"Obviously, he's looking pretty good, but I'm not too worried about it, " Dake said about Taylor.
That means Taylor and Dake would hit the mat last if they last that far.
But Dake opened the final frame with an escape and scored a takedown for a 3-0 win.
The final bursts of white smoke blew for Dake, who finished a brilliant career with an unprecedented title.
The NCAA shifted its schedule to make the 165-pound matchup the finale, presumably to maximize a probable Dake-Taylor meeting.
Dake won his third title at 157 pounds last year, after winning the two years before at 149 and 141.
Taylor was selected the nation's top wrestler in 2012 before losing his top seeding when Dake moved up a weight class.
The 165-pound Dake beat defending champion David Taylor of Penn State 5-4, joining Cael Sanderson and Pat Smith as four-time NCAA champions.
Wrestling fans had been salivating over the idea of a Dake-Taylor final since the day Dake announced his move to 165 pounds.
Dake will be joined in Saturday's finals by teammates Nico Megaludis (125), Matt Brown (174), Ed Ruth (184) and Quentin Wright (197).
Dake was called for a late stall, tying the match at 4-all, but Dake used his advantage in riding time to close Taylor out.
The final that wrestling fans have been waiting for since Dake moved up to Taylor's weight class before this season has come to fruition.
But Dake has outscored his foes 28-0 at the national meet and holds the edge over Taylor this season, beating him 3-2 on Jan. 2.
Dake was again less flashy, beating Oklahoma State's Tyler Caldwell 2-0.
All that's left for the powerhouse Nittany Lions is for David Taylor to defend the title that Cornell's Kyle Dake has worked so hard to take.
Dake's bid for to become the third wrestler with four NCAA titles and the first in four weight classes got off to a sluggish start.
Taylor lost to Dake 3-2 in overtime in the championship finals of the Southern Scuffle Tournament on Jan. 2, and by a point in a November exhibition.
If Nittany Lions junior David Taylor defends his individual title at 165 pounds, he would likely have to beat Cornell three-time champion Kyle Dake in the final.
Taylor took down Dake in 18 seconds for a quick 2-0 lead, but Dake answered with a takedown and an escape to jump ahead 4-2 after two periods.
Dake, the three-time NCAA champion, remained on course for a final showdown with Taylor, the 2012 Hodge Trophy winner, after the opening matches Thursday in the NCAA wrestling championships.
Taylor dropped Illinois's Conrad Polz to the mat immediately and completed the pin in just 24 seconds just as Dake was engaging Nick Sulzer of Virginia in the quarterfinals.
The potential Taylor-Dake showdown is so anticipated that the NCAA in an unprecedented move announced that it would start the championship finals at 174 pounds and end at 165 pounds.
The NCAA moved the 165-pound final to the final match Saturday night, presumably to highlight a potential Dake-Taylor matchup, but Taylor and Dake both insist they're not focused on each other quite yet.
He and Dake who is one win away from becoming the third four-time NCAA champion will meet up at 165 pounds in one of the most anticipated championship matches in recent memory.
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