Woody Hayes Article – Sept. 2, 1967

(Courtesy
Cleveland.com)

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I went to Ohio State and, like my father, was a big fan of Woody Hayes. (Back here, I even mentioned how I “met” him once.)

Well, since it’s Friday, here’s a little look back for all you Ohio State fans from the sports pages of the Lorain Journal. It ran in the September 2, 1967 edition – 50 years ago this month – and features Woody Hayes talking about the upcoming season.

It’s strange how few games they played back then (nine, with two non-conference) and how late they started (September 30th). The Buckeyes would go 6-3 during that 1967 season.

The 1968 season would be the one in which Ohio State would earn its fifth national championship. And by the time the Buckeyes won their next national championship in 1970, I knew that Ohio State was where I wanted to go.

Now in 2017, I think too much attention is given to trying to win the national championship. The team should follow Woody’s example and focus on just beating Michigan!

I also hate the divisional realignment of the Big Ten conference that happened in the last few years, and I’ll probably never get used to it. There was something interesting about Ohio State battling just about the same conference teams every year. While I was at Ohio State, the football team played Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Michigan all four years, with only Purdue and Michigan State taking turns. You knew Ohio State might have a little trouble with Indiana, but would usually pulverize Northwestern. There was something reassuring about that.