duke was expected to win by more than two touchdowns and went off as a 4-1 favorite. some wondered why oregon state would even make the trip. before the game, the nbc announcer that called the game, bill stern, asserted that the blue devils could beat the beavers by throwing 11 helmets on the field. the comment was heard by members of the oregon state team at the hotel. after the game, george zellick told reporters that the team was "hopped up" to win the game based on stern's comment. the weather, also, seemed to favor the visitors. one duke player claimed that there was more rain than he had ever seen. the beavers' gene gray, looking up at the same sky, described the weather as "misty." the temperature was a hair over 40 degrees at kickoff. the referee that was supposed to handle the opening coin flip was lee eisan. eisan was the second-string quarterback for the 1929 california golden bears, who lost the rose bowl 8-7 to georgia tech after roy "wrong way" riegels ran 69 yards the wrong direction to set up the game-winning georgia tech safety. eisan made a less often talked about blunder. in the third quarter, trailing 8-0, california ran an end around pass on fourth down. the end around sucked all of the georgia tech defenders in. eisan used the misdirection to get behind the defenders and might have scored a touchdown but fell down and failed to make the catch. eisan could not find a silver dollar in north carolina, so he borrowed a 50-cent piece from oregon state's martin chaves. the blue devils won the toss and elected to receive. before kickoff, there was a moment of silence to honor those lost at pearl harbor 25 days before.