Iowa State walked out of the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, with a load of confidence after picking up six bonus point victories in a commanding 34-9 win over the Fresno State Bulldogs.

The Cyclones will try to carry the momentum with them on the road when they travel to Norman, Oklahoma, to face off with the hosting Oklahoma Sooners.

Carr repairs

One of the brightest spots for the Cyclones didn’t make the trip to Fresno State — No. 3-ranked redshirt freshman David Carr.

It was announced hours before the dual that Coach Kevin Dresser and company decided to hold Carr out after he suffered a minor leg injury in the dual against Oklahoma State.

While Dresser assured that it’s by no means a season-ending injury, they want to stay on the safe side of things and keep Carr as a questionable heading into the Oklahoma dual.

Assistant Coach Brent Metcalf made a fitting car analogy to sum up the situation with Carr.

“David Carr is getting his oil changed right now; he’s going in and they’re swapping out the ball joints, they’re lubing him up, putting new oil in and taking old oil out,” Metcalf said. “The thing about that is that sometimes you get in that line and it takes five minutes and you’re out, and sometimes it takes two hours.”

In the meantime, fellow redshirt freshman Grant Stotts will fill in for the starting duties at 157 pounds.

Colbray-less rankings

Sam Colbray hit a bit of a setback during the Fresno State dual as he continues to adjust to wrestling at 174.

Colbray, who had consistently been a top 15 ranked guy at 184 and 174, suffered an upset loss to the Fresno State’s then-unranked Brandon Martino.

Martino had entered the third period down 4-3 and recorded an escape after choosing to be on bottom and followed it up by getting a takedown on Colbray, who only recorded an escape in the eventual 6-5 decision loss.

The loss to Martino moved Colbray from being ranked at No. 12 to dropping him out of InterMat’s top-20 rankings. On the contrary, Martino cracked the rankings with his win, being placed at No. 20.

Dresser mentions Colbray’s issues stem from technical mistakes made during the dual.

“It wasn’t so much his shape or doing anything wrong because I think he prepared all week really good,” Dresser said. “He shot a double leg too far out, he got whipped over, he got in two really good leg attacks and couldn’t finish.”

Coleman, Shapiro and Gremmel closing out duals

Out of the six bonus point victories in the Fresno State dual, three of them came in the final three weights with Marcus Coleman recording a major decision, Joel Shapiro recording a fall and Gannon Gremmel recording another major decision.

All three of them have struggled in their own ways.

Coleman struggled to find the old Marcus Coleman that thrived in the past, Shapiro struggled to find his edge and Gremmel struggled to stay consistent.

However, all three of them showed up against the Fresno State at a point where the Bulldogs won three straight weights and slowly clawed their way back into the dual.

Metcalf mentioned how big of a momentum boost those wins were to each guy heading further into the season.

It’s no surprise that it comes as a relief for Coleman, Shapiro and Gremmel.

“It felt good; obviously, it’s a lot better to win than it is to lose,” Coleman said. “It definitely felt good, and it’s something I can build off of.”