2017 is the 75th anniversary of Ohio State's first national championship season. To honor the achievement, this series will post articles from the Columbus Citizen Journal on the day they ran in 1942.

Although Ohio State held an advantage in the series history, the talk for this game surrounded the much improved football squad from Indiana. Don Hawk previews the game with insight into Ohio State's Thursday practice and Brown's thoughts on the Hoosiers.

Brown last night gave his Ohio State gridders one last look at Indiana offensive formations and polished up the work of the siege guns of the Buckeye attack, Gene Fekete and Paul Sarringhaus, as he completed pregame practice for the clash with the Hoosiers tomorrow afternoon.

The squad will take only a short enough to work up a good sweat before retiring, as usual, to the Columbus Country Club where it will stay until gametime: 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. 

It appears that Ohio State is preparing Fekete and Sarringhaus to take the majority of the carries against the Hoosiers. I still can't get over that the football team stayed at the Columbus Country Club the night before home games. It's at least a 20 minute drive from East Broad to Ohio Stadium.

John Tavener, junior student, from Granville, O., will be starting center on the powerful Indiana football team which visits Ohio Stadium tomorrow for its tilt, with the Buckeyes--an annual event in which the Hoosiers have come off second best most times since the first contest in 1902. Also likely to see service is Earl Dolaway, senior back from Port Allegany, PA., and a two-letter man. Tavener is six feet tall and weighs 197, while Dolaway is the same height and tips the beam at 190.

Thinks Indiana Tough

"We're not selling Indiana short," emphasized Brown at the close of the practice session. "We know that we will be up against a mighty tough team but we'll be out there to do our best."

The Hoosiers will ignore the usual pre-game schedule in that they will not see the Ohio Stadium until game time. They will arrive in Columbus about 6:30 tonight and will go directly to the Deshler-Wallick Hotel to stay until tomorrow afternoon.

In addition to putting a last-minute edge on the running and passing attack, Brown gave Sarringhaus, junior left halfback, a short drill on the punting chores which he will carry for the first time and had Gene Fekete polish up his place kicking since the sophomore fullback will attempt to convert the points-after-touchdown for the Buckeyes in addition to dividing the kickoff duties with Tackle Charles Csuri.

I wonder what was going through Bo McMillin's brain when he decided not to have his team do the traditional walk-through? Was an empty Ohio Stadium so intimidating that his Hoosiers would piss themselves? It might have been as McMillin opted to stay in the safe confines of the Deshler-Wallick Hotel.  

Dolaway Fine Punter

Both of these men will have formidable opposition in their respective specialties this week. Earl Dolaway is exptected to handle most of the punting for the Hoosiers. He had an average of 33.7 yards over the entire season of 1941 when he did about two-thirds of the kicking for Coach "Bo" McMillin.

When Dolaway needs relief in the punting department, the task will fall to Billy Hillenbrand. Billy did the remainder of the Indiana booting last year and accumulated an average almost equal to that of Dolaway, 36.4 yard per try.

In trying for extra points last week, three regulars, Hillenbrand, Quarterback Lou Saban and Tackle Ed Bell shared in the lead. These three men missed only one out of five conversions they attempted.

For those wondering if Lou Saban is related to Nick Saban, the answer is possibly yes. Lou Saban's widow, Joyce Saban, stated that the two men might have been second cousins.

It still hard to fathom that a team would use three different players to kick extra points in a single game.

Same Men Start 

Elsewhere on the teams, the starting lineups will be about the same as they were last week. 

[...]

For Ohio State. Left End Dante Lavelli and John White are still hampered by injuries. Lavelli's charleyhorse is coming slowly into better condition and it is expected that he will be able to see some action, but Don Steinberg will probably start the game. White will be out of action for the entire game in all probability.

The Buckeyes will be out to get their 16th victory over the Hoosiers since entering Big Ten competition in 1913 and the fourth win in a row for the Scarlet and Gray. It will be the 21st meeting of the two teams since the Bucks entered the conference.

Today, Ohio State holds a 74–12–5 advantage over Indiana and is 74–7–4 against the Hoosiers in conference play. Little did the Indiana faithful know that over the next 75 years, their team would only beat the Buckeyes five times. 

Best Indiana Team

The Indianians will be out to verify the predictions of football experts who rank this year's team as the strongest in recent years and to give added weight to Coach McMillin's statement that he has "the best-manned squad in years."

Both coaches will be going "all out" for a victory and are hoping for a clear day and a dry field on that they can really take the wisps off their backfield speed merchants in order to give the expected 40,000 fans their money's worth.

In 24 hours, the teams will prove which squad is better on Ohio Stadium's field.

Looking Back, Lazarus Ad: 

LAZARUS TUNNEL WORK CLOTHES SHOP

In the fall of '42, Lazarus was all-in on moleskin work pants. I've never heard of mole skin, but I'm sure it must have been some tough stuff for Lazarus to pony up for an ad. 

Tougher than Nails

Heavy
Moleskin
Work Pants
1.98

Do you want pants that will give service?...get a couple of pairs of these and you'll solve your work pants problem for the winter, Sizes 30 to 42.

Looking at the prices at the bottom, you will get corduroys for $1.98. If you want the heavy whipcord you'll have to shell out $3.50.