Nov. 16, 2005

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The Game: Johns Hopkins (8-2) hits the road for its first-ever NCAA Playoff game as the Blue Jays travel to Greenville, PA to take on Thiel (10-0), which is also making its first appearance in the NCAA Playoffs. Game time at Thiel's Alumni Stadium is set for noon on Saturday, November 19.

The Teams: Johns Hopkins won its fourth consecutive Centennial Conference Championship overall and first-ever outright title to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Playoffs. The Blue Jays are the first Centennial Conference team to win the title outright since 2000 and, with their 8-2 record this season, have now won eight or more games in each of the last four years. Prior to this run Johns Hopkins had never won more than eight games in a season. Thiel is 10-0 for the first time in school history and the Tomcats grabbed their first President's Athletic Conference Championship in 33 years along the way. Thiel is one of just 11 undefeated teams remaining in the nation.

All-Time Against the PAC: Johns Hopkins has played just one game all-time against a team from the President's Athletic Conference. The Blue Jays knocked off Waynesburg, 26-23 in the 2004 ECAC Southeast Championship Game.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins did not receive any votes in this week's AFCA Division III Coaches Poll. This marks the second straight week the Blue Jays have not received any points in the AFCA Poll. JHU had received votes in 31 straight polls prior to last week. Thiel is ranked 15th in this week's poll.

Common Opponents: Johns Hopkins and Thiel had just one common opponent in 2005; Carnegie Mellon. Both games were at Carnegie Mellon and while both the Blue Jays and Tomcats pulled out narrow victories, that's about the only thing the two games had in common. Hopkins slipped past the Tartans, 9-6 on September 17 when junior place-kicker Ben Scott (playing in the shadow of the house he grew up in) nailed a 24-yard field goal as time expired. Thiel capped its perfect regular-season with a thrilling, 50-48 victory in triple overtime that saw the Tomcats erase a 28-14 deficit to force OT.

First Time, But Not Really: While the Blue Jays are making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Playoffs, there are numerous members of the team with post-season experience as Johns Hopkins won ECAC Championships after the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons. Below is a list of the three ECAC games the Blue Jays played in with opponent, result and notes of interest included (relative to current players):

2002 ECAC Southwest Championship ? Johns Hopkins-24, Frostburg-21

Notes Relative to Active Players: Senior RB T.J. Lyons rushed for 112 yards and had 129 all-purpose yards ... Junior DE Brian Cook had four tackles, forced a pair of fumbles and recovered a fumble. Several other current seniors played in the game.

2003 ECAC South Atlantic Championship ? Johns Hopkins-41, King's-13

Notes Relative to Active Players: Senior RB T.J. Lyons rushed for 113 yards and had 129 all-purpose yards ... Junior WR Anthony Triplin had five receptions for 53 yards ...Senior LBs Adam Luke and Max Whitacre combined for 17 tackles and Luke returned a fumble 14 yards for a touchdown (Whitacre forced the fumble) ... junior PK Ben Scott hit a pair of field goals and five extra points.

2004 ECAC Southeast Championship Johns Hopkins-26, Waynesburg-23

Notes Relative to Active Players: Senior QB Zach DiIonno threw for 214 yards and one touchdown ... Junior WR Anthony Triplin had three receptions for 77 yards ... Junior LB Matt Hagel was named the Game MVP as he registered a career-high 18 tackles ... Junior WR Evan Earnest had a career-high 151 all-purpose yards (37 receiving / 15 on punt returns / 99 on kickoff returns) ... JHU erased a pair of 14-point deficits (14-0 and 21-7) to secure the win.

More Post-Season Notes of Interest:

? Johns Hopkins has produced a 100-yard rusher in all three of its all-time post-season games. Senior T.J. Lyons has accounted for two of the three.

? JHU's starting quarterback has thrown for at least 190 yards in each of the Blue Jays' three post-season games. Senior Zach DiIonno threw for 214 yards against Waynesburg last season.

? JHU place-kickers are 5-for-5 on field goals in three post-season games. Junior Ben Scott is 4-for-4 in the last two post-season games.

? Johns Hopkins has scored at least 17 points in the first half in each of its three post-season games. The Blue Jays have averaged 30.3 points per game in the post-season.

? Hopkins has averaged 403 yards per game in its post-season history.

? Johns Hopkins has not allowed a point in the third quarter of its three post-season games.

Title Time: From 1969-2001 the Johns Hopkins football team did not win a title of any kind. In the last four years the Blue Jays have grabbed four straight Centennial Conference titles (including this year's outright title) and won three ECAC Championships (ECAC Southwest-2002, ECAC South Atlantic-2003, ECAC Southeast-2004).

Streaking: Including the win over McDaniel the Blue Jays are 27-5 in their last 32 games, 37-6 in their last 43 and 42-10 in their last 52. These represent the best records ever over those numbers of games in school history.

November Reign: Johns Hopkins is 13-1 in its last 14 games in the month of November and has not lost a game on the road in November since 1999.

Road Warriors: The loss to Hampden-Sydney on November 5 ended JHU's school-record nine-game road winning streak. The Blue Jays are still 18-3 in their last 21 games away from Homewood Field dating back to the final game of the 2001 season. This week's game at Thiel will be JHU's school-record seventh road game of the season.

Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays erased a 10-3 fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Muhlenberg, 13-10, on October 22. Johns Hopkins has come from behind to win twice this season (Ben Scott's 37-yard field goal with just one second remaining in the fourth quarter beat Rochester in the season-opener) and eight times since the start of the 2004 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 recently. Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 27-2 when scoring more than seven points and 0-3 when they have been held to seven points or less. The loss to Ursinus actually snapped a 30-game winning streak for Johns Hopkins when it scored more than seven points.

Keys to Success: Johns Hopkins is an impressive 60-4 (.938) under head coach Jim Margraff when scoring 24 or more points...currently, the Blue Jays have won 47 of their last 49 when scoring 24 or more...at the same time, Hopkins is 71-10-2 (.867) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less since Margraff arrived for the 1990 season...the Blue Jays have won 35 of their last 37 games when holding the opposition to 14 points or less.

Defense Leads The Pack: A trademark of the Johns Hopkins football team is a solid defense. Despite several key injuries the Blue Jays have continued that trend as they ranks first in the Centennial Conference in rushing defense (91.9) and scoring defense (11.9) and total defense (251.4). The Blue Jays rank seventh in the nation in scoring defense, 13th in total defense and 22nd in rushing defense.

Shutouts: The 14-0 shutout of Gettysburg was JHU's second of the season. Johns Hopkins has posted 14 shutouts in 15+ seasons under head coach Jim Margraff and the two this season mark the fourth time in the Margraff era that JHU has posted two or more shutouts in one year (1992 (2), 1996 (2), 2003 (3), 2005 (2)). The Blue Jays posted 11 shutouts in the 20 seasons prior to Margraff's arrival in 1990.

Player Notes of Interest (Included in PDF Version)