November 2, 1935: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State, "The Game of the Century"

November 2, 1935: For the 1st time, a college football game is given the label "The Game of the Century."

This may have been inspired by the trial, earlier in the year, of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, for kidnapping and killing Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 2-year-old son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. That trial, held in Flemington, Hunterdon County, New Jersey from January 3 to February 13, was known as "The Trial of the Century."

Most college football games that have been called "The Game of the Century" were between the teams ranked Number 1 and Number 2 in the national polls. That was not possible this time: The 1st major poll, that of the Associated Press, did not begin until the next season.

At the time, Ohio State University was one of the better programs, having gone 7-1 in both 1933 and 1934. But they weren't yet an iconic team: That would come in the 1950s, under head coach Woody Hayes. For now, the Buckeyes were coached by Francis Schmidt. And they had begun the season by beating Kentucky, Drake (clobbering the Des Moines, Iowa school 85-7), Northwestern and Indiana.

In contrast, the University of Notre Dame, based in South Bend, Indiana, did already have a national following, thanks to their late coach Knute Rockne. They had won the National Championship in 1924, thanks to a backfield known as the Four Horsemen. Now, one of those Horsemen, Elmer Layden, was their head coach.

They had already become the unofficial Catholic university of America. (Not to be confused with The Catholic University of America, an actual school in Washington, D.C.) The a Irish opened their season 5-0, beating Kansas at home, Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon) away, Wisconsin away, Pittsburgh at home, and Navy in Baltimore.

So these 2 big teams were ready to face each other on November 2, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Every major newspaper in the country sent a writer to cover it. It was broadcast on national radio, unusual even then. A crowd of 81,018 poured in, and some people had paid scalpers up to $50 for a ticket -- a little over $1,000 in today's money. And this was during the Great Depression.

Ohio State were heavily favored, and, at first, the game followed that script. Frank Antenucci intercepted Notre Dame quarterback Mike Layden (the coach's younger brother), and lateraled to Frank Boucher (no relation to the New York Rangers hockey star of the same name), resulting in a 65-yard return for a touchdown.

In the 2nd quarter, another interception set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Joe Williams. But, having kicked the extra point on the 1st touchdown, Dick Beltz missed on this one. Still, that 13-0 lead held into the 4th quarter. Notre Dame looked beaten.

Looks can be deceiving. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Andy Pilney returned a punt to the Ohio State 13-yard line. That led to, early in the 4th quarter, Steve Miller running the ball in from 1 yard. It was 13-6 Ohio State. Pilney later threw a touchdown pass to Mike Layden, making it 13-12. Both times, the extra point was missed.

Notre Dame had a legendary name in their backfield: William Shakespeare. Playing off his sharing of a name of the greatest writer in the English language, the New York native was known as the Bard of Staten Island, the Bard of South Bend, and the Merchant of Menace. He had already scored a touchdown for Notre Dame against Army the year before, at Yankee Stadium in his hometown.

Now, Ohio State tried to run out the clock, but fumbled, and the Irish recovered. With less than a minute to go, Pilney ran for 30 yards, getting the ball to the Buckeye 19. But he was injured on the play. Shakespeare entered the game. Once more unto the breach. He threw a pass, and an Ohio State player nearly intercepted it, but dropped it.

Finally, with time for perhaps one more play, fullback Jim McKenna took the snap, and handed it to Shakespeare, who threw an option pass. Wayne Millner, later to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame by catching passes from Sammy Baugh on the Washington Redskins, was down on his knees in the end zone, and caught the ball. Notre Dame had won, 18-13.

Grantland Rice, his column in The New York Herald Tribune syndicated throughout the land, wrote of the game, "This was one of the finest things I've ever seen in football."

But the glory did not last. Just 7 days later, at home no less, Notre Dame lost to Northwestern. Then they went to New York, to again play Army at Yankee Stadium, and only came away with a 6-6 tie. They closed the season at home, beating USC, finishing 7-1-1.

Ohio State bounced back, beating the University of Chicago away, Illinois at home, and Michigan in Ann Arbor. But they didn't play Minnesota. Ohio State and Minnesota were declared Co-Champions of the Big Ten Conference, but it was Minnesota, 8-0, who were named National Champions by most organizations then deciding the thing.

There have been a few "Games of the Century" since, some involving Notre Dame. One in 1993 followed this pattern: Notre Dame stunned Florida State, then blew the National Championship the following week by losing, in that case to Boston College.

Aside from Millner, most of the players on both sides did not play professional football. Shakespeare was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but made more money than he could have in football at the time by signing with the Cincinnati Rubber Company. He became an executive with them, and still was one when he died in 1974.

Elmer Layden remained at Notre Dame until 1941, when he was offered the job of NFL Commissioner. He held that job for 5 seasons, guiding the League through the difficult days of World War II. He died in 1973.

Francis Schmidt stayed at Ohio State through the 1940 season, winning another Big Ten title in 1939. He was succeeded by Paul Brown, who began his legend by leading the Buckeyes to the 1942 National Championship. Schmidt became head coach at the University of Idaho, but his health began to fail, and he died in 1944.

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November 2, 1935 was a Saturday. There were a few other big college football games that day.

One was in New York. Fordham University -- coached by another of Notre Dame's former Four Horsemen, Jim Crowley -- played the University of Pittsburgh at the Polo Grounds, and it ended 0-0. Fordham finished 6-1-2 on the year, Pitt 7-1-2. They would play each other at the Polo Grounds again in 1936 and 1937, and those games would also end scoreless. Finally, in 1938, Fordham went to Pitt Stadium, and the Panthers emerged victorious, 24-13.

Manhattan College beat City College (CCNY), 65-0 at Ebbets Field. New York University beat Bucknell, 14-0 at Yankee Stadium. One of NYU's players, Ed Smith, had done some modeling work, and was a high school teammate of sculptor Frank Eliscu. Eliscu asked Smith to pose in his football uniform. In 1982, someone called Smith up and asked him what it was like being the model for the Heisman Trophy, which Eliscu had designed. Smith said he did know he was the model for the Heisman. The Downtown Athletic Club, caretakers of the Trophy, gave him a copy.

Among New Jersey's teams: Rutgers beat Lafayette, 31-6 at Fisher Field in Easton, Pennsylvania; and Princeton beat Navy, 26-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

The aforementioned Minnesota beat Purdue, 29-7 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Nebraska beat Missouri, 19-6 at Memorial Stadium (now Faurot Field) in Columbia, and went on to win the Big Six Conference, which later became the Big Eight and formed the bulk of the Big Twelve.

Stanford beat Santa Clara, 9-6 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California, between San Francisco and San Jose. By beating the University of California 3 weeks later, they won the Pacific Coast Conference, the precursor to today's Pac-12.

Louisiana State beat Auburn, 6-0 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, and went on to win the Southeastern Conference title. Southern Methodist (SMU) beat Texas, 20-0 at Ownby Stadium in Dallas, and went on to win the Southwest Conference title.

There were no scores in the other sports. The NHL hadn't yet started their season. The NBA hadn't yet started at all. Baseball was done until April. And the NFL waited until the next day, Sunday, to play.