The Game
«  Johns Hopkins opens the 2019 season at Randolph-Macon.  This is one of the top non-conference games of the 2019 season as Blue Jays and Yellow Jackets both advanced to the NCAA Playoffs in 2018.

A Look Back
«  Johns Hopkins posted a 12-2 record, claimed a share of the Centennial Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals last season.  The final four run is the deepest in school history (JHU's previous best was a quarterfinal run in 2009) and the CC title was JHU's 10th straight.
«  The Blue Jays finished the 2018 season ranked fifth nationally by both the AFCA and D3football.com.

The Facts
«  This is the 135th season of Johns Hopkins football.  JHU first fielded a team in 1882.
«  Johns Hopkins enters this week's game with an all-time record of 555-484-58 (.532).
«  In this decade (since the start of the 2010 season), the Blue Jays are 92-14 (.868) overall and 76-5 (.938) in the Centennial Conference.
«  JHU owns 14 Centennial Conference titles (all won since 2002) and has qualified for the NCAA Playoffs 10 times (all since 2005).

Poll Position
«  Johns Hopkins is ranked sixth in the 2019 D3football.com Preseason Top 25.  Randolph-Macon is ranked 24th in the same poll.
«  The Blue Jays picked up two more preseason top 10 rankings as JHU was ranked fifth by Street & Smith's and Lindy's.  Every preseason ranking the Blue Jays drew this year is the highest in school history.

Chimera's First Game as Head Coach
«  This week's game at Randolph-Macon will be the first for Greg Chimera as head coach of the Blue Jays.  Chimera was named the head coach on February 22, 2019 after long-time coach Jim Margraff passed away suddenly on January 2, 2019.
«  Chimera played at Johns Hopkins from 2005-08 before spending the 2009-18 seasons as an assistant coach under Margraff.
«  In 10 seasons as a member of the coaching staff, Chimera helped guide the Blue Jays to a record of 102-17, 10 consecutive Centennial Conference titles and nine trips to the NCAA Playoffs.
«  Chimera served as the Blue Jay offensive coordinator from 2014-18.  During that time, Johns Hopkins averaged 502.9 yards and 42.1 points per game (over a span of 61 games).

Series History
«  This week's game will be the 41st game in a series that dates to a 6-0 Johns Hopkins win in 1904.
«  JHU leads the all-time series 23-16-1 and has currently won six straight and eight of the last nine against the Yellow Jackets.
«  Johns Hopkins has scored at least 35 points against Randolph-Macon in each of the last nine meetings and has scored 42+ in each of the last four.
«  The 63 points JHU scored in last season's game in Baltimore are the fifth-highest total in school history and the most ever in a season-opener for the Blue Jays.

On Thursday Night
«  This week's game at Randolph-Macon marks the third time in four years that Johns Hopkins will open the season on a Thursday night.
«  JHU topped Washington & Lee, 45-29, in a Thursday-night opener in 2016 and then topped Randolph-Macon, 63-31, in a Thursday-night opener in 2018.
«  Prior to the 2016 game against W&L, Johns Hopkins' last Thursday game was in 1934, when the Blue Jays fell to Maryland on Thanksgiving.

Against the ODAC
«  Johns Hopkins will play its 85th all-time game against a team currently in the ODAC with this week's game at Randolph-Macon.  The Blue Jays are 43-38-3 all-time against current ODAC members.
«  In recent history (since the start of the 1990 season), the Blue Jays are 26-9 against teams from the ODAC.
«  Overall, JHU is 23-16-1 against Randolph-Macon, 8-13-1 against Hampden-Sydney, 3-3 against Bridgewater and 9-6-1 against Washington & Lee.

State of Affairs
«  The 87-man Johns Hopkins roster features players from 22 different states.

On This Date
«  This week's game will be just the third for Johns Hopkins on September 5.  The Blue Jays fell at Delaware Valley, 23-7, on this date in 2009 and won at Randolph-Macon, 52-17, in 2015.
«  The game played on September 5, 2009 at Delaware Valley was the first for current head coach Greg Chimera as a member of the Johns Hopkins coach staff.

I'm Honored
«  Johns Hopkins returns seven players who earned All-Centennial Conference honors in 2018, including the CC's Offensive Player of the Year (David Tammaro - QB) and Rookie of the Year (Robert Fletcher - S).
«  Returning First Team All-Centennial performers for the Blue Jays include Joe Figueroa (OL), Ryan Hubley (WR), Macauley Kilbane (CB) and David Tammaro (QB).
«  Back after earning Second Team All-Centennial honors is Mike Kalanik (DE), while Honorable Mention All-Centennial picks Robert Fletcher (S) and Frank Petracco (OL) also return.

More Honors
«  In addition to returning seven All-Centennial performers from last season, the Blue Jays also count one returning All-American (David Tammaro - QB - 2nd Team D3football.com) and three D3footbal.com All-South selections in Tammaro (1st Team), Joe Figueroa (OL - 1st Team) and Mike Kalanik (DE - 2nd Team).

It's All Academic
«  Johns Hopkins placed eight players on the 2018 CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District Team - a mark that was tied for the most among all Division III teams in the nation.
«  Returning CoSIDA Academic All-District selections for the Blue Jays include David Tammaro (QB), Ryan Hubley (WR) and Frank Petracco (OL).
«  Quarterback David Tammaro went on to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors (2nd Team) to become the first quarterback in school history to be named an AAA.

A Record-Breaking Group
«  Johns Hopkins set school-records for points (45.8) and yards (550.9) per game in 2018.  The Blue Jays finished sixth in the nation in scoring offense and second in total offense.
«  JHU scored 35 or more points in 12 of its 14 games last season and 27 or more in 13 of 14.

Holding Them Down 
«  After allowing an average of 34 points per game in the first two games of the 2018 season, the Blue Jay defense held 10 of its final 12 opponents to 17 points or less.
«  Over the final 12 games of the season, only top-ranked Mount Union (28 in a 28-20 win over JHU in the NCAA Semifinals) and sixth-ranked Frostburg St. (27 in a 58-27 JHU win in the second round of the NCAAs) topped 17 points against the Blue Jays.

Close Calls
«  Since the start of the 2013 season, Johns Hopkins has lost a total of eight games.  Those eight losses have come by five, three, five, seven, four, three, two and eight points.

On a Roll
«  Johns Hopkins is 81-3 in its last 84 regular season games dating back to late in the 2010 season.
«  The Blue Jays are 88-11 in their last 99 games overall since late in the 2010 season.
«  Dating back farther, Johns Hopkins is 155-39 (.799) since the start of the 2002 season, 161-42 (.794) since the start of the 2001 season and 166-47 (.779) since the start of the 2000 season.

At Home at Homewood
«  Johns Hopkins has won 12 consecutive games at Homewood Field.  This is tied for the longest home winning streak in school history.  JHU previously won 12 straight games at home from 2014-15.
«  Since the start of the 2010 season, the Blue Jays are 50-5 (.909) at Homewood Field.

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