The Lions' Pride

If Dake is allowed to stall like crazy and take injury timeouts when DT is about to score on him, then Taylor won't win. In the last two national finals matches, I think Kyle Dake has taken a grand total of one offensive shot. He'll sit back and tie up DT through the entire first period; then it will be a battle of attempted ride-outs. That plays into Dake's favor. Hopefully Taylor can get a takedown or two in this match and force Dake to come out of his defensive posture.

There is not much of a major difference between them other than Ruth having the same skillset at a heavier weight, which is much more difficult.

Ruth is stronger, better in defense, and simply controls the pace of every match he's wrestled the past two years. His length l, strength, and athleticism set him apart.

Either way, they are both great wrestlers and Taylor can be more entertaining to watch because he pushes the pace. Ruth on the other just controls the pace and is more patient for what he wants to do, but still does what he wants to do.

Also, fwiw, Ruth also used to maul Taylor at practices to a point where they stopped them from wrestling each other anymore. I will say the major difference in that would be the weight and strength advantage for Ruth though.

In all reality, they are both highly elite wrestlers that are dominating top competition at their respective weights. I think Ruth's is a little more impressive this year because his weight class is a little bit tougher this year.

They were two weights apart when they wrestled in practice. Last year the big four mainly wrestled with coaches, former wrestlers, or each other in respective weight pairings. Wright and Ruth, DT and Molinaro.

Random fun fact: I used to train with QW when he was younger, some time to break the tension, the kid would throw on a kilt and blast the bagpipes (and he's ridiculously good too). Great kid all around, not afraid to be vocal and loud from the get go, even as a true freshman.

As much attn DT and Ed get, Quentin is a key emotional leader for this team and is technique wise better than both of those guys. Just had worse luck with injuries and not the same amount of time under Cael.

There's a reason why Cael went straight after QW in his first practice with the team when he became the coach because he wanted them to know that Cael was still better than the best wrestler on their team. Sure as heck got their attention and they bought in immediately.

Great insight, thanks!