Sept. 12, 2013

Johns Hopkins-Susquehanna Football Notes

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The Game: Johns Hopkins (1-0) welcomes Susquehanna (0-1) to Homewood Field for the Centennial opener for both teams.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins won its 11th season opener in the last 15 years with a 38-14 vicrory at Randolph-Macon last Saturday.
Susquehanna sprinted to a 21-0 lead, but couldn't hold on and fell at USMMA, 35-28, in its season opener last week.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked 17th in this week's D3football.com Poll. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the AFCA Poll to reflect the team's official ranking at the time of a game. The initial AFCA Poll of the 2013 season will be issued later in September.

Countdown to 500: Johns Hopkins moved to within eight wins of all-time victory number 500 as the Blue Jays improved their all-time record to 492-476-58 (.508) with last week's win at Randolph-Macon. JHU is bidding to become the fourth Centennial Conference team to reach the 500-win mark (F&M-590, Gettysburg-548, McDaniel-514).

Series History: This week's game will be the 12th all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Susquehanna with JHU holding an 7-3-1 advantage. A complete series history can be found on page 2.

For Openers: With last week's win, Johns Hopkins is now 14-9-1 in season-openers under head coach Jim Margraff and the Blue Jays have currently won 11 of their last 15 openers.

Home Openers: Johns Hopkins is 16-6-1 in home openers under head coach Jim Margraff.

Centennial Openers: This week's game against Susquehanna is the first of nine straight Centennial Conference games the Blue Jays will play. Johns Hopkins is a league-best 20-10 all-time in Centennial openers since the league was formed in 1983. Currently, the Blue Jays have won their last five league openers.

At Home at Homewood: Johns Hopkins will carry a 13-game regular season home winning streak into this week's game against Susquehanna. 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 15-2 in the home blacks.

Road Openers: Johns Hopkins improved to 14-10 under head coach Jim Margraff in its first road game of the year with the win at RMC last week.

Sweet September: Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against Susquehanna having won 12 straight and 15 of its last 16 games in the month of September. The only team to beat JHU in the month of September in its last 16 games? Randolph-Macon, which posted a 41-37 win over JHU on September 11, 2010.

More September: Johns Hopkins has not lost a home game in the month of September since September 22, 2007, when Moravian escaped Homewood with a 44-41 victory. Since then the Blue Jays have won nine straight at home in September.

Opening Day Record: The Johns Hopkins offense rolled up 551 yards in last week's 38-14 win at Randolph-Macon. The 551 yards are the most ever by a JHU football team in a season opener. The previous record record of 510 yards came just one year ago, when the Blue Jays rushed for 344 yards and threw for 166 in a 36-13 win over Randolph-Macon at Homewood Field.

Move Those Chains-I: Johns Hopkins was 7-for-16 on third-down attempts and 4-for-6 on fourth-down attempts last week at Randolph-Macon. Consequently, the Blue Jays controlled the ball for just under 34 minutes (33:48). On the flip side, RMC was just 3-for-12 on third-down attempts and the Yellow Jackets were just 1-for-5 on their five fourth-down attempts.

Move Those Chains-II: The 35 first downs JHU accumulated vs. the Yellow Jackets last week are the third-highest total in school history - the top three totals have come in JHU's last 18 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.

Strange But True: Johns Hopkins had 11 offensive possessions last week against Randolph-Macon and gained at least one first down and 28 yards on each of the first 10 drives. The only time JHU failed to get a first down was on its last possession of the game, when the Blue Jays took a knee twice to run out the clock.

More Strange, But Just as True: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff is in his 24th season at the helm of the Blue Jay football program. In the previous 23 years, the Blue Jays have posted a 21-2 record in their second game of the season.

Matey Out of the Gate Quickly: Senior Robbie Matey improved his career record to 13-2 as Johns Hopkins' starting quarterback with last week's win at Randolph-Macon. Matey was 31-of-41 for 338 yards with two touchdowns and also rushed for 28 yards to account for 366 yards of total offense.
The 31 completions and 41 attempts are both career highs for Matey, while his 338 yards passing are the second-highest total of his career and the second-highest total ever by a JHU quarterback in a season opener. In addition, his 31 completions are tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in school history.

Spreading it Around: Senior quarterback Robbie Matey's career-best 31 completions last week at Randolph-Macon were spread pretty well as 11 different players had at least one reception and nine different players had two or more.
Leading the way on the outside was sophomore Ryan Finkel, who had eight receptions for 78 yards and one touchdown. The eight receptions and 78 yards are both career highs for Finkel. Senior Bob D'Orazio added five receptions for 71 yards and freshman Bradley Munday had four catches for 33 yards.

Under Pressure: The Johns Hopkins defense was up to the challenge of facing Randolph-Macon's Will McGhee, who rushed for more than 1,200 yards last season. McGhee was held to 42 yards on 15 carries against the Blue Jays, although he did shake free on a screen pass that he took 45 yards for a TD in the fourth quarter. Overall, the Blue Jays held the Yellow Jackets to just 56 yards rushing on 29 attempts.

Longo Nets Two of Four: Junior defensive end Michael Longo got his season off to a quick start as he was in on four tackles and registered two of JHU's four sacks in the game at RMC. An Honorable Mention All-Centennial selection a year ago, Longo posted 5.5 sacks in 2012.

For Starters: Freshman place-kicker Nick Campbell enjoyed a productive outing in his first game with the Blue Jays. Campbell was good on all five of his extra-point attempts and nailed a 26-yard third-quarter field goal.

Margraff Ranks Second on State Victory Chart: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff sports a career record of 158-81-3 (.659) entering this week's game against Susquehanna. He is just the second college football coach in Maryland state history to win 150 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 an 92-31 (.748) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 98-34 (.742) since the start of the 2001 season and 103-39 (.725) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 83-21 (.798) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

Player Notes of Interest and Additional Information Available in PDF Version

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