After replacing defending NCAA champion Minnesota at the top of the rankings in early December, the ISU wrestling team has now dropped to eighth in this week’s Div. I Coaches Poll.

The change comes after the Cyclones (9-3 overall) placed seventh in last weekend’s NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. A first-round loss to Hofstra prevented Iowa State from a possible semifinal rematch with Iowa, the eventual tournament team champions.

The performance followed a distant second-place finish (behind Iowa) at the Dec. 29-30 Midlands Open, where Iowa State failed to defend their 2006 title.

The Cyclones will host 13th-ranked Wisconsin Friday night at Hilton Coliseum, facing a team with seven top-20 wrestlers. Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson said his team needs to take a few steps forward in their performance.

“We’re ready, we’re prepared, and we just need to go out there and fight for it a little bit more,” Sanderson said. “That’s kind of our focus, is just getting a little more emotional, and a lot of that comes from the coaches.”

Iowa State tied Hofstra, 18-18, in team scoring last Saturday, but the Pride won with the tiebreaker criterion of having one pin. Sanderson said that, while the team had opportunities to win that meet, he doesn’t feel the Cyclones have underperformed this season.

“We’re where we need to be,” said Sanderson, who also said he felt the team was wrestling well at this point of the season. “We’re a team that improves every match. Whether it’s showing right now or not, that’s the fact, and that’s what we’re building on.”

After beating Northern Iowa and then-fifth-ranked Central Michigan, the Cyclones lost to then-No. 1 Penn State, 22-16, at the National Duals.

Iowa State hasn’t wrestled Wisconsin since 2001, which Sanderson said needed to change, considering the Badgers’ talent and location. The last Cyclone-Badger match came in a 157-pound match in last March’s NCAA Tournament, when now-graduated senior Trent Paulson beat Wisconsin’s Craig Henning, 6-4, with two third-period takedowns.

Henning, now a senior, is ranked second and will wrestle Iowa State’s sixth-ranked Cyler Sanderson in one of six matches between ranked wrestlers.

“[Henning] is good at what he does,” Cael Sanderson said. “He is really a good mat wrestler. He is a guy where you have to be real sharp and clean on your takedowns, because he scrambles extremely well. He is just solid all the way around.”

Iowa State ‘s No.-1-ranked 184-pounder Jake Varner (16-0), one of nine undefeated wrestlers with 10 or more matches this season, will put his record on the line against 14th-ranked sophomore Trevor Brandvold.

Seventh-ranked Nick Fanthorpe (133) matches up with Wisconsin’s 12th-ranked junior Zach Tanelli. Fourth-ranked David Zabriskie (HWT) is slated to wrestle 13th-ranked Kyle Massey.

David Bertolino (197) has one of the most unique challenges of the meet in the Badgers 6-foot-5-inch, sixth-ranked Dallas Herbst.

Bertolino (16-7), ranked 17th at weight, said he hasn’t wrestled anyone that tall before, but it won’t change his strategy.

The senior said he needs a big win after struggling, like several Cyclones, against a challenging set of ranked opponents over the last month.

Bertolino said he feels good about the experience he has gained, despite the losses.

“I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to wrestle the top guys,” Bertolino said. “I’d rather wrestle them now and figure it out and watch my video than to face them at nationals and have to make the corrections from there . I mean, I wish I could have pulled off a couple more wins, but I was just glad I got to wrestle those guys. They’re tough, but at least I know what I need to fix it.”