The Game
« Third-ranked Johns Hopkins (2-0) heads north to Pennsylvania as the Blue Jays travel to take on #5/#4 Susquehanna (2-0) in one of the nation's featured Division III games this week.
A Look Back
« Johns Hopkins bumped its record to 2-0 on the young season as the Blue Jays topped then #21/#20 John Carroll, 27-13, at Homewood Field.
« Susquehanna spotted visiting Bridgewater an early 10-point lead, but grabbed the lead by the half and pulled away for a 56-17 victory.
The Facts
« This is the 140th 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 610-492-57 (.551).
« 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 is ranked #3 by the AFCA and D3football.com in his week's national polls. The Blue Jays have held the number three spot in the AFCA and D3football.com rankings in each of the three polls issued thus far in 2025.
« The number three rankings from the AFCA and D3football.com are tied for the highest ever for Johns Hopkins. Dating back to last season's final poll, the Blue Jays have been ranked third by each organization in each of its last four sets of national rankings.
« Susquehanna also brings a pair of top five rankings to Homewood Field as the River Hawks check in at #5 in the AFCA Poll and #4 in the D3football.com Poll.
« Johns Hopkins is appearing in the AFCA Top-25 for the 146th time in 261 polls since the poll debuted in 1999. Additionally, the Blue Jays are in the D3football.com Top-25 for the 165th time in 275 polls since D3football launched its poll in 2003.
A Top-Five First
« This week's game between #3/#3 Johns Hopkins and #5/#4 Susquehanna will be the first-ever Blue Jay football game that features both teams being ranked in the top five in the nation at the time of the game.
A Rare Top-Five Matchup
« In addition to being the first-ever Johns Hopkins game featuring both teams being ranked in the top five in the nation, this week's game is also a rare top-five regular season matchup in Division III.
« Prior to this week's game between #3/#3 Johns Hopkins and #5/#4 Susquehanna, the last regular-season Division III football game featuring two teams ranked in the top five in the nation at the time of the game came nearly four years ago to the day of this week's game.
« On September 3, 2022, it was fifth-ranked St. John's (MN) topping fourth-ranked-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater, 24-10, in the last regular season Division III game featuring top five teams. The rankings that day were from D3football.com as the AFCA didn't release its first poll of the 2022 season until the following week.
« For the record, it will have been 1,113 days between Division III regular season games featuring top five teams when the Blue Jays and River Hawks kickoff on Saturday afternoon.
JHU vs. Ranked Opponents Recently
« This week's game at #5/#4 Susquehanna will be the second straight game against a top-25 opponent for Johns Hopkins. Last week, the Blue Jays topped #21/#20 John Carroll, 27-13.
« Dating back to last season, this will be JHU's fifth game in its last seven against a team ranked in the top 25 as the Blue Jays played #16/#12 Grove City, #8/#9 DePauw and #3/#5 Mount Union in the NCAA Playoffs.
« This week's game will be the seventh straight game JHU plays against a team either ranked in the top 20 or listed as receiving votes in the AFCA and D3football.com Polls. In addition to Grove City, DePauw, Mount Union, John Carroll and Susquehanna, Mary Hardin-Baylor (2024 NCAA QF) and Ithaca (2025 season opener) were both receiving votes in the rankings at the time of the game against Johns Hopkins.
JHU vs. Ranked Opponents All-Time
« This week's game at #5/#4 Susquehanna be the 40th for Johns Hopkins against a team ranked in the top 25 by either the AFCA or D3football.com since 1999 (when the AFCA Poll debuted ... the D3football.com Poll debuted in 2003).
« Johns Hopkins is 19-20 all-time against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game.
« Since COVID canceled the 2020 season, the Blue Jays have played 52 games; 14 of those 52 have come against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game - JHU is 8-6 in those 14 games.Â
Sweet September
« Dating back to 2010, Johns Hopkins is 53-5 in the month of September.
« Also dating back to 2010, the Blue Jays are 24-2 at home and 29-3 on the road in September.
Against the Landmark
« This week's game at Susquehanna will the 71st for Johns Hopkins against a team currently competing in the Landmark Conference, although all 70 previous games were played while each of the current Landmark teams was competing in a different conference.
« Three current members of the Landmark - Juniata, Moravian and Susquehanna - competed as associate members of the Centennial Conference in football for a period of time recently. Juniata and Moravian were CC members from 2007-2022, while Susquehanna was a member from 2010-2022.
« In all, JHU played 42 games against Juniata (15), Moravian (15) and Susquehanna (12) while those teams were members of the CC; JHU was 37-5 in those 42 games, including 9-3 vs. the River Hawks.
« Below is a look at JHU's record against each of the current members of the Landmark.
| Catholic |
3-4-1 |
| Juniata |
15-1 |
| Lycoming |
0-0 |
| Moravian |
16-7 |
| Susquehanna |
13-6-1 |
| Western Connecticut St. |
1-0 |
| Wilkes |
2-0 |
Tough Non-Conference Slate
« Johns Hopkins' game this week at Susquehanna is the third of three games that comprise one of the strongest non-conference schedules in the nation.
« In addition to the season-opener at Ithaca, which posted a deceiving 6-4 record last season, Johns Hopkins hosted John Carroll last week and travels to Susquehanna this week. Â
]« The Blue Streaks went 9-3 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Playoffs last season, while Susquehanna rang up a 12-2 record and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals in 2024.
« Combined, JHU's three non-conference opponents posted a 27-9 record (.750) a year ago.Â
Defense Shining Through Two
« The Blue Jays made their run to the NCAA Semifinals last season in large part due to the play of their defense. Fast forward to 2025 and the unit has picked up where it left off in 2024.
« In the season opener, the Blue Jays held Ithaca to just 282 yards of total offense, including just 88 on the ground, and the Bombers didn't score until just 2:13 remained in the third quarter.
« Johns Hopkins generated five sacks and forced three Ithaca turnovers (2 interceptions, one fumble) that the Blue Jay offense turned into 14 points.Â
« In last week's win against John Carroll, the Blue Jays held the Blue Streaks to 13 points and -8 yards rushing while generating four sacks and causing one turnover.
More Defense
« Through two games, Johns Hopkins has collected nine sacks and is allowing just 40.0 yards per game on the ground.
It's Been a Minute
« The Blue Jay defense notched five sacks and came up with three turnovers in the win at Ithaca (2 INTs, 1 FR).
« This marked the first time since November 19, 2022 that JHU has registered 5+ sacks while also causing three or more turnovers in a game. On that day, in a 27-7 win over Stevenson in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series, JHU posted six sacks and forced three turnovers (2 INTs, 1 FR).
Smith Honored by Centennial, Again
« Senior Jack Smith has made the first two starts of his career in the wins against Ithaca and John Carroll to open the season. After each victory, he was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
« In the 42-14 win against Ithaca, Smith led the Blue Jays with a career-high 14 tackles, including half a sack, and added a pass breakup in the victory.
« Smith followed that with 11 tackles, including 2.5 for losses and half a sack, in the 27-13 win against John Carroll.
« Through two games, Smith leads the team with 25 tackles, including 3.0 for losses and one sack, and has one pass breakup to his credit. He currently ranks second in the Centennial Conference with his 25 tackles in two games.
Crotty Nabs Centennial Offensive Player of the Week
« Junior Cole Crotty was named the Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week after posting eight receptions for 118 yards and one touchdown in last week's 27-13 win against John Carroll.
« With his effort against the Blue Streaks, Crotty pushed his career receiving totals to 154 receptions for 2,004 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is the 12th player in program history to reach 150 career receptions and the 15th to amass 2,000 or more receiving yards.
Paxton Gives JHU a Sweep of Centennial Awards
« Sophomore Brad Paxton hit all three of his extra points and drilled fourth-quarter field goals from 34 and 39 yards to help the Blue Jays to the 27-13 win against John Carroll last week. For his efforts, he was named the Centennial Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
Road Warriors
« In their last 28 road games dating back to 2019, the Blue Jays are 24-4. All four losses have come against teams ranked in the top 20 at the time of the game (#6 Muhlenberg-2019 | #4 Mount Union-2021 | #18 Susquehanna-2022 | #3 Mount Union-2024).
« Dating back to 2013, JHU is 56-10 overall on the road (52-5 in the regular season).
It's All Academic
« Since 2011, the Johns Hopkins football team has produced 44 CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-Americans. Only one other Division III program has produced even 30 during that time (Carnegie Mellon (31)) and only two others - MIT (23) and Rose-Hulman (23) - have even produced 20 during that time.
« Among all football-playing schools in the NCAA and NAIA, Johns Hopkins' 44 CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-Americans is also the most since 2011. Only four other programs have produced even 25 in that time.
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