The Iowa college wrestling team is ready for its final test of the regular season.

With the Hawkeyes having dismantled the rest of the Big Ten, and just about everybody else in the nation, No. 11 Illinois (12-3, 4-2 Big Ten) is all that stands in the way of the Hawkeyes' outright Big Ten regular-season dual championship and the start of the Big Ten Tournament.

Despite the Hawks' squeaking by with victory margins of four, two, and seven in three of their last four Big Ten matchups after winning by an average of 11.75 in their first four conference duals, Iowa coach Tom Brands said he's not worried about them losing their edge.

"I don't look at it as being crisp or not crisp," he said. "Michigan liked the matchup with us; they always have. We don't have a sense of urgency for whatever reason early in the match sometimes, and from that regard, maybe we're not as crisp.

"... There is no uncertainty going into the dual meet. With this team, there is not a sense of us losing our edge. If anything we are further, and even with being 5-5 with Wisconsin and 5-5 with Michigan, you've gotta realize that our best wrestling is to come."

One wrestler whose found a resurgence as the season progressed is recent Big Ten Wrestler of the Week Chad Beatty.

Wrestling up two weight classes for much of the season, Beatty lost seven of his first nine matches at 197 pounds, but he has since won his last three matches, including a come-from-behind win against Michigan's 15th-ranked Anthony Biondo who had defeated the Wilton, Iowa, native earlier this season, 8-0.

"I've learned to wrestle the bigger guys a lot better than I did at first," the sophomore said. "I've gained a little bit of weight and my coaches have helped me adapt to the different type of match I need to wrestle. I'm using my quickness and trying not to let them get underneath me as much and use their weight to their advantage."

The win against Biondo couldn't have come at a more pressure-packed moment; the Hawkeyes trailed 16-12 with only two matches to go. Beatty snuck in for the winning takedown as time expired, setting the stage for heavyweight Matt Fields to save the day on Senior Day.

"That was probably my No. 1 Hawkeye moment," Beatty said. "It was awesome. The crowd got really got into it; it was a lot of fun."

While Brands lauded Beatty for wrestling smarter and with more patience over his last few matches, he said there is still not a comfort level 197 pounds - the same type of uncertainty growing with Dan LeClere and Ryan Morningstar.

"Chad Beatty - the difference is that he's become smarter. That's a place where a guy like LeClere could be a little bit better and certainly a guy like Morningstar," Brands said. "Beatty continued to improve his position, and Morningstar let the guy weasel and win the position, and there's a difference there."

But before the Hawkeyes bring the conference championship singlets out, they'll have a battle out in Champaign, where Illini wrestlers Gabe Flores, Jimmy Kennedy, Mike Poeta, and Patrick Bond are looking to move up or cement their spot on the top of the Big Ten seedings.

"We've got some potential high seeds, and if you get beat, you never know where you'll end up, and in the Big Ten everybody is beating everybody, so we've got to keep beating everybody, too," Brands said.

"It's the postseason, and that's when it's time to show up," said currently injured reigning NCAA Wrestling champion Mark Perry. "That's why I wrestle college is for the postseason, not the dual meets."

Perry competed in High School Wrestling at Blair Academy.