CHICAGO, Ill. -- The University of Chicago football team took down (RV) Illinois College on Saturday afternoon with a 24-21 victory at Stagg Field to remain perfect in Midwest Conference play in 2025. The win over the Blueboys is just the sixth win in program history over a team that was receiving votes in the d3football.com top-25 poll.

After a scoreless first quarter with each defense playing well, Illinois College struck first with a 54-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to take a 7-0 lead. However, the Maroons answered back immediately on the ensuing kickoff as Morrison Giggets took the kick 89 yards to the house to level the scoreline at 7.

The UChicago defense came up with a three-and-out on the following drive, and the Maroons ran the ball right down the field, capping off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jack Ruff to Luke Degner for the 14-7 UChicago lead.

After the Maroon defense came up with another stop, UChicago took the ball for their four-minute offense and methodically worked it down the field to set up a 50-yard field goal to end the half, and Walter Kilgore came up big with his second career 50+ yard field goal to put the Maroons up 17-7 at the break.

Coming out of the half, the Blueboys went three-and-out once again, and the UChicago offense continued their domination with a seven-play, 74 yard drive for their third consecutive drive with points to help extend the lead to 24-7 with a 23-yard strike from Max Ruff to Luke Degner.

This touchdown passes for both Jack Ruff and Max Ruff marks the first time in recorded UChicago history that the Maroons had a pair of brothers each threw a touchdown in the same game.

The Illinois College offense came alive late in the game with back-to-back touchdowns to cut the lead to 24-21 with just 6:39 remaining in the game. Then, after another three-and-out by the Maroons, the Blueboys offense had a chance to drive down the field to tie or take the lead in the final four minutes.

The UChicago defense and Houston Weathers had other ideas, however, as Weather came up with a big stuff up the middle on first down, and quarterback hurries on both second and third down to shut down Illinois College and give the ball back to the UChicago offense.

Jake Lowry and Miles Parlet each broke off first-down runs on the final drive to help seal the 24-21 victory over the Blueboys.

Jack Ruff led the UChicago offense through the air with 90 yards on 10-16 passing, and Max Ruff finished with 49 yards on 3-6 passing with each quarterback throwing a touchdown. Lowry added 74 yards through the air, and Degner added 70 yards and 2 touchdowns on 4 catches.

On defense, Trevor Dong led the team with 9 tackles, and Anthony Nittoli was all over the field with 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 sack.

With the win, the Maroons improve to 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in MWC Play. UChicago will have a bye week next week before returning to action on Saturday, October 4, as the Maroons travel to Galesburg, Illinois to take on the Knox Prairie Fire.