Nov. 18, 2004
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The Game: Johns Hopkins (8-2) hosts Waynesburg (7-3) in the ECAC Southeast Championship Game. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Blue Jays and Yellow Jackets.
The Teams: Johns Hopkins claimed a share of the 2004 Centennial Conference Championship with a 12-9 victory over McDaniel in its final regular season game last Saturday. Waynesburg closed the season with a gutty, 18-13 win at Westminster.
Title-Town: Johns Hopkins earned a share of its third straight Centennial title with last week?s 12-9 win over McDaniel. Johns Hopkins did not win a football championship of any type from 1969-2001, but the Blue Jays now have five overall titles to their credit in the last three years.
Playoff History: In addition to the three Centennial titles, the Blue Jays also won the 2002 ECAC Southwest Championship with a 24-21 win over Frostburg State and the 2003 ECAC South Atlantic title with a 41-13 win over King?s. These represent the only two post-season appearances in school history.
Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 27-5 since the beginning of the 2002 season, 29-5 in its last 34 games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 33-8 since the beginning of the 2001 season. These are all, by far, the best records over that number of games in school history.
November Reign: Johns Hopkins is 11-0 in the month of November in the last four seasons and 12-1 in the month of November in the last five years. The last time JHU dropped a game in November was in 2000, when then Western Maryland defeated the Blue Jays in the season-finale.
Seniors Own Record: The seniors on the 2004 Johns Hopkins football team will end their career as the winningest class in school history. The Blue Jays have posted a 33-8 (.805) record since the current class of seniors arrived prior to the 2001 season. The previous record for wins by a class was held by last year?s seniors, who won 30 games (30-11) during their career.
The Coach: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff (JHU ?82), who is in his 15th 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 93-55-3 (.626). 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. He topped that last season as JHU posted a 10-1 record with Centennial and ECAC South Atlantic Championships. Margraff?s .626 winning percentage is second among JHU coaches who have coached 30 or more games and the Blue Jays are 69-31-1 (.688) since 1995.
Margraff?s Resurrection: Since taking over as the head coach prior to the 1990 season, Jim Margraff has guided JHU to 10 winning seasons and 93 wins. The 93 wins are four more than Hopkins accumulated in the previous 22 years combined (1968-89). During that time, Hopkins posted 11 winning seasons and won 89 games.
Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season Johns Hopkins is 35-10 (.778) at home and has twice enjoyed 10-game winning streaks at Homewood Field during that time. Currently the Blue Jays have won 12 of their last 14 and 18 of their last 22 at home.
It?s All in the Speech: There must be something to what head coach Jim Margraff says in the locker room before the Blue Jays take the field. Hopkins has outscored the opposition, 51-20 in the first quarter this season and 63-20 in the third quarter. Dating back to the beginning of last season (a span of 21 games) JHU has outscored the opposition, 104-37 in the first quarter and 147-34 in the third.
Sack Masters: In 11 games last season the Johns Hopkins defense came up with a total of 20 sacks. Through 10 games this season the Blue Jays already have 32 sacks to their credit. JHU had five in the season-opener against Rochester, nine in the win over Kean, five against Muhlenberg and four vs. McDaniel.
Comeback Kids: Johns Hopkins fell behind Ursinus, 14-0 before scoring 20 straight points in what turned out to be a 20-14 victory. The 14-point deficit is the largest Johns Hopkins has overcome to win a game since November 6, 1999, when the Blue Jays rallied from a 27-10 deficit to defeat Franklin & Marshall, 35-33. The Blue Jays have come from behind to win five times this season.
Seven?s Heaven: For all the different numbers and statistics that can be applied to the Johns Hopkins football team, there has been one simple way to measure the success of the Blue Jays in the last two years. Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 18-0 when scoring more than seven points and 0-3 when they have been held to seven points or less.
In the Zone: Johns Hopkins has excelled when it has moved the ball into the red zone this season. The Blue Jays have scored on 27-of-31 (.871) trips into the red zone with 19 touchdowns and eight field goals through 10 games. No other team in the league has scored on more than 73% of its trips inside the red zone.
Keys to Success: Johns Hopkins is an impressive 57-4 (.934) under head coach Jim Margraff when scoring 24 or more points...currently, the Blue Jays have won 44 of their last 46 when scoring 24 or more...at the same time, Hopkins is 63-10-2 (.853) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less since Margraff arrived for the 1990 season...the Blue Jays have won 28 of their last 30 games when holding the opposition to 14 points or less.
Amazing, But True: The loss against Muhlenberg on October 23 snapped a 45-game winning streak in games when the Blue Jays held the opposition to less than 10 points. Prior to this loss the last time JHU lost a game when it held the opposition to less than 10 points was on October 18, 1986, when JHU dropped a 6-0 decision against ... Muhlenberg.
And They Shall Lead Us: The Blue Jays selected three players to serve as team captains for the 2004 season: senior DB Matt Campbell (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough), senior RB Adam Cook (New Freedom, PA/Susquehannock) and senior OL Matt Weeks (Landisville, PA/Hempfield).
Star Quality: Johns Hopkins placed a school-record 15 players on the 2004 All-Centennial Football Team and 10 of those players are expected to return for the 2005 season. The 15 All-CC selections breaks the previous record of 14, set last season. A complete list of JHU's All-Centennial selections can be found in the PDF version of these notes.
Success on the Field and in the Classroom: The recent on-field success of the Johns Hopkins football team has been well documented, but the Blue Jays have been equally as successful in the classroom.
Johns Hopkins placed six players on the 2004 CoSIDA District II Academic All-America team after earning a school-record seven selections last season.
Junior LB Max Whitacre earned First Team District II Academic All-America status this season, while senior FB Nate Readal, senior OL Ryan Sheare, junior rover Mike Aynardi, junior DB Jim Sanders and sophomore DL Brian Nickel all garnered second team honors.
No other school in the district had more than four players named to the District II team this year and JHU?s selections represented six of the eight for the Centennial Conference.
Player Notes of Interest (Included in PDF Version)
