Brody Grothus knew he should have won his match against Nebraska’s Jake Sueflohn on Jan. 18. The Hawkeye 149-pounder gave up two takedowns and was a victim of a stall call before he lost the match in a 5-2 decision.

Even with the loss, there is some merit to Grothus’ attitude. He rode the majority of the third period against the junior, erased the potential extra riding time point, but could not get in position to score a takedown.

“I think I won the last four, five minutes of that match,” the Davenport Assumption product said after noting he didn’t come out ready to wrestle. “But a wrestling match is seven minutes, not five minutes.”

Now that Grothus’ impressive victory-stretch against ranked opponents is over, the sophomore will have a chance to get back in the win column against InterMat’s third-ranked wrestler, Nick Dardanes of Minnesota, on Saturday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

To put up a better result against the Gophers, Grothus said junior Mike Evans offered a piece of advice to his teammate.

“Mike Evans told me that I have to smell blood there when that kid is fading,” Grothus said. “I can feel him fading underneath me, and I have to get real tough.”

Brands and football

Grothus referred to toughness being a factor in his loss at Nebraska, and head coach Tom Brands noted the same thing when speaking at Tuesday’s Iowa media availability.

Brands noted that Grothus had apparent knee discomfort during the match and said the wrestler needed to block out that aspect and keep wrestling.

“He’s grabbing his knee a little bit, and ‘hey, it doesn’t matter,’ ” Brands said. “So I think he learned that it doesn’t matter.”

Later in the interview, Brands gave an example of how to use resiliency in a positive way on the mat. He pointed to the Iowa football team’s Outback Bowl loss to LSU on Jan. 1.

“No matter how skilled you are, in this sport you have to be tough,” Brands said. “To soapbox a little bit, I watched the LSU-Iowa football game, and the toughest team did not win … now you get a more experienced team that can capitalize on that next time maybe.

“That’s how I would describe that — based on the talent maybe won that game — but you know what, let your toughness take over in that game.”

Minnesota last of ‘big three’ duals in Carver

When No. 3 Minnesota and No. 2 Iowa wrestle on Saturday, it will mark the last of the “big three” duals on Iowa’s home mat this season. No. 1 Penn State was the first on Dec. 21, 2003, and then-No. 3 Oklahoma State came to town on Jan. 10.

With the Hawkeye-Gopher match marking the penultimate home dual of the season, Tony Ramos gave an insight into what it is like wrestling in front of the Carver faithful.

The senior said home-mat advantage doesn’t necessarily affect his performace, but he said he likes wrestling at home.

“I try to do more and have more fun,” Ramos said. “Enjoying it while there’s a little bit of time left, I like interacting with the crowd, interacting with people. I guess that’s my style — I’m not just one who’s going to not acknowledge them or notice them and walk away.”