Illinois at USC

Saturday, October 14, 1939 Share

USC beat Illinois 26–⁠0. It was their third meeting; after it, USC led the series 2–⁠1.

AwayIllinois3–⁠4–⁠1 in 1939

HomeUSC8–⁠0–⁠2 in 1939

FinalHigh 93°F, low 70°FAttendance 60,000

In the newspapers

The Daily Alaska empire, October 16, 1939, page 5 (results column)
Read the text
FoorBALL SCORES The following arc final scores of football games played in various parts of the Nation last Saturday afternoon Oregon 6; California 0. University of Washington 0; Washington State 6. U.CLA. IA; Stanford IA. tie. Oregon State IA; University of Portland 12. Illinois 0; Southern California 26. Idaho 0; Gonzaga 19. Carnegie Tech 21; Case O. Iowa T; Michigan 27 Ohio Wesleyan 12; Ohio 2. Brown 0; Colgate 10. Duke 13; Pitt IA. Cornell 20; Princeton T. Penn 6; Yale o. Army 6; Columbia g. tie. Dartmouth c; Navy o, tie. Northwestern 0; Ohio State IS. Texas Christian II; Temple 13. Fordham 0; Tulane ‘. Nebraska 10; Iowa State ‘. Purdue 13; Minnesota 13, tie. Southern Methodist 19; Notre Dame 20 Harvard 61; Chicago 0. New York U. ‘; North Caro- lima IA. Marquette IT; Michigan State IA. Lehigh T; Penn State 49. Western Reserve 19; Boston U, IA. Detroit 13; Catholic U. IA. Colorado o; Kansas State 20. Holy Cross 13; Georgia 0. Georgetown 13; Syracuse 13, tie. Valparaiso 13; Indiana State 12. Coast Guard Academy T; Nor wich IT.

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

On the newsreel

U.S.C. TROUNCES ILLINOISThe University of Southern California stalwarts ride roughshod over "The Illini" in a scoring jamboree, winning 26-0Universal Newsreel, October 16, 1939. Catalog record at the National Archives

Universal Newsreel, National Archives (catalog record). Story titles and words as Universal’s release sheet gives them; the films themselves may still be under copyright, so we link to the record rather than show them.

Before kickoff

Our ratings going in

Our ratings (scores only)

USC 80% to win. Elo’s favorite won.

The series

Every Illinois–USC game

USC leads 11–⁠3 in 14 meetings, counting the 11 since this game.

Recent meetings
2025	Illinois 34, USC 32
2007	USC 49, Illinois 17	Rose Bowl
1996	USC 55, Illinois 3
1989	Illinois 14, USC 13
1986	USC 31, Illinois 16
1985	USC 20, Illinois 10