ESPN snubs Penn State wrestling for 2024’s best team award

Cael Sanderson has made Penn State wrestling the definition of success over the past fifteen years, winning eleven of the last thirteen national championships. This year the Nittany Lions put together one of the most dominant seasons in sports history en route to a record-breaking NCAA Championships performance. However, the Blue and White won’t be in the running for the best team of 2024 at this year’s ESPYs, with ESPN surprisingly leaving Penn State off the ballot on Wednesday.

The Nittany Lions are just off to perhaps the greatest season in college wrestling history, scoring a unprecedented 172.5 points to break the NCAA team points record last March. Penn State also broke its winning record with a 100-point lead over second-place Cornell.

In fact, Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions had wrapped up the NCAA Championship before the final round even started. Penn State had one wrestler in six of the ten final matcheswith four titles.

Sanderson had that too Tyler Kasak and Bernie Truax finish third and fifth respectively at their weight.

Penn State wrestling is nowhere to be found

Mandatory credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Despite all the success on the mat, ESPN still couldn’t find a spot for Penn State wrestling on the mat 2024 ESPY’s List of Best Team Nomineeswith five professional teams and four university teams.

The Kansas City Chiefs, Boston Celtics, Florida Panthers and Texas Rangers won titles in the four major sports, so their inclusion is not anathema. Even Michigan football and UConn men’s basketball make sense purely because of the popularity of these sports.

The three contestable nominees are South Carolina women’s basketball, Oklahoma softball and the Las Vegas Aces.

South Carolina’s dominant undefeated season culminated in a National Championship against superstar Caitlin Clark, so it makes sense to include the Gamecocks. Women’s college basketball has also grown tremendously recently, making the choice a wise one.

However, Penn State wrestling has a strong discussion about the Aces and this year’s Sooners softball team.

Neither team showed wire-to-wire dominance like the Nittany Lions, who were never in danger of sacrificing the nation’s No. 1 ranking. While Oklahoma has undoubtedly had a decent championship run, the Sooners have had much more dominant seasons than we saw in 2024. After all, this is a one-year award.

Still, neither Cael Sanderson nor Penn State wrestling got the top prize at this year’s ESPYs.

NCAA wrestling is once again disrespected

It’s no secret that college wrestling is a regional sport, with most of the major programs coming from the Northeast and Midwest.

However, the sport is growing every year, and the ratings reflect that. Even Pat McAfee praised Penn State wrestling after this year’s finals on his show on ESPN, emphasizing how exciting the sport as a whole was.

It seems the rest of the network didn’t feel the same way. Cael Sanderson moved on to 2025 long ago; perhaps 2025 will be the year ESPN gives the Nittany Lions a chance to take on the best teams in the country.

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