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.

The expected return of Tippy Dye did not happen and Ohio State lost another day of practice without the scouting report. The Buckeyes were now down to three days (Wed.-Fri.) to work in the recognizance completed by Dye. The rankings of all 205 teams were also published in this edition of the CJ. 

Coach Brown again drilled his Buckeyes in fundamentals and in pass defense and offense last night as the team marked time until either scout "Tippy" Dye or his report of the game between the Southern California Trojans and Washington arrives.

Dye was expected to arrive by train from Chicago last night, but nothing has been heard so far of the charts and reports that were supposedly sent ahead by airmail special delivery when Dye lost his plane reservation and was grounded in Seattle.

"We haven't got a thing to work on yet," Brown explained. "We can't even start to plan our own offense or set  up a defense against their plays at all until those plans arrive.

"It may be that we will snap out the rut," Brown continued, "and get down to business in earnest when we have something specific to work with."

At this point, if I was Brown, I would begin to wonder if old Tippy Dye didn't pull a Hunter S. Thompson and skip the trip to Seattle. Instead, did Dye head south to Las Vegas and experience Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas decades before the Gonzo Journalist did it?

Think about it, this was a time when tracking Dye's real time movement would have been impossible. He could have easily blown his travel money on gambling, women and other extra-curricular fun and phoned Paul Brown with the false information that the scouting report was "in the mail." I wouldn't be surprised if he continued his fun on the train ride home through Chicago.  

Of course this didn't happen, but I wonder if Brown questioned if Dye had actually completed his scouting duties? Don Hawk's piece continues:

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes end situation took a turn for the worse. Don Steinberg suffered an injured shoulder during the game with Indiana, but it was not thought to be serious from first reports.

But Don turned up at practice last night and couldn't raise his arms above his head. he participated lightly in some of the drills on fundamentals, but retired from the scene when work started on passing and pass defense. 

Looks like the tight ends might not be seeing as much action as reported yesterday. 

Lavelli, White Ready

Dante Levilli and John White will both be available for end duty, though, so no strength will actually be lost that has been in use so far this year. Lavelli will get the starting call and while White will not be going full speed, he will be able to play if his needed.

Well never mind about the tight ends being depleted and dilapidated. Expectations are now back to a deadly aerial assault with the use of Lavelli. 

Lavelli, White Ready (cont.)

The rest of the squad is in top shape and is again running at full speed after recovering from the terrific physical beating taken from the unseasonal heat and from the heavy Indiana team. Bob Shaw has recovered surprisingly quickly from his charleyhorse and was not hampered at all by the injury during the practice last night.

Despite the general lack of enthusiasm, the passing seemed to have taken on more finesse than has been exhibited in games so far. Paul Sarringhaus, Tommy James, Les Horvath, Bob Frye and George Slusser were all finding the mark with regularity. Of course, the backs were not working under game conditions and will still have to prove their improvement on Saturday afternoon.

Not sure what to believe from Hawk's description. In one sentence he's describing the Buckeyes' passing game with flying colors, but then follows it up with "were not working under game conditions," pretty weak of Hawk to hedge his bets.

Trojans Move East

Meanwhile, as Brown worried about the absence of his plans, the Trojans moved eastward behind Tippy Dye. They were scheduled for a workout at North Dakota yesterday and will move into Evanston, Ill., today.

Workouts will be taken in Dyche Stadium, home of the Northwestern Wildcats today and tomorrow and the Trojans are to be in Columbus for a workout in Ohio Stadium Friday afternoon.

"We're facing a double handicap now," Brown mourned, "and our chances to beat those guys grow worse every day we are forced to struggle along without settling plans for an offense and a defense. They already had a mental edge on us in that they will remember the licking we gave them last year and believe me they'll be out to get revenge.

Who do you think will arrive in Columbus first, USC or the non-report giving Tippy Dye? No matter who gets to the city first, I have a feeling Paul Brown's reception will be cool. 

Have Own Arguments

And the Trojans had a few arguments of their own to cause apprehension on the part of any coach who must send his team against them with or without a planned attack.

The backfield is studded with passers who can knock an ant off a blade of grass at 30 yards. Paul Taylor is a veteran right halfback who throws 'em with his left hand while Bob Musick and Mickey McCardle are orthodox flingers who can really go to town.

I wonder where Hawk is getting his information on USC's players? I think it's time for Brown to ask him for the scouting report and forget about getting Dye's eyewitness account.  

Trout at Full

Rounding out the backfield is Bob Trout, a big fullback who has been timed around 9.6 seconds for the 100-yard dash. He finished second to Hal Davis, "the world's fastest human," in many west coast track meets last spring. His speed comes into use either on a straight running attack or from his position as a flanker on Jeff Cravath's spread formations.

Those backs plus a couple of pass targets such as veteran ends Ralph Heywood and Doug Easick equip the Trojans with a quick-hitting attack while a huge line---one that will outweigh the Bucks by about 15 pounds per man---threatens to stop the attack of any team.

Trout appears to be the real deal, and with an over-sized line in front him the Buckeyes defense could be in trouble. Then again, Ft. Knox and Indiana also had a considerable size advantage over Ohio State's line.

Despite a 32-21 victory over Indiana last Saturday, Ohio State's gridiron forces dropped from 19th to 23rd spot in the national ratings by Paul B. Williamson. 

At that, the Buckeyes are selected to defeat the University of Southern California, whom they meet Saturday in Ohio Stadium's giant horseshoe. Ohio State bears a rating of 92.5, the same as its mark of a week ago while the Trojans are listed as 78th in the country with an 87 rating.

Indiana fell from 14th to 46th.

Bucks Now Sixth

Paul Brown's Bucks now stand sixth in the Western Conference behind Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Although last week was one of upsets, the Willliamson system predicted 85.1 percent correctly (misguessing the Ohio-Indiana result) for a season record of 86.4 percent in three weeks.

This is the first time that the Williamson Rankings were printed by the CJ. Williamson ranked 205 teams, but this was not the AP Poll. Back in 1942, the first AP Poll wasn't released until October 12th. Imagine that, the voters waited until after the third week of the season to give judgement on the teams. A shame they don't do that today. 

Today's Old School Alcohol Advertisement

Schlitz was back in the sports page with another ad. This time it featured three more realistic looking bears digging into a case of Schlitz. Around the picture of the bears was this message: 

When unexpected guests  drop in---America's most distinguished beer provides the friendly, perfect welcome. That famous Schlitz flavor---without a trace of bitterness---makes an instant hit with every lover of real beer. Schlitz gives you just the kiss of the hops---all of the delicacy, none of the bitterness. Tast Schlitz and you'll never go back to a bitter beer. You'll always want Schlitz.

FULL QUART GUEST BOTTLE

Now Schlitz is available in a new 32-ounce bottle---as well as the familiar 12-ounce bottle. Same Schlitz, same fine quality, same famous flavor. Ask for the full-quart SCHLITZ GUEST BOTTLE for those occasions when you serve more than one person. It contains almost three times as much Schlitz, is easy to carry, fits nicely into the refrigerator.