Sept. 5, 2007
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The Game: Johns Hopkins returns to Homewood Field for its home-opener after picking up a 17-16 victory at Hampden-Sydney last Satuday. Randolph-Macon is playing its second straight game away from Day Field. The Yellow Jackets breezed to a 42-16 victory at Denison last week.
About the Coaches: Jim Margraff is now in his 18th season as the head coach at Johns Hopkins and carries a 108-63-3 (.629) record into this week's game against Randolph-Macon. 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 69-42-2 (.619) record in league play.
Pedro Arruza is in his fourth season as the head coach at Randolph-Macon and sports an 8-23 overall record since taking over in 2004.
JHU Wins Earliest Opener in School History: The September 1st season-opening game last week at Hampden-Sydney was the earliest game ever played in the history of the Johns Hopkins football program.
For Openers: Johns Hopkins has now won nine of its last 11 season openers and the Blue Jays are 10-7-1 in season-openers under head coach Jim Margraff. The Blue Jays are 53-62-8 (.463) on opening day since the inception of the program in 1882.
More Openers: Johns Hopkins has won its first home game of the season seven times in the last eight years. The Blue Jays are also 12-4-1 in 17 home-opening games under head coach Jim Margraff.
A Final Opener: The win at Hampden-Sydney was JHU's seventh straight in the first road game of the year. Hopkins, which last lost its road opener in 2000, is 10-8 all-time in its first road game of the season under head coach Jim Margraff.
September Reign: Part of the reason for the recent success of the Blue Jay football program has been the team's ability to get off to a quick start. Including last week's win at Hampden-Sydney, Johns Hopkins is 21-5 in the month of Septmeber since the start of the 2000 season and 32-10 since the start of the 1995 season.
Home Sweet Home: Since the beginning of the 1996 season Johns Hopkins is 43-14 (.754) at home and has twice enjoyed 10-game winning streaks at Homewood Field during that time. Currently, the Blue Jays have won 19 of their last 24 and 27 of their last 34 at home.
Against the ODAC: Since starting a series against Bridgewater in 1996, the Blue Jays have played 21 games against teams from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Blue Jays are 15-6 in those 21 games. Prior to beginning the series with Bridgewater in 1996, the Blue Jays had not played a game against a school from the ODAC since 1970, when they finished a series with Hampden-Sydney. This does not include a three-game series against Catholic from 1988-1990 (currently a member of the ODAC, but were not at the time of the three games against JHU).
Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 42-13 (.763) record. Taking it back further the Blue Jays are 48-16 (.750) since the start of the 2001 season and 53-21 (.716) since the begininng of the 2000 season. The 53 wins the Blue Jays have amassed this decade are already just two shy of the school record for wins in a decade (55/1990s).
More Streaking: The field goal Hampden-Sydney kicked in the first quarter last week snapped an eight-game first-quarter shutout streak for the Blue Jays that dated back to Randolph-Macon game last season. JHU did not allow a point in the first quarter of any of its final eight games in 2006 and the two touchdowns JHU surrendered at RMC last season are the only two first-quarter touchdowns allowed by the Blue Jays since the beginning of the 2006 season.
Comeback Kids: The 17-16 win at Hampden-Sydney was the latest in a long line of comebacks for the Blue Jays. JHU has 10 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 in 2005. Randolph-Macon's 14-0 lead last season 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.
Block Party: Johns Hopkins blocked exactly three kicks in the first nine games of the 2006 season. In the last two games (vs. McDaniel last season and Hampden-Sydney last week), the Blue Jays have come up with four blocked kicks with the two last week against the Tigers essentially sealing the victory. Senior Scott Meyers got through the middle and blocked an extra point early in the fourth quarter and classmate Patrick Kay snuffed the potential game-winning field goal as time expired.
Shutouts: Johns Hopkins has posted 14 shutouts in 17+ seasons under head coach Jim Margraff and the two in 2005 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.
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 33-6 when scoring more than seven points and 0-5 when they have been held to seven points or less.
Keys to Success: Johns Hopkins is an impressive 64-4 (.941) under head coach Jim Margraff when scoring 24 or more points...the Blue Jays have won 51 of their last 53 when scoring 24 or more...at the same time, Hopkins is 78-10-2 (.878) when holding the opposition to 14 points or less under Margraff...the Blue Jays have won 45 of their last 47 games when holding the opposition to 14 points or less.
It's All Academic: Now graduated WR Evan Earnest earned First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors last season. He is the 10th player in school history to earn Academic All-America honors. He was joined by senior DL Brian Nickel as First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honorees, while senior DL Anthony Woodard and senior OL Paul Markowski earned second team status. The Blue Jays have earned 23 Academic All-District selections since 2003.
Individual Player Notes of Interest Included in PDF Version
