Dec. 22, 2005

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The Team: Johns Hopkins closed another successful season with an 8-3 record, the program's first-ever outright Centennial Conference Championship (fourth consectuvie year JHU has claimed at least a share of the CC title) and the first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III Playoffs. The Blue Jays are the first Centennial Conference team to win the title outright since 2000.

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: The Blue Jays are 27-6 in their last 33 games (since the start of the 2003 season), 36-8 in their last 44 (since the beginning of the 2002 season) and 42-11 in their last 53 (since the start of the 2001 season).

Seniors End Career as All-Time Winningest Class: In addition to claiming at least a share of four straight Centennial Conference Championships, the seniors on the 2005 Hopkins football team won more games (36) than any other class in school history. The previous record (34) was set last season.

November Reign: Bolstering the Blue Jays' recent success has been their ability to close strong. Johns Hopkins is 13-2 in its last 15 games in the month of November and the loss at Thiel in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs was JHU's first loss on the road in November since 1999.

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays played a school-record seven games away from Homewood Field during the 2005 season and posted a 5-2 record in those games. The Blue Jays are 18-4 in their last 22 games away from Homewood Field (dating back to the final game of the 2001 season). JHU won a school-record nine straight road games before losing at Hampden-Sydney on November 5.

Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays erased a 10-3 fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Muhlenberg, 13-10, on October 22. Johns Hopkins came 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 JHU has eight come-from-behind wins to its credit 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 0-4 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 continued that trend as they finished first in the Centennial Conference in scoring defense (13.4) and rushing defense (95.3), second in total defense (269.3) and sacks (33), third in passing yards allowed (174.1) and fourth in pass efficiency defense (104.3 rating).

Shutouts: The 14-0 shutout of Gettysburg was JHU's second of the season. Johns Hopkins has posted 14 shutouts in 16 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)