Things were a bit different back in 1942. Of course, after the 1942 season, in 1943, Georgia played in its first Rose Bowl, which was a large deal at the time. A few years back they had a pretty good team and USC had a pretty good team, and UGA played and waxed Hawaii while USC played and waxed Illinois. Missed op if you ask me.
Hawaii started the game on offense with two false starts. The noise level was well beyond anything they'd ever experienced.
So, is football better today than back then? Certainly the athletes are. I'd GUESS a Div 3 team today could beat most top teams back then.