Nov. 9, 2004

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The Game: Johns Hopkins (7-2, 3-2 Centennial Conference) hosts McDaniel (6-2, 4-1) in what may be the biggest game in the history of Hopkins football. A McDaniel wins gives the Terror the outright Centennial Conference title. A Hopkins win could set the stage for up to a five-way tie for the Centennial title (see attached sheet for full tie-breaking rundown).

The Teams: Johns Hopkins improved to 7-2 with a convincing 38-14 victory over then 11th-ranked Hampden-Sydney. The 11th-ranked Tigers are the second-highest ranked team that Johns Hopkins has ever beaten in football (JHU defeated then 9th-ranked Western Maryland, 21-14 in the 2001 season finale).

McDaniel snatched victory from what appeared to be the certain jaws of defeat as a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown in the final two minutes lifted the Green Terror to a stunning 7-6 win over Muhlenberg.

Deja Vu: The setting for this week?s game between Johns Hopkins and McDaniel should look familiar to close followers of Centennial Conference football. In 2002 McDaniel had already clinched no worse than a share of the Centennial Conference title when it came to Homewood. The Blue Jays needed a win to grab a share of their first-ever CC title and responded with a 27-7 victory.

Last season both teams entered the regular season-finale needing a win to grab a share of the title. Again the Blue Jays came up with the victory (17-3).

Amazing, but True: How good has McDaniel been for how long? The Green Terror have lost a total of five league games since the beginning of the 1997 season; three against Johns Hopkins and two against all of the other teams in the Centennial Conference combined.

Seniors Playing Last Regular-Season Home Game: The seniors on the 2004 Johns Hopkins football team are playing their final regular-season game at Homewood Field this week. This group will depart Homewood as the winningest class in school history as the Blue Jays have posted a 32-8 (.800) record since the current senior class arrived in 2001. In addition to the overall record, the group has also been a key part of two Centennial Conference Co-Championships and a pair of ECAC titles.

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 21-3 in its last 24 games dating back to the final four games of the 2002 season and 28-5 in its last 33 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 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 11 of their last 13 and 17 of their last 21 at home. The Blue Jays snapped a two-game home losing streak with last week?s 38-14 win over Hampden-Sydney.

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 92-55-3 (.623). 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 .623 winning percentage is second among JHU coaches who have coached 30 or more games and the Blue Jays are 68-31-1 (.685) since the beginning of the 1995 season. Last week?s game against Hampden-Sydney was 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 92 wins. The 92 wins are three 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, 51-20 in the first quarter this season and 60-13 in the third quarter. Dating back to the beginning of last season (a span of 20 games) JHU has outscored the opposition, 104-37 in the first quarter and 144-27 in the third.

Sack Masters: In 11 games last season the Johns Hopkins defense came up with a total of 20 sacks. Through nine games this season the Blue Jays already have 28 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 9.5 sacks.

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 with each of their last four wins ranking as the come-from-behind variety.

The Key to Success: 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 17-0 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 26-of-29 (.897) trips into the red zone with 19 touchdowns and seven field goals through nine 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 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).

Player Notes of Interest (Included in PDF Version)