The Game
«  Johns Hopkins (9-1) travels to Salisbury (8-1) for a first round game in the 2021 NCAA Playoffs.  Kickoff from Sea Gull Stadium is set for 12 pm.

A Look Back
«  Johns Hopkins capped the regular season last Saturday with a 48-7 win at rival McDaniel.
« Salisbury completed its regular season with a 38-7 win over William Paterson at home last Saturday.

The Facts
«  This is the 136th 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 572-488-58 (.538).
«  Since the start of the 2010 season, the Blue Jays are 109-18 (.858) overall and 90-9 (.909) in the Centennial Conference.
«  Overall, and including this season, JHU owns 15 Centennial Conference titles (all won since 2002) and has qualified for the NCAA Playoffs 11 times (all since 2005).

Poll Position
« Johns Hopkins will carry a pair of top-20 rankings into this week's game at Salisbury as the Blue Jays check in at #16 in the AFCA Poll and #17 in the D3football.com Poll this week.
« Since the AFCA Poll debuted in 1999, this week's #16 ranking marks the 108th time JHU has been ranked in the top 25.  More recently, the Blue Jays are in the top 25 for the 91st time in the last 99 polls dating back to 2011.
«  Since the D3football.com Poll debuted in 2003, this week's #17 ranking marks the 122nd time Johns Hopkins has appeared in the top 25.

How They Got Here
« Johns Hopkins earned one of the five at-large bids awarded in the 32-team NCAA Division III Football Playoff field.  This is the first time the Blue Jays have received an at-large bid to the tournament as each of their previous 10 trips were earned via the Centennial Conference's automatic bid into the field.
« Salisbury won the New Jersey Athletic Conference and the league's accompanying automatic bid into the tournament.

What's Next
«  The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Salisbury first round game will take on the winner of the Mount Union-Washington & Lee first round game in the second round. That second round game will be played on Saturday, November 27 (12 pm).  The location will be announced on Sunday, November 21.

Playoff Bound
«  Johns Hopkins is making its 10th trip to the NCAA Playoffs in 11 years and 11th overall.  All 11 appearances have come since 2005.

Historically Speaking
«  This week's game at Salisbury will be the 26th post-season game in Johns Hopkins football history with every post-season game coming since 2002.  
«  The Blue Jays are 14-11 all-time in the post-season, including 9-10 all-time the NCAA Playoffs.
«  Johns Hopkins advanced to the NCAA Semifinal in 2018, the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2009 and made second round appearance in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
«  In addition to their 9-10 mark in the NCAAs, Johns Hopkins is 4-1 in ECAC Bowl Games and 1-0 in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series.

Centennial Conference Champions
« Johns Hopkins claimed a share of its record 15th Centennial Conference title this season with all 15 championships coming since 2002.  
«  JHU's 15 CC titles are two more than Muhlenberg, which shared the title with the Blue Jays this season, has earned.

On This Date
«  Since 1950, Johns Hopkins has played six games on November 20 and the Blue Jays have compiled a 3-3 record on this date.
« The Blue Jays have won their last two games played on this date as they scored a 26-23 win over Waynesburg in 2004 and a 44-14 win over Lebanon Valley in 2010; both of those wins came in ECAC Bowl Games.

Road Warriors
«  This week's game at Salisbury will be the Blue Jays' seventh road game of the season.
« Johns Hopkins is 5-1 on the road this season and 29-6 on the road (regular season and playoffs) since the start of the 2015 season.

November Reign
«  Johns Hopkins is 2-0 this season in the month of November and has won five consecutive games in the month of November dating back to 2019.
« JHU is 9-1 in its last 10 games in the month of November dating back to 2018 with the only loss a 31-16 setback at eventual NCAA Semifinalist Muhlenberg in 2018.

Scoring Notes of Interest
« Johns Hopkins has scored 478 points in its first 10 games of the 2021 season.  The 478 points already rank as the fourth-best single-season total in school history.
« In 40 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored 10 or more points in 23 of the 40 and 20 or more in nine of 40.
« With 22 more points, the Blue Jays will reach the 500-point mark for just the third time in school history.
« The school record for points in a season is 641, which JHU scored in 14 games in 2018 en route to the NCAA Semifinals.  The 2015 team scored 548 points in 12 games, while the 2016 team scored 497 in 12 games.
« JHU has scored 175 points in the second quarter and has outscored the opposition 109-10 in the first quarter and113-28 in the third quarter.
« The 175 points Johns Hopkins has scored in the second quarter this season are more than 53 Division III teams scored in the entire regular season.

JHU Ranks Seventh in the Nation in Scoring
« Among Division III teams, Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against Salisbury ranked seventh in the nation in scoring offense at 47.8 points per game.  JHU is one of just nine NCAA Division III teams currently averaging more than 47 points per game.
« In addition to ranking seventh among Division III teams in scoring offense, the Blue Jays' 47.8 points per outing rank ninth among the 656 football-playing schools in the NCAA.

Quite a Run
«  In the last 34 quarters and six minutes, Johns Hopkins has outscored the opposition 411-85.

Quite a Run - Part II
« The Johns Hopkins defense has been on quite a run since late in the second quarter against Ursinus.  Since then, the opposition has had 121 offensive possessions.  Consider ...
« Those 121 opponent possessions have ended with 1 safety, 1 missed field goal, 7 touchdowns, 5 field goals, 15 interceptions, 12 fumbles lost, 10 turnovers on downs and 62 punts ... eight others ended with the conclusion of either the second or fourth quarter.

Talkin' Turnovers
« The Johns Hopkins defense has forced five turnovers in each of the last three games.  This is believed to be the only time in the last 20 seasons that Hopkins has forced five or more turnovers in three consecutive games.
« On the year, the Blue Jays have forced 30 turnovers (17 INTs, 13 FR) with at least one forced turnover in nine of 10 games, two or more in eight games and three+ in six games.
« The 30 caused turnovers are the fourth-best single-season total at Johns Hopkins in the last 20 seasons, while the 13 fumble recoveries are tied for the second-best single-season total by the Blue Jays since 2001.

30-for-30
« The Blue Jay defense has rolled up 30 caused turnovers (17 INTs / 13 FR) and 33 sacks in 10 games thus far this season.
« Johns Hopkins is one of just three Division III teams in the nation that has caused 30 or more turnovers and recorded 30 or more sacks (St. Norbert, Carnegie Mellon).
« In the last 20 seasons, this year's effort of recording 30 or more sacks and turnovers is just the second. The 2009 team recorded 41 caused turnovers and 38 sacks in 13 games en route to the program's first appearance in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

Defense Among the Centennial/National Leaders
« The Blue Jay defense enters this week's game ranked among the best in the Centennial Conference and the NCAA in a number of statistical categories.
« Through 10 games, JHU ranks first in the Centennial in scoring defense (11.7), rushing defense (71.4), caused turnovers (30) and sacks (33).  The Blue Jays are second in total defense (266.5).
« Nationally, the Blue Jays rank 17th in rushing defense, 15th in scoring defense, 26th in total defense, 12th in opponent third-down percentage (.265), 12th in sacks (3.3/game) and tied for sixth in caused turnovers (30).

Lethal Weapon Three
«  Johns Hopkins features one of the top wide receiver trios in the nation in Harrison Wellmann, Quinn Revere and Ryan Hubley - all three rank among the top five in the Centennial Conference in receptions and receiving yards.
« Wellmann headlines the group as he has 72 receptions for 1,053 yards and 13 touchdowns, while Revere (61-869-9) and Hubley (67-801-5) are not far behind.
« On the year, they have 2,723 combined receiving yards on 200 receptions with 27 touchdowns.  In other words, they are averaging 20 receptions for 272.3 yards and 2.7 touchdowns per game between them!
« Breaking it down by game, they have combined for 20 or more receptions in all but two games, have rolled up more than 300 receiving yards five times and accounted for four or more touchdowns in five different games as well.
« Johns Hopkins is the only Division III team in the nation with three players with 60 or more receptions and the only team with three players with 800 or more receiving yards.

Close Calls
«  Since the start of the 2013 season, Johns Hopkins has lost a total of 12 games.  Those 12 losses have come by a total of 71 points with setbacks by five, three, five, seven, four, three, two, eight, one, three and 15 points (twice).  Translation, 10 of Johns Hopkins' 12 losses since the start of the 2013 season have come by a touchdown or less.

On a Roll
«  Johns Hopkins is 97-7 in its last 104 regular season games dating back to late in the 2010 season.
«  The Blue Jays are 106-15 in their last 121 games overall since late in the 2010 season.
«  Dating back farther, Johns Hopkins is 172-43 (.800) since the start of the 2002 season, 178-46 (.795) since the start of the 2001 season and 183-51 (.782) since the start of the 2000 season.

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