The Game: Johns Hopkins (9-1) opens play in the 2018 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs by welcoming MIT (9-1) to Homewood Field.

A Look Back:  Johns Hopkins made it eight straight in the win column as the Blue Jays topped rival McDaniel, 42-17, in their final regular season game last Saturday.

Poll Position:  Johns Hopkins is ranked 13th in this week's AFCA Division III Poll.  Dating back to the start of the 2012 season, Johns Hopkins has now appeared in the top 25 of the AFCA Poll 77 times in 79 weeks.

In addition to the #13 ranking from the AFCA, Johns Hopkins is also ranked 14th in this week's D3football.com Poll.  Dating back to the start of the 2012 season, the Blue Jays have now appeared in the top 25 of the D3football.com poll 82 times in 90 weeks.

Johns Hopkins is also ranked second in the official NCAA South Region rankings this week.

How They Got Here:  Johns Hopkins earned the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs (a Pool A bid), while MIT earned a Pool B bid.  The lone Pool B bid available in the tournament is for independents and teams from leagues that do not qualify for an automatic bid.

Playoff Bound:  Johns Hopkins is making its eighth straight trip to the NCAAs, its ninth in 10 years and 10th overall.  All 10 appearances have come since 2005.

Third Longest Streak:  Johns Hopkins' eight consecutive appearances in the tournament rank as the third-longest active streak in the nation.  Only Mount Union (27) and Mary Hardin-Baylor (17) have currently made more consecutive appearances than Johns Hopkins.

What's Next:  The winner of the Johns Hopkins-MIT first round game will play the winner of the first round game between Frostburg St. and Western New England.  That second round game will be played on Saturday, November 24 (noon).  The location will be announced on Sunday, November 18.

Centennial Conference Champions:  Johns Hopkins claimed its record 14th Centennial Conference title this season with all 14 championships coming since 2002.  JHU's 14 CC titles are four more than Muhlenberg, which shared the title with the Blue Jays this season.

Eight in a Row:  Johns Hopkins ran its winning streak to eight games with last week's 42-17 win against McDaniel.  

This marks the eighth time since Jim Margraff took over as the head coach at Johns Hopkins (1990) that the Blue Jays have had a winning streak of eight games or longer.  Prior to Margraff's arrival, Johns Hopkins had never won eight games in a row (in one season or even bridging two seasons).

477 is 3rd .. and 1st:  Johns Hopkins has scored 477 points entering this week's game against MIT.  The 477 points rank as the third-highest single-season total in school history and the most ever in the regular season.

Among the National Leaders:  Entering this week's game against MIT, Johns Hopkins ranks second in the nation in total offense (549.2), fourth in passing offense (349.8) and fifth in scoring offense (47.7).  The Blue Jays also rank fifth in third-down percentage (.523) and the 266 first downs JHU has accumulated are the fifth most of any team in the nation.

Big Plays: Through 10 games, the Johns Hopkins offense has 78 plays of 20 yards or longer (an average of 7.8 such plays per game) and 208 plays of 10 yards or longer (20.8 such plays per game).  Note that this includes offensive plays only (rushing and passing plays).

Seven or Less Under Rehring:  Since Mickey Rehring took over as the Blue Jay defensive coordinator in 2013, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition to seven points or less 15 times - including the three-point performance by Moravian on September 15, the six-point effort by Ursinus a week later and the shutout at Juniata on November 3.

82 in 8:  After allowing an average of 34 points per game in the first two games, the Blue Jay defense has worked its way into form and has allowed a total of just 82 points in the last eight  games - all Blue Jay victories.

Sack Party:  The Johns Hopkins defense has totaled 34 sacks on the year, including 24 in the last five games.  With six sacks at Franklin & Marshall and five at Gettysburg, the Blue Jays had five or more sacks in back-to-back games for the first time since notching six against Randolph-Macon and five against Susquehanna early in the 2012 season.  The Blue Jays added three in the win against Muhlenberg, six at Juniata and four against McDaniel.

Walters Breaks TD Record:  Senior running back Stuart Walters tied the Johns Hopkins record for career touchdowns with his 51st in the 27-16 win over Muhlenberg and took the top spot to himself with three in the regular-season-ending win against McDaniel.  His three TDs against McDaniel, which all came on the ground, also tied him with Andrew Kase (2006-09) atop the JHU career rushing touchdowns list (44).

At Home at Homewood:  Johns Hopkins has parlayed its home field advantage into victories in recent years.  In fact, the Blue Jays are 48-5 (.906) in the home blacks since the start of the 2010 season.

More Homewood:  Including the 42-17 win against McDaniel, Johns Hopkins has now won 43 straight regular season home games.  The Blue Jays last dropped a home game in the regular season on October 2, 2010 when Muhlenberg topped JHU, 30-27.

Number Four:  Johns Hopkins boasts a 61-7 record since the start of the 2013 season.  The Blue Jays' .897 winning percentage over that time ranks fourth among Division III teams.  In order, the top five teams in the nation in winning percentage since the start of the 2013 season (with records included):

1. Mount Union (80-4) .952
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (74-5) .937
3. Wisconsin-Whitewater (70-6) .921
4. Johns Hopkins (61-7) .897
5. St. Thomas (MN) (61-11) .847

Close Calls:  Since the start of the 2013 season, Johns Hopkins has lost a total of seven games.  Those seven losses have come by five, three, five, seven, four, three and two points (including playoff games).  Translation ... JHU has lost seven games in 5+ seasons by a total of 29 points.

Sustained Success:  Since the start of the 2002 season, the Blue Jays sport a 152-38 (.800) record.  Taking it back farther, the Blue Jays are 158-41 (.794) since the start of the 2001 season and 163-46 (.780) since the beginning of the 2000 season.

Additional Information Available in PDF Version.