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It's too early to say The Silver Bullets are back, but 2 shut-outs in the last 5 games calls for resurrecting this old thread.

While the Ohio State defense has surrendered more total points than the year before in every year since 2009, the two most recent years (2013 and 2014) are the first consecutive years with multiple shutouts (2) since Earle Bruce's first two years on the job (1979 and 1980).

Edit: Woody had consecutive years with multiple shutouts in 54/55, 59/60, and 63/64. If there is another shutout this year, it will be the first stretch of three consecutive seasons with multiple shutouts in each season since Woody took over in 1951. (Edit 2: since 1939!)

The three non-shutouts between the Wiscy and Hawaii games marks the shortest wait for a shutout since 2009.

Speaking of 2009, that year we had 3 shutouts for the first time since 1996.

It was also the last time we beat a team 38-0 (Toledo). That game, like this year's blanking of Hawaii by the same score, was followed by a game against a team from the state of Illinois. That was also the last time the Buckeyes posted back-to-back shutouts (30-0 over the Illini).

Just as 1996 and 2009 both had 3 shutouts, both also featured back-to-back shutouts, with the 2nd in the pair being Illinois both times.

The last back-to-back shutouts that didn't include a team from the state of Illinois was a pair of whitewashings back in 1979 over Wiscy (59-0) and MSU (42-0). Yes, the last time we beat the Badgers by that score, our next game over MSU was a huge victory. Yes, that observation has no bearing whatsoever on this November's matchup.

Luke became the first coach since Hayes to notch a shutout in his first game at the helm (Akron 42-0).

There were 27 non-shutouts from Fickell's to Urban's first. In the 27 games since, there have been 4 shutouts.
 
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Expanding on the bolded bit from the previous post:

OSU played 4 games total in its first two seasons 1889-1890. They did not manage to shutout any of those opponents. The next season in which they failed to notch a single shutout was 1940.

From 1898-1939, the Buckeyes failed to get multiple shutouts only twice (1908 and 1927).

Since 1939 however, Ohio State has not had multiple shutouts in each of three consecutive seasons. Not one time. To reiterate: that will change if there is one more shutout this season.

That would be a remarkable stat for a team whose last 4 seasons all reside in its bottom-7 all time scoring defenses.
 
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Apart from being the first-ever shutout in a conference championship game (something everyone here knows), the blanking of the Badgers was the first time the Buckeyes ever shutout a team that averaged > 5 touchdowns against everyone else. They averaged 34.57 ppg including the ccg, 37.23 ppg against everyone but the Buckeyes.

Other offenses that were shutout by the Buckeyes but averaged > 30 ppg against everyone else:

2009 Toledo - 32.36 ppg
1984 Wash St - 31.7 ppg
2006 Minne - 31.33 ppg
 
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@DaddyBigBucks have any idea if any of the other shut outs were the product of being a dog going into the game? Buck were -3.5 or something like that, right?

Great question.

While there are some around here who think my obsession with simple numbers has everything to do with gambling, the truth is I don't gamble and I really don't think that the simple numbers I share are a good place to start if you do want to gamble.

The point is, I don't care about gambling and as a result I don't have any idea where to find historic betting lines or point spreads. If someone posts a link, I'd be happy to use it to look up whether the Buckeyes ever shutout a favorite before Wisconsin.
 
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Great question.

While there are some around here who think my obsession with simple numbers has everything to do with gambling, the truth is I don't gamble and I really don't think that the simple numbers I share are a good place to start if you do want to gamble.

The point is, I don't care about gambling and as a result I don't have any idea where to find historic betting lines or point spreads. If someone posts a link, I'd be happy to use it to look up whether the Buckeyes ever shutout a favorite before Wisconsin.
I'm pretty sure Purdue was favored when we shut them out 13-0 in 1968. They were 8-2, conference co-champs, and had beat the shit out of us 41-6 on our field, the previous year, and were 3-0 going into the game (they may have been #1 at the time), including a 37-22 win over Notre Dame and 44-5 and 43-6 wins.

EDIT: Yep, they were #1 and we were #4 going in to the game.
 
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Today’s 42-0 blanking of River Fredo is the first shutout since 9/30/2017

No shutouts in 2018
Shut out Rutgers in 2016 and 2017
Shut out Hawai’i in 2015

Shutout Kent and Wiscy in 2014, the last year with multiple shutouts


with OG Fredo, MSU, Rutgers and some other less than scary looking offenses left on the schedule.
 
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