LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 16, 2018) – The 18th-ranked Wyoming wrestling team opens its home dual schedule this weekend with a big matchup against No. 7 Nebraska. The Cowboys and Huskers will battle it out on Sunday at 2 p.m. inside the UW Arena-Auditorium.

"Nebraska is a really good team," head coach Mark Branch said. "Their tournament team is ranked, I think, seventh in the country and they've got All-Americans in their lineup and guys that have proven themselves. We have such a new lineup and such a young lineup that we're going to keep things simple for a while.
 
"Our message is the same week in and week out. That is just to go out, fight hard, look to score points in every position, don't drop your head and make us proud. Young guys, if they can just stay consistent with those things, they will get better fast. We want to go out and fight…I expect for our guys to be ready to be in the fight and look for opportunities for big upsets. If we do that, then good things will happen with the team."
 
The dual will be the first battle between top-25 teams in Laramie since 2015, when the 19^th-ranked Cowboys hosted No. 17 Oregon State—a dual that Wyoming would go on to win, 21-17.
 
Last time out in dual action, the Wyoming wrestling team picked up a couple of wins at the Northeast Classic, rattling off back-to-back convincing wins over Virginia and Edinboro. The Cowboys (2-0) opened the day with a 21-9 victory over Virginia before returning to the mat just 20-plus minutes later to outgun Edinboro, 33-6.
 
Against Virginia, four Cowboys got key wins in their first dual starts, while veterans Montorie Bridges, Branson Ashworth and Dewey Krueger held serve in their matches to claim the Pokes' first dual victory of the season.
 
The Cowboys opened the second dual of the day hot, picking up the first seven wins in the dual to clinch the win before Edinboro ever got on the board. In all, the Brown and Gold came away with eight wins, including five coming with bonus points.
 
Nebraska enters the weekend at 3-0 after picking up wins over Virginia, Utah Valley and Drexel at the Northeast Duals last Saturday. The Huskers will play host to No. 18 Wisconsin on Friday prior to making the trip to Laramie.
 
Looking for its fifth-straight top-10 finish at the national tournament in 2019, Nebraska is set to field four returning All-Americans and five returning NCAA qualifiers from a season ago. The Huskers have also beefed up their returning lineup with the addition of two-time All-American Zeke Moisey at 125 as a transfer from West Virginia. Head coach Mark Manning enters his 18th season at Nebraska, boasting a 237-88-3 overall record since arriving in Lincoln.
 
Fans can stream all of the action this weekend live on FloWrestling. Live scoring will be available on Trackwrestling. Fans can also follow live updates on Twitter at @WyoWrestle.