University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head wrestling coach Kyle Ruschell wants the Mocs to compete against the best in the country to get his team prepared for the postseason.
 
UTC is definitely doing that this weekend with a trip to No. 2 Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 17. Match time is set for 3:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
 
"This is a great opportunity for our guys to compete against some of the best guys in the country in an intense atmosphere," stated Ruschell. "This trip will help prepare us for the NCAA tournament at the end of the year."
 
The Mocs enter the match with a 1-2 overall record.  UTC opened the season with a 29-14 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in an outdoor match at Miller Park in Chattanooga on Nov. 1.  The Mocs dropped two matches on Sunday in the inaugural Chattanooga Duals, falling to Army (18-12) and Illinois (22-10). 
 
This is the season opener for the Hawkeyes, who are ranked No. 2 in most polls.  Iowa has one first place vote in this week's NWCA Division I Coaches Poll.
 
Fans can follow the match in a number of ways, beginning with live scoring through TrackWrestling. Video streaming is available through the BTN Plus network with Rhedt Roelandt and Nathan Burak on the call.  Sunday's dual is audio streamed online at Hawkeye All-Access. Steven Grace and Mark Ironside have that call.  Links for all three are on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.
 
PROBABLE LINEUP AT NO. 2 IOWA
125: Fabian Gutierrez (Jr. - 4-2)
133: Franco Valdes (So. - 2-5) or Wade Cummings (Jr. - 2-2)
141: Aidan Murphy (So. - 0-4)
149: Mason Wallace (So. - 3-3) or Tanner Smith (So. - 4-2)
157: George Carpenter (Sr. - 4-5) or Tyler Shilson (So. - 2-2)
165: Drew Nicholson (So. - 4-4)
174: Hunter Fortner (So. - 2-4)
184: Matthew Waddell (So. - 5-1)
197: Rodney Jones (Sr. - 3-3)
HWT: Grayson Walthall (So. - 2-5)
 
IT'S ALL IN THE NAME
On first reference, it is acceptable to refer to us as the "University of Tennessee at Chattanooga". After that, we prefer to be called "Chattanooga" or "UTC". Our nickname is "Mocs". Please do not use UT-Chattanooga, Tennessee-Chattanooga or the Moccasins.
 
HEAD COACH KYLE RUSCHELL
Kyle Ruschell was named head coach of the Mocs on Aug. 10, 2018, and is in his second season guiding the UTC program. He has an 8-9 dual record overall that includes sharing the SoCon Regular Season Title last season with a 7-7 mark and a 5-1 league tally.  He spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin. A former member of the U.S. National Team (2014-15), he was a two-time All-American for the Badgers (2007-10).
 
SCOUTING THE MOCS
UTC returns seven of 10 starters to the lineup from last year's team.  2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year Tanner Smith is back at 149, while junior Fabian Gutierrez takes over as the starter at 125. 
 
Other returning starters include sophomores Drew Nicholson and Hunter Fortner at 165 and 174, and seniors Dominic Lampe and Rodney Jones at 184 and 197.
 
Some new faces in the lineup include a pair of transfers in senior George Carpenter and sophomore Matthew Waddell.  Carpenter is a graduate transfer from Penn State, while Waddell started his career at Oklahoma.  Look for Carpenter to compete at 157, while Waddell is listed at 184. 
 
PROBABLE LINEUP AT NO. 2 IOWA
125: No. 1 Spencer Lee (Jr.)
133: No. 2 Austin DeSanto (Jr.) - Paul Glynn (Sr.) - Gavin Teasdale (Fr.)
141: No. 2 Austin DeSanto (Jr.) - Carter Happel (Jr.)
149: No. 5 Pat Lugo (Sr.)
157: No. 2 Kaleb Young (Jr.)
165: No. 2 Alex Marinelli (Jr.)
174: No. 4 Michael Keener (Sr.)
184: No. 10 Cash Wilcke (Sr.)
197: No. 4 Jacob Warner (So.)
HWT: No. 12 Tony Cassioppi (Fr.)
 
SCOUTING IOWA
The Hawkeyes finished the 2018-19 season with one NCAA individual champion, six All-Americans, and a school-record 13 academic All-Big Ten honors. The Hawkeyes were 14-1 overall and 9-0 in the Big Ten, sharing the regular season conference title with Penn State.
 
HEAD TO HEAD VS. IOWA
There are no previous head-to-head collegiate matches between wrestlers listed in the probable lineups. 
 
MORE IOWA CONNECTIONS
Iowa Associate Head Coach Terry Brands was the head coach at Chattanooga for three seasons (2003-05).  He led the Mocs to the SoCon title in 2005.  That season, UTC had two All-Americans, including Michael Keefe (141) and current Cal Poly head coach Jon Sioredas (165). 
 
ALL-TIME VS. IOWA
This is the fourth meeting in the series that dates back to 2010.  The Mocs lost on the road (47-0) on Nov. 26, 2010, at home on (37-6) on Nov. 16, 2012 and back at Iowa (44-3) on Feb. 21, 2015.  The 2012 match in Maclellan Gym drew a sold-out, UTC record crowd of 2,639 fans.
 
MOCS PICKED THIRD IN THE SOCON PRESEASON
Chattanooga was picked to finish third in the Southern Conference race with 39 points, including one first-place vote. The Mocs also went 5-1 in the conference last year, finishing with a 7-7 record overall. Campbell received seven first-place votes and 49 points to top the 2019-20 preseason poll. Last season, the Camels went 5-1 in conference matchups, sharing the regular season title with the Mocs and Appalachian State.  The Mountaineers were second with 41 votes.  The Citadel (28), Gardner-Webb (26), VMI (20), Davidson (14) and Presbyterian (7) rounded out the listings. 
 
SMITH & JONES MAKE PRESEASON ALL-SOCON TEAM
The Mocs were represented by sophomore Tanner Smith at 149 and senior Rodney Jones at 197 on the preseason All-SoCon team.  Smith was the 2019 SoCon Freshman of the Year after posting a 12-9 record and qualifying for the NCAA Championships.  He was also a member of the SoCon All-Freshman team and was runner-up at the SoCon Tournament.  Jones qualified for the NCAAs at 197 pounds last year by taking the SoCon's second automatic bid at that weight.  He defeated The Citadel's Sawyer Root on a last second reversal in the second place match to secure his first trip to the national tournament.
 
MOCS GETTING THE JOB DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
UTC topped the 3.0 mark as a team for the fourth and fifth times in 2018-19.  The Mocs had a 3.02 GPA in the fall and a 3.1 in the spring.  The Mocs put 13 on the Dean's List and 16 on the A.D. Honor Roll in the fall.  There were 14 on the Dean's List and 17 on the A.D. Honor Roll in the spring.  Huffine, Jacob Murphy and Chris Debien all had 4.0s in the spring.
 
ATTENTION ALL WRESTLING ALUMNI
We need all UTC wrestling alumni to take the C Club Challenge for $100.  Joining the C Club directly benefits Mocs wrestling, and the program with the highest percentage of alumni who join get an extra $5,000 added to their budget.  Visit www.gomocs.com/cclub to join.
 
UTC ATHLETICS DRIVE FOR 25
The Mocs Club is kicking off its second annual Drive for 25 campaign on Saturday, Nov. 9.  The goal of this initiative is to raise $25,000 in unrestricted gifts to the Mocs Club to help support the 300 student-athletes at UTC.  Your participation enhances the academic and athletic success of all our programs and is vital to the continued growth of Chattanooga Athletics.  Any gift is helpful, so be sure to visit utc.edu/Drivefor25 and help support the Chattanooga Mocs.