Oct. 23, 2013

Johns Hopkins-Gettysburg Football Notes

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The Game: 12th-ranked Johns Hopkins (6-0, 5-0 Centennial) leaves the state of Maryland for the final time in the regular season as the Blue Jays travel to Gettysburg to take on the Bullets (3-3, 2-3 CC).

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins improved to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial with a 42-17 victory over Dickinson last Friday night at Homewood Field. Gettysburg had a two-game winning streak snapped with a 35-10 loss at home to Muhlenberg last Saturday.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked 12th in this week's AFCA Division III Coaches Poll and 13th in this week's D3football.com Poll. The Blue Jays also check in at number two in this week's Lambert Poll. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the AFCA Poll to reflect the team's official national ranking at the time of a game. All three polls and JHU's week-by-week rankings can be found on page five.

Countdown to 500: Johns Hopkins moved to within three wins of victory number 500 as the Blue Jays improved their all-time record to 497-476-58 (.511) with the win vs. Dickinson. JHU is bidding to become the fourth Centennial Conference team to reach the 500-win mark (F&M-594, Gettysburg-550, McDaniel-515).

Series History: This week's game will be the 41st all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Gettysburg with the Bullets holding a slim 20-18-2 advantge in the series. A complete series history can be found on page 2.

At Home at Homewood: Johns Hopkins picked up its 16th straight regular season home victory with the 42-17 win against Dickinson last Friday night. The Blue Jays last lost a regular season home game on October 2, 2010 against Muhlenberg (30-27). That remains the only regular season home loss for the seniors on the 2013 team. Overall, the current seniors are 19-2 in the home blacks.

Road Warriors: Johns Hopkins has been nearly as strong on the road in recent years as it has been at home. Dating back to late in the 2010 season, the Blue Jays are 14-1 in their last 15 regular season road games. Taking it back farther, JHU is 26-6 (.813) on the road since the start of the 2008 season (regular season and post season games included).

October Run Dates to 2010: Johns Hopkins has parlayed its recent success in September into an equally impressive mark in October. The Blue Jays will carry an 11-game October winning streak into this week's game at Gettysburg.

Move Those Chains-I: Johns Hopkins has amassed 167 first downs through six games. JHU has rolled up at least 26 first downs in five of its first six games and you really can't get more balance; of the 167, 84 have come by rushing, 79 have come by passing and four were on penalties.

Move Those Chains-II: The 35 first downs JHU accumulated vs. Randolph-Macon in the season opener are the third-highest total in school history with the top three totals coming in JHU's last 23 games dating back to 2011. The school-record of 40 first downs came last season against Moravian. The 40 first downs vs. the Greyhounds last season are one shy of the NCAA Division III record.

Bidding for 7-0: Johns Hopkins improved to 6-0 for the third straight year with the win against Dickinson. A win this week against Gettysburg would give the Blue Jays a 7-0 start for the third straight year and the fifth time under head coach Jim Margraff (2003, 2005, 2011, 2012).

Under Pressure: The Johns Hopkins defense has been dialing up the pressure this season as the Blue Jays have racked up a Centennial-high 26 sacks and 56 tackles for losses through six games. JHU ranks fourth in the nation in sacks per game (4.33) and tied for 11th in tackles for losses per game (9.3).
Junior Michael Longo leads the team in tackles for losses (8.0) and sacks (5.5), while classmate Matthew Connery counts 6.5 tackles for losses and 3.0 sacks to his credit.
In all, 17 different players have been in on at least one sack and 23 different players have at least one tackle for a loss.

Defense Boasts Impressive Numbers on the Field: While much of the attention is focused on Johns Hopkins' prolific offense, the Blue Jays also feature one of the top defenses in the nation. Entering this week's game, the Blue Jays rank 12th in scoring defense (12.5), eighth in total defense (243.3), 19th in rushing defense (92.0) and 25th in passing defense (151.3).

Defense Boasts Impressive Numbers in the Classroom: In addtion to posting some impressive numbers on the field, the starting defense for the Blue Jays has been equally impressive in the classroom. JHU's primary starting 11 on defense boasts a combined cumulative GPA of 3.33. Five of the 11 starters have over a 3.6 cumulative GPA, including senior SS John Arena, who will graduate in December with a degree in Neuroscience and boasts a 4.0.

Double Your Pleasure: Johns Hopkins rushed and passed for more than 200 yards in each of its first four games - the first time a JHU team has ever done that. While that streak came to an end at Juniata, the Blue Jays did roll up a season-high 601 yards against the Eagles and followed that with a 510-yard effort against Dickinson. JHU now ranks sixth in the nation in total offense (538.5).

That's a First: Johns Hopkins has punched up more than 500 yards of total offense in each of its last four games. This is the first time in school history that the Blue Jays have topped the 500-yard mark in four consecutive games. In addition, JHU's five 500-yard games this season are just one shy of the school single-season record of six (2012). Johns Hopkins is 31-1 all-time when punching up 500+ yards.

Double Your Pleasure: Sophomore Brandon Cherry rushed for a career-high 154 yards and freshman Stuart Walters added a personal-best 124 yards and two touchdowns to lead a 360-yard rushing attack for the Blue Jays last Friday against Dickinson. This marked the 17th time in school history that JHU has had two players rush for 100+ plus yards in one game (JHU is 17-0 in such games).

For the Record: With Brandon Cherry (154) and Stuart Walters (124) both topping the 100-yard rushing mark last week, JHU has now had three different players turn that trick this season as senior JD Abbott totaled 125 against Susquehanna earlier this season. This is the first time Johns Hopkins has had three different players rush for 100+ yards in a game in one season since 2003 (Adam Cook, T.J. Lyons, Mark Nesbitt).

Matey Tied for Third in Career Wins: Senior quarterback Robbie Matey may not end his career as JHU's all-time leader in any single-season or career statistical category. However, with a 18-2 all-time record as JHU's starting quarterback, he's done one thing at a higher rate than any other QB in school history; win. His 18 wins as JHU's starting quarterback are tied for fourth in school history, but his career winning percentage (.900) is by far the highest.
Matey enjoyed one of the best games of his career in the recent win at Juniata as he was 23-of-26 for 408 yards and six touchdowns. The 408 yards and six TDs are both career highs. His completion percentage against the Eagles (.885) is the highest in JHU and Centennial Conference history by a quarterback with 25 or more attempts.
In the last three games - wins against Muhlenberg, Juniata & Dickinson - he is 62-for-80 (.775) for 823 yards with 10 TDs against just one interception. Matey enters this week's game at Gettysburg ranked fourth in the nation in completion percentage (.753) and 12th in pass efficiency (172.60) as he is 128-of-170 for 1,530 yards with 13 TDs against just three INTs on the year.

Abbott & D'Orazio Reach 1,000: Senior JD Abbott became the 23rd player in school history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards with his 86 yards against Muhlenberg. Abbott raised his career rushing total to 1,053 yards and now ranks 21st on JHU's career rushing list. In addition, with a career-high three rushing TDs against the Mules, he now ranks 13th on JHU's career rushing touchdowns list with 17. He has not played in Johns Hopkins' last two games.
Classmate Bob D'Orazio joined the 1,000-yard receiving club one game after Abbott joined the 1,000-yard rushing fraternity. D'Orazio had four receptions for 108 yards and three TDs at Juniata and, in the process, became the 21st player in school history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards. He now has career totals of 80 receptions for 1,070 yards and eight TDs. He ranks 20th in school history in receiving yards and 19th in receptions.

Many Happy Returns: The Johns Hopkins return game has gotten a boost with the arrival of freshmen Bradley Munday and Adrian Trammell. Munday is averaging 10.1 yards on his 14 punt returns this season, which ranks him third in the Centennial Conference, while Trammell is averaging 25.7 yards on his 10 kickoff returns through six games to rank third in the Centennial as well.

For Starters: Freshman place-kicker Nick Campbell has enjoyed a productive beginning to his career through six games as he has been good on 34-of-35 extra point attempts and all five of his field goal attempts. His streak of consective successful XPs was stopped at 25 at Juniata when his sixth attempt was blocked. He made one field goal in each of JHU's first five games this season.

Carbone Enjoying Solid Season: Senior Richie Carbone has been forced to punt just 17 times through six games, but he has again shown improvement in his average this season. After averaging 34.5 yards as a sophomore, he bumped that up more than two yards per attempt last season to 36.6 yards on 34 punts. Through six games this season he is averaging a career-high 39.3 yards per punt.
Carbone is also a member of the Blue Jay baseball team and helped JHU to the Centennial Conference title and a berth in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional last spring. He played in 26 games with 19 starts in the outfield and also had four relief appearances on the mound as well.

Wearing Them Down: Johns Hopkins holds solid scoring advantages in the first (49-27) and third quarters (61-21) through six games, but it's the second and fourth quarters where the Blue Jays have really excelled. JHU holds a 90-13 scoring advantage in the second quarter and an equally impressive 66-14 buldge in the fourth.

JHU Ties Victory Record: Johns Hopkins posted a 10-2 record in 2012 and tied the school record for victories in a season. Only three times previously - 2003, 2009 & 2011 - had Hopkins won 10 games in a season. Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season prior to 2002, but the Blue Jays have posted eight or more wins nine times in the last 11 years.

Margraff Ranks Second on State Victory Chart: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff sports a career record of 163-81-3 (.666) entering this week's game at Gettysburg. He is just the second college football coach in Maryland state history to win 160 career games. Only Morgan State's Eddie Hurt, who won 174 games from 1929-59, has won more games as the head football coach at a college or university in the state of Maryland than Margraff.

Sustained Success: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 97-31 (.758) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 103-34 (.752) since the start of the 2001 season and 108-39 (.735) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 88-21 (.806) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Additional Information and Player Notes of Interest Available in PDF Version Above

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