Buffalo’s 52-0 loss to Douglas in Week 4 was the Bison’s first loss by shutout in 117 games.
Prior to the Bearcats’ blowout victory, the last time Buffalo lost with a goose egg on the scoreboard was in 2001.
Buffalo’s scoring streak ended as the second-longest in state history, a record I track on the streaks page. The Bison’s streak is second only to Cokeville’s ongoing streak that dates back to 1998.
However, one of the records I don’t keep track of is the opposite streak: the time in between shutout victories. So I did some checking, and I found that 10 schools haven’t won by shutout in the past four-plus years.
One program — Cheyenne South — has yet to win a game by shutout.
Meanwhile, two six-man programs with big gaps in their history — St. Stephens, which moved to the varsity level this fall, and Farson, which came back at six-man in 2009 — have big gaps since their last shutout, as well. St. Stephens hasn’t won by shutout since 1965 (oddly enough, in their final game in the first go-round as a varsity program, the Eagles won by shutout, defeating Jackson 24-0). Farson hasn’t won by shutout since 1989. Granted, it’s a lot harder to win by shutout in six-man.
Of active programs that have been around without big gaps in their history, the school that has gone the longest without a shutout is Rawlins. The Outlaws won by shutout in the first game of the new millennium, beating Mountain View 14-0 to start an undefeated championship season in 2000. Since then, though, Rawlins has not notched a shutout.
Laramie has a streak nearly as long; the Plainsmen haven’t won by shutout since the first game of the 2001 season, when they beat Cheyenne Central 34-0.
Other schools with long shutout-less streaks include Riverton (2004), Normative Services, Jackson, Torrington and Wyoming Indian (2007), and Green River (2008).
Two programs, Kaycee and Upton-Sundance, notched their first shutout victories in 2013. Kaycee beat NSI 62-0 in Week 3 for its first shutout W, while the Upton-Sundance co-op beat Burlington 31-0 in Week 4 for its first shutout as the Patriots.
Glenrock, a program with a ton of success, broke a fairly long shutout-less streak this year when it beat Moorcroft 40-0 in Week 2 for the Herders’ first shutout since 2008.
The team that’s gone the longest without being involved in a shutout — neither winning by one nor losing by one — is Torrington. The Trailblazers haven’t been involved in a shutout since losing 49-0 to Powell on Sept. 16, 2011.
The active programs who have currently gone the longest without a shutout victory (with programs that have gaps in their existence noted by an asterisk) include:
*St. Stephens (O29/1965)
*Farson (S8/1989)
Rawlins (S1/2000)
Laramie (A24/2001)
Riverton (O15/2004)
NSI (S21/2007)
Jackson (S28/2007)
Torrington (O5/2007)
Wyoming Indian (O20/2007)
Green River (010/2008)
By year
For comparison, here are the number of shutouts per season back to 1993:
2012: 57
2011: 55
2010: 51
2009: 63
2008: 87
2007: 69
2006: 83
2005: 55
2004: 68
2003: 89
2002: 72
2001: 71
2000: 79
1999: 56
1998: 41
1997: 54
1996: 49
1995: 75
1994: 76
1993: 57
I’m not sure what the takeaway is here, other than we’re seeing fewer shutouts now than we have in a while. Through Week 4 this year, we’ve had 33 shutouts… on pace to be the most since 2008.
–patrick