Ohio State caught Purdue "the morning after the night before"---the week after the Boilermakers had scored an upset victory over Northwestern. That was the after-the-game explanation for Purdue's poor showing both in the Ohio dressing-room where Coach Paul Brown grinned happily and in the visitors' quarters which were knee-deep in the stung silence of a lopsided loss.

But, regardless of that explanation, both coaches agreed that Ohio State had had a mighty fine team on the field yesterday. Any team that can hold an opponent to one first down, no completed passes, and win 26-0 has to be good.

"One of the reasons Purdue looked like it did," said Coach Brown, "Was that we caught them the week after they had had a head of steam up for Northwestern. In this league, as soon as you win one, you have to dismiss it from your mind and quickly because the next team may take you.

Paul Brown will need to take his own advice and make sure his players don't get to full of themselves before playing Northwestern.

Yearns for Blood

Sarringhaus rips off 15 yards for the first down in the second quarter.

"We play Northwestern next Saturday and don't make any estimate of that team by what you saw today. They're good...And that's one game I want to win. I've waited a whole year for next Saturday's game," and the Buckeye mentor smiled. Northwestern was the only team to defeat Ohio State last year, Brown's first season here as coach.

Elmer Burnham, the Purdue coach, obviously was disappointed by his boys' poor showing, but he was friendly, affable, a non-squawking gentlemen.

"Ohio has a sharp and precise team," Burnham said. "It'll take a good team to beat them out of the Conference championship. But if you're looking for someone to worry about, you might start thinking of Michigan," he grinned and added "I do think the Ohio-Michigan game will be a real battle."

Burnham gracefully declined to compare Ohio State with the Northwestern team he beat last week. I don't believe in making a comparison between two Western Conference teams," he explained.

He hailed Gene Fekete as the Bucks' outstanding ball-carrier: praised the game played by Barry French. Purdue tackler thought that his team had a good defense on long passes.

Burnham agreed with several of his players that the Boilermakers had been on their high horse ever since the Northwestern victory a week ago. 

They've learned their lesson this afternoon," he said, "and they should do better from now on."

Pride always comes before the fall. Brown had to be pleased when he read that Purdue's players celebrated by carrying their coach around the field after they defeated Northwestern. Burnham didn't have to compare the Buckeyes to the Wildcats. One team beat his Boilermakers, one did not.

Gene Fekete scores Ohio's first touchdown in the first quarter.

Here's Why

Coach Brown only smiled when asked how that Purdue man happened to get free to make the Boilermakers' one first down.

"I thought the defensive charge was the outstanding feature of the game," the Buckeye boss continued. Singling players out for individual praise he smiled. Fekete was outstanding, Paul Sarringhaus was mighty good. He had the wind completely knocked out of him on that one play when he seemed injured, but he wasn't hurt. Bill played a superb game. Slusser is a mighty sound player and a fine competitor. He crossed me up once."

Brown grinned "I was about to send in a substitute for him to punt on fourth down. Slusser had a hunch I would so he quick-kicked on third down so he could stay in the game. All of the boys had a good time, they enjoyed playing as it was the first day they had cold weather.

Do you think Urban Meyer would be all smiles if a player called his own play in order to stay in the game? I don't think so either. 1942 was definitely a different time and era.

Power Won Game

Ohio concentrated on power simply because it was clicking and Purdue was dead set to stop the passing game, Brown explained when asked why his team had thrown comparatively few passes.

Slusser returns Purdue punt to Ohio 25-yard line in fourth quarter.

The article ended with some observations of the Start Spangled Banner, attendance and the weather.

Fans in the upper decks again got a thrill out of watching the approaching crowd "freeze" when the band broke into the "Start Spangled Banner." Hundreds of people approaching the stadium over the fields to the south immediately came to attention as the ceremony began; it never happened before this year.

[...]

Official attendance was 45,945, approximately 6,000 more than had been anticipated. This season more fans than usual seem to be waiting until almost game time before buying tickets.

It was the first chilly game day of the season. Fans needed topcoats, huddled deeper into them as the afternoon wore on and the cold crept in. Low hanging clouds blanketed the stadium, shrouded those downtown buildings which usually are visible from the upper deck seats.

Those two Ohio State trainers who dash on the field during "time-outs" are brothers, they're Ernie and Harold Biggs. Ernie is the head trainer; Harold, who is a student, assists him.

Fekete scores Ohio's second touchdown in second quarter