The UChicago football team has been unstoppable in recent weeks. This past weekend, they had their first conference game of the year against Lawrence University. Coming out of a two-game win streak in which they outscored their previous two opponents by just under 100 points, the Maroons were confident in their playing ability. This confidence showed immediately against Lawrence. Lawrence received the opening kickoff but was held off by the Maroons’ stingy defense, who forced a three-and-out to set the tone for the game. Subsequently, on UChicago’s first possession of the game, first-year quarterback Jeffrey Jackson scrambled on a third down, making Lawrence defenders look unprepared as he crossed the goal line with a 40-yard touchdown run to put the Maroons on the board. The special teams unit encountered a lucky play to further give the Maroons control of the game in which Lawrence snapped the ball well over the punter’s head giving UChicago the ball five yards away from the endzone. The first half played out quite similarly, as Lawrence could not move the ball at all while the Maroon offense refused to slow down. The Maroons ended up scoring on six of their first seven drives to put up a massive 42 points on the scoreboard within just the first half. After the half, the game predictably became slow and both teams seemed like they were ready to run out the clock. The main highlight of the second half was when second-year defensive lineman Ross Martin blocked a punt to set up the Maroons’ final scoring drive, which led to the final score of 49–0 in favor of the Maroons.  

Overall, it was a dominating performance by the Maroons, who seem to be improving week in and week out. Third-year starting cornerback Roberto Rabines described the game as “probably the best team game we have played all season” as well as emphasizing the fact that the team was “very strong in all three phases.” When asked how this recent stretch of dominance has been personally, he responded with a smile and exclaimed, “I’m having more fun each week!” With everything clicking on all cylinders, it is a fun time being a fan and player of the UChicago football team.  

Some of the incredible stats of this most recent stretch for the Maroons include the fact that this is the first time that the defense has had consecutive shutouts since 1969. Also, in this three-game stretch, the Maroons have outscored their opponents 154–9. The offense has been averaging 465 yards per game as well as an incredible 51.3 points per game. One of the biggest keys to this dominant win-streak is the stout run defense that has led opponents to becoming incredibly one-dimensional. Lawrence was able to only run for 11 yards over the course of the entire game, making them easy to stop once they abandoned their toothless run attack. Next up for the Maroons is a 1 p.m. kickoff against St. Norbert College at Stagg Field this Saturday in what could be a huge conference game, with both teams coming in with three-game win streaks.