Sept. 16, 2004
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The Teams: Johns Hopkins improved to 2-0 with its fifth straight win, a 35-17 victory at Kean last Saturday. Carnegie Mellon dropped to 1-1 with a 16-14 loss at home to Grove City last Saturday.
It?s a Record: The 10 wins for the Blue Jays last season are a school record. The previous record of nine had been set in 2002.
Title Time-I: Johns Hopkins shared the 2002 Centennial Conference title with Muhlenberg and McDaniel. This was the first Centennial championship for Johns Hopkins. It took the Blue Jays just one year to grab another as JHU shared the 2003 title with Muhlenberg.
Title Time-II: Johns Hopkins fielded a football team from 1882-2001 without playing a single playoff game. The Blue Jays have advanced to the post-season in each of the last two years as the 2002 team won the ECAC Southwest Championship, while the 2003 team won the ECAC South Atlantic title.
National Rankings: Johns Hopkins debuts at number 22 in this week?s AFCA Division III Coaches? Poll (first poll of the 2004 season). The Blue Jays are also ranked 24th in this week?s d3football.com poll. The Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office uses the AFCA Poll when determining JHU?s official ranking.
The High Point: Johns Hopkins was ranked 13th in the nation in the AFCA Poll that was released on October 21, 2003. This is the highest a Johns Hopkins football team has ever been ranked. Prior to the 2003 season the Blue Jays had never been ranked in the top 25, but JHU spent nine weeks in the top 25 during the 2003 season. The Blue Jays ended the year ranked 24th in the final AFCA Division III Coaches Poll.
Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins was 4-0 in September last season and is 15-1 in its last 16 games in the month of September dating back to the 2000 season. This includes last week?s 35-17 win at Kean.
More Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins? 7-0 start last season was the best in school history.
Streaking: Dating back to last season Johns Hopkins has won five straight games. During the five-game winning streak the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition, 176-60.
Multi-Season Victory Record: The 19 wins in the last two years (2002-03), the 25 in the last three (2001-03) and the 30 in the last four (2000-03) are all school records for those periods of time.
23-of-26: Johns Hopkins is 23-3 in its last 26 games dating back to the final two games of the 2001 season (the equivalent of two full seasons plus four games). Prior to this run the Blue Jays had won a total of 21 games in three full seasons just once in school history (1996-98 / JHU went 7-3 in each of those years).
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 87-53-3 (.619). 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 .619 winning percentage is second among JHU coaches who have coached 30 or more games and the Blue Jays are 63-29-1 (.683) since the beginning of the 1995 season.
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 10 winning seasons and 87 wins. The 87 wins are five more than Hopkins accumulated in the previous 21 years combined (1969-89). During that time, Hopkins posted 10 winning seasons and won 82 games.
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 13 players on the 2003 All-Centennial Football Team and eight of those players return for the 2004 season. The six first-time selections for the Blue Jays in 2003 tied the school record for most in one year. Below is a look at JHU?s returning All-Centennial selections:
Name Position Notes
Matt Campbell DB CC Def. POY and 1st Team All-CC / Named to three All-America Teams
Alan Cody DL HM All-CC / Led JHU?s defensive linemen with 50 tackles last season
Adam Cook RB 1st Team All-CC / School-record 1,047 rushing yards in ?03
Marc DeGennaro C 2nd Team All-CC / Latest in a long line of standout centers at JHU
Adam Luke LB 2nd Team All-CC / Led team in tackles (71) despite starting just three games
Matt Weeks OL 1st Team All-CC / Named to a pair of All-America teams
Max Whitacre LB HM All-CC / Tied for second on the team with 65 tackles
Brian Wolcott WR 2nd Team All-CC / Team highs of 45 receptions for 726 yards and nine TDs.
It?s All Academic: Johns Hopkins had seven players earn CoSIDA District II Academic All-America honors last season, including five who earned first team status. The seven overall selections and the five first team honorees were the most of any school in the country at any level. Below is a look at JHU?s three returning CoSIDA District II Academic All-Americans:
Name Position Notes
Mike Aynardi DL 2nd Team CoSIDA District II AAA / Had 33 tackles and started eight games
Nate Readal FB 1st Team CoSIDA District II AAA / TFL just once in 112 career attempts
Ryan Sheare OL 1st Team CoSIDA District II AAA / Started nine games on a young OL
Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season, Hopkins is 33-9 (.786) at home and won 10 straight at Homewood from 1996-97. Under head coach Jim Margraff the Blue Jays are 52-17-2 (.746) at home and JHU has won nine straight and 15 of 17 at home.
More Home Sweet Home: During their current nine-game home winning streak the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition, 292-85 (32.4-9.4).
The Road Most Traveled: Johns Hopkins is 13-5 in its last 18 road games. The Blue Jays were 4-1 on the road in 2002 and 2003. The Blue Jays are 10-2 in their last 12 road games since dropping back-to-back road tilts late in the 2001 season.
Going the Distance: During the 2002 and 2003 seasons the Blue Jays had 57 scoring drives that covered 51 yards or more. Through the first two games this season the Blue Jays already have seven scoring drives that have covered 51 yards or more.
Quick Strike Attack: In 11 games last season the Blue Jays had 31 scoring drives that took less than 2:50 off the clock. In the win over Kean, JHU had four scoring drives that took less than 2:50.
Quarterly Report: Johns Hopkins has scored in all eight quarters through the first two games of the season.
Sack Masters: In 11 games last season the Johns Hopkins defense came up with a total of 20 sacks. Through two games this season the Blue Jays already have 14 sacks to their credit. JHU had five in the season-opener against Rochester and nine in last week?s win at Kean.
Keys to Success: Johns Hopkins is an impressive 54-4 (.931) under head coach Jim Margraff when scoring 24 or more points...currently, the Blue Jays have won 41 of their last 43 when scoring 24 or more...at the same time, Hopkins is 59-9-2 (.857) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less since Margraff arrived for the 1990 season...the Blue Jays have won 24 of their last 25 games when holding the opposition to 14 points or less.
Player Notes of Interest (Included in PDF Version)
