75 Years Ago, Northwestern Played At Night Because Of The Cubs

Northwestern and Purdue will kick off at Ryan Field in Evanston at 6:30 p.m. tonight.

But it's not the first home night game in NU history. On October 5, 1935, the same two schools met at night -- at 8 p.m., no less --and it was the first night game in Big Ten history. Take a look at this clip originally published in the Tribune on September 29, 1935, which appeared in the dead-tree edition of today's newspaper:

Imagine that -- rescheduling a college football game just so people could go see (or listen on the radio to, in those pre-television days) the Cubs in the World Series.

Yes, it was a different time; baseball was king in 1935 and college football didn't have nearly the following it does today, 75 years later. Northwestern beat Purdue 7-0 that evening. Unfortunately, the Cubs didn't hold up their end of the bargain; they lost Game Four of the 1935 World Series 2-1 to the Tigers that afternoon.