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Northwestern vs. Ohio State

Northwestern and Ohio State have 81 meetings on file, the first in 1913; Ohio State leads the series 66–⁠14–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Ohio State 10–⁠0, and Ohio State has won the last 11.

Scheduled 2027 at Northwestern. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).

Northwestern wins
14
Ohio State wins
66
Ties
1
Earliest on file
1913
Longest streak
24 Ohio State
Current streak
11 Ohio State
Last 10 meetings
Ohio State 10–⁠0
Most recent
2024

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1910s0–⁠5
1920s2–⁠1
1930s3–⁠6–⁠1
1940s4–⁠5
1950s1–⁠8
1960s2–⁠5
1970s1–⁠7
1980s0–⁠8
1990s0–⁠7
2000s1–⁠7
2010s0–⁠4
2020s0–⁠3
Both ranked
10 meetings: Northwestern 3, Ohio State 7; 1 both in the top 10
Average margin
21.7 points; 17 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Northwestern
6–⁠29–⁠1 Northwestern’s record at home
At Ohio State
33–⁠8 Ohio State’s record at home
Neutral sites
0–⁠4 Northwestern first
Shutouts
19

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Northwestern’s biggest win1958: Northwestern 21, Ohio State 0by 21 points
  2. Ohio State’s biggest win1981: Ohio State 70, Northwestern 6by 64 points
  3. Upset2004: Northwestern 33, Ohio State 27Northwestern had a 23% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1971: Northwestern 14, Ohio State 10Northwestern had a 26% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset1913: Ohio State 58, Northwestern 0Ohio State had a 27% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1962: Northwestern 18, Ohio State 14No. 8 Northwestern at No. 6 Ohio State
  7. Ranked showdown1958: Northwestern 21, Ohio State 0No. 5 Ohio State at No. 11 Northwestern
  8. Ranked showdown2020: Ohio State 22, Northwestern 10No. 15 Northwestern at No. 3 Ohio State

Coach against coach

YearsNorthwesternSeriesOhio State
1914–⁠1917Fred Murphy0–⁠4John Wilce
1929–⁠1933Dick Hanley3–⁠2Sam Willaman
1935–⁠1940Pappy Waldorf2–⁠3–⁠1Francis Schmidt
1941–⁠1943Pappy Waldorf2–⁠1Paul Brown
1947–⁠1950Robert Voigts1–⁠3Wesley Fesler
1951–⁠1954Robert Voigts0–⁠4Woody Hayes
1956–⁠1963Ara Parseghian3–⁠3Woody Hayes
1964–⁠1972Alex Agase1–⁠6Woody Hayes
1973–⁠1977John Pont0–⁠3Woody Hayes
1981–⁠1985Dennis Green0–⁠5Earle Bruce
1989–⁠1991Francis Peay0–⁠3John Cooper
1992–⁠1998Gary Barnett0–⁠5John Cooper
2001–⁠2005Randy Walker1–⁠4Jim Tressel
2006–⁠2008Pat Fitzgerald0–⁠3Jim Tressel
2013–⁠2018Pat Fitzgerald0–⁠3Urban Meyer
2019–⁠2022Pat Fitzgerald0–⁠3Ryan Day

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Northwestern’s side (Murphy 0–⁠4 against Wilce). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Northwestern and Ohio State, 1913 on1300150017001900192019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

Stars of the series

Biggest days

Dwayne Haskins Ohio State34 of 41, 499 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT2018 Passing
Trey Sermon Ohio State29 carries, 331 yards, 2 TD2020 Rushing
Chase Young Ohio State3 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 for loss2018 Defense

Named most valuable

Trey Sermon Ohio State2020
Dwayne Haskins2018

Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on). Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1913 game: EASY FOR OHIO STATE. Northwestern Overwhelmingly De. feated by Score of So to o.

    1913 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 23, 1913

  • The Evening star's story of the 1914 game: EASY FOR OHIO STATE. 0verwhelms Northwestern BY Score of 27 to 0,

    1914 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 22, 1914

  • The Evening star's story of the 1915 game: OHIO STATE DEFEATS NORTHWESTERN ELEVEN Piles Up Score Of "a to 0 on For ward Passes and End Runs.

    1915 · Evening star, Nov 21, 1915

  • The Ottumwa semi-weekly courier's story of the 1916 game: OHIO STATE HOLDS TITLE NORTHWESTERN LOSES CONFER ENcE TITLE WHEN BUCK EYES RALLY STRONGLY.

    1916 · Ottumwa semi-weekly courier, Ottumwa, Iowa, Nov 28, 1916

  • The Grand Forks herald's story of the 1917 game: OHIO HAS new STAR EQUALTO CHICK HARLEY Chances for Repetition OF Last Year Seen by Foot ball Critics.

    1917 · Grand Forks herald, Grand Forks, N.D., Oct 15, 1917

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

On television

ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game once: 2013.

College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA).

Photos

From the rivalry’s and its games’ categories on Wikimedia Commons (free licenses only, each credited).

Every game

Nov 14, 2026Northwestern at Ohio State upcomingat Ohio State
Nov 16, 20242Ohio State 31, Northwestern 7Wrigley Field
Nov 5, 20222Ohio State 21, Northwestern 7at Northwestern
Dec 19, 20203Ohio State 22, 15Northwestern 10Lucas Oil StadiumBig Ten Championship Game
Oct 18, 20194Ohio State 52, Northwestern 3at Northwestern
Dec 1, 20186Ohio State 45, 21Northwestern 24Lucas Oil StadiumBig Ten Championship Game
Oct 29, 20166Ohio State 24, Northwestern 20at Ohio State
Oct 5, 20134Ohio State 40, 16Northwestern 30at Northwestern
Nov 8, 200812Ohio State 45, Northwestern 10at Northwestern
Sep 22, 20078Ohio State 58, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Nov 11, 20061Ohio State 54, Northwestern 10at Northwestern
Nov 12, 200510Ohio State 48, 25Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Oct 2, 2004Northwestern 33, 7Ohio State 27at Northwestern
Sep 27, 20034Ohio State 20, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Oct 5, 20025Ohio State 27, Northwestern 16at Northwestern
Oct 6, 2001Ohio State 38, 14Northwestern 20at Ohio State
Oct 24, 19981Ohio State 36, Northwestern 10at Northwestern
Oct 25, 19979Ohio State 49, Northwestern 6at Ohio State
Oct 1, 199420Ohio State 17, Northwestern 15at Northwestern
Oct 2, 19937Ohio State 51, Northwestern 3at Ohio State
Oct 17, 1992Ohio State 31, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Oct 19, 199118Ohio State 34, Northwestern 3Neutral site
Nov 3, 1990Ohio State 48, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Nov 4, 1989Ohio State 52, Northwestern 27at Northwestern
Nov 8, 198611Ohio State 30, Northwestern 9at Ohio State
Nov 9, 19854Ohio State 35, Northwestern 17at Northwestern
Nov 10, 198413Ohio State 52, Northwestern 3at Northwestern
Nov 12, 198310Ohio State 55, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Nov 13, 1982Ohio State 40, Northwestern 28at Northwestern
Nov 14, 1981Ohio State 70, Northwestern 6at Ohio State
Oct 11, 19809Ohio State 63, Northwestern 0at Northwestern
Oct 6, 19798Ohio State 16, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Oct 28, 1978Ohio State 63, Northwestern 20at Ohio State
Oct 22, 19774Ohio State 35, Northwestern 15at Northwestern
Oct 26, 19741Ohio State 55, Northwestern 7at Northwestern
Oct 27, 19731Ohio State 60, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Nov 18, 19729Ohio State 27, Northwestern 14at Northwestern
Nov 13, 1971Northwestern 14, 16Ohio State 10at Ohio State
Oct 31, 19702Ohio State 24, 20Northwestern 10at Ohio State
Nov 1, 19691Ohio State 35, Northwestern 6at Northwestern
Oct 19, 19682Ohio State 45, Northwestern 21at Ohio State
Oct 21, 1967Ohio State 6, Northwestern 2at Northwestern
Nov 14, 19647Ohio State 10, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Nov 16, 1963Northwestern 17, Ohio State 8at Ohio State
Oct 20, 19628Northwestern 18, 6Ohio State 14at Ohio State
Oct 21, 1961Ohio State 10, Northwestern 0at Northwestern
Nov 1, 195811Northwestern 21, 5Ohio State 0at Northwestern
Nov 2, 19578Ohio State 47, Northwestern 6at Ohio State
Nov 3, 19566Ohio State 6, Northwestern 2at Northwestern
Oct 29, 1955Ohio State 49, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Oct 30, 19541Ohio State 14, Northwestern 7at Northwestern
Oct 31, 1953Ohio State 27, Northwestern 13at Ohio State
Nov 1, 1952Ohio State 24, Northwestern 21at Northwestern
Nov 3, 1951Ohio State 3, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Nov 4, 19504Ohio State 32, Northwestern 0at Northwestern
Oct 29, 194918Ohio State 24, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Oct 30, 19489Northwestern 21, Ohio State 7at Northwestern
Nov 8, 1947Ohio State 7, Northwestern 6at Ohio State
Nov 2, 1946Ohio State 39, 6Northwestern 27at Northwestern
Nov 3, 19456Ohio State 16, 20Northwestern 14at Ohio State
Oct 23, 194317Northwestern 13, Ohio State 0at Ohio State
Oct 24, 19421Ohio State 20, Northwestern 6at Northwestern
Oct 25, 194113Northwestern 14, 11Ohio State 7at Ohio State
Oct 12, 1940Northwestern 6, Ohio State 3at Northwestern
Oct 14, 1939Ohio State 13, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Oct 15, 1938Northwestern 0, Ohio State 0at Northwestern
Oct 23, 193712Ohio State 7, 7Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Oct 17, 1936Northwestern 14, Ohio State 13at Northwestern
Oct 19, 1935Ohio State 28, Northwestern 7at Ohio State
Oct 27, 1934Ohio State 28, Northwestern 6at Northwestern
Oct 28, 1933Ohio State 12, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Nov 5, 1932Ohio State 20, Northwestern 6at Northwestern
Oct 24, 1931Northwestern 10, Ohio State 0at Ohio State
Oct 11, 1930Northwestern 19, Ohio State 2at Northwestern
Nov 9, 1929Northwestern 18, Ohio State 6at Ohio State
Oct 13, 1928Ohio State 10, Northwestern 0at Northwestern
Oct 15, 1927Northwestern 19, Ohio State 13at Ohio State
Oct 13, 1917Ohio State 40, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Nov 25, 1916Ohio State 23, Northwestern 3at Ohio State
Nov 20, 1915Ohio State 34, Northwestern 0at Northwestern
Nov 21, 1914Ohio State 27, Northwestern 0at Ohio State
Nov 22, 1913Ohio State 58, Northwestern 0at Ohio State

Every game is listed as played on the field.