Oklahoma State's David Taylor Sends Penn State Wrestling a 'Save the Date'

Oklahoma State wrestling coach David Taylor offered an invitation to Penn State, saying he's holding an annual date for the Nittany Lions to renew their wrestling rivalry. Speaking to reporters in Stillwater, Taylor said that he has a "save the date" set for Cael Sanderson and Penn State.

"I'll tell you what. When it comes to Penn State, I'm saving one date on my schedule every single year for when they want to wrestle," Taylor said at his summer media availability. "So as soon as they say they want to wrestle, we'll do it. We'll go there. If they want to come back here, we don't really care. We just want to wrestle the best teams and we want to challenge ourselves."

With that, Taylor added another layer to the Penn State-Oklahoma State wrestling rivalry that refreshed in 2024, when Taylor left the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club to become the Cowboys' head coach. Over the past two years, Taylor has led Oklahoma State to third- and second-place finishes at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

David Taylor dropped a bomb at his summer media availability.

He’s saving a date for Penn State.

“When it comes to Penn State, I’m saving one date on my schedule every single year for whenever they wanna wrestle. So, as soon as they say they want to wrestle, we’ll do it.” pic.twitter.com/VymGXzj8nj
— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) August 11, 2026

Oklahoma State and Penn State are two of the winningest programs in college wrestling. The Cowboys lead all teams with 34 national championships, while Penn State won its 14th last season and is third all-time behind Iowa (24).

At the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland, Penn State broke its own scoring record with 181.5 points, while the Cowboys placed second with 131. Oklahoma State set a tournament scoring record for a runnerup, and three Cowboys freshmen won individual titles.

Penn State won its head-to-head final with Oklahoma State, as Josh Barr defeated Cody Merrill 6-3 in the 197-pound final. The Cowboys' Landon Robideau beat Penn State's top-seeded PJ Duke in a controversial semifinal.

The tournament served to accelerate the rivalry between Penn State and Oklahoma State. After winning the 174-pound title, Penn State's Levi Haines nearly felt compelled to apologize for playing "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" as his walk-up song for the final. A reporter asked Haines whether the song choice was symbolic.

"I didn't even think about that until now," Haines said at a post-match press conference. "It's kind of funny and ironic, I guess. I just remember that my dad had a CD that song would play on. I always remember being really excited when that song would come, and it just kind of put my mind at ease. I guess it just kind of took me back to a different place, a different time in my life. But no, I hope they don't take it that way. That doesn't look great, huh?" .

Penn State wrestler Masanosuke Ono lifts the championship trophy at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State on SI

Penn State and Oklahoma State have a long history (the Cowboys lead their series 13-8-1) but have not wrestled in a dual match since 2017. That year, the second-ranked Nittany Lions defeated No. 1 Oklahoma State 27-13 en route to their sixth NCAA title under Sanderson.

Last season, Penn State broke Oklahoma State's long-standing win-streak record in NCAA Division I wrestling. The Nittany Lions begin the 2026-27 season with an NCAA-record 86-match win streak.

Penn State has not announced its full 2026-27 wrestling schedule, so potentially there's still time to make this happen. Penn State and Oklahoma State potentially could have met at the 2026 National Duals Invitational, an event that features most of the nation's top college teams and a prize purse of more than $1.2 million. But Penn State is skipping the event for the second consecutive year.

"I think the sport would really benefit from those two programs wrestling," Taylor told reporters in Stillwater. "The history and the excitement of it. And if it doesn't happen, well then the national tournament will be really exciting. But we'll save one date every year. Whenever they want to do it, we'll do it."

Penn State Nittany Lions wrestling coach Cael Sanderson reacts during a Big Ten match vs. the Iowa Hawkeyes. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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