The 1942 Ohio State Buckeyes football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

during the 1942 season. In their second season under head coach

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

, the team compiled a 9–1 record, outscored opponents by a total of 337 to 114, won the Big Ten championship, and was ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll, thus earning the Buckeyes their first AP national championship. The team was led by wingback

Les Horvath Leslie Horvath (October 12, 1921 – November 14, 1995) was an American football quarterback and halfback who won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Ohio State University in 1944. Horvath was the first Ohio State player to win the Heisman, a ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and team captain George Lynn, and halfback

Gene Fekete Eugene H. Fekete (August 31, 1922 – April 28, 2011) was an American football fullback and linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns for one season in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) before launching a coaching and education care ...

. Fekete led the Big 10 with 910 rushing yards. The Buckeyes' only loss was to No. 3

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Half of the Buckeye players contracted an intestinal disorder after drinking from an unsanitary drinking fountain on the train to

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

. Horvath then led the Buckeyes to three scores through the air to upset

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Schedule

Coaching staff

, head coach, second year

Awards

All-Americans

Charles Csuri Charles Csuri (July 4, 1922 – February 27, 2022), better known as Chuck Csuri, was an American artist and computer art pioneer, described by the '' Smithsonian'' magazine as the "father of digital art and computer animation." Biography Digita ...

, T (Team MVP) *

, FB * Lindell Houston, G *

Paul Sarringhaus Paul Richard Sarringhaus (August 13, 1920 – April 7, 1998) was an American football halfback who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles i ...

, HB *

Bob Shaw Robert Shaw (31 December 1931 – 11 February 1996) was a science fiction writer and fan from Northern Ireland, noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980. His short story "Light of Other Days" ...

, E

All-Big Ten

* Lindell Houston, G * Paul Sarringhaus, HB * Bob Shaw, E

Big Ten Scholar/Athlete

* Don Steinberg, WR

1943 NFL draftees

References

;General * {{Big Ten Conference football champions

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Ohio State Buckeyes football seasons College football national champions Big Ten Conference football champion seasons

Ohio State Buckeyes football The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State has played their home games at Ohio Stadium in ...