Friday night, the 13th-ranked Wisconsin wrestling team starts off the Big Ten season in full swing. After an uncharacteristic mid-December match with Ohio State, the Badgers start on the road tonight with Indiana. Indiana, currently ranked 17th in the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA coaches� poll, brings plenty of competition to the mat for the Badgers, and head coach Barry Davis knows that rankings don�t matter once it comes time to grapple.

�If you look at the matchups right now, on paper they�re probably favored,� Davis said.

The Hoosiers return eight starters from last year�s 13-5 team. Of those eight, four earned All-American status, led by sophomore and currently undefeated 125-pounder Angel Escobedo. Last year, Escobedo beat current senior Collin Cudd 2-0, and Cudd knows he will have to wrestle his style to end Escobedo�s streak.

�He�s a real technical wrestler,� Cudd said. �He stays in good position the whole time. So I think my strategy is to stay in good position as well but to wrestle at my pace and at a higher pace than what he�s normal to. Take him out of his positions, wear him down and make him tired and wrestle my match and not at his level.�

While 125 pounds will be a key matchup, perhaps the most interesting comes at the 157-pound weight class. The Badgers will send NCAA runner-up Craig Henning to the mat to take on Hoosier All-American Brandon Becker. Henning is currently 16-1 and ranked second behind Illinois� Mike Poeta, the man who handed Henning his only loss this season. Becker is ranked ninth and sitting on a 12-2 record. But these two are no strangers to each other.

Henning lost just three matches last season, and all three came at the hands of Becker. In fact, Henning is 0-5 lifetime against the Hoosier senior. Davis knows that now would be a good time for Henning to change his ways.

�I see Craig now, he�s starting to really step up and really pick up his intensity,� Davis said. �He�s got a little extra edge to him and that�s good. That means he�s getting himself ready for not this match, but the matches to come. But I can see him more focused, a little more edge when he competes, which is good. I told him the other day, off the mat, �You�ve got to be disciplined.� If he does that part, and we coaches do our part, it should work out. But this is an important match to him. He�s never beaten the kid. It�d be nice to get that first win against him. I think he pays attention to detail, we get some different results.�

Henning, along with the rest of the Badgers, had a busy Christmas break. While most students had the chance to sit back and relax over break, the cardinal and white were on the road, recording a 5-1 record over break with four duals in Texas, one in Iowa State and one in Oklahoma. The lone loss came at then-8th-ranked Iowa State, a team that had been the top-ranked team in the nation earlier in the season.

�I thought we wrestled well in those duals, had some big wins in those duals,� Davis said. �At Iowa State we looked a little flat. We came out strong at the first two weights, but that might have hurt us in the dual. I told the guys, �Hey, you�re a match away from beating one of the best teams.� And they responded pretty well with Oklahoma. Now it�s Big Ten time, and that�s a whole different ballgame.�

Indeed, the time is now. Last season the Badgers finished 5-3 in the Big Ten and are currently off to a 0-1 start after a loss at Ohio State last month. The Badgers know that now is the time to get the ball rolling and to put the pieces of their puzzle together.

�This is the time of year when we�ve really got to buckle down and focus,� Cudd said. �[Davis] is kind of walking us through that. He�s been preparing for this the whole season, kind of getting everything right � eating habits, sleeping habits � now we�ve really got to put that in practice and make sure it�s perfect.�