The 1941 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State College in the 1941 college football season. The team was led by head coach Lon Stiner.
Home games were played at Bell Field in Corvallis, Oregon and Multnomah Stadium in Portland.
The Beavers ended this season with eight wins and two losses. They were the Pacific Coast Conference champions and won the 1942 Rose Bowl over Duke. Because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl was held in Durham, North Carolina. Oregon State thus became the only team to win a Rose Bowl outside Pasadena, California.
The team captains were Martin Chaves, Stan Czech, Bob Dethman, Quentin Greenough, Lew Hammers, George Peters, and Norm Peters.
The Beavers scored 143 points and allowed 49 points.
Oregon State was ranked at No. 25 (out of 681 teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1941 and No. 16 according to the Azziratem System favored by Illustrated Football Annual magazine.William F. Boand (ed.), "Official 1942 Schedules," Illustrated Football Annual, 1942. New York: Fiction House, 1942; p. 91.
Schedule
Rankings
Game summaries Before the season In 1940, Oregon State finished third behind Stanford and Washington. The Indians became the first major college team to implement the "T" formation and subsequently went a perfect 10–0, winning the Poling National Championship. Billingsly and Helms each also subsequently awarded Stanford the National Championship. The Beavers' third-place finish in 1940 was Oregon State's third consecutive third-place finish in the Pacific Coast Conference. Nevertheless, the Beavers lost 11 lettermen and were almost unanimously picked to finish in the lower half of the Pacific Coast Conference. California, Stanford, and Washington were picked to finish at the top of the Pacific Coast Conference.
Oregon State's returning lettermen Bud English and Bob Rambo each enlisted in the off-season. It was reported that English probably would have been all-conference had he not enlisted. Frank Chase had a summer job at a defense plant. He was told that he probably would be drafted, if he left, so he stayed at his job rather than attempting to rejoin the team in 1941. Galen Thomas, similarly was told that he would likely be drafted, if he attempted to rejoin the team in 1941, so he enlisted in a civilian pilot program in 1941. Gene Gray was drafted but sought and was awarded a deferment, allowing him to play the 1941 season. One of the other late additions to the team was Ken Wilson. Wilson was suspended the previous season by the Pacific Coast Conference but was reinstated before the season began. Oregon State's starting quarterback, Frank Parker, returned in 1941. However, Lon Stiner moved Parker to guard.
Leland Gustafson injured his knee shortly before the season began and was out until the Stanford game.
The first three games on Oregon State's schedule in 1941 were a road game at Southern California, versus Washington in Portland, Oregon, and a home game against Stanford. On the Beavers' front-loaded schedule, one columnist wrote that "It would be a miracle if Oregon State wins one of its first three games."
USC
Southern California's head coach from 1925 to 1940 was Howard Jones. Jones unexpectedly died of a heart attack on July 27, 1941, at the age of 55, so J.M. "Sam" Barry, Southern California's basketball and baseball coach, took over the team in 1941. The Trojans were two years removed from winning consecutive Rose Bowls against teams that were previously unbeaten, untied, and unscored upon (Duke in 1939 and Tennessee in 1940). The Beavers were the first team to play the Trojans with Barry as head coach. Barry kept his practices secret, so the Beaver coaching staff went into the game without any information about what the Trojan offensive and defensive strategies.
Southern California's Bob Robertson fumbled a punt in the first quarter at the Trojan four. Oregon State's Joe Day fumbled on the subsequent drive. However, after a poor punt, the Beavers took over at the Trojan 27. Don Durdan threw a five-yard pass to Bob Dethman. Dethman immediately reciprocated, throwing a 22-yard pass to Durdan for a touchdown less than five minutes into the game. Warren Simas kicked the extra point for a 7–0 lead. Oregon State intercepted a Robertson pass inside the Beaver five to preserve the 7-0 first quarter lead. In the second quarter, Southern California partially blocked an Oregon State punt. With less than five minutes left in the first half, Robertson threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Doug Essick to tie the game at seven. Oregon State responded, driving down to the Trojan 15, but the Beavers' 32-yard field goal was blocked.
Southern California had the best drive of the third quarter but was stopped short on fourth down. In the fourth quarter, Oregon State twice drove deep into Trojan territory. On Oregon State's best second half drive, the Beavers drove down to Southern California's three before the Trojans stopped the Beavers on fourth-and-goal. Aided by a personal foul, the Trojans drove for a touchdown on a five-yard pass from Ray Woods to Essick a foot from the back of the end zone with 13 seconds left to go up 13–7. A Beaver lineman fumbled the following Trojan kickoff and a Southern Californian recovered the fumble to clinch a Trojan victory. In the loss, the Beavers had 21 first downs to the Trojans' 10, 194 passing yards to the Trojans' 86, 244 total yards to the Trojans' 230.
The game has been hailed as the "crowning glory" of Southern California's 1941 campaign. Robertson was selected seventh overall in the 1942 NFL Draft. Center Bob deLauer was selected 82nd overall.
Washington
Washington returned to Oregon to play Oregon State for the first time since 1923. The Huskies would not agree to play south of Portland until 1966, limiting the Beavers' homefield advantage. In 1940, the Huskies defeated the Beavers 19–0, Oregon State's largest road loss since 1936. The Beavers had not won a game against the Huskies in the State of Oregon in 20 years.
In the second quarter, Oregon State took the ball after a touchback. On the first play, the Beavers ran a reverse to Don Durdan. Durdan ran for 20 yards, juked four Husky defenders, and then ran the final 60 yards for a touchdown. Second-string quarterback, Warren Simas, kicked an extra point for a 7–0 lead with 12:15 left in the first half. At the time, the 80-yard Durdan run was the longest offensive play in Oregon State history. On the last play of the first half on fourth down at their own 33 yard-line, the Beavers opted to punt. Durdan kicked a 47-yard punt. Washington's Ernie Steele broke into the open field. On his way to the end zone, he slowed to allow blocking protection to form. Steele's change-of-pace allowed Oregon State's Joe Day time to drag down Steele from behind at the Beaver 27 to save a potential Husky touchdown.
Washington's first threat of the second half ended on downs in the third quarter inside Oregon State's 35. In the fourth, the Huskies took over at the Beaver 48. Washington drove 45 yards on eight plays. On 2nd-and-goal, the Huskies' Neil Brooks went over left guard. Durdan tackled him one foot short of the end zone. Durdan hit Brooks so hard that Brooks had to be carried off of the field. Durdan, however, was also hurt and had to come off, as well. On the next play, Bob Erickson dove into the end zone for a touchdown to cut the lead to one. On the extra point attempt, Chiaki "Jack" Yoshihara almost blocked the extra point. In attempting to kick around the hard-charging Yoshihara, Washington's kicker, Elmer Berg, pushed the kick wide, preserving Oregon State's 7–6 lead with 6:44 left in the game. On a subsequent Beaver drive, Choc Shelton filled in for the injured Durdan and took his only punt of the game, pinning the Huskies at their own three with 2:30 left in the game. Washington called a pass play, but Erickson's pass fell incomplete in the end zone for an automatic safety, cementing a 9-6 Oregon State victory. The Huskies had nine first downs to the Beavers' five, but Oregon State outgained Washington 210–173. Durdan was the leading ground-gainer for both teams, amassing 106 yards on 10 carries. Oregon State finished 2/7 on pass plays with an interception. Washington finished 3/8 on pass plays with two interceptions. Most of the Huskies' yards and all of the Huskies' completions came on their long drives in the third and fourth quarters.
Even with the loss, Washington would go on to be ranked as high as #20. Steele was selected 81st overall in the 1942 NFL Draft. Washington's guard Ray Frankowski was selected 24th, end Earl Younglove was selected 43rd, and back Jack Stackpool was selected 83rd.
Stanford
In 1940, Stanford hired Clark Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy implemented the "Model T" offense, a more-advanced version of the Chicago Bears' "Pro T" formation. The "Pro T" itself was rarely used at the time and never with Shaughnessy's modifications. The resulting Indian team was nicknamed the "Wow Boys." Stanford went a perfect 10–0, securing the national championship. The Indians beat the Beavers 28–14 in 1940, scoring more points on Oregon State's defense than any team in the past four years. Stanford's All-American quarterback, Frankie Albert, returned for his senior year and led the Pacific Coast Conference in passing and total yardage. The Indians fielded the best offense in the Pacific Coast Conference. Stanford entered on a 13-game winning streak, having defeated Oregon 19-15 and UCLA 33–0 to start the 1941 season. Don Durdan, who was injured in the Washington game, returned to play against the Indians. Leland Gustafson, who was injured before the season began, was cleared to play in his first game of the season. For the first time in 1941, the Beavers were at full strength. The game was a sellout, Oregon State sold 22,000 tickets for the 21,000-seat stadium. It was the highest-attended game ever in Corvallis. The game was played in a thunderstorm.
In the first quarter, Oregon State drove 58 yards with the big play being an 18-yard gain on a Don Durdan reverse. On fourth-and-five at the Stanford eight, Warren Simas kicked a 26-yard field goal to put Oregon State up 3-0 less than seven minutes into the game. The Indians breached the Beavers 25 yardline twice in the second, once in the third, and twice in the fourth quarters but failed to score each time. Stanford's first drive inside the 25 started at its own 18 at the end of the first quarter. The Indians drove to the Beaver 23 in the second quarter before a 15-yard penalty and a four-yard loss on a fumble pushed Stanford back. On 4th-and-25 at the Beaver 38, the Indians were forced to punt. With about a minute left in the half, Stanford's All-American quarterback Frankie Albert hit Fred Meyer on a 43-yard pass play to give Stanford a first down at Oregon State's 23. Albert appeared to complete another pass to Meyer at the one, but Meyer was out-of-bounds, which nullified the 22-yard gain. Albert's next pass was intercepted by Choc Shelton at the 10.