STATE COLLEGE — Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan shuffled down the hall outside the event floor of the Bryce Jordan Center on Feb. 13, head down, steps measured.

His No. 2 Buckeyes had just been dominated by No. 1 Penn State 26-5 in the most anticipated dual meet of the year, only to have the Nittany Lions turn it into a rout.

Despite all of that, Ryan chose to speak admiringly about the 800-pound gorilla that had just smashed his team.

“What they’re doing here is incredible, right? I think you’re looking at one of the best organizations in the world, in any sport. That’s what we’re all up against, not only us, but Iowa and Oklahoma State. You’re up against a force,” he said.

“They’ve got a great leader. They’ve got a great staff in a great state. They’ve got a lot of money. Everything I would say it takes to build an elite organization they have. Everyone needs that carrot hanging in front of their face. Everybody in life needs that, and they’re providing that for college wrestling.”

This weekend Ryan and the rest of the Big Ten face the scenario the coach had described three weeks prior — how can any conference team hope to challenge Penn State in the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships?

The Nittany Lions have captured the past three B1G championships and are heavy favorites to make it four in a row. Penn State finished the Big Ten dual season 8-0, winning 74 of 80 individual bouts and outscoring opponents 328-23.

That domination predictably produced a host of high seeds when the Big Ten released pre-seeds Monday. The tournament, which is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in the BJC, will feature six Penn State wrestlers seeded No. 1. Two others were seeded second. The other two Nittany Lions were seeded fourth and seventh, respectively.

Luke Lilledahl (125), Marcus Blaze (133), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Rocco Welsh (184) and Josh Barr (197) are all top seeds. P.J. Duke (157) and Levi Haines (174) were seeded second. Cole Mirasola (285) was fourth and Braeden Davis (141) was seventh.

If all 10 wrestle to their seed or better, they will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships on March 19-21 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. The Big Ten received 87 automatic qualifiers, broken down by weight, as follows: 125 (9), 133 (8), 141 (7), 149 (9), 157 (8), 165 (9), 174 (10), 184 (8), 197 (10), 285 (9).

The two pre-seeds that were puzzling were undefeated Haines as the No. 2 behind Nebraska’s Christopher Minto, whom Haines beat 8-6, and undefeated Blaze as No. 1 ahead of defending NCAA champion Lucas Byrd from Illinois, who is also undefeated.

“I can’t explain it. In the past our coaches spent a lot of time seeding the tournament and the bracket. We thought if a third-party could do a good job … Obviously, what happened isn’t going to work,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said Monday.

The Big Ten voted to use WrestleStat’s Tournament Seeder Program, an AI-driven, objective and data-driven program. It uses a 100-point algorithm based on head-to-head records (25 points), common opponents (25), conference dual records (20), quality matches (10), RPI (10), coaches’ ranking (5) and conference allocation (5).

The system allows for coaches to appeal a seed if a wrestler is within 15 points of the closest competitor in the system’s rankings. That would take place Friday when all of the teams are in town.

“We haven’t seen the numbers. They could be all over the place or could be close,” Sanderson said.

“It just doesn’t make sense. Anybody could look at it and say, ‘You have the undefeated national champion or a top-ranked guy who won head-to-head. There’s a lot of different cases. There has to be a human element in all things, especially in a sport like wrestling.”

In the end, Sanderson said he wasn’t too worried about the seeds, but he wanted to “make sure these guys get the seeds that they earned through the season.”

And, despite the seeds and the setting, the coach said he expects his Nittany Lions to perform like they always do.

“We don’t change a whole lot. It’s going to be the same energy whether it’s the day before the Big Tens or the day after or in the middle of the summer or whatever,” he said. “The energy is going to be the same. Our approach and perspective and our focus is pretty similar. I think it’s pretty easy in this program to just kind of be yourself and go do what you do.”

That seemed to be the message that Mesenbrink delivered Monday about the purpose the Big Ten tournament serves.

“I guess it helps in constantly getting better at wrestling. Not only that, I think it’s an opportunity to kind of keep getting better and seeing the things that I’m working on, I want to be able to implement those into my competition. I want to see that, maybe not pay off is the right word, but I want to see those techniques come into fruition that I’ve been working on for a while,” he said.

Not even a huge partisan crowd in the BJC seems to matter for the defending 165-pound champ.

“I don’t know. I kind of enjoy being on the road, too. It doesn’t really matter where it is. It’s just kind of like, either way it’s a wrestling mat and either way you throw someone up there and we’re gonna wrestle. So, it’s kind of a regardless thing. I’ll do it regardless of where it is,” he said.

The same can be said for the Nittany Lions’ approach to scouting opponents. Sanderson said it’s an individual thing of whether a guy wants to watch video of his opponent or receive a scouting report. Mesenbrink said he has no interest.

“I’m gonna be honest, I don’t even look at the bracket. Even after I wrestle, I don’t look at the bracket. Finals, sometimes I’ll know,” he said. “There’s obviously a balance with that. Coach Casey (Cunningham) will be like right leg lead or left leg lead, but that’s all I really need to know. Then it’s game time.”

And, barring a rash of titanic upsets, it’s game over for the rest of the conference.