Nov. 3, 2004
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The Game: Johns Hopkins (6-2) hosts 11th-ranked Hampden-Sydney (7-1) in the first of two straight games at Homewood Field against teams that are battling for a spot in the upcoming NCAA Playoffs.
The Teams: Johns Hopkins bounced back from its loss to Muhlenberg two weeks ago with a 20-14 victory at Ursinus last Saturday. Hampden-Sydney picked up an 18-14 come-from-behind victory over Dickinson last week to run its winning streak to four games.
The Stakes Are High: Last season Johns Hopkins and Hampden-Sydney both posted 9-1 records and were left out of the NCAA Playoffs. An argument can be made that JHU and HSC were the last two teams left out of the playoff field. While both teams could still grab a share of their respective conference championships, this week?s game could also be an audition for an at-large bid to the NCAAs.
In the Rankings: Johns Hopkins is receiving votes in this week?s AFCA Poll. Hampden-Sydney is ranked 11th in the AFCA Poll and 19th in the d3football.com poll.
Scoreboard Watching: While Johns Hopkins is the lone Centennial Conference team playing a non-league game this week, the Blue Jays will certainly be following the action in Westminster, Carlisle and Lancaster.
Can you follow this? In the race for the Centennial Conference Championship and the league?s automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Playoffs, only Muhlenberg controls its own fate this weekend. A Muhlenberg win over McDaniel gives the Mules the undisputed conference championship and a third straight trip to the NCAAs.
If McDaniel beats the Mules then the Green Terror will come to Homewood Field with the only clear path to an outright CC Championship. Quite simply if McDaniel wins its final two games it will win the title and go to the playoffs.
Now for the tricky part. If McDaniel beats Muhlenberg and then falls to Johns Hopkins while both Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall win out there will be a five-way tie for the conference championship. The league?s automatic bid would then be decided by a complicated tie-breaking formula (in the five-way tie scenario the first two tie-breaking steps wash out).
In short, Muhlenberg and McDaniel can both win the title outright, while there could be anywhere from a three to five-way tie for the championship as well.
Seniors Break Record: The seniors on the 2004 Johns Hopkins football team broke the school record for most wins by a class with last week?s 20-14 win at Ursinus. The Blue Jays have posted a 31-8 (.795) record since the current senior class arrived in 2001. Last year?s senior class posted a 30-11 (.730) record from 2000-2003. These are the only two classes in school history to win 30 or more games during their careers. Prior to the last two classes the seniors on the 1998 team held the record with a 27-12-1 record.
Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 20-3 in its last 23 games dating back to the final four games of the 2002 season and 27-5 in its last 32 games dating back to the final two games of the 2001 season.
Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season Johns Hopkins is 34-10 (.773) at home and has twice enjoyed 10-game winning streaks at Homewood Field during that time. Currently the Blue Jays have won 10 of their last 12 and 16 of their last 20 at home. Surprisingly the Blue Jays have actually dropped two straight at Homewood Field. This is the first two-game home losing streak for the Blue Jays since the final two home games of the 2000 season.
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 91-55-3 (.621). 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 .621 winning percentage is second among JHU coaches who have coached 30 or more games and the Blue Jays are 67-31-1 (.682) since the beginning of the 1995 season. This week?s game against Hampden-Sydney will be Margraff?s 150th as the head coach at Johns Hopkins.
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 91 wins. The 91 wins are two more than Hopkins accumulated in the previous 22 years combined (1968-89). During that time, Hopkins posted 11 winning seasons and won 89 games.
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, 51-13 in the first quarter this season and 46-13 in the third quarter. Dating back to the beginning of last season (a span of 19 games) JHU has outscored the opposition, 104-30 in the first quarter and 130-27 in the third.
Sack Masters: In 11 games last season the Johns Hopkins defense came up with a total of 20 sacks. Through eight games this season the Blue Jays already have 25 sacks to their credit. JHU had five in the season-opener against Rochester, nine in the win over Kean and five against Muhlenberg. Nine different players have already registered at least one sack on the year with Brian Cook leading the way with 8.5 sacks.
Comeback Kids: Johns Hopkins fell behind Ursinus, 14-0 last week 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.
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 21-of-23 (.913) trips into the red zone with 15 touchdowns and six field goals through eight games. No other team in the league has scored on more than 72% of its trips inside the red zone.
Keys to Success: Johns Hopkins is an impressive 56-4 (.933) under head coach Jim Margraff when scoring 24 or more points...currently, the Blue Jays have won 43 of their last 45 when scoring 24 or more...at the same time, Hopkins is 62-10-2 (.851) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less since Margraff arrived for the 1990 season...the Blue Jays have won 27 of their last 29 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).
Player Notes of Interest (Included in PDF Version)
