Sept. 10, 2003
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The Game: Johns Hopkins (1-0) hosts Washington & Lee (0-0) in the Blue Jays' 2003 home-opener. The Blue Jays have won their last four home-openers and are 8-4-1 in home-openers under head coach Jim Margraff.
The Teams: Johns Hopkins opened the season with a 27-9 win at Rochester last Saturday. This was the third straight season-opening win and sixth in the last seven years for Hopkins. Washington & Lee is playing its season-opener and carries a two-game winning streak over from last season. W&L had lost 15 straight season-openers before knocking off Johns Hopkins, 32-19 in 2000.
It's a Record: The nine wins for the Blue Jays last season are a school record. Johns Hopkins broke the school record for wins in a season with its eighth of the year with the win over McDaniel. The previous school record of seven victories had been set eight times previously (1998, 1997, 1996, 1981, 1968, 1959, 1948, 1891). Jim Margraff coached the Blue Jays to three of the seven-win seasons before breaking the record in 2002.
It's a First: Johns Hopkins shared the 2002 Centennial Conference title with Muhlenberg and McDaniel. This was the first Centennial championship for Johns Hopkins.
More Firsts: The ECAC Southwest Championship Game victory over Frostburg last season marked several program firsts. This was the first post-season game in the history of Johns Hopkins football and, obviously, it was also the first post-season victory in the history of Johns Hopkins football. It was also the first time in over 100 years that a Johns Hopkins football team played 11 games in a season (1888).
The High Point: Johns Hopkins was ranked 26th in the nation in the AFCA Poll that was released on October 15, 2002. This is the highest a Johns Hopkins football team has ever been ranked. The Blue Jays received 34 points in the final AFCA Poll of the 2002 season and were tied for 32nd in the final rankings.
Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins is 10-1 in its last 11 games in the month of September. The Blue Jays have lost just two games at home in the month of September since the beginning of the 1996 season.
More Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins' 5-0 start last season was the best for a JHU football team since 1931, when the Blue Jays opened the season with six straight wins.
Streaking: Dating back to last season, Johns Hopkins has won five straight games. This is the longest active winning streak in the Centennial Conference.
More Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 10-2 since the beginning of the 2002 season, 12-2 in its last 14 games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 16-5 since the beginning of the 2001 season.
Does This Mean Anything: Johns Hopkins has won its second game of the season in each of the last 12 years. The only time JHU has dropped its second game of the season under head coach Jim Margraff was in his first season, when Swarthmore beat visiting JHU, 28-20.
The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff (JHU `82), who is in his 14th season as the head coach at Homewood. With the season-opening win over Washington & Lee in 2001, Margraff became the all-time winningest coach in school history and he now sports an overall record of 76-52-3 (.592). The previous record for wins by a Johns Hopkins football coach was 60 by Ray Van Orman (1920-35).
Margraff guided the Blue Jays to a then-school-record-tying seven wins in 1996, 1997 and 1998 before leading the Blue Jays to their first-ever playoff appearance (and victory), first-ever Centennial Conference title and a school-record nine wins in 2002. Margraff's .592 winning percentage is second among JHU coaches who have coached 30 or more games and the Blue Jays are 52-28-1 (.648) since the beginning of the 1995 season.
Frank Miriello is in his ninth season as the head coach at Washington & Lee and his 35th season in coaching. He boasts a 38-40-1 (.487) record at W&L and ranks third on the school's all-time victory list.
Cradle of Coaches: Jim Margraff is one of seven active Johns Hopkins head coaches who rank as the all-time winningest coach in school history in their respective sport.
In addition to Margraff, Bob Babb (baseball), Nancy Funk (women's basketball), George Kennedy (women's swimming), Bill Nelson (men's basketball), Matt Smith (men's soccer) and Leo Weil (women's soccer) all rank as the winningest coach in their sport's history at JHU.
Margraff's Resurrection: Since taking over as the head coach prior to the 1990 season, Jim Margraff has guided JHU to nine winning seasons and 76 wins. The 76 wins are four more than Hopkins accumulated in the previous 19 years combined (1971-89). During that time, Hopkins posted eight winning seasons and won 72 games.
And They Shall Lead Us: The Blue Jays selected two players to serve as team captains for the 2003 season: senior DL Paul Smith (Lafayette, NJ/Sparta) and senior LB Paul Longo (Kensington, MD/Bethesda-Chevy Chase). Smith and Longo were two of JHU's four Verizon District II Academic All-Americans last season.
Star Quality: Johns Hopkins placed 12 players on the 2002 All-Centennial Football Team and five of those players return for the 2003 season.
Junior safety Matt Campbell is Hopkins' only returning First Team All-CC selection, while senior LB Paul Longo and senior PK Chris Smolyn return after garnering second team honors.
Rounding out JHU's returning CC All-Stars are junior WR Brian Wolcott and sophomore RB T.J. Lyons, who both garnered Honorable Mention All-CC status.
The 12 Centennial All-Stars for the Blue Jays in 2002 were a school record, while the five First Team All-CC picks were one shy of the school record.
It's All Academic: Johns Hopkins had four players earn Verizon District II Academic All-America honors (current senior captains Paul Smith and Paul Longo and the now-graduated Brian Williams and John Tiberi). The four selections were one more than the rest of the Centennial Conference teams had combined and no other school in the district had more than two players named to the team.
Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season, Hopkins is 26-9 (.743) at home and won 10 straight at Homewood from 1996-97. Currently, JHU has won eight of its last 10 at home and the Blue Jays were 5-1 at home in 2002.
The Road Most Traveled: Johns Hopkins is 9-3 in its last 12 road games. The Blue Jays were 4-1 on the road in 2002.
Don't Leave Early: Four of Johns Hopkins' five road games in 2001 and three of the five in 2002 were decided by eight points or less. Dating back to the end of the 2000 season, eight of JHU's last 12 road games have been decided by eight points or less.
Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays trailed 3-0 at halftime against Rochester in the season-opener. Of Hopkins' last 11 wins (dating back to the 2001 season-finale), six have been of the come-from-behind variety.
Third Down The Key: Some statistics can tell the whole story of a football game. One of those is third-down conversions. In the season-opening win over Rochester, the Blue Jays converted 7-of-13 third downs and limited the Yellowjackets to just 3-for-20 on third-down conversions. After one game, JHU ranks first in the Centennial Conference in third-down conversions and first in lowest opponent third-down conversion percentage.
Going the Distance: Last season, JHU had 28 scoring drives that covered 51 yards or more. Against Rochester, the Blue Jays had scoring drives of 66 and 69 yards. Hopkins' other scores came on a three-play, 33-yard drive and a blocked punt return.
Quick Strike Attack: The Blue Jays' three scoring drives against UR averaged five plays took an average of just 1:45 off the clock. This is a reversal of last season, when the Blue Jays had 16 scoring drives that took at least 4:00 off the clock.
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