Jan. 14, 2010

2010 Season-Ending Notebook in PDF Format

The Team: Johns Hopkins enjoyed the finest season in school history in 2009 as the Blue Jays posted a 10-3 record, won the Centennial Conference Championship and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals.

We Are the Champions: Johns Hopkins won its fifth overall Centennial Conference title in 2009, including its second outright title. JHU had never won a CC Championship prior to 2002, but has now grabbed at least a share of five of the last eight titles. The Blue Jays shared the title in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and took the title outright in 2005 and 2009.

In the Polls: Johns Hopkins closed the seson ranked eighth in the final AFCA Division III Coaches Poll, 11th in the d3football.com Poll and second in the Lambert Cup Poll. All three rankings are the highest in school history - final or otherwise. The number eight ranking in the AFCA Poll is the highest final ranking for a Centennial Conference team in the history of that poll (poll debuted in 1999). The Lambert Trophy is presented annually to the top team in the East in each of the four divisions of the NCAA (FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III).

JHU Ties Victory Record: The 10 wins for the Blue Jays this season tied the school record for victories in a season. Previously, JHU had won 10 games in a season just once (2003). The 13 games played and eight road games were also school records.

Unchartered Waters: Johns Hopkins became the first Centennial Conference team to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals since 1985 when it knocked off previously unbeaten Hampden-Sydney and Thomas More in the first two rounds of the NCAA Playoffs. In addition, the two road wins for the Blue Jays in the NCAAs this season matched the total number of road victories the Centennial Conference had accumulated from 1983-2007.

One of Two: Johns Hopkins was one of just two teams in the nation to win a pair of NCAA Playoff games on the road this season. The Blue Jays won at #14 Hampden-Sydney in the first round and at #10 Thomas More in the second round. Only Albright, which won in the first two rounds on the road as well, also won a pair of playoff games away from home this season.

The Coach: Johns Hopkins is coached by Jim Margraff `82, who is in his 20th season as the head coach at Homewood. Margraff is JHU's all-time leader in games won (129) and coached (207) and concluded the 2009 season with a career record of 129-74-3 (.633). He has more than twice as many wins as any other coach in school history (Ray Van Orman is second with 60 wins) and stands alone with Morgan State's Eddie Hurt as the only college football coaches in Maryland state history to win 125 or more games. Hurt won 174 games from 1929-59.
For his efforts this season, Margraff was named the d3football.com South Region Coach of the Year.

Captain, My Captain: In a vote of the returning players on the 2009 team, seniors Andrew Kase, Tim Miller, Glenn Rocca and Colin Wixted were selected as captains for the season. Kase was in his second season as a captain, while this was the first year as a captain for Miller, Rocca and Wixted.

Pulling Rank: The win at #10 Thomas More in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs was JHU's sixth against a team ranked in the AFCA Top 25 since 1999 (when rankings began). This Saints are the second-highest ranked team JHU has ever beaten. JHU has won six of its last nine games against top 25 teams and is now 6-6 overall in such games.

More Rank: The number three ranking Wesley carried into the NCAA Quarterfinals matched the highest ever for a Johns Hopkins opponent. The Blue Jays previously dropped a 50-27 decision against third-ranked and eventual national finalist Bridgewater early in the 2001 season. The Blue Jays trailed just 27-20 at the half before the Eagles pulled away in the second half.

Win Number 125: The win against Juniata on October 31 was the 125th victory for Jim Margraff as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. In just 20 seasons, Margraff has accounted for more than 27% of the all-time victories in school history (129 of 463/.279).

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 6-2 record on the road this season after punching up a 4-1 record on the road in 2008. JHU is 14-4 since the start of the 2007 season on the road and 36-13 on the road since the start of the 2001 season.

November Reign: Johns Hopkins finished 4-0 this season in games played in the month of November and is 23-4 in the month of November since 2001. Taking it back farther, the Blue Jays are 35-16-1 under head coach Jim Margraff in the month of November.

Taking Flight: Johns Hopkins flew by charter plane (courtesy of the NCAA) to its second round NCAA Playoff game at Thomas More on November 28. This was the first time in program history that the Blue Jays have flown to a game.

Blue Jays Break Scoring Record: Johns Hopkins scored a school-record 388 points on the year. The previous record of 315 was set in 2003 and this is just the third time Johns Hopkins has ever scored 300 or more points in a season.
In addition, JHU's scoring average of 29.8 points per game ranks as the third-highest single-season average in school history. Only twice (1967, 1968) has Johns Hopkins averaged 30 or more points in a season.

200 and 200: Johns Hopkins totaled 216 rushing yards and 243 passing yards in a 41-23 win over Gettysburg on September 18 and 287 yards rushing and 220 yards passing against Franklin & Marshall. JHU has now totaled 200 or more yards rushing and passing in the same game 25 times since 1955. 13 of those 25 have come since Jim Margraff took over as the Blue Jays' coach in 1990. JHU is 11-2 when rushing and passing for 200 or more yards under Margraff and 23-2 overall in such games.

Rare Air: Johns Hopkins totaled 301 passing yards in the regular-season-ending win at McDaniel and followed that with 303 passing yards in the win at #14th-ranked Hampden-Sydney in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs. Amazingly, this marked the first time in school history JHU has thrown for 300 or more yards in back-to-back games. In fact, this marks just the second time in school history that Johns Hopkins has totaled two, 300-yard passing games in one season (1991).

More Rare: Johns Hopkins rang up 414 yards of total offense in second round of the NCAA Playoffs at Thomas More. That marked the fifth straight game JHU has totaled 400 or more yards of total offense. This is the first time in school history Johns Hopkins has ever had 400 or more yards of total offense in five straight games.

Blue Jays Rush for School-Record 28 Touchdowns: Paced by senior All-American Andrew Kase's school-record 22 rushing touchdowns, Johns Hopkins set a team record with 28 rushing touchdowns on the year. JHU rushed for at least one touchdown in 11 of its 13 games on the year and two or more in eight of those 11. JHU totaled a season-high six rushing touchdowns at Juniata and followed that with five rushing touchdowns against Franklin & Marshall.

Other Rushing Notes of Interest:
? Johns Hopkins rushed for 146 yards at Thomas More in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs. The Blue Jays became the first team this season to rush for more than 97 yards against the Saints, who entered the game with the nation's second-ranked rushing defense (51.8).

? JHU's top five rushers (Andrew Kase, Jonathan Rigaud, Tyler Porco, Lyndon O'Connor and Nick Fazio) all averaged at least 4.5 yards per carry.

Passing Records Fall: Paced by sophomore Hewitt Tomlin's record-breaking season, Johns Hopkins set school team records for completions (246), attempts (408) and passing yards (2,809).

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 63-25 (.716) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 69-28 (.711) since the start of the 2001 season and 74-33 (.692) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 74 wins the Blue Jays amassed this decade are the most wins in a decade in school history. The previous record of 55 wins came in the 1990s. To put this in perspective, Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season prior to this decade. In this decade, the Blue Jays averaged more than seven wins per season (7.4).

Additional Notes of Interest Included in PDF Version