Monmouth College

Scots Return to NCAA Playoffs After Dominating Another Turkey Bowl

Nate Wrublik sets single-game, single-season rushing records

by Nathan Baliva

Monmouth, IL (11/14/2026) — The Monmouth College football team repeated as outright Midwest Conference champions as they won their 27th straight Turkey Bowl on Saturday. With a record-setting 73-7 win at Knox (1-9, 0-8) and a Lake Forest loss at Chicago. the Fighting Scots (8-2, 8-0) are MWC champions for the second straight season. Monmouth will learn their NCAA Playoff matchup at 4 p.m. Sunday with the Selection Show on NCAA.com.

In the win, the Scots broke a team record from last year for the most points scored in a Turkey Bowl game and Nate Wrublik (Lemont, Illinois) set both the single-game and single-season records for rushing yards.

"I'm really proud of the team this year with all the changes that happened on our staff and losing four Midwest Conference players ot the year," said head coach Chad Braun. "To be back-to-back champions is a great accomplishment and I'm super happy for our players."

Monmouth got the ball to start the game and Jeremiah Williams-Gregory (Oviedo, Florida) returned the opening kick to the 24. On the first play from scrimmage, Wrublik
went down the right sideline 76 yards for a touchdown, his second-longest run of the season. The extra point was missed and the Scots led 6-0 after just 17 seconds.

Knox went 3-and-out but so did Monmouth on their second possession. A defensive penalty on third down helped Knox get a first down but the Prairie Fire eventually punted. Starting on their own 12, the Scots got a 24-yard run from Wrublik as he went over 100 yards in the quarter. After a 3-yard carry by Wrublik, Silas Braun (Monmouth, Illinois) threw deep for Chase Newman (Morrison, Illinois). The junior caught the ball on the 25 and outraced Knox defenders to the end zone. The Scots switched kickers and Mylee Hansen (Pekin, Illinois) drilled the extra point for a 13-0 lead.

Monmouth muffed a punt on the next possession and Knox took over on the MC 24. The Scots intercepted a pass near the goal line but were flagged for pass interference. On the next play, Knox scored against the Fighting Scots for the first time in three years, ending a stretch of 159 straight points scored by Monmouth in the Turkey Bowl.

Wrublik ran for 13 and nine to start the next drive before Braun hit David Gerber (Chana, Illinois) for 18 yards. After a short pass to Jerry Reed (Danville, Illinois), Wrublik ran for 16 yards down to the Knox 19 to end the first quarter with 142 rushing yards. The Scots started the second quarter with a holding penalty before a 10-yard pass to Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois). After a 9-yard pass to Williams-Gregory, Wrublik scored on a 7-yard run before Hansen made it 20-7 with the extra point.

Knox punted after a 3-and-out and Wrublik ran for seven yards on the first play. But Knox intercepted Braun and returned the ball inside the Monmouth 5-yard line. The defense stuffed Knox three times as Kaden Foglesong (Ipava, Illinois) picked up a tackle for loss, holding the Prairie Fire to a field goal attempt which they missed.

Taking over on their own 20, Braun ran for six and Wrublik ran for 16. A 44-yard pass to Williams-Gregory put the Scots inside the red zone. Mason Zwilling (Middleburg, Florida) made his first career reception for a 13-yard touchdown and a 27-7 lead.

Knox took the ball across the 50 before punting this time. Wrublik ran for 12 yards on the first play before Braun found Da'Von Patterson (Ponte Vedre, Florida) for six yards. A 22-yard pass to Newman put the Scots in Knox territory and Wrublik ran for 12 more yards but the Scots missed a 50-yard field goal on the last play of the half.

Knox got the ball to start the second half and on the second play, Tristan Brown (Arlington, Texas) intercepted a pass at the 38-yard line and ran it back for a pick-six and a 33-7 lead. After a Knox punt. Wrublik went over 200 yards on the day with a 10-yard carry and then added two more 10-yard runs. An 8-yard run gave Wrublik the single-season rushing record as he went over the 1,590 yard mark set by Trey Yocum in 2013. With the ball on the Knox 2, the Scots handed it off to the 2-time MWC All-Conference lineman Tyrek Tripp (Clearwater, Florida) for the touchdown plunge.

Gavin Carpenter (Coal City, Illinois) recovered a Knox fumble and Monmouth took over at midfield. A 16-yard pass to Patterson and a 6-yard run by Wrublik put the ball at the 33. Braun hit Williams-Gregory for 19 yards and eventually the Scots got a 41-yard field goal by Aiden Sensabaugh (East Moline, Illinois) for a 43-7 lead.

Knox snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt for a safety. With a 45-7 lead the Scots got the ball on the Knox 30 after a 40-yard return by Williams-Gregory. Wrublik ran for five and Braun ran for 16 yards before Wrublik made it 52-7 with a 3-yard touchdown run.

Jacob Russell (Plainfield, Illinois) picked off a Knox pass to start the fourth quarter. Three plays later, Wrublik ran 52 yards to set the single-game rushing record and go over 300 yards with a touchdown for a 59-7 lead.

Russell picked off another pass and Hudson Ault (Fairview, Illinois) ran three times for 66 yards. His 13-yard touchdown came after a 51-yard run and put the Scots up 66-7. Knox punted and the Scots used another big play on the ground. Immanuel Hall (Barrington, Illinois) ran for 16 yards and Jordan Lukes (Streator, Illinois) scored on a 51-yard run for a 73-7 lead and the final score.

"We were a little sloppy early today but then played a really good second half," said Braun.

Wrublik ran 24 times for a school-record 313 yards and he added four touchdowns while playing just three quarters. Braun completed 11-of-18 passing for 223 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. WIlliams-Gregory caught three passes for 72 yards while Newman caught two passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Foglesong led the Scots with 10 total tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. Carson Strating (Morrison, Illinois), Tashawn Ruffin (Bloomington, Illinois) and Dame Thioubou (Monmouth, Illinois) also had tackles for loss. Russell had two interceptions, Brown had one and Carpenter recovered a fumble.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Wrublik's 313 rushing yards broke Trey Yocum's single-game record of 277 and ranks eighth in MWC historyOn the season his 1673 rushing yards break Yocum's record of 1590 from 2013 ... He moved past Ron Baker into third on the career rushing list as well ... With four rushing touchdowns he moved past Yocum from 2013 and Charlie Corle from 1968 for the second-most in school history with 20 on the season ... Yocum had 21 rushing touchdowns in 2011 and 23 total touchdowns ... Wrublik's 120 points in a season is tied with Nate Thornton (2024) for second ... Wrublik rushed for at least 147 yards in all eight conference games and is averaging 149.9 yards per conference game this season ... Wrublik scored against Knox in all four seasons, tallying 11 rushing touchdowns ... The Scots have held six opponents to seven points this season ... Monmouth ran for 470 yards and had 693 total yards in the game ... The Scots have 26 conference titles ... This century they have won or shared the MWC title in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2025, 2026This will be the second straight playoff appearance ... This is coach Braun's sixth MWC championship The Scots are 27-0 against Knox since 1999 and lead the all-time series 77-50-10 ... The Scots have held Knox to single digits in eight straight games and to 10 points or less in 13 straight ... Monmouth has scored at least 35 points in 19 of the last 21 games ... The seniors outscored Knox 223-14 in four wins ... Monmouth went 9-0 in MWC play last season and also went 8-0 in 2015 while posting unbeaten MWC seasons in 2017, 2018 and 2019 under coach Braun ... The 73 points breaks last year's record of 69 points for most scored by a team in the Turkey Bowl.