Johns Hopkins Game Notes (PDF)
The Game
« Johns Hopkins (12-1) heads west to Ohio for a date with Mount Union (13-0) in the NCAA Semifinals. The game will air live at 12 pm on ESPN+ on Saturday, December 21.
A Look Back
« Johns Hopkins pushed its winning streak to 10 with a 17-10 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor last Saturday (December 14) at Homewood Field.
« Mount Union punched its ticket into this week's NCAA Semifinals as the Purple Raiders went on the road and topped previously unbeaten Salisbury, 38-17, in the quarterfinals last Saturday.
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.
« Mount Union also earned an automatic bid to the playoffs as the Purple Raiders went a perfect 9-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference action to grab the OAC's automatic berth.
What's Next
« The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Mount Union game will play the winner of the North Central-Susquehanna game in the NCAA Championship game on Sunday, January 5. The national championship game will be played at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas (8 pm ET).
Playoff History
« Johns Hopkins is making its 13th trip to the NCAAs, including its 11th since 2011.
« Including last week's win against Mary Hardin-Baylor, the Blue Jays are 15-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with runs to the 2018 and 2024 NCAA Semifinals and two other trips to the NCAA Quarterfinals (2009, 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.
« Johns Hopkins is 10-5 all-time in NCAA Playoff games at Homewood Field and 5-7 in NCAA Playoff road games.
Back in the Semifinals - A Familiar Path
« Johns Hopkins is making its second appearance in the NCAA Semifinals this season. The Blue Jays made their only other trip to the semifinals in 2018 and the path followed was similar to this season.
« In 2018, JHU was the perceived number three seed in the East Region, topped MIT (49-0) at home, went on the road and beat sixth-ranked Frostburg St. (58-27) and returned home to beat RPI (37-14) in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Blue Jays then fell at Mount Union, 28-20, in the NCAA Semifinals.
« This season, as the perceived #3 seed in their region, the Blue Jays opened their playoff run at home against Grove City (W/17-14), went on the road and beat a top-10 team (#8 DePauw, 14-9) and grabbed a win at home in the quarterfinals against Mary Hardin-Baylor (17-10) to advance to the semifinals again, where they will meet ... Mount Union in Alliance.
« The NCAA does not officially list seedings, but by virtue of which teams were selected to receive byes and which teams subsequently hosted, the perceived seeds appear to be obvious.
Never Been Done Before
« With wins over Grove City by a score of 17-14, DePauw by a score of 14-9 and Mary Hardin-Baylor by a score of 17-10 over the last three weeks, Johns Hopkins has done something that had never been done since the NCAA first sponsored the Division III Playoffs in 1973.
« With those three wins, Johns Hopkins is the first team to win three consecutive Division III Football Playoff games with 17 or fewer points scored.
« There have been several instances of teams winning two straight with 17 or fewer points scored (the last before JHU was Bethel in 2010. That year, Bethel topped Wheaton (IL), 15-10, in the second round and St. Thomas (MN), 12-7, in the quarterfinals before falling in the semifinals at Mount Union.
December Football
« Dating back to 1900, Johns Hopkins will play its seventh game in the month of December this week at Mount Union (dates for games played before 1900 are not all available). JHU is 3-3 all-time in games played in December.
« 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 and has added wins this year against DePauw (14-9 on December 7) and Mary Hardin-Baylor (17-10 on December 14) to round out its December resume.
« This week's game will be the latest game, by date, on record in Johns Hopkins' football history.
Strength in Numbers
« The cumulative record of Johns Hopkins' 13 opponents to-date is 90-39 (.698). By opponent winning percentage, this ranks as the third most difficult schedule in the nation.
Defense Leading the Way
« The Blue Jays have held 10 of 13 opponents to 13 points or less and 11 of 13 to 14 or less and are allowing just 11.2 points per game. JHU leads the Centennial Conference and ranks third in the nation in scoring defense.
« All 13 Blue Jay opponents to-date have been held under their season scoring average in their game against Johns Hopkins. Only two - Ithaca and Salisbury - have come within 10 points of their season scoring average against the Blue Jays and eight 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 as well
« Entering this week's game, Johns Hopkins leads the nation in red zone defense (.500), is third nationally in scoring defense (11.2) and 10th in pass efficiency defense (101.23).
« The six touchdown passes the Blue Jays have allowed are also tied for the fewest in the nation and the opposition is completing just 53.6% of its pass attempts. In addition, JHU ranks 28th nationally in rushing defense (85.8).
A Historic Performance
« Johns Hopkins held Grove City, which entered the second round of the NCAA Playoffs against Johns Hopkins 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.
Defensive Playoff Notes
« Johns Hopkins has allowed just 25.7 yards per game on the ground in three NCAA Playoff games, the fewest of any team in the playoffs. In addition, the 11 points per game JHU has allowed in the playoffs rank second among playoff teams that have played two or more games.
Schroeder Continues Climb on Rushing Chart
« Junior running back Geoff Schroeder punched up 77 yards in the third round of the NCAA Playoffs against a DePauw defense that entered the game allowing just 29.3 yards per game.
« With 100 combined yards against DePauw and Mary Hardin-Baylor, Schroeder has bumped his career rushing total to 1,503 yards, which ranks 22nd in school history.
Talarico Breaks Kane's Record
« Senior EJ Talarico returned one kickoff for 29 yards in the 35-0 win at McDaniel and, in the process, became Johns Hopkins' career leader in kickoff return yards.
« In his career, Talarico has returned 62 kickoffs for 1,410 yards and moved past Bruce Kane (1,259 yards / 1977-80) as JHU's career kickoff return yardage leader in the win against the Green Terror.
Don't Leave Early
« Unlike some recent years, a number of Johns Hopkins games have been decided in the last two minutes this season. Below is quick look at Hopkins' eight last-minute finishes of note. Remarkably, it's been the Blue Jay defense on the field at the end of each of the eight games.
• 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.
• Up 14-9 with 1:47 on the clock after misfiring on a field goal attempt, the Blue Jays watch as DePauw moves to a first-and-goal from the one-yard line with just under 30 seconds remaining. There, the Blue Jays hold off the Tigers for a dramatic five-point win in the third round of the NCAA Playoffs.
• Up 17-10 as the clock dripped down against Mary Hardin-Baylor in the NCAA Quarterfinals, the Blue Jays saw the Crusaders drive to a first-and-10 at their 12-yard line. There, the Blue Jays forced a pair of incompletions and got sacks from Isaac Urquidi on third down and Will Seibert on fourth down to force a turnover over downs with 1:57 remaining. One first down later, the Jays had punched their ticket to the semifinals.
Road Warriors
« Johns Hopkins went a perfect 5-0 on the road in 2023 and won its school-record-tying 12th consecutive road game with the win at DePauw on December 7.
« The current 12-game road winning streak matches the record originally set from 2015-17 and is the sixth-longest active road winning streak in the nation.
« In their last 26 road games dating back to 2019, the Blue Jays are 23-3. 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 55-9 overall on the road (51-5 in the regular season).
Streaking
« Johns Hopkins ran its winning streak to 10 games with last week's 17-10 win against Mary Hardin-Baylor in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The streak is tied for the third-longest active winning streak in the nation entering this week's game against Mount Union.
« Mount Union and North Central both have 13-game winning streaks entering the NCAA Semifinals, while Johns Hopkins and Susquehanna will both carry 10-game runs into this week's games.
« The 10-game run is also tied for the ninth-longest winning streak in program history and is one of 10 winning streaks of 10 or more games in program history. Remarkably, all 10 streaks of 10+ wins have occurred since 2002.
Win #12 ... Looking for 13
« With a 12-1 record on the year, Johns Hopkins enters this week's NCAA Semifinal game having secured another 10-win season.
« The win over Grove City in the second round of the playoffs 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 all 13 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 9.4 wins per season since then.
• Now, with a 12-1 mark on the year, the Blue Jays have reached the 12-win mark for just the third time in program history. Johns Hopkins won a school-record 12 games in 2018 (12-2) and matched that in 2023 (12-1).
Quite a Fall
« The Johns Hopkins football team is one of seven Blue Jay teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament/Championships this fall. Below is a look at JHU's super seven:
Team (Record) NCAA Showing
Men's Cross Country
14th Place - NCAA Championships
Women's Cross Country
5th Place - NCAA Championships
Field Hockey (19-4)
NCAA Quarterfinals
Football (12-1)
NCAA Semifinals (still competing)
Men's Soccer (13-3-5)
NCAA Second Round
Women's Soccer (18-3-3)
NCAA Quarterfinals
Volleyball (33-3)
NCAA Semifinals
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