Junior Terry Turner takes a defensive position during his match against Ohio State senior Logan Stieber Jan. 16, 2015, at Jenison Field House. The Spartans were defeated by the Buckeyes, 25-13. Alice Kole/The State News
—A real-life example of David vs. Goliath hit the stage in East Lansing this past Friday when the Spartans faced the No. 3 ranked program in the country, Ohio State, in hopes of prevailing over the Big Ten giant.
However, it was David who couldn't overcome the brute force of his opponent at Jenison Field House as the Buckeyes won six of the 10 ten matches, including one pin fall, to walk away with a 25-13 victory.
It was MSU's fourth straight Big Ten loss of the season and the second of the past week. They encountered No. 15 ranked Michigan that Sunday of that week, only to squander an opportunity to garner a conference victory.
"Win or lose, you want to come out of it and see what worked and see what didn't work," Head coach Tom Minkel said on Wednesday "Where you really get the most knowledge and information is when you wrestle someone really tough."
Whether it's just a poor luck of the draw or a blessing in disguise, the regular-season schedule for the Spartans would make any college wrestling fanatic cringe.
Having faced with the task of doing battle with each of the top five ranked programs, it's a perfect way, according to Minkel, what his team is all about.
"It shows that the standard is [in the Big Ten]," Minkel said. "Going up against that standard of excellence, which is a good thing. But our biggest challenge then is to not get discouraged and understand that that's part of being in the Big Ten."
If it's a conference booster that MSU seeks before conference play comes to a close then they'll look no further than Thursday when they travel to Ypsilanti to face Eastern Michigan.
EMU, who is currently riding a three dual-meet losing streak, is coming off of a tough 20-15 defeat to Ohio this past Sunday.
Despite their recent struggles, Minkel strongly believes that his team can't take their upcoming opponent, due to the fact that the motivation to bring down a Big Ten program is at large for the Eagles.
"Eastern is not as strong as some of the team we've wrestled this season," Minkel said. " But with that being said, the last thing we want to do is take them for granted and think that it'll be an easy dual.
"Anybody outside of the Big Ten who wrestles a Big Ten school are highly motivated because beating a Big Ten opponent is a big deal to them. So we've got to go into this dual-meet with the same composure as Michigan or Ohio State."
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