Oct. 13, 2010

Johns Hopkins-Ursinus Football Notes in PDF Format

The Game: Several key games highlight the Centennial Conference slate this week and none is bigger than the one in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, where Johns Hopkins (3-2, 3-1 Centennial) takes on league front-runner Ursinus (5-0, 4-0 CC).

The Teams: Johns Hopkins bounced back from a narrow loss to Muhlenberg with a convincing 44-10 victory over Dickinson last Friday night at Homewood Field. Ursinus enjoyed its bye last week after moving to 5-0 with a 49-39 win over Gettysburg on October 2.

The Coaches: Johns Hopkins is led by Jim Margraff, who is in his 21st year as the head coach at JHU and sports a 132-77-3 (.630) record. He also ranks second all-time in CC history with 88 league victories to his credit (he is one behind Gettysburg's Barry Streeter). Pete Gallagher is in his 10th season as the head coach at Ursinus. He will carry a 45-52 record into Saturday's game against Johns Hopkins.

A Telling Tale: JHU beat Dickinson, 44-10, last Friday night. The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Dickinson game has claimed at least a share of six of the last eight Centennial Conference titles (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009).

Not That Far Away: Johns Hopkins' two losses this season have come by a total of seven pionts to two teams (Randolph-Macon, Muhlenberg) that currently have a combined record of 10-1.

Get Us Now: JHU graduated a large, accomplished senior class after a magical 2009 season. With that turnover in personnel, the Blue Jays became a much younger group. JHU started just four seniors (two each on offense and defense) against Muhlenberg and just five (three on offense, two on defense) against Dickinson.

Tomlin Sets School Record: Junior Hewitt Tomlin became JHU's career leader in wins by a starting quarterback with the 44-10 win against Dickinson last week. Tomlin, who is now 20-7 in 27 career starts at Johns Hopkins, had been tied with JHU Hall of Famer Mark Campbell for career wins by a starting QB. Campbell played from 1982-85 and was also an All-American pitcher for the Blue Jay baseball team.

Class Act: Without question, the current group of juniors who play defense for the Blue Jays ranks among the strongest defensive classes in school history.

Seven players from this class are scheduled to start on defense this week against Ursinus and five have already amassed 100 or more career tackles, including four who reached the mark in the first two games this season.

Below is a list of the five juniors who have 100 or more career tackles to their credit entering this week's game against the Bears.

Name (Pos.) Career Tackles
Tyler Brown (LB) 141
Ryan Piatek (LB) 130
Kale Sweeney (ROV) 121
Sam Eagleson (CB) 115
Mike Milano (S) 112

Recapping the Defensive Effort Against Dickinson: In addition to holding Dickinson to 10 points in last week's win, the Johns Hopkins defense held the Red Devils to just 105 yards rushing on 40 attempts (2.6 yards per carry) and 86 yards passing. JHU also recorded three sacks.

Fiding Their Grove: After graduating several key members from last season's nationally-ranked defense, JHU figured to field a defense that improved as time went on. The numbers certainly bear that out. After allowing 927 yards and 62 points in their first two games combined, the Blue Jays have allowed 627 yards and 43 points in the last three combined.

Turnovers Tell the Story: In JHU's two losses, the Blue Jays have turned the ball over a total of eight times. On the flip side, they have just two total turnovers in their three wins.

Wernick Rolling: Junior Sam Wernick had a career-high 12 receptions for 107 yards and one touchdown and added 89 yards on three kickoff returns against Muhlenberg. Wernick ranks second in the Centennial Conference in receptions per game (6.40), third in receiving yards per game (89.2) and second in all-purpose yards per game (145.4). He has 32 receptions for 446 yards and six touchdowns and has returned 12 kickoffs for 274 yards (22.8).

Road Warriors: The Blue Jays posted a 6-2 record on the road last season after punching up a 4-1 record on the road in 2008. Including the win at Moravian, JHU is 16-5 since the start of the 2007 season on the road and 38-14 on the road since the start of the 2001 season.

More Road Warriors: Johns Hopkins played its final four games of the 2009 season on the road (one regular season game - three NCAA Playoff games) and opened the 2010 season with three straight away from Homewood. Johns Hopkins was one of the last teams in the nation to play a home game this season when the Blue Jays hosted Muhlenberg on October 2.

Scoring is Up: Johns Hopkins averaged 29.8 points per game last season, the highest total for a Blue Jay team since the 1968 team averaged 34.3 points. JHU picked up right where it left off a year ago in the season opener as the Blue Jays punched up 37 points against Randolph-Macon and have scored at least 27 points in all five games this season. JHU has scored at least 27 points in eight straight regular season games dating back to last season and this is the first time in school history JHU has opened a season scoring 27 or more points in five straight games.

Mid-Game Surge: JHU holds a slight scoring advantage in the first quarter (35-23) and has been outscored by a point (38-37) in the fourth quarter of its games this season. However, the second and third quarters have been all Blue Jays. Hopkins has outscored the opposition 53-30 in the second quarter and 53-14 in the third quarter of its games this season.

Streak Snapped: Johns Hopkins was held to a season-low 340 yards of total offense against Muhlenberg, bringing to an end a streak of six consecutive regular season games in which the Blue Jays totaled at least 400 yards on offense.

JHU got back on track with a 476-yard effort last week against Dickinson - the second-highest total of the season for the Blue Jays. JHU has punched up 400 or more yards of total offense nine times in its last 11 games dating back to last season.

200-200: JHU totaled 200 yards rushing for the first time this season with a 200-yard effort against Dickinson. The Blue Jays also passed for 276 yards in the win to mark the first time this season JHU has gone over 200 yards rushing and passing in the same game.

It's a Record: The 384 yards passing for Johns Hopkins against Randolph-Macon is the most ever for JHU in a season opener. The 384 yards also rank as the fourth-best total (as a team) in JHU history.

It's Another Record: JHU got 326 passing yards at Gettysburg to follow up the 384 yards through the air in the season opener. This is the first time in school history JHU has gotten 300 or more passing yards in back-to-back games.

It's Been a While: Johns Hopkins recovered one fumble in last week's 44-10 win against Dickinson. JHU has forced a Centennial-best 13 turnovers and the Blue Jays are now tied for fourth in the Centennial in turnover margin (+0.60).

The Blue Jays' recent success has been due in large part to its opportunistic defense and its penchant for forcing turnovers. Consider ...

• JHU has forced at least one turnover in 21 straight games dating back to late in the 2008 season.

• JHU has forced two or more turnovers in 17 of the last 19 games dating back to late in the 2008 season.

• JHU had an 18-game streak where it posted at least one interception snapped in the win against Dickinson. JHU had intercepted at least one pass in 18 straight games dating back to the final game of the 2008 season vs. Catholic.

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.

JHU Ties Victory Record: The 10 wins for the Blue Jays last season tied the school record for victories in a season. Previously, JHU had won 10 games in a season just once (2003).

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 last season. In addition, the two road wins for the Blue Jays in the NCAAs last season matched the total number of road victories the Centennial Conference had accumulated from 1983-2008.

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 last 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.

Streaking: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 66-27 (.710) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 72-30 (.706) since the start of the 2001 season and 77-35 (.688) since the beginning of the 2000 season. The 74 wins the Blue Jays amassed from 2000-09 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 the decade just completed, the Blue Jays averaged more than seven wins per season (7.4).

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 57-18 when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Player Notes of Interest Included in PDF Version