The Game
«  Johns Hopkins (6-1, 3-0 Centennial) plays the first of two straight at Homewood Field as the Blue Jays welcome Muhlenberg (5-2, 3-1 Centennial) to Baltimore.

A Look Back
«  Johns Hopkins picked up its fourth straight victory as the Blue Jays went on the road and topped previously unbeaten Ursinus, 16-7, last Saturday.
« Muhlenberg set up this week's showdown against the Blue Jays with a 49-20 victory against Dickinson last Saturday.

Victory Number 600
«  Johns Hopkins grabbed the 600th victory in program history with a 51-7 win at Gettysburg on October 11.
« With the win last week at Ursinus, Johns Hopkins improved its all-time record to 602-491-57 (.548).

The Facts
«  This is the 139th 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 602-491-57 (.548).
«  Overall, JHU owns 16 Centennial Conference titles (all won since 2002) and has qualified for the NCAA Playoffs 12 times (all since 2005).

Poll Position
«  Johns Hopkins checks in at #19 in this week's AFCA Poll and is 22nd in the D3football.com Poll.
« Since the AFCA debuted its poll in 1999, this week's #19 ranking marks the 139th time in 254 polls that the Blue Jays have appeared in the top 25.
« The Blue Jays are in the D3football.com Top-25 for the 161st time in 268 polls since D3football launched its poll in 2003.

November Reign
«  Entering this week's game against Muhlenberg, Johns Hopkins is 46-5 in regular season games played in the month of November this century, including 27-2 since 2010.
«  JHU has not lost a regular season home game in the month of November since 2007.  The Blue Jays have won 17 consecutive regular season home games in November since a 19-11 loss to F&M in 2007. 
« In this century, Johns Hopkins is 24-2 in regular season home games in the month of November.
«  The Blue Jays are 16-2 in their last 18 regular season road games in the month of November dating back to 2007.

A Centennial Snapshot
«  With three games remaining, it's too early to figure out all the scenarios that remain in the race for the Centennial Conference title and the league's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Playoffs.
« Here is a quick look at the three teams with one or fewer CC losses and their most direct path to the outright title.  There are many other scenarios in play - these are the most direct for each of the three teams.

• Johns Hopkins wins the title outright with three wins.
• Ursinus wins the title outright with three wins, one loss by Muhlenberg and two by Johns Hopkins.
• Muhlenberg gets the title outright with two wins, two JHU losses and one more Ursinus loss (note that the Mules have already played four league games).

Note that all teams in the Centennial with two losses or less still have a path to claiming at least a share of the conference title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs.

Strength of Schedule Among Nation's Best
« The 10 opponents on Johns Hopkins' 2024 schedule are currently a combined 39-24 (.619).  By opponent winning percentage, this ranks as the 13th most difficult schedule in the nation.
« The seven opponents Johns Hopkins has already played this season currently have a combined record of 29-13 (.690).  By opponent winning percentage, this ranks as the sixth most difficult schedule in the nation.

It's Been a While
«  The Johns Hopkins defense turned in another exceptional performance in last week's win at Ursinus.
« The Blue Jays held the Bears to just seven points, which was 36 below their season average entering the game.
« JHU has allowed a total of 20 points in its last three games.  That's the fewest the Blue Jays have allowed over a three-game span since they held Juniata (0), Moravian (6) and F&M (10) to 16 early in the 2021 season.
« The last time JHU held three straight opponents to seven points or less was in 2015 in wins against Juniata (5), Dickinson (7) and Gettysburg (7).
« The Blue Jays have held five of seven opponents to 13 points or less and are allowing just 14.3 points per game.  JHU ranks second in the Centennial and 33rd in the nation in scoring defense. 

Defense Among Centennial's Best
«  The Johns Hopkins defense continues to rank among the Centennial Conference's best in virtually every statistical category.
« Entering this week's game, Johns Hopkins ranks second in scoring defense (14.3) and third in total defense (304.1), passing defense (188.1) and rushing defense (116.0).
« The Blue Jays also lead the league in pass efficiency defense (93.1), have allowed a league-low two touchdown passes, and the opposition is completing a league-low 49.1% of its pass attempts.
« The two touchdown passes the Blue Jays have allowed are tied for the fewest in the nation in Division III.  Only Western Connecticut and Marietta have also allowed just two touchdown passes thus far.

Paxton Giving Jays a Leg Up
«  Johns Hopkins freshman kicker Brad Paxton entered the Blue Jay record book in the win at Gettysburg.  For his efforts against the Bullets, he was honored as the Centennial Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
« Paxton hit all six of his extra points and was 3-for-3 on field goals as he was good from 27, 20 and 30 yards in the victory against the Bullets.  His 15 points tied the Johns Hopkins single-game record for points by a kicker (see chart to the right).
« Entering this week's game at Muhlenberg, Paxton is 14-of-16 on extra points and has hit 8-of-10 field goals on the year.  His eight field goals are tied for the Centennial Conference lead and rank as the third most by a freshman in Johns Hopkins history (Alex Lachman-11 (2007), Nick Campbell-10 (2013).

Schroeder Grabs CC Honors
«  Junior running back Geoff Schroeder earned his first career Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week nod after helping the Blue Jays churn out 172 yards on the ground last week against Ursinus.
« Schroeder rushed 19 times for 128 yards and one touchdown against the Bears.  His 128 yards were more than double what Ursinus was allowing per game entering the contest (53.7) and he opened the second half with the longest run of his career, a 72-yard touchdown run that increased a 10-7 Johns Hopkins lead to 16-7.
« Schroeder's 72-yard run is tied for the 11th-longest rush in school history.
« With his effort against Ursinus, Schroeder jumped to 25th on JHU's career rushing list (1,176).

Rich Inches Closer to 1,000
«  Senior Andrew Rich rushed for a team-high 84 yards on nine carries at Gettysburg and has since bumped his career rushing total to 969 yards.
« Rich enters this week's game needing just 31 yards to become the 31st player in program history to top 1,000 career rushing yards.

Talarico Inches Closer to Kane's Record
«  Senior EJ Talarico had two kickoff returns for 43 yards last week at Ursinus and enters this week's game against Muhlenberg within striking distance of the school record for kickoff return yardage.
« In his career, Talarico has returned 53 kickoffs for 1,226 yards, which leaves him just 34 yards shy of overtaking Bruce Kane (1,259 yards / 1977-80) as JHU's career kickoff return yardage leader.

At Home at Homewood
«  Including the recent win against F&M, the Blue Jays have enjoyed a dominant recent run at Homewood Field.
«  Since the start of the 2014 season, the Blue Jays are 52-6 (.897) at Homewood Field; they are 68-9 (.883) at Homewood since 2010.
«  JHU won a school-record 19 consecutive games at home from midway through the 2019 season until the 2023 NCAA Quarterfinal.

Craddock, Peters Top 150
«  Seniors Oliver Craddock and Cole Peters both eclipsed the 150-tackle mark for their career in the win at Ursinus and both enter this week's game against Muhlenberg with exactly 153 career tackles to their credit.
« Craddock currently ranks second on the team in tackles this season (43) and had six last week at Ursinus.
« Peters counts a team-high 55 tackles to his credit this season and had seven last week at Ursinus.

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