[NU Sports] Shutouts

[CHerron604 at aol.com]

The Texas streak without a shutout (282 games from 1980 to 2004) got me wondering how NU had done in this area.

Longest Streak - 1993-1999 (Barnett/Walker) 72 games
(Indiana shut them out in 93, Michigan State in 99)
This streak was better than I thought we might have. 

2nd Place - 1987-1990 (Fran Peay)  30 games
(MSU shut them out in 87, and IU shut them out in 90)

3rd Place - 1961-1964 (Ara/Agase)  29 games
(Bookended by OSU and Michigan)

4th Place - 1969-1972  (Agase)     28 games
(Bookended by UCLA and Michigan)

5th Place - 1939-1942   (Pappy Waldorf)  26 games
(Notre Dame (and 3 others) shut them out in 39, and the Great Lakes Naval Training Station shut them out in 1942)

Current - 2003-    (Randy Walker)   20 games

RW has been shut out 3 times in 5 years (MSU, PSU and OSU).  GB was shutout twice in 7 years (Boston College in 92 and Indiana in 93), and not shut out in his last 63 games.

Surprisingly, Francis Peay was only shut out twice in 6 years, MSU in 87 and Indiana (Again !) in 1990.

The legendary coaches of the 20's and 30's were suffering quite a few shutouts (to be fair, they were not giving up many points either).  The offensive nadir was probably 1933, when Dick Hanley was shut out 7 times in 8 games, en route to a 1-5-2 record.  Two games were scoreless ties, however.  The 1933 team scored 25 points (all against Indiana), and gave up only 42.

The 1933 team was the end of a string of 6 years in which NU outscored their opponents 698-332 en route to a 29-17-4 record.  For comparison, this year's team scored 295 points and gave up 342 en route to 6-6.

Chuck Herron   Tech '85