Jack Park, a leading Ohio State football historian, checks in each week during the college football season with a retrospective about the Buckeyes.The Ohio State-Illinois game of 1943 produced a most unusual ending. With the score tied at 26 and 10 seconds remaining, the Buckeyes recovered an Illini fumble at the Illinois 23-yard line. Buckeyes quarterback Bobby McQuade fired a pass intended for halfback Ernie Parks that fell incomplete in the end zone.Both teams immediately headed to their dressing rooms, and many of the homecoming crowd of 36,331 began leaving Ohio Stadium thinking the game had ended in a tie. An Illinois lineman had been offside on the final down, however, but few saw head linesman Paul Goebel signal the infraction. After learning of the infringement, the game officials concurred that the game could not end on a defensive penalty.Referee Jim Masker made his way to the Ohio State dressing room, where he told coach Paul Brown his team would have one additional down. Field judge Irish Krieger’s task was far more difficult: He delivered the same message to coach Ray Eliot in the Illinois dressing room.Nearly 15 minutes after McQuade’s incomplete pass, the teams returned to the playing field…
Continue Reading: Ohio State football | Jack Looks Back: Buckeyes left Illini fit to be tied in 1943
