CHICAGO, Ill. -- The University of Chicago football team returns to Stagg Field on Saturday, October 18, as it welcomes the Ripon College Red Hawks to Stagg Field for a Midwest Conference showdown.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NOTES:

* UChicago enters the weekend with an 4-1 record on the season and 4-0 in the MWC.
* The Maroons have recorded back-to-back shutouts with for the first time since 2023 with their 52-0 win over Knox and 66-0 win over Lawrence.
* The 4-0 start to conference play for UChicago is their best start since 2000. With a win on Saturday, their 5-0 start would be the best start to conference play since 1913 when they won the National Championship and Big Ten Championship.
* Walter Kilgore hit his second 50+-yard field goal of the season on Saturday. He joins Greg Casimir from Rowan as the only two players with multiple 50-yard field goals this year.
* Kilgore has also made all 23 extra points this season, and he has made 36 consecutive PAT kicks dating back to last season.
* The UChicago defense has been excellent through the first five games of the season, holding their opponents to 21 points or fewer. This is the first time since 2014 that they have allowed 21 points or fewer in their first five games. They rank seventh in NCAA Division III in scoring defense, allowing 10.6 PPG.
* The Maroons led NCAA Division III in third-down defense, allowing their opponents to convert just 15.9% of the time.
* Avondre Kelley ran for 103 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win over Lawrence. He is the first freshman to run for over 100 yards since Nicholas D'Ambrose in 2018.
* Morrison Giggetts ranks second in the country in yards per kickoff return with an average of 37.9 yards per return.
* Brothers Jack Ruff and Max Ruff have each thrown a touchdown pass in their past three wins. It is the first time in recorded UChicago history that a pair of brothers have thrown a touchdown in the same game.
* Following their clash with Lawrence, the Maroons will return to Stagg Field for their penultimate home game of the year against the Ripon Red Hawks at 12 PM.

RIPON COLLEGE NOTES: 

* Ripon enters the weekend with a 3-2 record overall and a 3-1 record in Midwest Conference play.
* The Red Hawks are coming off a 22-14 win over Cornell (IA) last weekend in which the defense came up with a big stop on a 4th-and-1 with under two minutes remaining to seal the victory for Ripon.
* Treston Dekker leads the rushing attack for Ripon with 352 yards and 5 touchdowns.
* Jack Berens has thrown for 565 yards and 6 touchdowns on the year.
* The Red Hawks have been bitten by the turnover bug this season with 8 interceptions and 2 fumbles lost.
* The defense is led by DeSean Smith who has tallied a team-high 3.5 sacks and 7.0 tackles for loss on the year.
* Following their game with UChicago, Ripon will return to Hopp Stadium for their final two home games of the season against Illinois College and Beloit.

SERIES HISTORY:

* The University of Chicago leads the all-time series 10-9 over Ripon.
* The Maroons have allowed just six points in each of the last two meetings with the Red Hawks, bringing home a 30-6 victory in 2024 and a 21-6 victory in 2023.
* The last Ripon win in the series came back in 2022 when the Red Hawks won 19-16 on a game-winning field goal with 51 seconds to go.
* The Maroons hold an 8-2 record on their home field against Ripon, and the Red Hawks have not won a game at Stagg Field since October 23, 1982, when they beat the Maroons 24-23.