Rutgers wrestling blanks Michigan State 34-0

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers earned its first ever Big Ten shutout as the No.8-ranked Scarlet Knights moved to 11-2 on the season with a 34-0 win over Michigan State. The victory came in dominate fashion as the Spartans scored just two takedowns and two reversals on the night.

"Another Big Ten win. It’s always important because it’s the next one,” head coach Scott Goodale said afterward. “It is kind of a long layoff after Midlands tournament, so we gave a bunch of guys some days off individually and maybe [we were] a little sluggish. But it’s a Big Ten win. I am not going to ever complain about one of those. They are important.”

The only real drama of the night centered on whether or not Rutgers would be able to seal the shutout.

That finally became a reality when heavyweight Billy Smith earned a dominant 15-3 win to seal what was an overwhelming victory.

“It is something for our program. I don’t think we tried shutting out people, that’s not our goal; doing our personal best is,” Smith said. “{Associate head coach] Donny [Pritzlaff] before the match told us we need to go out there and take advantage of whatever situation we are in, whether it be up or down. It was hard for some of us to score when their wrestlers were trying to protect the lead or trying to not get taken down. It’s kind of hard to wrestle those guys, but I think we did a good job of going out there. Once you get that first period takedown, a lot of those guys just start softening up and they just give up."

Here is Goodale speaking about the win in his post game press conference.