Oct. 4, 2006

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The Last Time
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Johns Hopkins Depth Chart vs. Franklin & Marshall
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The Game: Johns Hopkins plays the first of two crucial Centennial Conference games on the road as the Blue Jays (1-3, 0-1 Centennial) travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to take on Franklin & Marshall (2-2, 1-0 CC). The Blue Jays dropped a 21-13 decision to Dickinson last Saturday, while the Diplomats knocked off Muhlenberg 24-10.

A Quick Refresher: Johns Hopkins posted an 8-3 record, won its fourth straight Centennial Conference Championship and advanced to the NCAA Playoffs for the first time in school history last season. Franklin & Marshall posted a 5-6 overall record last season, including a 4-2 mark in the Centennial Conference. The Diplomats made their second consecutive post-season appearance with a narrow loss at Salisbury (27-23) in the ECAC Southeast Championship Game.

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 and won three ECAC Championships (ECAC Southwest-2002, ECAC South Atlantic-2003, ECAC Southeast-2004).

About the Coaches: Jim Margraff is now in his 17th season as the head coach at Johns Hopkins and carries a 103-61-3 (.626) record into this week's game against Franklin & Marshall. The all-time winningest coach in school history, Margraff has guided the Blue Jays to four Centennial Conference Championships, three ECAC titles and one appearance in the NCAA Playoffs. In addition to his overall totals, he also ranks among the all-time winningest coaches in the history of the Centennial Conference as he sports a 66-40-2 (.620) record in league play.
John Troxell is in his first season as the head coach at Franklin & Marshall, but he's hardly a stranger to the Centennial Conferncce. Troxell spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach at Lafayette, where he helped the Leopards to the Patriot League Championship in 2004 and 2005. Prior to his stint at Lafayette he spent four years as an assistant coach at Muhlenberg, where he helped the Mules turn a 1-9 record in his first season (1997) into a 9-2 mark and an ECAC title his final season (2000).

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Franklin & Marshall are meeting for the 58th time in a series that dates to a 10-7 F&M win in 1912. The Diplomats lead the all-time series 33-22-2 and won 17 straight against Johns Hopkins from 1971-89, but it has been all Hopkins in recent years. The Blue Jays have currently won nine straight games against Franklin & Marshall, including four straight in Lancaster. Johns Hopkins is 12-4 against F&M under head coach Jim Margraff.
In last season's game the Blue Jays got 149 yards rushing and one touchdown from senior T.J. Lyons to fuel a 19-7 win over the Diplomats in a torrential downpour in Baltimore. The Blue Jays held a 240-60 rushing advantage in the game.

Wake Me Up When September Ends: Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" might be the appropriate song for the Blue Jays, who ended the first month of the season with a 1-3 record. All three losses came in game's final three minutes, including two decided in the final minute.

Oktoberfest: Johns Hopkins posted a 4-1 record in the month of October last season and has won six of its last seven road games in October. The Blue Jays will play three of their four October games on the road this season.

Homecoming: Despite winning four straight Centennial Conference Championships entering this season, Johns Hopkins is the guest of honor for Homecoming at each of its three road games this month as Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg and Ursinus will all welcome the alumni with the Blue Jays in town.

Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season Johns Hopkins is 39-13 (.750) 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 21 and 22 of their last 29 at home.

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 5-2 record away from home last season, when they played a school-record seven road games. Hopkins has currently won 11 of its last 14 and 16 of its last 20 road games since late in the 2002 season.

Streaking: The last four years have been the most successful in the history of the Johns Hopkins football program. Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 37-11 (.771) record. Taking it back further the Blue Jays are 43-14 (.754) since the start of the 2001 season and 48-19 (.716) since the begininng of the 2000 season.

Comeback Kids: The 21-14 win at Randolph-Macon was the latest in a long line of comebacks for the Blue Jays. JHU has nine come-from-behind wins to its credit since the start of the 2004 season. The Blue Jays posted an amazing six come-from-behind wins in 2004 and two more last year. Randolph-Macon's 14-0 lead was the largest overcome by the Blue Jays since JHU came back from a 14-0 deficit to knock off Ursinus, 20-14, on October 30, 2004.

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 28-5 when scoring more than seven points and 0-4 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Keys to Success: Johns Hopkins is an impressive 62-4 (.939) under head coach Jim Margraff when scoring 24 or more points...currently, the Blue Jays have won 49 of their last 51 when scoring 24 or more...at the same time, Hopkins is 74-10-2 (.872) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less since Margraff arrived for the 1990 season...the Blue Jays have won 41 of their last 43 games when holding the opposition to 14 points or less.

Shutouts: Johns Hopkins has posted 14 shutouts in 16 seasons under head coach Jim Margraff and the two last 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.

Starting Streaks: Seniors Anthony Triplin and Phil Dixon continue to close in on the school record for consecutive games started. Matt Campbell (2001-04) started a school-record 40 consecutive games to close his career (the only two he didn't start were the first two of his career). Triplin enters this week's game against Franklin & Marshall having started all 37 games in his career, while Dixon has started the last 34 games for the Blue Jays. Other returning players with active streaks of 25 or more consecutive starts include Matt Hagel (26) and Alan Cody (26).

Blue Jays Picked to Win Centennial Conference: For the third straight year the Johns Hopkins football team topped the Centennial Conference Preseason Coaches and SIDs poll as the Blue Jays grabbed 12 first-place votes and amassed 72 points to easily outdistance McDaniel (51 points) for the top spot.

It's All Academic: Senior DL Brian Nickel returns after earning First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors last season. The Johns Hopkins football team produced six players who earned Academic All-District honors a year ago, the most of any school in the district for the third consecutive year. In addition, the Blue Jays have earned 19 Academic All-District selections since 2003, the most of any team in the nation at any level over that period.

Player Notes of Interest (Included in PDF Version)