The Game
«  Johns Hopkins (10-1) hits the road for a third-round game in the 2024 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs as the Blue Jays head to DePauw (11-0) for a game in the round of 16.

A Look Back
«  Johns Hopkins pushed its winning streak to eight with a 17-14 win over Grove City at Homewood Field in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs last Saturday (November 30).
« DePauw eased into the third round with a decisive 45-20 victory over Maryville in the second round of the playoffs.

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.
« DePauw also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs as the Tigers rolled to the North Coast Athletic Conference title.

What's Next
«  The winner of the Johns Hopkins-DePauw game will play the winner of the Linfield-Mary Hardin-Baylor game in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday, December 14.  The location of that game will be announced on Sunday, December 8.  Kickoff for the game will be noon local time.

Victory Number 600
«  Johns Hopkins grabbed the 600th victory in program history with a 51-7 win at Gettysburg on October 11.
« Including the win against Grove City, Johns Hopkins improved its all-time record to 606-491-57 (.550).

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 606-491-57 (.550).
«  Overall, JHU owns 17 Centennial Conference titles (all 17 won since 2002) and has qualified for the NCAA Playoffs 13 times (all 13 since 2005).

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, the #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.
« Including last week's win against Grove City, the Blue Jays are 13-12 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 and began this year's run in the second round after earning a first-round bye.
« Johns Hopkins is 9-5 all-time in NCAA Playoff games at Homewood Field and 4-7 in NCAA Playoff road games.

Series History
« This week's game between Johns Hopkins and DePauw will be the first between the two teams in football.
« Johns Hopkins and DePauw have met just six times in head-to-head athletic events in all sports.  The two schools have met three times in women's tennis, twice in men's tennis and once in men's basketball.
« JHU is 4-2 all-time in head-to-head games against teams from DePauw as women's tennis is 2-1, men's tennis is 1-1 and men's basketball is 1-0.
« In the only other NCAA Tournament event between the two schools, the Blue Jay women's tennis team topped DePauw, 5-3, in the second round of the 2010 tournament.

Against the NCAC
« This week's game will be just the third all-time for Johns Hopkins  - and first in 60 years - against a team that currently competes in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
« The Blue Jays had a two-game series with Oberlin in 1963 and 1964 with Oberlin winning both of those games.

December Football
«  Dating back to 1900, Johns Hopkins will play its fifth game in the month of December this week at DePauw.  Dates for games played before 1900 are not all available.
« JHU fell at Wesley in the 2009 NCAA Quarterfinals (12-0) on December 5, topped RPI in the 2018 NCAA Quarterfinals (37-14) on December 1 before falling at Mount Union (28-20) a week later (Dec. 8) in the NCAA Semifinals.  Last season, JHU fell to Randolph-Macon (39-36) in the NCAA Quarterfinals on December 2.
« This week's game will be the second-latest game, by date, on record in Johns Hopkins' football history.

Defense Leading the Way
« The Blue Jays have held eight of 11 opponents to 13 points or less and nine of 11 to 14 or less and are allowing just 11.5 points per game.  JHU leads the Centennial and ranks eighth in the nation in scoring defense.
« All 11 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 (11.5) and pass efficiency defense (96.6), ranks third in total defense (286.8) and rushing defense (93.3) and fourth in pass defense (193.5).
« The Blue Jays have also allowed a league and national-low four touchdown passes and the opposition is completing just 52.3% of its pass attempts.
« Nationally, Johns Hopkins leads the nation in red zone defense (.517), is fourth in pass efficiency defense and eighth in scoring defense.

A Historical Performance
«  Johns Hopkins held Grove City, which entered last week's game averaging 201 yards per game rushing, to -13 yards rushing in a 17-14 victory.
« The -13 rushing yards allowed are the fewest JHU has ever allowed in a post-season game and the fifth-fewest allowed in any game in program history.

Don't Leave Early
«  Unlike some recent years, a number of Johns Hopkins games have been decided in the two minutes this season. Below is quick look at Hopkins' last-minute finishes of note:

• Carson Bourdo intercepts a pass near midfield with 1:14 remaining to seal a 27-23 season-opening win at Ithaca.
• Carter Hogg intercepts a Rowan pass in the end zone with 18 seconds on the clock to preserve a 20-13 victory.
• A Jake Spivak interception at the Blue Jay 25-yard line with 1:40 remaining locks up a 13-6 win over Franklin & Marshall.
• PJ Penders intercepts an Ursinus pass a the goal line with 1:52 on the fourth-quarter clock to polish off a 16-7 win at then unbeaten Ursinus.
• Carson Bourdo intercepts a pass at the Blue Jay 30-yard line on the final play of the game and returns it for a touchdown to finish off a 26-13 victory over Muhlenberg.
• The Blue Jay defense forces three straight Grove City incompletions from first-and-goal at the 10 in the final minute and the Wolverines then hit the upright on a potential game-tying field goal attempt with nine seconds remaining in a 17-14 Johns Hopkins victory in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs.

Road Warriors
«  Johns Hopkins went a perfect 5-0 on the road in 2023 and won its 11th consecutive road game with the win at McDaniel on November 16.
« The current 11-game road winning streak is tied for the second-longest road winning streak in program history and tied for the sixth-longest active road winning streak in the nation.
« In their last 25 road games dating back to 2019, the Blue Jays are 22-3.  All three losses came against teams ranked in the top 20 at the time of the game (#6 Muhlenberg-2019 | #4 Mount Union-2021 | #18 Susquehanna-2022).
« Dating back to 2013, JHU is 54-9 overall on the road (51-5 in the regular season).

Win #10 ... Looking for 11
«  With a 10-1 record on the year, Johns Hopkins enters this week's NCAA Third Round Playoff game having secured another 10-win season.
« Last week's win over Grove City pushed JHU's record to 10-1 and this marks 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.
« Johns Hopkins won a school-record 12 games in 2018 (12-2) and matched that in 2023 (12-1).  The Blue Jays also count three, 11-win seasons in program history as Hopkins turned in three consecutive 11-1 campaigns in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

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