Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics/hopkinssports.com
BELTON — UMHB was the second-to-last team to receive an at-large bid to the 2024 Division III playoffs. Now, The Cru stands as one of just eight teams left on the road to Houston, the site of this year’s Stagg Bowl.
Saturday’s monumental 28-18 win over Linfield under the cloudy skies of the Pacific Northwest punched UMHB’s ticket to the national quarterfinals for the 16th time in program history. They went to the West Coast for their third game of the playoffs. Now, this coming Saturday, the Crusaders will make their way to the East Coast, flying to Baltimore, Maryland, for a duel against Johns Hopkins University.
With a win, UMHB would face the winner of Mount Union and Salisbury in the national semifinals on Dec. 21.
So with next Saturday’s national quarterfinal set, here’s a look at The Cru’s opponent, an 11-1 Johns Hopkins team that entered the postseason ranked No. 19 in the nation in D3football.com’s Top 25.
Note: Thank you to the Johns Hopkins Sports Information staff for the notes, historical data, and statistics, which were useful in compiling this opponent preview
Looking back on the regular season
The Dan Wodicka era at JHU began with a massive 27-23 win at Ithaca in Week 1, as the Blue Jays avenged an early 14-0 deficit on the road. They carried that into a second-straight road win in Week 2, taking down Christopher Newport, who finished second to Salisbury in the NJAC, 14-3.
JHU’s lone loss this season came to a fellow national quarterfinal program: Salisbury. The 41-13 defeat in Week 3 saw the Blue Jays take a 13-10 lead into the half, only to have Salisbury’s triple-option offense take center stage in the final two quarters. A 21-point fourth quarter from the Sea Gulls put the game out of reach.
But after the loss and an ensuing bye week, JHU’s nine-game win streak began. It started with a 20-13 win over Rowan—giving JHU a 2-1 record vs the NJAC this season—before Centennial Conference play kicked off in a 51-7 rout of Gettysburg.
Low-scoring victories over Franklin & Marshall (13-6) and Ursinus (16-7) showcased JHU’s top-notch defense, who played a major role in their 6-0 conference mark. After holding Muhlenberg, who averaged 37.2 points per game this season, to just 13 in a 26-13 victory, JHU closed its regular season slate with back-to-back shutouts of Dickinson and McDaniel. The Blue Jays’ win at McDaniel marked their 11th consecutive road victory, which at the time was tied for the second-longest road win streak in JHU history.
Playoffs so far
That road streak was extended by one more game on Saturday, now tying the program record. In a third-round duel at DePauw, JHU found itself in yet another contest in which the defense headlined the day. And the Blue Jays responded exceptionally well, holding a Tiger offense averaging 52 points per game to just nine. The day’s most pivotal play came at the one-yard line with the clocking ticking below 20 seconds. DePauw had driven within a yard of the end zone, trailing 14-9. A touchdown would surely win the game. But after DePauw spiked the ball on first down to stop the clock, JHU forced an incompletion, then DePauw QB Nathan McCahill slipped on third down, short of the goal line. The fourth-down play was never run, as a false start—and ensuing 10-second run-off—ended the game and sealed JHU’s third-round victory.
JHU did it by scoring in just one of the game’s four quarters, with a 14-point second quarter giving the Blue Jays a lead they held for the entirety of the second half. DePauw was held without a rushing TD for the first time since Oct. 22, 2022, and recorded just one passing touchdown in the contest.
The third-round win followed JHU’s second-round victory over Grove City College, an even tighter game that saw the Blue Jays hold off GCC’s fourth-quarter comeback. The 17-14 victory culminated with GCC missing a 27-yard field goal off the left upright with just nine seconds to play.
JHU’s defensive front was stellar all afternoon in that second-round matchup, holding GCC to -13 rushing yards, the fewest the Blue Jays had ever allowed in a postseason game. Offensively, QB James Rinello threw for 264 yards, and accounted for two of JHU’s TDs (1 passing, 1 rushing).
Defense putting up numbers worthy of national recognition
Few defenses have been as consistent, especially against quality competition, as JHU’s this season. The playoff results are indicative of that, as are the more specific stats within those results. Not to mention the body of work from the Blue Jays during a regular season in which they set a Centennial Conference record for fewest points allowed in league games (33 points in 6 contests).
In their two playoff wins thus far, the Blue Jays are allowing 29.0 rushing yards per game, have surrendered just two touchdowns, and opponents are just 2-of-6 on scoring opportunities in the red zone. JHU has also tallied 7.0 total sacks in the postseason so far.
Over the season as a whole, JHU’s defense has held 11 of its 12 opponents at least 10 points below their scoring average. The Blue Jays rank third in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 11.33 points per game. Even more impressive, JHU leads Division III in red zone defense, with a scoring percentage of .500. Opposing offenses have come away with points on just 16 of their 32 trips inside the JHU 20-yard line, with only 10 of those 16 scores being touchdowns.
Rinello’s progress as a signal-caller
Entering his senior season, James Rinello had played in 11 career games for JHU, attempting 25 total passes. He didn’t see the field in the season’s first three weeks, either, as the backup quarterback to starter Bay Harvey. But when Harvey was injured, Rinello stepped up in JHU’s fourth game, getting the start against Rowan.
He completed 12-of-22 pases for 139 yards and 2 TDs in his season debut, and enters the quarterfinals having thrown for 1,794 yards, 11 TDs, and 3 INTs this season.
Rinello’s passing ability has been showcased in JHU’s postseason run, with consecutive 200+ yard passing performances, including a career-high 296 yards against DePauw. The native of Greenwich, Connecticut has four games of 200 or more yards through the air this season and in seven of the nine games in which he’s played, Rinello has recorded at least one passing TD. His last outing with multiple passing scores came on Nov. 9 against Dickinson, throwing for 2 TDs in a 30-0 shutout.
The kicking unit
Both UMHB and JHU have reliable kickers in their respective arsenals, and special teams could play a factor in what is anticipated to be a low-scoring matchup.
JHU’s Brad Paxton, a true freshman, is one of the names to know on this Blue Jay team, an impactful contributor who is 12-of-15 on FGs this season. He has set a new program record for FGs in a season by a true freshman, and is also tied for No. 1 in the country this year in FGs amongst freshmen. Paxton is also averaging 56.2 yards per kickoff.
Relatively unfamiliar with December
JHU is in its 139th season of football, with the program’s inagural year coming in 1882, 116 yards before UMHB first put a team on the gridiron. However, the Blue Jays have rarely played into the month of December, even with their long-standing success at the Division III level.
Saturday’s contest will be just the sixth game in program history (dating back to 1900) that JHU has played in December, though this season is the second consecutive year in which the Blue Jays have reached the national quarterfinals. Last season, they battled Randolph-Macon in a 39-36 loss on Dec. 2 in the quarterfinals. In 2018, JHU also played in the quarterfinal round, defeating RPI prior to a semifinal loss at Mount Union.
JHU enters the matchup with UMHB aiming at its second national semifinal appearance in program history.
Wodicka’s first season
Like Larry Harmon in 2022, Dan Wodicka was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach prior to this season, upon head coach Greg Chimera’s decision to take the head coaching position at Penn. This season marks the 45th consective year in which a JHU alum is at the helm of the football programs.
He is extremely familiar with this JHU program, having starred at wide receiver for the Blue Jays from 2010-13, graduating as JHU’s all-time leader in catches (260) in addition to 3,148 career receiving yards. He served as JHU’s WRs coach for two seasons from 2014-15, moved to the Division II level at Northern Michigan in 2016, then returned to Division III at Williams in 2017-18. His first opportunity as a coordinator came in 2019, leading JHU’s special teams’ unit in Chimera’s first season at the helm.
He moved up to defensive coordinator in 2022, leading JHU’s defense into the Top 25 nationally in scoring defense (14.2 PPG) that season. 2023 was a banner year for Wodicka’s defense as well, with Luke Schuermann (who played this past season at UCLA) headlining the defensive front with 15.5 tackles for loss. As a defensive unit, opponents averaged just 3.9 yards/carry and 6.5 yards/passing attempt.
It’s also worth noting that with JHU’s win over Ithaca in Week 1, Wodicka became just the second head coach in program history in the last 104 years to earn a victory in his debut.
At home at Homewood
UMHB walks into an environment that has been extremely difficult for road teams to win in over the last decade. In games at Homewood Field since 2014, JHU is 55-6, including a 19-game win streak between 2019-2023. This season, JHU is 5-1, with the lone loss to Salisbury coming in the home opener. The Blue Jays are 8-5 all-time at home in NCAA playoff games, but 4-1 since 2018.
Saturday’s contest from Homewood Field kicks off at 11:00 a.m. CT (12 p.m. ET). The action will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard on cruathletics.com/listen or KMIL 105.1 FM.
