Iowa–Penn State wrestling rivalry

The Iowa–Penn State wrestling rivalry is an American collegiate wrestling rivalry between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions. The two programs are some of the most successful in the history of NCAA Division I wrestling. The Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions have the second- and third-most team national championships, with 24 and 13 respectively, only trailing Oklahoma State's 34 titles. The series ascended to the national stage in the past decade with Penn State's rise to the top of the wrestling world, as they won 12 of 14 team titles during the 2010s and 2020s. Fellow Big Ten schools Iowa and Ohio State were the only other teams to win during those decades.

Iowa–Penn State wrestling rivalry

Sport	Wrestling
Teams	Iowa Hawkeyes Penn State Nittany Lions
First meeting	1982 Iowa 34, Penn State 9
Latest meeting	January 31, 2025 Penn State 30, Iowa 8
Statistics
Meetings total	44
All-time series	Iowa 28–14–2
Largest victory	Iowa, 36–3 (1990)
Longest win streak	Iowa, 8 (1998–2005)
Current win streak	Penn State, 4 (2022–present)

The rivalry began in 1982 and has been wrestled annually. It was amplified when Penn State joined the Big Ten Conference in 1993. It has been described as "the nation’s fiercest wrestling rivalry",^[1] and has resulted in sold out venues due to the popularity of dual meets.^[2][3] While the Hawkeyes dominated the early stages of the rivalry—the 1988 contest would be the first and only loss for Iowa at home during the Dan Gable Era—the Nittany Lions have since returned the favor by taking 7 of the last 10 contests. Since 2008, the rivalry has consistently been a top 10 matchup.

The 2020 contest between #1 Iowa and #2 Penn State became the most-watched wrestling telecast in the history of the Big Ten Network, drawing 342,955 viewers.^[4] The Hawkeyes prevailed over the Nittany Lions by a score of 19 to 17 in the most highly anticipated contest in the rivalry's history.^[5]

Match results

The following is a complete list of match results, through the 2023-24 season.^[6]

Penn State victories

Iowa victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 1982 State College, PA Iowa 34–9 2 1984 Iowa City, IA Iowa 26–19 3 1984 State College, PA Iowa 31–9 4 1986 Iowa City, IA Iowa 35–5 5 1986 State College, PA Penn State 27–15 6 1988 Iowa City, IA Penn State 19–18 7 1988 State College, PA Penn State 18–16 8 1990 National Duals Iowa 22–5 9 1990 Iowa City, IA Iowa 36–3 10 1990 State College, PA Iowa 32–6 11 1991 National Duals Tie 19–19 12 1992 Iowa City, IA Iowa 30–11 13 1992 State College, PA Tie 18–18 14 1994 Iowa City, IA Iowa 29–15 15 1994 National Duals Iowa 24–15 16 1994 State College, PA Iowa 33–6 17 1996 Iowa City, IA Iowa 28–6 18 1996 State College, PA Iowa 22–15 19 1998 Iowa City, IA Penn State 25–17 20 1998 Iowa City, IA Iowa 23–9 21 1999 State College, PA Iowa 30–9 22 2000 Iowa City, IA Iowa 22–9 23 2001 State College, PA Iowa 33–10 No. Date Location Winner Score 24 2002 Iowa City, IA Iowa 24–11 25 2003 State College, PA Iowa 26–10 26 2004 Iowa City, IA Iowa 23–11 27 2005 State College, PA Iowa 23–16 28 2006 Iowa City, IA Penn State 21–12 29 2007 State College, PA Penn State 24–13 30 2008 Iowa City, IA #1 Iowa 27–13 31 2009 State College, PA #1 Iowa 31–6 32 2010 Iowa City, IA #1 Iowa 29–6 33 2011 State College, PA #8 Iowa 22–13 34 2012 State College, PA #3 Penn State 22–12 35 2013 Iowa City, IA #3 Iowa 22–16 36 2014 Iowa City, IA #1 Penn State 24–12 37 2015 State College, PA #1 Iowa 18–12 38 2017 Iowa City, IA #2 Penn State 26–11 39 2018 State College, PA #1 Penn State 28–13 40 2020 Iowa City, IA #1 Iowa 19–17 41 2022 Iowa City, IA #1 Penn State 19–13 42 2023 State College, PA #1 Penn State 23–14 43 2024 Iowa City, IA #1 Penn State 29–6 44 2025 State College, PA #1 Penn State 30–8 Series: Iowa leads 28–14–2