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.

Measured from every conceivable angle, the game between the Wisconsin Badgers and Coach Paul Brown's Ohio State Buckeyes will be as close as close can be, and the Ohio State squad worked in practice last night as if such a game were expected even by the confident gridders.

The practice started with a last-minute check on individual defensive assignments, moved into a sharp drill on timing for the offense, and concluded with attention to punting and place kicking, leaving observers with the idea that Brown believes the game may be decided on such a narrow margin as a field goal or an extra point.

And football observers from coast to coast agreed that the game will be just that close. Both teams are rated among the top 10 in the nation by almost all of the nation's "experts." Some rate Ohio State the favorite, some pick Wisconsin, but all rate both teams as very powerful.

The fans attending this game in Madison should be in for a good one as No. 1 Ohio State takes on the sixth ranked Badgers. If Gameday existed, Lee Corso would have been there putting on the mascot head. In fact, there's a good chance Corso's crusty ass attended this game.

Ohio State's first-string end, Dante Lavelli, who was injured, was re-injured in the Southern California game two weeks ago, has been taken off the hospital list and is expected to see action tomorrow as the Bucks invade Madison for a tussle with Wisconsin.

Both teams are undefeated for the season. Wisconsin has five wins to its credit against one tie, that against Notre Dame. Ohio State has snowed under five successive opponents by good scores.

Even down to the actual team personnel, the Bucks and the Badgers rate about as even as any two teams can rate. Fullback Pat Harder was the leading ground gainer and the leading scorer in the Big Nine last season by (but) Ohio's sophomore ace, Gene Fekete, is ahead of him in yardage and scoring this season.

Ohio State has the young stud first year player going up against Wisconsin's seasoned and decorated defense. 

Buckeye Attack Double-Barreled

The Bucks' attack has been double-barreled and has had a great deal of deception and variety due to the fine play of Paul Sarringhaus at left halfback, while Elroy Hirsch, a sensational sophomore, has pushed last year's regular, Len Seelinger, out of the left halfback berth for the Badgers and has made at least one long run per game thus far.

The Bucks' Captain George Lynn is a fine blocker. For Wisconsin, Jack Wink has moved into that spot ahead of a substitute who has both experience and talent, Ashley Anderson. And at the fourth backfield post, Les Horvath and Mark Hoskins compare almost as equally as do the others.

In the face of this apparent deadlock, it may be superior line play which will make the difference. "We won last week," Coach Brown said this week, "by beating the Wildcats' brains out. The inside line play in that game was what won for us."

And Brown realized that it may count heavily again as he worked his linemen all week in individual assignments both on offense and defense---taught them the intricacies of the Badger offense and the best means of stopping that powerful attack as well as the best ways of clearing the way for Buckeye runners.

As they always say, games are won on the offensive and defensive lines.

At any rate, it was a determined squad of Buckeye players that boarded the train last night for Chicago and thence to Madison, Wis., and Camp Randall for the game scheduled for 3 p.m. (Eastern War Time) Saturday.

Only Illinois, besides the Bucks and Badgers, remains unbeaten in Big Ten play, so this game may have an important bearing upon the final decision as the Western Conference championship this year.

This will be the hardest game of the season for both teams so far, the one they'll want to win most, and both squads will be in good physical condition for it. It'll be a test to see if the teams deserve the national ratings they have won this season.

Things are looking good for the Buckeyes. Wisconsin is going to be tough, but Ohio State made it through the Northwestern game and this week's practice without any major injuries. The team is as healthy as it has been and just needs to arrive in Madison rested and ready.

You can get as many opinions as you can find "experts" to consult if you want to talk probable Ohio State-Wisconsin results in the mid-west crossroads today.

Ohio State's undefeated Buckeyes stopped off here for breakfast this morning en route to Madison for tomorrow's football game with Wisconsin's undefeated but tied Badgers. They're due in Madison shortly after noon, will practice there this afternoon. After tomorrow's game they'll board a rattler for home and arrive at Union Station, Columbus, at 7:35 a.m. Sunday.

Nothing like riding on cramped, hard wooden benches for hours at a time.

The experts who like to quote comparative scores are picking Ohio State because the Buckeyes defeated Purdue 26-0 and the Badgers only defeated the Boilermakers 13-0.

Of course, the fact that Ohio played Purdue in Columbus and Wisconsin played Purdue at Lafayette, Ind., on a Purdue home-coming day may have had something to do with that. So might the fact that the Bucks caught Purdue the week after the Boilermakers had gone "all-out" to score an upset victory over Northwestern. 

Then there are the guys who point to the fact that Wisconsin tied Notre Dame and Notre Dame handed the Iowa Seahawks their only defeat of the season as an indication that Wisconsin should win and win easily.

They may be forgetting the fact that Wisconsin got Notre Dame early before the Irish started clicking and that Notre Dame got Bernie Bierman's Seahawks when they were down after defeating Northwestern, Minnesota and Michigan on consecutive Saturdays.

I'm sure the fans of '42 would be glad to know that today's college football is free of that kind of rhetoric and it is now controversy free. 

Some of the rating systems are ranking Ohio State first in the nation. Some others rank the Buckeyes as low as 10th and several notches below Wisconsin.

So you can't follow the rating systems unless you try to average them all up and then guess.

On the face of it it's a tough game to predict.

Hard to believe it took 72 more years for college football to implement a watered-down playoff for Division I level football. I'm still hopeful for a day when the playoff is either six or eight teams to end the drama of leaving out a conference champion.

I digress, back to Byrer.

Offense vs. Defense

From this distance, it looks like a battle between a great offensive team and one which combines a good offense with a fine defense.

Ohio has the great offensive team. The Bucks have score 78 points in three conference games. That's a better scoring total and average than is possessed by any other conferences this fall.

Wisconsin has played only one conference game and wasn't scored on by Purdue in that one. But then Purdue didn't score on Ohio State either, so that doesn't prove a lot. Only 30 points have been scored against the Badgers in five games. Only 27 have been scored against Ohio State.

However, Wisconsin had tougher opposition than the Buckeyes met in a couple of cases.

Take the comparative records. Ohio State won from Ft. Knox, 59 to 0; from Indiana, 32 to 21; from Southern California, 28 to 12; from Purdue, 26 to 0, and from Northwestern 20 to 6.

Wisconsin tied Notre Dame at 7-7 and defeated Marquette, 35 to 7; Missouri, 17 to 9; Great Lakes, 13 to 7, and Purdue, 13 to 0. 

Byrer goes over some other stats, but it gets a little long winded. Let's fast forward to his last words.

Add it all up and you still have a hard game to figure.

It's two great teams coached by two great coaches---both from Massillon, O.

I'm picking Ohio State by one touchdown because I believe Massillon's Paul Brown is about that much better than Massillon's Harry Stuhldreher.

Lew's final words might have divided the town of Massillon. Then again, Massillon probably disowned its native son coaching in Wisconsin for one day in 1942.

Unbeaten records and a possible Big Ten football championship, will be at stake when Ohio State and Wisconsin meet at Madison tomorrow in the Mid-West's outstanding game.

Great Offensive Teams

The Ohio State-Wisconsin game brings together teams that are among the nation's great offensive combinations. Both couple speed with power in running attacks that have yet to be stopped.

Ohio State has rolled to five consecutive triumphs, three of them within the Conference. Wisconsin has five victories and a tie on its slate. Only one of the triumphs was over a league foe, however.

In one of the wildest games of the 1941 season, Ohio State downed Wisconsin 46 to 34. Tomorrow's game may not equal that high scoring encounter, but it promises to be an offensive show that pits Paul Sarringhaus and Gene Fekete of the Bucks against the Badgers' great backfield pair of Elroy Hirsch and Pat Harder.

Badgers Long Overdue

Wisconsin is long overdue against Ohio State. The Badgers' last victory over the Bucks game in 1918. The teams have met six times since with Ohio State winning four and the other two being ties.

On the basis of bitter overall strength on the line, Ohio State however, rates a slight favorite in the battle that is expected to draw 40,000 fans. 

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