The Game
«  Johns Hopkins opens the 2021 season by making its shortest trip of the season as the Blue Jays travel to Stevenson for the season-opener for both teams.

A Look Back
«  Johns Hopkins posted an 8-3 record and topped Stevenson, 51-28, in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series in 2019.
« While some schools played a limited 2020 season (in the spring of 2021), Johns Hopkins did not.
«  The 2019 season was the first for Greg Chimera as the Blue Jays' head coach.  He was appointed the head coach after long-time coach Jim Margraff passed away suddenly on January 2, 2019 after guiding the Blue Jays to the 2018 NCAA Semifinals.

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 563-487-58 (.534).
«  Since the start of the 2010 season, the Blue Jays are 100-17 (.855) overall and 82-8 (.911) in the Centennial Conference.
«  Overall, JHU owns 14 Centennial Conference titles (all won since 2002) and has qualified for the NCAA Playoffs 10 times (all since 2005).

Oh Captain, My Captain
«  Four players were selected to serve as captains of the 2021 Johns Hopkins football team in a vote of the team last spring.
«  Graduate student Macauley Kilbane (DB) and seniors Ross Andersson (DB), Joe Tischler (DL)and Emmett Turner (TE) will lead the Blue Jays this season.  This will be Kilbane's second season serving as a co-captain.
«  Dating back to 1947, Kilbane is just the 14th player to serve as a captain more than one season.

Poll Position
«  Johns Hopkins (41) and Stevenson (2) are both listed among the teams receiving votes in the 2021 D3football.com Preseason Poll.
«  In 2019, Johns Hopkins did not appear in the final D3football.com or AFCA Poll, but Stevenson was receiving votes in the final D3football.com Poll.

Back-to-Back
«  In an odd - and certainly rare - occurrence in football, Johns Hopkins is playing the same team in consecutive games. 
« The Blue Jays closed the 2019 season with a 51-28 win at Stevenson in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series.  A scant 652 days later and the Blue Jays and Mustangs will meet again, this time in the 2021 season opener for both teams.
« How rare is it for Johns Hopkins to have played a team in consecutive games (even over different seasons?  The last time on record of the Johns Hopkins football team playing the same team in consecutive games came in '07 and '08 ... as in, 1907 and 1908.
«  The Blue Jays capped the 1907 season with a 7-0 win at home against Maryland on Thanksgiving Day (11-28-1907) and then opened the 1908 season with a 10-0 win against Maryland at home.

It's Been a While
«  Johns Hopkins will play at Stevenson on Saturday, September 4.  This will mark the first time the Blue Jays open a season on a Saturday since 2015.
«  Since 2015, the Blue Jays have opened three times on a Thursday night (2016, 2018, 2019) and once on a Friday night (2017).

Against the MAC
«  Johns Hopkins will play its 45th all-time game against a team currently in the MAC with this week's game at Susquehanna.  The Blue Jays are 22-21-1 all-time against current MAC members.
«  In recent history (since the start of the 2000 season), the Blue Jays have played just four games against MAC teams with wins against King's in 2003 (41-13), Lebanon Valley in 2010 (44-14) and Stevenson in 2019 (51-28) and a loss at Delaware Valley in 2009 (23-7).  The games against King's and Lebanon Valley were in ECAC Bowl Games, while the win at Stevenson in 2019 was in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series.

For Openers
«  Johns Hopkins has won its last nine season openers dating back to 2011.
«  During the nine-game winning streak in season openers, the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 370-162 and only two of the nine games have been decided by 15 points or less.

On This Date
«  This week's game will be just the second for Johns Hopkins on September 4.  The Blue Jays topped Rochester, 34-17, on September 4, 2004 in their only other game on this date.
«  The Blue Jays fell behind 3-0 early in that game, but scored the next 34 points to pull away for the victory at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays would go on to win a share of their third consecutive Centennial Conference title in 2004.

Sweet September
«  Dating back to 2010, Johns Hopkins is 37-4 in the month of September.
«  Also dating back to 2010, the Blue Jays are 19-3 on the road in the month of September.

I'm Honored
«  Johns Hopkins returns three players who earned All-Centennial Conference honors in 2019 in graduate students Macauley Kilbane (DB) and Ryan Hubley (WR) and senior Harrison Wellmann (WR).
«  Kilbane earned First Team All-CC in 2018 and 2019, while Hubley was a first team selection in 2018 and a second team honoree in 2019; Wellmann was a first team honoree in 2019 as well.

More Honors
«  In addition to earning All-Centennial honors in 2019, Macauley Kilbane (2nd Team) and Harrison Wellmann (3rd Team) also earned D3football.com All-South honors that year as well.

It's All Academic - Part I
«  Johns Hopkins led Division III and tied Stanford for the national lead among all NCAA schools with four CoSIDA Academic All-America selections in 2020-21 (AAA teams were selected with career statistics the primary criteria instead of season statistics).
« Ryan Hubley (WR) and Macauley Kilbane (DB) were named First Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, while Ross Andersson (DB) and Jacob Fetterolf (OL) were second team selections.
«  The four Academic All-America selections are the most in school history, topping the three AAAs Johns Hopkins produced in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
«  The four AAA selections for the football team were part of a haul of 18 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans Johns Hopkins produced across all of its athletic programs in 2020-21 ... the 18 are a school record for one year.

Close Calls
«  Since the start of the 2013 season, Johns Hopkins has lost a total of 11 games.  Those 11 losses have come by a total of 56 points with setbacks by five, three, five, seven, four, three, two, eight, one, three and 15 points.  Translation, 10 of Johns Hopkins' 11 losses since the start of the 2013 season have come by a touchdown or less.  The 31-16 loss to Muhlenberg (Nov. 2, 2019) marked the first time JHU had lost a regular season game by more than nine points in more than 10 years (2009 season opener at Delaware Valley).

On a Roll
«  Johns Hopkins is 88-6 in its last 94 regular season games dating back to late in the 2010 season.
«  The Blue Jays are 96-14 in their last 110 games overall since late in the 2010 season.
«  Dating back farther, Johns Hopkins is 163-42 (.795) since the start of the 2002 season, 169-45 (.790) since the start of the 2001 season and 174-50 (.777) since the start of the 2000 season.

At Home at Homewood
«  Since the start of the 2010 season, the Blue Jays are 53-7 (.883) at Homewood Field.
«  Johns Hopkins had won 12 consecutive games at Homewood Field before the loss on September 14, 2019 against Susquehanna.  This is tied for the longest home winning streak in school history.  JHU previously won 12 straight games at home from 2014-15.

Starting QB Streak at 10
«  Ryan Stevens is expected to get his first career start at quarterback in the season opener at Stevenson.  With that, he'll be the first Blue Jay other than David Tammaro to start a game at quarterback since early in the 2017 season, when Zack Baker started a game at Dickinson.
« Dating back to 2006, 10 consecutive Johns Hopkins quarterbacks have won their first career start for the Blue Jays, a streak that started with Shane Kibbe's 21-14 win over Randolph-Macon early in that 2006 season.

Offensive Player Notes of Interest
«  Jacob Fetterolf (OL) and Alan Gorny (OL) are the only offensive linemen who started in the 2019 Centennial-MAC Bowl Series game against Stevenson who are also slated to start this week against the Mustangs.
«  Ryan Hubley (WR) enters the 2021 season ranked 10th in school history in receptions (153), 15th in receiving yards (1,729) and tied for 20th in TD receptions (11).
« Harrison Wellmann (WR) needs two receptions to reach 100 for his career.  He ranks 19th in school history in receptions (98), 16th in receiving yards (1,524) and 10th in TD receptions (17).  His is also 10th in career kickoff return yards (716).
«  Danny Wolf (RB) tied the Johns Hopkins single-game record for rushing touchdowns with four in a 51-28 win at Stevenson in the 2019 Centennial-MAC Bowl Series.

Defensive Player Notes of Interest
«  Ross Anderson (DB) returns after starting all 11 games at safety in 2019.  He rang up 50 tackles, four pass breakups and three interceptions that year.
«  Macauley Kilbane (DB) had a team-high 10 pass breakups in 2019 to go along with 48 tackles.  He enters the 2021 season with 142 career tackles, 22 pass breakups and five interceptions.
«  Nick Seidel (DB) led the Blue Jays in tackles in 2019 with 81 and interceptions with four.  He totaled a career-high 11 tackles in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series win at Stevenson.
«  Joe Tischler (DL) is JHU's most experienced returning defensive linemen as he's played in 22 games in his career.  He has 36 tackles, including seven TFLs and four sacks, in his career.
« The fourth of four returning starters in the secondary for the Blue Jays is Finn Zechman (DB), who started all 11 games at CB in 2019.  He has 68 tackles, 11 pass breakups and two interceptions in his career.

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