[1][2] On September 10, 1918, Purdue's athletic director O. F. Cutts announced that Cleo A. O'Donnell was at his home in Boston and would probably not return as the school's head football coach.
The DePauw team was delayed by a freight wreck that blocked the railroad near Roachdale, with the players traveling the remaining 45 miles in automobiles.
According to a newspaper account, Chicago's coach Stagg "used everything at his command to put a winning score across, but the plucky Purdue men foiled him.
[11] On November 30, 1918, the Great Lakes Navy defeated Purdue, 27–0, at Northwestern Field in Evanston, Illinois.
[12] The 1918 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets compiled a 3–0–1 record against Big Ten opponents, went on to win the 1919 Rose Bowl, and featured three players (George Halas, Jimmy Conzelman, and Paddy Driscoll) who were later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.