MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – After posting 56 points last week, the University of Chicago football team picked up right where it left off by scoring on its first five possessions in a 49-0 rout of Cornell College on Saturday.

The Maroons improved to 2-2 and the Rams fell to 2-2.

First-year quarterback Jeffrey Jackson put up a huge performance in his second collegiate start. The rookie completed 20 of 24 passes for 346 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He was also the team's leading rusher with 45 yards and another touchdown.

The lion's share of the yardage was hauled in by first-year wide receiver Jacob Jackson. He rang up 185 yards on five receptions with two touchdowns, averaging 37.0 yards per catch. First-year wideout Matt Quaglia grabbed six passes for 46 yards and one score. On the ground, sophomore running back Vittorio Tricase carried the ball eight times for 33 yards and two touchdowns.

UChicago's defense secured its first shutout since a 31-0 win against Sewanee on Oct. 31, 2015. It's the fifth shutout of Head Coach Chris Wilkerson's six-year tenure.

All told, the Maroons tallied 12 tackles for loss and forced three turnovers. Sophomore defensive tackle Jackson Ross was once again in the thick of the action with 13 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. First-year linebacker Josh Godosky posted nine tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack. Junior linebacker Zach Atiyeh added seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

Cornell got the ball first and moved the ball into the red zone before sputtering out. A subsequent 34-yard field goal missed wide left, and UChicago never looked back from that point on.

The Maroons picked up 26 yards on their first offensive play of the game, and the ball kept leaping forward from there. Tricase broke off a 17-yard run to the one-yard line and then finished off the six-play, 80-yard drive with a one-yard plunge.

Jeffrey Jackson started the second drive with a 26-yard run of his own. Later on fourth-and-14, Quaglia came up clutch with a 26-yard reception inside Cornell's three-yard line. First-year running back Nicholas D'Ambrose then punched it in two runs later.

The rookie signal caller kept throwing UChicago down the field and then ran it in himself from 10 yards out to make the score 21-0 early in the second quarter. The Rams then punted the ball to senior safety Jeremy Vincent, and the team co-captain made them pay with a career-long 72-yard return. The offense took advantage of the short field with a four-yard toss from Jackson to Quaglia that made it 28-0.

The Jackson-to-Jackson connection paid off again with 46-yard completion and Tricase bowled across the plane for a two-yard score late in the second quarter. Cornell's first play after that was dropped for a four-yard loss, with Ross forcing a fumble that was recovered by junior defensive end Connor Phelan. Unfortunately, UChicago's scoring run ended as Jackson was picked off, and the score stood at 35-0 going into the halftime break.

The second possession of the third quarter produced a familiar result: Jacob Jackson raced past the defenders for a 54-yard touchdown catch. Later in the third, the Jacksons hooked up for completions of 37 and 33 yards to account for the final 49-0 scoring margin.

UChicago dominated the passing category 359-68, while Cornell comfortably led in rushing yards 213 to 112. The Maroons averaged 7.6 yards per play compared to 3.6 for the Rams.

NEXT GAME:

• Saturday, Oct. 6 @ 1:00 PM – UChicago at Lawrence University