After two weekends on the road, the Illinois wrestling team is finally returning home to the friendly confines of Huff Hall.

The No. 7 Illini will take on UT-Chattanooga (1-3) in their first dual meet of the season Saturday at 1 p.m.

"There is a little more pressure with a dual meet because you are out there one at a time," Illinois head coach Mark Johnson said. "We want to see how the guys react to that pressure."

Despite Chattanooga's record, Johnson feels that this will be good competition for his squad.

"There is going to be a lot of good competition," Johnson said. "They wrestle very hard."

The Mocs are coached by Terry Brand, former NCAA champion from Iowa and Olympic gold medalist.

"They have a great coach," Johnson said. "I think he is going to do a great job there and they are going to try to come in here and win against us."

Johnson believes that his team definitely has the edge on paper.

"I think that we are a better team but we just have to go out there and prove it," he said.

The Illini defeated the Mocs 31-6 last year. UTC comes in with two wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in their weight class. The Illini counter with eight wrestlers in the top 20, including sophomore Alex Tirapelle, who is ranked No. 1 at 157 lbs.

Tirapelle is coming off a title-winning performance at the Las Vegas Invitational. For his efforts there, he was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week.

"It feels great," Tirapelle said. "It's a good honor, I'm glad to have it, and hopefully I'll get it again throughout the year."

Johnson is pleased with the success of some of his wrestlers so far. However, he is looking for other starters to step it up this weekend.

"Our guys that are wrestling well are good and they are going to be tough to beat," Johnson said. "I'm looking for the other half of our team to come through and be tough and step it up a little. They need to and we need them to for our team."

The Illini dropped from No. 1 in Intermat's rankings to No. 7 after the team finished in fourth place at the Las Vegas Invite. Johnson is ready for better performances out of the starters who didn't place at the tournament.

"I don't want to say I'm disappointed," Johnson said. "I'm just ready for them to show me what they've got because they are better than what they're performing at right now."