Today's Tidbit... When Ohio State Lacked Balls

Ohio State opened the 1922 season with a 5-0 win over Ohio Wesleyan, followed by a 14-0 beat down of Oberlin. The Buckeyes then lost consecutive games to Michigan, Minnesota, Chicago, and Iowa, setting up a season-ender versus the similarly 2-4 Fighting Illini, who was also winless in conference.

Leaving Columbus on Friday for the game at Illinois Field, Ohio State stopped thirty miles east of Champaign-Urbana to practice in Danville, Illinois. While unpacking for practice, the equipment staff realized they had forgotten to pack footballs for the trip.

An illustration in Ohio State’s 1923 yearbook shows a Buckeye endlessly searching for a football.

The team quickly located a few medicine balls, somehow practicing with those heavier-than-air objects. Perhaps it was all for the better. Ohio State’s offense had little success the next day, but neither did the Illini’s. A 70-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter gave Ohio State a 6-3 victory over the Illini.

Chicago Tribune, November 25, 1922.

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