The Game
«  Johns Hopkins (9-1) opens play in the 2024 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs as the Blue Jays welcome Grove City (9-1) to Homewood Field.

A Look Back
«  Johns Hopkins pushed its winning streak to seven with a regular-season-ending 35-0 win at McDaniel on November 16.
« Grove City also closed the regular season with a decisive victory as the Wolverines eased past Westminster, 36-9 on November 16.

How They Got Here
«  Johns Hopkins earned an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs as the Blue Jays went a perfect 6-0 in Centennial Conference play to earn the league's automatic bid.
« Grove City earned an at-large bid to the playoffs.  The Wolverines snagged a share of the Presidents' Athletic Conference title, but Washington & Jefferson grabbed the PAC's automatic bid via tie-breaker.  Still, after posting a 9-1 regular-season record, the Wolverines were awarded one of the 12 at-large bids to the playoffs.

What's Next«  The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Grove City game will play the winner of the DePauw-Maryville game in the third round of the tournament on Saturday, December 7.  The location and time of that game will be announced on Sunday, December 1.

Poll Position
«  Johns Hopkins checks in at #17 in the most recent AFCA Poll and is 19th in the D3football.com Poll.
« Since the AFCA debuted its poll in 1999, this week's #17 ranking marks the 142nd time in 257 polls that the Blue Jays have appeared in the top 25.
« The Blue Jays are in the D3football.com Top-25 for the 164th time in 271 polls since D3football debuted its poll in 2003.

Playoff History
« Johns Hopkins is making its 13th trip to the NCAAs, including its 11th since 2011.
« The Blue Jays are 12-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with a run to the 2018 NCAA Semifinals and a pair of trips to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2009 and 2023 highlighting their playoff history.
« In addition to the above, the Blue Jays also advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021.
« This week's game will be the 14th home playoff game in Hopkins history.  JHU is 8-5 all-time at Homewood Field in NCAA Playoff games.
« JHU has hosted a second round NCAA Playoff game three times previously (2015, 2016, 2023).

Series History
« This week's game between Johns Hopkins and Grove City will be the first between the two teams in football.
« Johns Hopkins and Grove City have met just 10 times in head-to-head athletic events in all sports.  Six of those 10 came in water polo between 1999 and 2004, while there were also three men's soccer games between the two schools (1995, 2004, 2005) and one women's tennis match (2019) between the two schools.
« The only previous NCAA Tournament game between Johns Hopkins and Grove City in any sport was the 2019 meeting in women's tennis.  Johns Hopkins won that match, 5-0, in the first round of the tournament.

Against the PAC
« This week's game will be The 19th all-time for Johns Hopkins against a team that currently competes in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
« JHU is 9-8-1 all-time against teams in the PAC with 11 of those 19 games coming against Carnegie Mellon.
« Included in Johns Hopkins' 18 all-time against teams in the PAC are three that took place in the NCAA Playoffs.  JHU fell at Thiel (28-3) in its first-ever NCAA Playoff game in 2005 and split a pair of games against Washington & Jefferson with a 42-10 win at Homewood Field in 2012 and a 31-28 loss at W&J in 2017; all three previous NCAA games against PAC teams took place in the first round.
« Below is JHU's all-time record against teams from the PAC:

Allegheny (1-0-1)
Case Western (1-0)
Carnegie Mellon (5-6)
Thiel (0-1)
Washington & Jefferson (1-1)
Waynesburg (1-0)

November Reign
«  Johns Hopkins won all three of its regular season games in the month of November and has been on a roll in November in recent years.
« The three-game run this season pushes JHU's winning streak in the month of November to 10 games dating back to a 45-35 loss at Mount Union on November 27, 2021.
« Taking it back farther, the Blue Jays are 20-2 in the month of November dating back to 2018, when JHU went 4-0 en route to the program's only appearance in the NCAA Semifinals.

Strength in Numbers
« The 10 opponents on Johns Hopkins' 2024 regular-season schedule have posted a combined record of 60-34 (.638) to-date.  By opponent winning percentage, this ranks as the fifth most difficult schedule in the nation.

Back-to-Back Shutouts
« Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against Grove City having posted back-to-backs shutouts in wins against Dickinson (30-0) and McDaniel (35-0).  This is the first time since early in the 2022 season that JHU has posted consecutive shutouts.

Defense Leading the Way
« JHU has allowed a total of 33 points in its last six games.  That's the fewest the Blue Jays have allowed over a six-game span since they allowed just 30 during the first six games of the 2003 season.
« The Blue Jays have held eight of 10 opponents to 13 points or less and are allowing just 11.3 points per game.  JHU leads the Centennial and ranks ninth in the nation in scoring defense.
« All 10 Blue Jay opponents to-date have been held under their season scoring average in their game against Johns Hopkins.  Only one - Ithaca - has come within 10 points of its season scoring average against the Blue Jays and six have been held 14 or more points below their average.  McDaniel was held scoreless by the Blue Jays, but entered the game averaging less eight points per game (so technically the Green Terror were also within 10 points of their season scoring average).

Defense Among Centennial, NCAA Best
«  The Johns Hopkins defense ranked among the Centennial Conference's best in virtually every statistical category this season and also ranks among the national leaders in several categories.
« Entering this week's game, Johns Hopkins leads the Centennial in scoring defense (11.3) and pass efficiency defense (95.8), ranks third in total defense (289.5) and rushing defense (103.9) and fourth in pass defense (185.6).
« The Blue Jays also allowed a league-low three touchdown passes and the opposition is completing just 52.8% of its pass attempts. 
« Nationally, Johns Hopkins ranks third in red zone defense (.538), fourth in pass efficiency defense and the three touchdown passes the Blue Jays have allowed are also the fewest in the nation in Division III.

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.
« Entering this week's game against Grove City, Paxton is 23-of-26 on extra points and has hit 11-of-14 field goals on the year.  His 11 field goals are tied for the Centennial Conference lead, are tied for the most by a freshman in Johns Hopkins history (Alex Lachman-11 (2007) and are tied for the eighth-most in a season in JHU history.
« Paxton's 11 field goals are also tied for second in the nation in Division III among freshmen.

At Home at Homewood
«  Including the recent win against Dickinson, the Blue Jays have enjoyed a dominant recent run at Homewood Field.
«  Since the start of the 2014 season, the Blue Jays are 54-6 (.900) at Homewood Field; they are 70-9 (.886) 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.

Looking For Win #10
«  With a 9-1 record on the year, Johns Hopkins enters this week's NCAA Second Round Playoff game needing one win to reach 10 for the year.
« A win would mark the 13th time Johns Hopkins has won 10 or more games in a season with each of the previous 12 instances coming since 2003.
« Prior to 2002 (when JHU went 9-2), Johns Hopkins had never won more than seven games in a season, but the Blue Jays have averaged 9.3 wins per season since then.

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