Nov. 2, 2005

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The Game: Johns Hopkins (7-1) plays the first of two straight on the road to close the regular season as the Blue Jays travel to Virginia to take on Hampden-Sydney (6-2). The Blue Jays are coming off their first loss of the season, a 21-17 setback against Ursinus, while the Tigers made it 2-for-2 against the Centennial Conference this season with a 66-27 dismantling of Dickinson.

The Teams: Johns Hopkins posted a 9-2 record, claimed a share of a third straight Centennial Conference Championship and won the ECAC Southeast title in 2004. Hamden-Sydney posted an 8-2 record and finished second in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference with a 5-1 league mark.

Centennial Title Chase: Johns Hopkins has already secured no worse than a share for the Centennial Conference title. The Blue Jays clinch the title outright with a win next week at McDaniel. Despite playing out of conference this week the Blue Jays can secure the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Playoffs with an Ursinus loss to Franklin & Marshall on Saturday.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins dropped out of the top 25 in the AFCA Division III Coaches Poll this week after dropping the decision to Ursinus last Saturday. The Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 25 for five straight weeks. Prior to the 2003 season Johns Hopkins had never been ranked in the top 25 in the nation in football. Since then the Blue Jays have been ranked in the top 25 in the nation 17 times in 27 weeks and have received votes in every poll since the final two polls of the 2002 season. Last week's number 16 ranking marked the ninth time JHU appeared in the top 20. The Blue Jays peaked at number 13 in the poll of October 21, 2003.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Hampden-Sydney are meeting for the 19th time in a series the Tigers lead, 12-5-1. Last season's meeting at Homewood Field was the first between the two teams since 1970 and JHU's first win in the series since 1961. From 1950 through 1970 the teams met 15 times with the Tigers winning eight of the last nine during that stretch. The last five wins in that run all came by shutout. In last season's 38-14 win, the Blue Jays got a career-high 185 yards rushing from senior Adam Cook and JHU racked up season highs of 330 yards rushing and 473 yards of total offense in knocking off the 11th-ranked Tigers.

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 a share of four straight Centennial Conference titles (including this year) and won three ECAC Championships (ECAC Southwest-2002, ECAC South Atlantic-2003, ECAC Southeast-2004).

Streaking: Despite the loss to Ursinus the Blue Jays are 26-4 in their last 30 games, 35-6 in their last 41 and 41-9 in their last 50. These represent the best records ever over those numbers of games in school history.

Non-Conference Roll: The 9-6 win over CMU extended JHU's winning streak in non-conference games to 13 games. The Blue Jays last dropped a non-conference game on October 26, 2002 at Randolph-Macon (17-12).

November Reign: Johns Hopkins enters this week's game at Hampden-Sydney riding the crest of a 12-game winning streak in the month of November. The Blue Jays last dropped a game in November in 2000.

Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season Johns Hopkins is 39-11 (.780) at home and has twice enjoyed 10-game winning streaks at Homewood Field during that time. Currently the Blue Jays have won 16 of their last 19 and 22 of their last 27 at home.

Road Warriors: The win over Muhlenberg was JHU's ninth straight victory away from Homewood Field and 17th win in its last 19 road games. The nine-game road winning streak is the longest in school history. Johns Hopkins previously had a seven-game road winning streak from 1967-69.

Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays erased a 10-3 fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Muhlenberg, 13-10 last Saturday. Johns Hopkins has now 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 26-1 when scoring more than seven points and 0-3 when they have been held to seven points or less. Last week's 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 70-10-2 (.866) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less since Margraff arrived for the 1990 season...the Blue Jays have won 34 of their last 36 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 rank first in the Centennial Conference in scoring defense (8.1 ppg), total defense (223.6 ypg) and rushing defense (84.0 ypg), third in pass defense (139.6 ypg) and second in pass efficiency defense (90.1 rating). The Blue Jays have held five of eight opponents to seven points or less and have allowed more than 250 yards just twice on the year.

The Blue Jays rank third in the nation in scoring defense, sixth in total defense, 18th in rushing defense and 21st in pass efficiency 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.

Scoring Defense: Johns Hopkins got a 31-yard fumble return for a touchdown (Adam Luke) and a 33-yard interception return for a touchdown (Adam Colicchio) in the win over Dickinson. This marked the first time since September 29, 2000 (54-13 win over Gettysburg) that Johns Hopkins has scored two defensive touchdowns in the same game.

"Odd" Defense: Perhaps the most unusual defensive note about Johns Hopkins has to do with odd-numbered years and the JHU pass defense. In the last three odd numbered years (2001, 2003, 2005) the Blue Jays have come up with 51 interceptions and allowed just eight touchdown passes. The Blue Jays led the nation in pass efficiency defense in 2001 and 2003 and rank 21st in the nation this season. JHU did not allow a touchdown pass in 2001 and had 28 interceptions while allowing just two TD passes in 2003.