Ohio State Upsets Purdue – October 1968

Ohio State plays Purdue tomorrow.

That reminds me that it was 50 years ago this month that the Buckeyes attracted a lot of attention by shutting out top-ranked Purdue on October 12, 1968.

Above is the coverage of it that ran in the Lorain Journal the next day.

Alongside the article about Ohio State is a portion of the coverage of the 1968 Olympic Games, held in Mexico City.

And by the way, that's an early version of Purdue Pete, the Purdue mascot at right. You can read all about his origin here.

****

A week later on October 20, 1968, Ohio State pummeled Northwestern.

Back in the 1980s and 90s, I used to read a nationally syndicated weekly sports column in the Journal called "The Bottom Ten," written by sportswriter Steve Harvey. Harvey ranked the ten worst college football teams in a hilariously written analysis. There was also a carefully selected “Crummy Game of the Week,” and the upcoming schedule for that week’s Bottom Ten indicated their “Next Loss."

Harvey often had funny nicknames for each awful team. He would refer to the Northwestern Wildcats (who weren’t too good in the 80s and early 90s) as the "Mildcats."

Since those days, however, Northwestern is no longer a team to be taken lightly.

****

Here's a sample of the aforementioned "Bottom Ten" feature, from October 25, 1990. It's a special edition that takes a look at college football mascots.