Oct. 1, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Muhlenberg Football Notes in PDF Format Additional Information Available in This Format

The Game: Johns Hopkins (3-1, 1-1 Centennial) returns home for the first time since a season-opening 34-3 win against St. Lawrence on September 6 as the Blue Jays welcome fifth-ranked and defending Centennial champion Muhlenberg (3-0, 1-0 CC) to Homewood Field.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins slipped from the ranks of the unbeaten as the Blue Jays fell 33-10 at Moravian last Saturday. Five turnovers, including four in the first half, were more than the Blue Jays could overcome. Muhlenberg ran its regular season winning streak to 14 games with a 42-21 win over Gettysburg last Saturday. The Mules jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back.

The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff `82, who is in his 19th season as the head coach at Homewood. Margraff is JHU's all-time leader in games won (114) and coached (187) and he enters this week's game with a career record of 114-70-3 (.618).
Mike Donnelly earned career victory number 75 with last week's win over Gettysburg - a mark that already ranks at the top of the career coaching victories list at Muhlenberg. Donnelly, who boasts a 75-45 (.625) record since taking over the program in 1997, has guided the Mules to five Centennial Conference titles and four trips to the NCAA Playoffs since 2001.

On This Date: Johns Hopkins has played 14 games on October 4 and the Blue Jays have won nine of the 14. The Blue Jays have currently won four straight games that have been played on October 4. This is the first time Johns Hopkins and Muhlenberg are meeting on this date.

Captain, My Captain: In a vote of his teammates, junior running back Andrew Kase was selected to serve as the team captain for the Blue Jays this season. According to records in the Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office, he is the first player to serve as a solo captain for the Blue Jay football team since 1983 (Francis Mullan).

Road Warriors: Last week's loss at Moravian snapped JHU's five-game road winning streak that dated back to last season. Despite the loss, the Blue Jays are still 6-2 on the road since the start of the 2007 season. Prior to the loss at Moravian, JHU's only loss on the road since the start of last season was a tough 28-21 setback at eventual league champion Muhlenberg last September. JHU is 28-11 on the road since the start of the 2001 season and 16-7 in away league games since the start of the `01 season.

Against Ranked Opponents: The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) debuted a Top 25 national poll in 1999 that generally starts in the middle of September and runs through the regular season. A final poll is issued after the Division III National Championship game. Since the debut of the poll in 1999, Johns Hopkins has played six games against teams ranked in the top 25 - in fact, all six have come against teams ranked in the top 15. The Blue Jays have currently won three straight games against teams ranked in the top 25. The highest-ranked team JHU has ever beaten in football was then ninth-ranked Western Maryland, 21-14, in 2001.
Muhlenberg enters this week's game against Johns Hopkins ranked fifth in the nation and the Mules will be the second-highest ranked team the Blue Jays have ever played in football. Only eventual national finalist Bridgewater, which entered an early-season game in 2001 against Johns Hopkins ranked third in the nation, has entered a game aginast JHU ranked higher.

Johns Hopkins and Muhlenberg - Centennial's Winningest Teams of the Decade: In addition to being the only game this week in the Centennial Conference featuring two teams with winning records, the Johns Hopkins-Muhlenberg game will also match the two teams with the best league records since the start of the 2000 season.
Muhlenberg has compiled a 37-15 league record since the start of the 2000 season to rank as the CC's winningest team, while Johns Hopkins is just behind with a 34-19 league mark over that time.

That's a Blue Jay First Down: In rolling up 497 yards of total offense against Gettysburg the Blue Jays also set a school record for first downs in a game. JHU's 31 first downs against the Bullets topped the previous record of 30 set against then third-ranked Bridgetwater in 2001.

Octoberfest: Johns Hopkins is 17-11 in the month of October since the start of the 2001 season and 42-33-1 all-time under head coach Jim Margraff in October.

More October: The Blue Jays have won their first game in October in each of the last three seasons and six times in the last seven years.

Close Calls In October: Fans don't want to leave a Johns Hopkins football game early in the month of October as the outcome is usually in doubt until the final horn. Dating back to the final game JHU played in October in 2003, 13 of the Blue Jays' last 18 games in the month of October have been decided by 10 points or less and 11 of the 18 have been decided by eight points or less.

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 48-20 (.706) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 54-23 (.701) since the start of the 2001 season and 59-28 (.678) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 59 wins the Blue Jays have amassed this decade are already the most wins in a decade in school history. The previous record of 55 wins came in the 1990s.

Working Overtime: The 39-31 triple overtime win at Randolph-Macon was JHU's first overtime game since a 21-14 win at Washington & Lee in the 2002 season-opener (one overtime period). The Blue Jays are now 2-2 all-time in overtime and all four extra-session games the Blue Jays have played in their history have been on the road.

In the Zone: Johns Hopkins and Muhlenberg enter this week's game as the two most effective offensive teams in the red zone in the Centennial Conference. The Mules lead the league in red zone efficiency as they have cashed in on all 11 of their opportunities, while the Blue Jays are just behind with 12 scores in 13 trips to the `zone (.923).
The success in the red zone for the Blue Jays extends back to last season, when Hopkins finished the year 25-of-27 (92.6%) on the year with 17 touchdowns and eight field goals to their credit. Since the start of the 2007 season Johns Hopkins has 27 touchdowns and 10 field goals on 40 trips to the `zone.

Early Offensive Surge: Johns Hopkins ranks second in the Centennial Conference in scoring offense (33.0) with 132 points scored through four games. This is the most points Johns Hopkins have scored in the first four games of a season since 2000, when the Blue Jays scored 150 points in the first four games.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 39-13 when scoring more than seven points and 0-5 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Additional information, including player notes of interest, included in PDF version.

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