Johns Hopkins Ranked 16th by AFCA, 24th by d3football.com
BALTIMORE, MD –- The Johns Hopkins football team, winner of 17 straight regular season games dating back to the 2010 season, is ranked 16th in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Poll. This is the first AFCA Poll of the 2012 season and the Blue Jays earned 373 points to grab the #16 spot. Johns Hopkins is also ranked 24th in this week's d3football.com Poll after being among the teams listed as receiving votes in the first three of its polls this season.
The AFCA Poll, which the Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses to reflect JHU's official national ranking, is headed by Mount Union, which grabbed 39 of 42 first-place votes and totaled 1,047 points. Mary Hardin-Baylor grabbed one first-place vote and checks in at number two in the poll with 986 points, while St. Thomas (914 points), Linfield (881) and Wisconsin-Whitewater (801) round out the top five. Wisconsin-Whitewater also grabbed two first-place votes.
Johns Hopkins (3-0, 2-0 Centennial) has now been ranked in the top 25 by the AFCA for 11 consecutive weeks dating back to the start of the 2011 season and this is the 10th straight poll in which the Blue Jays have been ranked in the top 20. The #16 ranking is the highest initial ranking in school history; previously the Blue Jays' highest ranking in the first AFCA Poll of a season was #22 in 2004. This is also the 29th time Johns Hopkins has been ranked in the top 25 by the AFCA since 1999, when it first released its rankings.
Mount Union also tops the d3football.com Poll as the Purple Raiders grabbed 23 of 25 first-place votes and 623 points. Mary Hardin-Baylor grabbed the other two first-place votes and 598 points to check in at number two, while Linfield (557), Wisconsin-Whitewater (530) and St. Thomas (527) are also in the top five. This week's #24 ranking marks the 22nd time Johns Hopkins has been ranked in the top 25 by d3football.com since its poll debuted in 2003.
The Blue Jays will put their 17-game regular season winning streak and 15-game Centennial Conference winning streak on the line this Saturday (Sept. 22) when they travel to Muhlenberg for a key Centennial Conference game. The Mules, who are receiving votes in the AFCA Poll this week, are 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Centennial. Either Johns Hopkins or Muhlenberg has earned at least a share of every Centennial Conference title except one (2006) since 2001.
AFCA Division III Coaches Poll (9-17-2012)
1. Mount Union (OH) (39) (2-0 • 1,047 points)
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) (1) (2-0 • 986)
3. St. Thomas (MN) (3-0 • 914)
4. Linfield (OR) (3-0 • 881)
5. Wisconsin-Whitewater (1-1 • 801)
6. Wabash (IN) (2-0 • 735)
7. Wesley (DE) (2-1 • 700)
8. Bethel (MN) (2-0 • 668)
9. St. John Fisher (NY) (3-0 • 634)
10. Baldwin-Wallace (OH) (2-0 • 560)
11. Salisbury (MD) (2-1 • 503)
12. Hobart (NY) (3-0 • 498)
13. Birmingham-Southern (AL) (3-0 • 424)
14. North Central (IL) (2-1 • 410)
15. Illinois Wesleyan (2-0 • 389)
16. Johns Hopkins (3-0 • 373)
17. Wisconsin-Platteville (2-0 • 331)
18. Widener (PA) (3-0 • 322)
19. Cal Lutheran (1-1 • 314)
20. Wisconsin-Oshkosh (2-0 • 293)
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