Josh Saul does not organize players-only meetings. He prefers to work one-on-one.
Before matches, Northwestern’s junior heavyweight will approach three teammates and practice his motivational-speaking skills.
This weekend, Saul and company should be motivated simply by the fact that the opponent is not named Iowa or Illinois. Instead, the Wildcats (3-7, 0-2 Big Ten) and Saul will have a chance to end their losing streak against No. 21 Wisconsin on Friday and Northern Illinois on Sunday.
“I hate losing, and that’s what we’ve been doing so far,” Saul said.
NU has nowhere to go but up in the standings and nothing but easier opponents on the horizon. After getting destroyed by a combined score of 85-6 to the Hawkeyes and the Illini — both ranked in the top five — the Cats will once again wrestle in winnable matches.
“Wisconsin has a few good guys,” Saul said. “But they aren’t like an Iowa or a powerhouse.”
The Badgers (8-4-1) boast several ranked wrestlers, with defending NCAA champion Donny Pritzlaff (165 pounds) leading the way. The Badgers are strong in the lighter weight classes as well — brothers Tony and Kevin Black and Grant Hoerr should provide difficult competition.
The Cats once again are relying on wins from Saul, freshman Josh Ballard, sophomore Ryan Cumbee and junior Jason Erwinski.
NU is still in search of its first breakthrough performance, and with nine members of the conference ranked in the Top 25, the team knows the regular season is far from over.
“The Big Ten schedule wears on you,” Saul said. “You have to take your lumps through the season and learn from them.”
To break up the rigorous conference schedule, NU faces intrastate competition in Northern Illinois. The Cats beat NIU last year 24-17.
“You can’t look past them because they are pretty good overall,” Erwinski said.
It’s appropriate for Erwinski to note this — he knows half of NIU’s starting lineup personally, including his opponent, Scott Owen. Owen defeated Erwinski earlier in the year at the Michigan Open.
NU’s best wrestlers will go head-to-head with NIU’s best wrestlers Sunday. Because Ballard, Erwinski and Saul all will have difficult matches, the rest of NU’s lineup has a golden chance to step forward.
“The other guys are going through a rough year, but I think they’ll come up with some wins,” Erwinski said.
Finally, the Cats should receive some help in the bottom half of the lineup with the return of sophomore Ryan Kane (165 pounds).
“That will hopefully be another win for us, but I don’t know if he’ll be in complete game shape,” Saul said of Kane, who was cleared to play by doctors at the beginning of the week.
Erwinski noted that the team will not vary strategy for its Big Ten opponent or for its nonconference opponent.
“We are sticking with the same philosophy: Brawl and beat up your opponent,” he said.
