Ohio State earned its first-ever win on the West Coast in dominant fashion, blowing out USC 33-0 while allowing the Trojans to gain just 67 yards in a 1941 trip to Los Angeles.
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Remember When: Ohio State Shuts Out USC, 33-0, For Its First-Ever West Coast Win
“It was, to an Ohio stater, one of the most remarkable and soul-satisfying games a scarlet eleven ever has played.”– Columbus Dispatch sports editor Russ Needham on Ohio State’s 33-0 win over USC in 1941
Traveling to the West Coast has become an annual part of the Ohio State football season since the latest round of Big Ten expansion, but it used to be a far more rare occurrence.
When Ohio State traveled to Southern California for the second game of the 1941 season, it was just the third time in the 50-year history of Ohio State football that the Buckeyes played in the Pacific Time Zone. The first two trips didn’t go well for the scarlet and gray; Ohio State was shut out 28-0 in the 1921 Rose Bowl, then lost 13-12 in its first-ever game against USC in Los Angeles in 1937.
The Buckeyes’ second trip to the L.A. Coliseum, however, went far better than the first.
Although Ohio State was coming off a 12-7 win over Missouri in Paul Brown’s first game as head coach, beating USC was expected to be a tougher test for the Buckeyes. After all, just getting to Los Angeles was a three-day endeavor for the Buckeyes in those days; they left Columbus by train on Wednesday, stopping in Chicago to practice that day and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to practice on Thursday before arriving in Los Angeles on Friday.
The game got off to a precarious start for the Buckeyes when Ohio State’s Tom Kinkade lost a fumble that USC recovered at Ohio State’s 49-yard line on the Buckeyes’ opening drive, but Ohio State’s defense stood stout to force a punt. USC got an even shorter field for its second possession after a low, wobbly punt by Ohio State’s John Hallabrin went out of bounds at the 26-yard line, but the Buckeyes made a fourth-down stop on a fake reverse to force a turnover on downs.
Ohio State drove 83 yards down the field on its third possession, with Jack Graf running for a 2-yard touchdown that was set up by a run by future Heisman Trophy winner Les Horvath, a backup halfback for Ohio State at the time. Dick Fisher scampered for 46 yards on a fake punt run on Ohio State’s fourth possession, setting up a 17-yard touchdown run by Charlie Anderson to put the Buckeyes up 13-0 before the end of the first quarter.
USC got another short field in the second quarter when it blocked a Hallabrin punt, but Kinkade intercepted a pass by USC’s Mickey Anderson in the end zone. The Buckeyes drove the ball 80 yards down the field, with Fisher rushing for a touchdown, to make it 20-0 before halftime.
Bob Shaw made a leaping catch on a pass from Graf and turned it into a 48-yard touchdown on Ohio State’s second possession of the third quarter to extend the Buckeyes’ lead to 27-0. After a fumble by Graf on Ohio State’s next series, Fisher intercepted a pass by USC’s Bobby Robertson. The Buckeyes drove from their 13-yard line all the way down the field on their subsequent possession, with Fisher gaining 10 yards on another fake punt and eventually finishing the drive with his second touchdown run of the game to make it 33-0.
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Fewest Rushing Yards By An Ohio State Opponent (Since 1936)
| 1950 |
SMU |
-31 |
| 1969 |
NORTHWESTERN |
-29 |
| 2024 |
OREGON (ROSE BOWL) |
-23 |
| 1942 |
FORT KNOX |
-14 |
| 1977 |
MIAMI (FL) |
-13 |
| 2003 |
INDIANA |
-12 |
| 2008 |
YOUNGSTOWN STATE |
-11 |
| 1941 |
USC |
-9 |
| 2005 |
IOWA |
-9 |
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