Aug. 30, 2006
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The Game: The Johns Hopkins football team welcomes the University of Rochester to Homewood Field for the 2006 season opener for both teams.
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. Rochester posted a 4-6 record last season and placed fifth in the Liberty League.
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).
Earliest Opener in School History: The September 2nd season-opening game against Rochester will be the earliest game ever played in the history of the Johns Hopkins football program. The previous record for the earliest game played came last season, when the Blue Jays opened the 2005 season at Rochester on September 3rd.
Season-Openers: Johns Hopkins has won eight of its last nine season-openers and the Blue Jays are 9-6-1 in season-openers under head coach Jim Margraff. This week's game marks the fourth straight year the Blue Jays have opened the season against Rochester. The Blue Jays won the previous three season-opening games against the Yellowjackets. The Blue Jays are 52-61-8 (.463) on opening day since the inception of the program in 1882.
Home-Openers: In addition to their success in season-openers under head coach Jim Margraff, the Blue Jays have also been very successful in home-openers on Margraff's watch. Hopkins has currently won seven straight home-openers and the Blue Jays are 12-3-1 under Margraff in the first game of the season at Homewood Field.
Series History: This week's game completes the six-year contract with Rochester and the teams have no future games scheduled. Johns Hopkins has won the first five meetings between the two schools, including a pair of shootouts at Homewood Field in 2002 (41-28) and 2004 (34-17). Amazingly, the 45 points the Yellowjackets have scored in two meetings at Homewood Field are more than double the UR output in three meetings at home (22 points in those three games).
In last season's game the Blue Jays led 6-0 for most of the game before the Yellowjackets scored with just under two minutes remaining to take a 7-6 lead. Undaunted, the Blue Jays drove to the Rochester 20-yard line, where Ben Scott booted a 37-yard field goal to provide the winning margin.
About the Coaches: Jim Margraff is now in his 17th season as the head coach at Johns Hopkins and carries a 102-58-3 (.635) record into the 2006 season. 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 66-39-2 (.626) record in league play.
Scott Greene will be making his head coaching debut against the Blue Jays as he was named to Rochester's top spot in May. Greene, who coached the UR linebackers last season, is a 1996 graduate of Michigan State University and went on to play in the NFL for Carolina and Indianapolis.
September Reign: Among the many streaks the Blue Jays have put together in recent years is an impressive run in the month of September. Johns Hopkins enters the 2006 season with a 14-game winning streak in the month of September dating back to a 50-27 loss to then third-ranked and eventual national finalist Bridgewater on September 21, 2001. Taking it back even further the Blue Jays are 19-2 in the month of September since the start of the 2000 season and 30-7 in the opening month of the season since the start of the 1995 season.
Looking for the key to success during the 14-game winning streak? Look no further than Hopkins' attacking defense. The Blue Jays have allowed an average of just 9.5 points per game during the 14-game run and have held nine those 14 opponents to nine points or less. In fact, the 28 points Rochester scored against the Blue Jays in 2002 mark the only time during the 14 games that JHU has allowed more than 17 points.
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.
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 36-8 (.818) record. Taking it back further the Blue Jays are 42-11 (.792) since the start of the 2001 season and 47-16 (.746) since the begininng of the 2000 season. Since 1955 there is only one other six-year period where Johns Hopkins lost fewer than 23 games. From 1956-61 the Blue Jays compiled a 27-15-5 (.628) record, although JHU played 16 fewer games during that period than the most recent six-year run.
Comeback Kids: JHU has eight 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.
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.
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.
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.
It's Been a While: As of press time (Monday, August 28), a decision on who will start at quarterback had not been made and it's likely that both senior Shane Kibbe and sophomore Adam Waddell will see time against Rochester. While both saw playing time last season, neither has actually started a game in college. Amazingly, this marks the first time since 1996 that the Blue Jays do not return a player who has ever started a game at quarterback for the columbia blue and black.
Triplin, Sattler, Earnest Form Deadly Trio: Seniors Anthony Triplin and Evan Earnest team with junior Corey Sattler to give the Blue Jays one of the top wide receiver trios in the Centennial Conference. Triplin earned Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors last season when he had 77 receptions for 809 yards and three touchdowns, while Sattler had a break-out year with 34 receptions for 455 yards. Earnest suffered an injury late in the preseason last year but returned for the final five games and had nine receptions. The 111 combined receptions for Triplin and Sattler last season rank as the third-highest total by a pair of teammates in Centennial history.
Triplin enters his final season ranked fourth in school history in career receptions (177), sixth in receiving yards (1,997) and tied for ninth in touchdown receptions (12). He has his sights set on the Centennial Conference record for career receptions (233) and a duplication of last season's 77-recception total will put him within striking distance of Bill Stromberg's Johns Hopkins record for career receptions (258).
Defensive Line to Fuel Defense: If the Blue Jays are to continue their recent run of success on the defensive side of the ball they will need to get a dominating performance from their defensive line, which returns all four starters from last season and should be bolstered by a player who sat out the 2005 season.
Senior Brian Cook headlines the unit as he enters his final season just one sack shy of the Johns Hopkins career record for sacks. His 20.5 career sacks leave him just a half sack behind Jim Wilson (1993-96) and Tom Kalup (1984-86) and he will be supported by three other seniors in the starting lineup.
Anthony Woodard joined Cook as a First Team All-Centennial selection last season when he punched up 11.0 tackles for losses and 5.5 sacks, while classmate Brian Nickel counted 10 tackles for losses and 4.0 sacks among his 52 tackles last season. Woodard's 56 tackles led all JHU defensive linemen in 2005.
The return of senior Alan Cody should only make what was an impressive group last season even better. Cody garnered Second Team All-Centennial honors in 2004, when he led all Blue Jay defensive linemen with 69 tackles and finished just behind Cook with 9.5 sacks. Junior Chris DiForte was a starter last season and posted 23 tackles, including four for losses and 3.0 sacks. He teams with Cook and Nickel to give the Blue Jays a talented and experienced trio at defensive end.
Scott Closing on Centennial, NCAA Records: Senior place-kicker Ben Scott enters the 2006 season as JHU's career leader in field goals (30) and is poised to break the Centennial Conference record of 33, which is currently held by Dickinson's Joel Heintzelman (1996-99). A duplication of last season's 13-field goal effort would give him 43 career field goals, a mark that would move him into the top 10 in Division III history. Scott has finished in the top 10 in the nation in field goals per game in each of the last two years.
Hagel Sitting on 200: Senior co-captain Matt Hagel returns for his final season after garnering Second Team All-Centennial honors in each of the last two years. Hagel finished second on the team in tackles last season (81) and counts 200 career tackles to his credit entering this week's game against Rochester. The 200 career stops are nearly 50 more than the next highest total for a returning player (Brian Cook - 153).
Starting Streaks: Senior tackle Phil Dixon is scheduled to make his 31st consecutive start today. Only senior wide receiver Anthony Triplin (33) has started more consecutive games than Dixon. Triplin is on pace to break Matt Campbell's (2001-04) school record for consecutive starts (40), a mark Dixon could match with 10 straight starts this season. Other returning players with active streaks of 20 or more consecutive starts include Matt Hagel (22) and Alan Cody (22).
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)
