Oct. 15, 2002

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Johns Hopkins University football team, currently 5-0 and riding the crest of a seven-game winning streak dating back to last season, is ranked 26th in this week's American Football Coaches' Association NCAA Division III Poll. The Blue Jays, who are actually among the teams listed among others receiving votes, picked up 63 points in the poll and are tied with Springfield as the top two vote-getting teams outside the top 25.

Johns Hopkins (5-0, 2-0 Cetennial Conference) had been listed as one of the team receiving votes for each of the last five weeks. This is the highest Johns Hopkins has ever been ranked in the poll, which debuted in 1999. Hopkins has appeared in the poll among teams receiving votes for at least one week every year since 1999, but this is the closest the Blue Jays have ever come to cracking the top 25.

Johns Hopkins' 5-0 start is the best for a Blue Jay football team since 1931, when JHU won its first six games of the season. In addition, the current seven-game winning streak is tied for the longest in school history and ranks as the longest active winning streak in the Centennial Conference and the longest by any football team in the state of Maryland.

Under the guidance of 13th-year head coach Jim Margraff, the Blue Jay football program has enjoyed a great deal of success since 1990. Margraff ranks as the all-time winningest football coach in school history with a 71-50-3 (.585) record and the 71 games Johns Hopkins has won under Margraff's guidance in 12-and-a-half seasons are five more than Hopkins had won in the previous 18 seasons combined. The decade of the 1990s was by far the winningest decade in the history of Hopkins football as JHU posted a record of 55-42-3 (.565) from 1990-99. The 55 wins during that time are 14 more than JHU won in any other decade since the sport found its way to Homewood in 1882.

Johns Hopkins will put its seven-game winning streak on the line on Saturday when the Blue Jays host Muhlenberg (4-1, 2-1 CC) in a key Centennial Conference game. Johns Hopkins has currently won five straight and six of its last seven at home. In addition, the Blue Jays are 24-8 (.750) at Homewood Field since the beginning of the 1996 season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm.

AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll

* Through Games of 10-12-02 *

Rank School Record/Points

1. Mount Union (VA) (48) 5-0/1,200

2. Bridgewater (VA) (1) 5-0/1,170

3. Rowan (NJ) 6-0/1,132

4. Trinity (TX) 6-0/1,055

5. Widener (PA) 5-0/1,010

6. Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) 5-0/899

7. Ithaca (NY) 5-0/875

8. John Carroll (OH) 5-0/838

9. St. John's (MN) 5-1/777

10. Hanover (IN) 5-0/712

11. St. Norbert (WI) 6-0/676

12. Linfield (OR) 4-0/632

13. Wartburg (IO) 5-0/554

14. Augustana (IL) 3-1/525

15. Wabash (IN) 5-0/469

16. Wittenberg (OH) 4-1/418

17. Howard Payne (TX) 5-0/375

18. Washington & Jefferson (PA) 4-1/360

19. Hardin-Simmons (TX) 4-1/323

20. Wisconsin-Stout 4-1/305

21. McDaniel (MD) 4-1/272

22. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 5-1/245

23. Salisbury (MD) 6-0/220

24. Western Connecticut 4-1/87

25. MacMurray (IL) 5-0/80

Others Receiving Votes: Johns Hopkins-63, Springfield-26, Whitworth-62, Wooster-59, Westfield State-55, Wheaton-54, Illinois Wesleyan-48, Central-42, Hobart-40, Capital-31, Cortland St.-30, Wisconsin-Stevens Point-19, Millikin-17, Claremont Mudd Scripps-15, Brockport St.-13, Concordia-12, Muhlenberg-9, Pacific Lutheran-8, Concordia Moorhead-8, Hampden-Sydney-6, Worcester State-5, Lycoming-5, Albion-3, Coe-1.

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