NC State wrestling opened its ACC schedule last week with a 23-9 win over Virginia. Though the Wolfpack won seven of the 10 bouts, it was closer than the final score indicates.

Five of the Pack’s seven individual victories came by four points or less, including three by no more than two. On the flip side, two of the team’s three losses came by two points or less.

That’s life in the small-but-mighty ACC. The six-team league boasts five of the nation’s top 20 teams according to FloWrestling’s tournament rankings (the outlet’s projection of how the teams would finish at the NCAA Championships based on its top 25 at each weight), and they are all very familiar with one another.

The next three duals will feature the No. 4 Pack taking on its three toughest conference foes according to almost every single measure possible: No. 12 Pittsburgh tonight at 6 p.m., followed by No. 14 North Carolina and No. 8 Virginia Tech. All three bouts will be televised on the ACC Network, proving the conference knows each is a marquee matchup and ones that wrestling fans from across the country will be interested in.

It’s easy to see why. Pitt, after all, is a team on the rise and located in the heart of wrestling country, residing in the most fertile wrestling recruiting state in the country.

While Pitt may be a few years behind ACC rivals NC State and Virginia Tech — who have both claimed NCAA team trophies for top-four national finishes in the last five years — they have followed a similar blueprint in a return to dominance by hiring a coach who is a rising star in the sport.

Under alum and former national champion Keith Gavin, the Panthers went from 4-11 in his first year to 13-3 in his second (2018-19). Last season, they surprised many by placing second at the ACC Championships on the strength of three ACC champions, one more than the league champ Wolfpack boasted (NC State’s depth won them the tournament), and were poised to make noise at nationals with seven NCAA qualifiers.

The Panthers also handed NC State their most recent dual loss (an 18-16 upset in Raleigh on Feb. 10, 2019), which was the Pack's only conference defeat in the last three-plus seasons, dating back to the start of the 2017-18 campaign.

Several on that 2018-19 Wolfpack squad that eventually won the ACC championship actually pointed to that loss as a turning point in the season, and with a veteran squad featuring five of the same starters that were in the lineup for that upset, it's hard for the team to forget that result.

“They know that they have to be ready to go with a team like Pitt," head coach Pat Popolizio said on this week's #PackMentality Pop-Ins Podcast. "They’re good, they’re well-coached, they’ve got tough kids. That’s a test we need to be ready for.

“Trust me, the guys do know that was a loss they regret going through it, but it made us better. It made us refocus. … Everyone needs a wakeup call in every sport and we definitely got it that night. We got beat, we got outwrestled and we learned from it.”

149 pounds has been the most inconsistent weight in Popolizio’s nine years at the helm. Each of the other nine weight classes in the lineup have qualified for the NCAA Championships at least five times during his tenure, but only three 149-pounders have reached the big stage, including one that was a graduate transfer.

Though the season is just starting, it’s not too early to say the weight class has received a big boost from the arrival of freshman Ed Scott. He’s 3-1 so far and all three wins have earned the team bonus points, including last week’s eye-opening 13-1 major decision over Virginia’s Denton Spencer, who had cracked a few national rankings at his weight.

Though Scott is still on the outside looking in of some national listings, he has received a number next to his name by three of the five major outlets who update their polls weekly. The Open Mat and Track Wrestling granted him the No. 28 spot, while WrestleStat slotted him ninth nationally.

Even one of the outlets that has not put him among their listing, FloWrestling, has a close eye on him.

“I just want to watch Ed Scott wrestle some more,” senior editor Christian Pyles said on their podcast Thursday about what he was looking forward to in NC State and Pitt's dual. “Exciting freshman for NC State. … I just want to watch him against anyone; I like watching these freshmen.”

There’s no doubt Scott is on the larger wrestling community’s radar, and he has some huge opportunities coming up. After this weekend against Pitt — provided each school has its normal starter available, no guarantee in the COVID-19 world — his final three regular-season opponents will be (rankings according to The Open Mat): No. 1 Austin O’Connor (UNC), No. 12 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) and No. 14 Josh Finesilver (Duke).

Depending upon which set of national rankings you prefer, there could be as many as six ranked-versus-ranked matchups in the dual’s 10 bouts. Here are the four most intriguing:

On paper, this is the matchup between the two closest-ranked wrestlers — Wilson is flirting with the top 10 in most listings, while Matthews is around the top 15. Wilson beat Matthews three times last year, but two of them were one-point matches and one required overtime. Expect another close one.

This is another bout between two wrestlers who are ultra familiar with one another. Bullard beat Wentzel twice last year in a month's span, but they were both by three points or less. Wentzel then went on to win the ACC championship at the weight.

Wentzel has continued to rise in the national rankings after a 4-0 start to his season, including a top-10 win over Navy's Tanner Skidgel, while Bullard is heading in the other direction after a tough 1-2 opening to his campaign. However, a win here can start Bullard on the path back to the top 10.

Hidlay made his long-awaited return to the lineup last weekend after an emergency appendectomy in late December and posted a solid 4-0 victory over UVA's Michael Battista, who has cracked several national rankings. The test gets tougher this week with a higher-ranked foe in Harvey, who moved up from wrestling at 174 pounds last year.

This is the start of three straight top-20 foes for Hidlay, if each team has its regular starter available, headlined by No. 2 Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech Feb. 5.

Bonaccorsi is another Panther that moved up in weight and has impressed. He is a legitimate top-five grappler nationally.

Despite Reenan falling last weekend, to another top-five foe, he looked as good as he has since tearing his ACL during the 2018-19 season in a 2-0 loss. This is another huge test, but one that if Reenan can pull out will allow him to break back into the national rankings.

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