top 12 finishers from the 2024 NCAA championships automatically qualify for the Dual Invitational; however, the remaining 4 teams are invite-only, which is the added prestige. So far, many teams, including Oklahoma State, Ohio State, North Carolina State, and Northern Iowa, have accepted their invites to the event.
According to journalist Eli McKown’s recent tweet, Penn State, however, the current holders of the NCAA championship title, have remained suspiciously silent.
Northern Iowa has accepted their National Duals Invitational bid.
Oklahoma State, North Carolina State, Ohio State and UNI are the official programs listed thus far.
— Eli McKown (@Emckown23) April 15, 2025
Which, coaching feuds aside, seems rather unbelievable.
Wouldn’t the Lions want the prestige? Wouldn’t they want to help create a larger platform for the sport on a national level?
Penn State’s new tactic with pestilent OSU: Ignorance is bliss
Penn State’s decision to remain silent about the Dual Invitationals up until the participation deadline (April 15th) is nerve-wracking, shocking and terribly confusing. A series of repercussions could play out, and there’s no telling what the stoic Cael Sanderson’s thoughts on this are, but here goes.
To put it simply, there are two basic options:
Option #1: Penn State risks it all and accepts the invitation on Oklahoma’s turf
Cael Sanderson and David Taylor have been pitted against each other ever since Sanderson commented on his former student’s transition to coaching. “Coaching and competing are two different things,” Sanderson famously said when asked about Taylor’s appointment as the OSU coach. Since then, a series of things have happened to add fuel to the fire. Taylor managed to bag three Penn State wrestlers, including, most recently, Zack Ryder, through the transition portal. Taylor also roped (pun intended) in Lee…Roper, from Iowa’s coaching team, to give the Cowboys an edge over the Lions. And, perhaps the most popular tidbit, Wyatt Hendrickson of OSU and not five-time title holder Carter Starocci of the Nittany Lions, was the one to raise the Hodge Trophy this year. So, given all these factors, if Penn State accepts and loses on OSU’s home turf, where they will undoubtedly have a home advantage, it would be painful, to say the least.
On the other hand, however, we have Option #2, which, in all truth, isn’t much better
Option #2: Penn State decline the invite and end up looking like poor sportsmen
The main point of the event, after all, is to create a larger platform for NCAA wrestling. It isn’t an OSU-exclusive event but rather a step in the right direction in terms of building up this sport. By declining the invite, the Nittany Lions will seemingly actively not participate in what should ideally be a collective effort in wrestling solidarity. With such a solid fleet lining up, so much money on the line, and all the Cowboy-Lion drama behind the scenes, Penn State’s absence could look like purposeful avoidance more than anything. Also, if Penn State doesn’t show up, that’s just one less competitor in between OSU and the winning spot.
Cael Sanderson is probably hedging his bets at the moment, waiting till the last minute to accept or decline the invitation because there are just so many contrasting and subtle factors at play.
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