Celebrating Zero

Saturday is the official kick off of the 2019 college football season with week zero! To celebrate week zero, I take a look at the meaning of the #0 around sports. 

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Week Zero College Football Preview 

Florida vs Miami 

Miami leads all-time series 29-26. This will be their first meeting since 2013, a game Miami won. Florida won the previous matchup in 2009. Miami is 2-0 vs Florida in bowl games (2004 Peach, 2001 Sugar).

Entering this game, Miami’s starting QB Jarren Williams has zero career starts.

Florida coach Dan Mullen and Miami coach Manny Diaz worked together at Mississippi State, twice, in 2010 and 2015. Both times, the Bulldogs went 9-4.

Arizona at Hawaii

Hawaii has won ZERO games all-time vs Arizona (0-5). 

Last meeting between schools was in 2016 and they haven’t played each other in Hawaii since 1998. Arizona has dominated the series, outscoring Hawaii 36-14 in each of the 5 meetings. 

Wildcats are 1-1 in two appearances in the Aloha Bowl (now called the Hawaii Bowl), held at the same stadium in Honolulu. In 1986, they beat UNC and lost to Syracuse in 1990.

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#0 Jersey Numbers

#0 in NBA

• Andre Drummond (2014-2019 with Pistons)
• Russell Westbrook (2009-2019 with Thunder)
• Kevin Love (2015-2019 with Cavs)
• Damian Lillard (2013-2019 with Blazers)
• Jayson Tatum (2018-2019 with Celtics)
• Gilbert Arenas aka Agent Zero (2004-2010 with Wizards)
• Gary Payton (2017-2018 with Bucks)
• Kyle Kuzma (2018-2019) with Lakers)
• Jeff Teague (2010-2019 with Hawks and Wolves)
• Josh Richardson (2016-2019 with Heat)

#0 in MLB

14 players have worn #0 in MLB history and only one active player – current Yankees relief pitcher Adam Ottavino. 

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ZERO STATS

NFL

Between 10/18/2009 and 11/25/2012, Drew Brees had ZERO games in which he threw ZERO touchdown passes. During that span, he set an NFL record with a TD pass thrown in 54 consecutive games. 

Bengals have ZERO playoff wins since 1990.

Since 1993, Giants have won ZERO playoff games in years where they do not make the Super Bowl. 

QB DeShone Kizer, now a backup for the Packers has a career record of ZERO wins and 15 losses. thanks mostly to his time with the 2017 Browns who won ZERO games. 

Carson Wentz has played ZERO snaps in a playoff game in his three year NFL career. 

NBA

Michael Jordan went to 6 NBA Finals and lost ZERO series. 

Only once in Lebron James’ 16 year career did he miss a total of ZERO games in a season (2017-18 he played all 82). 

Best NBA players with ZERO championship rings – Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, George Gervin, Dominique Wilkins, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, John Stockton, Karl Malone. 

Lakers have won ZERO playoff games since 2012. 

Hornets and Grizzlies have ZERO division championships. 

College Football

Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa started 15 games in 2018 and had ZERO games where he did not throw a touchdown pass and in 11 of 15 threw ZERO interceptions. 

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has ZERO wins vs Ohio State. 

UCF has lost ZERO conference games since the start of the 2017 season. Two years prior, 2015, the Knights won a total of ZERO games (0-12) 

Clemson RB Travis Etienne, who led the country with 24 touchdown runs, only had 2 games (out of 15) where he ran for ZERO touchdowns. 

College Football Bowl games

Appalachian State (4-0), Florida Atlantic (3-0), New Mexico State (3-0), Old Dominion (1-0) have lost ZERO bowl games

Ball State (0-7), Buffalo (0-3), South Alabama (0-2), Kent State (0-2), UTSA (0-1), Louisiana-Monroe (0-1) have won ZERO bowl games 

Texas State, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, and UMass have played in ZERO bowl games

College Basketball

Kansas has missed the NCAA Tournament ZERO times since 1990 (29 years is the longest streak all-time)

Xavier has the second most NCAA Tournament appearances (28) with ZERO trips to the Final Four. BYU has the most (29) 

Nebraska is the only team among the “power five” conferences that has ZERO NCAA tournament wins all-time.

Notable teams with ZERO NCAA Tournament wins – Belmont, Boise State, South Dakota State

MLB

Angels OF Mike Trout has won ZERO playoff games in his career.

Miami Marlins have lost ZERO playoff series all-time (6-0).

Since moving to Washington in 2005, the Nationals have won ZERO playoff series (0-4). The franchise has won zero playoff series since 1981, when they won their only series.

In 2019, the Dodgers have the most team shutouts, with 13 games in which they allowed ZERO runs. 

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ZERO Championships 

These teams have never won a championship across the four major professional sports.

NFL (12) – Chargers, Vikings, Jaguars, Texans, Titans, Falcons, Panthers, Cardinals, Lions, Browns, Bengals, Bills

NBA (11) – Clippers, Nets, Jazz, Pacers, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Magic, Suns, Pelicans, Wolves, Hornets

MLB (7) – Mariners, Nationals, Rockies, Brewers, Rays, Padres, Rangers

NHL (7) – Golden Knights, Sharks, Senators, Predators, Panthers, Sabres, Canucks 

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