Football Preview: Creighton Bulldogs vs. Elgin/Pope John Wolfpack
The Creighton Bulldogs will head out on the road to take on the Elgin/Pope John Wolfpack at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Creighton is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They strolled past St. Mary's with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 68-52. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Bulldogs.
It was another big night for Taylor Nilson, who rushed for 170 yards and five touchdowns while picking up 9.4 yards per carry, and also threw for 243 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 10.6 yards per attempt. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 117.2 rushing yards per game. A healthy portion of that aerial production (80 yards to be exact) went to Robinson Ladeaux, who also brought in a receiving touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Creighton's defensive line and their three sacks. Braxton Eggerling was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up twohimself.
Meanwhile, Elgin/Pope John had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 48 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They claimed a resounding 64-14 win over the Knights on the road. Considering the Wolfpack have won three contests by more than 41 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Grady Drueke was his usual excellent self, rushing for 122 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.6 yards per carry. The team also got some help courtesy of Kellan Hoefer, who rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Elgin/Pope John was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 293 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 150 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
Creighton's record now sits at 3-1. As for Elgin/Pope John, their record now sits at 3-1.
Friday's matchup might be decided in the on the ground. Creighton has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 259 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Elgin/Pope John struggles in that department as they've been averaging 266. It's looking like Friday's game might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Creighton was dealt a bruising 64-8 loss at the hands of Elgin/Pope John in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Creighton was down 44-6.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
