Johns Hopkins-Muhlenberg Football Notes

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The Game: Eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins (3-0, 2-0 Centennial) welcomes perennial Centennial Conference power Muhlenberg (2-1, 1-1 CC) to Homewood Field for a key late-September showdown featuring the two most successful teams in the league over the last 15 years.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins and Muhlenberg both picked up league wins in the Lehigh Valley last week with the Blue Jays topping Moravian (45-23) and Muhlenberg taking apart McDaniel (55-0). The combined score of the two games at the half was 76-0 as JHU led the Greyhounds 35-0, while Muhlenberg held a 41-0 lead on the Green Terror.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins debuted at number eight in the first AFCA Poll of the 2015 season this week. The Blue Jays also check in at number 11 in this week's D3football.com Poll. This is the third straight week that JHU checks in at number 11 after being ranked 13th in the preseason by D3football.com.
Muhlenberg is not ranked in the top 25 in either poll, although the Mules are receiving votes in this week's AFCA Poll (11).

State of Affairs: The 2015 Johns Hopkins football roster consists of 91 players from 23 different states. The Muhlenberg roster features 102 players from six states plus Washington DC.

At Home at Homewood: Johns Hopkins has parlayed its home field advantage into victories in recent years. In fact, the Blue Jays are 27-3 in the home blacks since the start of the 2010 season.

Road Warriors: With last week's 45-23 victory last week at Moravian, the Blue Jays extended their regular season road winning streak to 12 games. The Blue Jays last dropped a regular season road game at F&M late in the 2012 season.

Sweet September: With last week's 45-23 win at Moravian, Johns Hopkins has won 22 straight and 25 of its last 26 games in the month of September. The only team to beat JHU in the month of September in its last 26 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 14 straight at home in September.

Looking for 4-0: A win this week would give Johns Hopkins its fifth straight 4-0 start and its eighth in the the last 14 years. Prior to this stretch, which began in 2002, Johns Hopkins hadn't started a season at 4-0 since 1932.

Offense Rolling: Johns Hopkins has scored 45 or more points in each of the first three games this season (52 @ RMC, 59 vs. Susquehanna, 45 @ Moravian). This is the first time Johns Hopkins has scored 45+ in three straight games since 2013, when JHU turned the trick against Moravian (52), Muhlenberg (45) and Juniata (65).
For the record, these rank as the only two times in school history that Johns Hopkins has scored 45+ in three straight games.

Among the National Leaders: Entering this week's game against Muhlenberg, Johns Hopkins ranks in the top 20 in the nation in scoring offense (10th • 52.0 ppg), total offense (18th • 552.0 ypg), rushing offense (19th • 288.7) and third-down percentage (1st • .690).

Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins has had 17 combined possessions in the first half of its three games thus far. Those 17 have ended with 14 touchdowns, one field goal and one turnover with the 17th drive ending inside the Randolph-Macon five-yard line when the second quarter expired.

More Quick Starts: Johns Hopkins has outscored the opposition 101-10 in the first half of its three games this season. Included in that first-half breakdown is a 63-0 margin the second quarter.

More Offense: Johns Hopkins has punched up 621 yards (@ Randolph-Macon), 556 yards (vs. Susquehanna) and 479 yards (@ Moravian) in its first three games this season.
This is the first time Johns Hopkins has totaled 475 or more yards of offense in three straight games since 2013, when the Blue Jays actually did it in five straight games at one point.

Cherry Ties Johns Hopkins Record: Senior running back Brandon Cherry touched the ball just 12 times in last week's 45-23 victory at Moravian, but four of those 12 touches ended with Cherry in the end zone as he tied the Johns Hopkins record for overall touchdowns in a game.

Cherry rushed nine times for 118 yards and three touchdowns and added three receptions for 47 yards and another score to lead the way for the Blue Jays.

Cherry scored on runs of 73, 14 and six yards and added a 34-yard touchdown reception right before the half. He is the ninth JHU player to score four touchdowns in a game (the nine have done it 11 times) and the first since Jonathan Rigaud did it twice during the 2012 season.

Cherry's effort at Moravian also pushed him to the cusp of another milestone as he enters this week's game against Muhlenberg just three yards shy of 2,000 rushing yards for his career. He would become the ninth player in school history to reach the 2,000-yard mark. In addition, his four-touchdown effort gives him 25 overall touchdowns in his career (21 rushing / 4 receiving). He is just the 11th player in school history to score 25 or more career TDs.

Germano Among National Leaders: Junior qurterback Jonathan Germano has gotten off to a quick start this season as he has guided the Blue Jays to three victories in his first three career starts.
Through three games, Germano is 48-of-61 (.787) for 716 yards with nine touchdowns against just one interception. In addition, he has rushed for 199 yards and two more scores.

Germano currently ranks first in the nation in completion percentage (.787), third in the nation in pass efficiency (222.70) and 11th in touchdown passes (9).

In the recent 59-7 victory against Susquehanna, Germano became the first Johns Hopkins quarterback since 1989 to rush for 100 yards in a game as he rushed 15 times for 105 yards and one TD.

Balanced Rushing Attack: With an average of 288.7 yards per game on the ground, Johns Hopkins ranks 19th in the nation in rushing offense.

Unlike many of the top rushing teams in the nation, Johns Hopkins doesn't have an individual ranked among the top 140 in the nation in rushing yards per game.

What the Blue Jays do have is five players who have rushed for 80 or more yards in three games. Senior RB Brandon Cherry (69.3), junior QB Jonathan Germano (66.3) and junior running back Stuart Walters (63.3) all account for at least 60 yards per game. In addition, Ryan Cary (41.3) and Tyler Messinger (42.0) are also averaging 40 or more yards per game (note that Messinger did not play in the season opener so his average is for two games, not three).

The five players above have combined for all 11 of Johns Hopkins' rushing touchdowns thus far and fuel a rushing game that is averaging 5.5 yards per attempt.

Picking Up Where He Left Off: Junior wide receiver Bradley Munday picked up right where he left off last season as he had 10 receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns and totaled 229 all-purpose yards in the win at Randolph-Macon. The 155 receiving yards and 229 all-purpose yards are both career highs. Through three games, Munday leads the team in receptions (17), receiving yards (223) and all-purpose yards (313). He ranks third in the Centennial in receiving yards per game (74.3) and receptions per game (5.7) and eighth in all-purpose yards per game (104.3).

Munday now has career totals of 115 receptions for 1,381 yards and nine touchdowns. He ranks 11th in school history in receptions and 15th in receiving yards.

Donaldson Tops 1,000: Junior Quinn Donaldson became the 23rd player in school history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards as he had three receptions for 62 yards against Susquehanna. Through the game at Moravian he now has career totals of 64 receptions for 1,021 yards and 12 TDs.

Spreading the Wealth: Through just three games, Johns Hopkins already has 14 different players who have at least one reception on the year. Perhaps the most exciting part for Blue Jay fans is the top of the receiving chart, which shows three juniors (Bradley Munday, Quinn Donaldson, Boone Lewis, Jr.) and one sophomore (David Brookhart) as the top four receivers. Those four have combined for 34 receptions for 473 yards (13.9 yards/reception) and six touchdowns.

Fresh Troops: The Johns Hopkins defense has long been known for playing deep into its bench and this season has been no different thus far. Through three games, 14 different players have seven or more tackles and, with that depth, no player ranks among the top 30 in the Centennial Conference in tackles per game.

Sophomore Keonte Henson leads the team in tackles (17) after posting a career-high nine in last week's win at Moravian, while juniors Dan Johnson and Jack Campbell are just behind with 16 tackles apiece. Addison Quinones leads all freshmen and ranks fourth on the team in tackles with 14.

Fantasy Numbers: The Johns Hopkins defense counts 18 tackles for losses, six sacks, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries to its credit through three games. Although the sample size is small (just three games), the number of players involved in those momentum type plays is remarkable. In all, 13 different players have been in on at least one tackle for loss, seven have at least half a sack, four different players have an interception and two other players have recovered a fumble.

Defense Among Centennial's Best: While offense may sell tickets, the Blue Jays have always preached defense first. Through three games, the returns are favorable that this year's unit will continue the trend of strong units at Homewood.

Johns Hopkins currently ranks first in the Centennial Conference in third-down percentage (.286), second in scoring defense (15.7) and total defense (308.7) and fourth in rushing defense (117.3).

More Defense: Randolph-Macon scored 10 points and totaled 145 yards on its first two drives against JHU in the season opener. In 33 drives since then, the Blue Jay defense has forced 16 punts and six turnovers, twice forced a turnover on downs, allowed five touchdowns, had the opposition miss two field goalsand had two other drives come to an end at halftime. The three touchdowns the Blue Jays allowed at Moravian all came in the final 21 minutes of the game.

Centennial Conference Champions: Johns Hopkins claimed its record 10th Centennial Conference title last season with all 10 championships coming since 2002. JHU's 10 CC titles are one more than Dickinson and Muhlenberg have accumulated. Even more impressive? Hopkins' was the last team in the league to win its first title (2002), but the first to get to 10 championships.

Margraff Holds State Record: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff became the winningest college football coach in Maryland state history with a 42-14 win at Ursinus last season (November 1, 2014) as that gave him 175 career victories, a mark he upped to 181 with last week's win at Moravian. Margraff now sports a career record of 181-83-3 (.684) entering this week's game against Muhlenberg.

JHU Sets Victory Record: Johns Hopkins posted an 11-1 record in 2014 to break the school record for victories in a season. Only five times previously - 2003, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 - 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 11 times in the last 13 years.

On a Roll: Johns Hopkins is 46-1 in its last 47 regular season games dating back to late in the 2010 season. The only team to top the Blue Jays duirng that run? Franklin & Marshall, which topped the Blue Jays, 14-12, in 2012.

On A Roll, Part II: Johns Hopkins is 49-5 in its last 54 games overall since late in the 2010 season.

Sustained Success: Since the start of the 2002 season the Blue Jays sport a 115-33 (.777) record. Taking it back farther the Blue Jays are 121-36 (.771) since the start of the 2001 season and 126-41 (.754) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Seven's Heaven: Since the beginning of the 2003 season the Blue Jays are 106-24 (.815) when scoring more than seven points and 0-7 when they have been held to seven points or less.

- Pride and Poise -