Sept. 22, 2003
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Johns Hopkins junior safety Matt Campbell (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) has been named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in Johns Hopkins' 24-0 win over Randolph-Macon last Saturday, it was announced today. This is the third consecutive week that a Johns Hopkins player has garnered offensive or defensive Player of the Week honors from the Centennial Conference.
Campbell tied for the team-lead with eight tackles and added an interception in the win over the Yellow Jackets. His interception late in the third quarter led to a Johns Hopkins touchdown that pushed the Blue Jays' lead to 14-0. With Campbell leading the way, the Blue Jays held Randolph-Macon to 153 yards of total offense, including just 50 in the second half. This was the first shutout for Hopkins since a 41-0 victory over Franklin & Marshall on November 3, 2001 and the 153 yards the Blue Jays allowed are the fewest surrendered by JHU since holding F&M to 138 in that same win two years ago.
Campbell currently ranks second on the team with 18 tackles, including seven solos and one for a loss. He also has three pass breakups and two interceptions on the year. His interception against Randolph-Macon was the eighth of his career and he now needs just two interceptions to become the ninth player in school history with 10 or more interceptions. Campbell has anchored a Johns Hopkins defense that has allowed just 16 points in three games thus far. The 16 points are the fewest Hopkins has allowed over a three-game span since allowing 14 over three games in 1996. This is also the fewest points the Blue Jays have allowed in the first three games of a season since 1960, when they allowed just 12 in three season-opening victories.
Johns Hopkins improved to 3-0 on the year and ran its winning streak to seven games with the 24-0 victory over Randolph-Macon. The seven-game winning streak is tied for the longest in school history, is the longest active winning streak in the Centennial Conference and the longest active winning streak by a college football team in the state of Maryland. Johns Hopkins has won seven straight games on five different occasions (including the current run). The most recent seven-game winning streak for JHU covered the final two games of the 2001 season and the first five games of the 2002 season. Hopkins is 14-2 in its last 16 games and 18-5 since the beginning of the 2001 season.
The Blue Jays will put their seven-game winning streak on the line this Saturday at Carnegie Mellon (3-0).
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