I recently got my hands on a Sports Illustrated from September 15, 1969. This was during a golden age of OSU football, when we had Woody Hayes as head coach. We had won the 1968 National Championship and were in the midst of what would become a 22-game win streak (broken by Michigan on November 22, 1969). This win streak was broken last season with Urban Meyer's Buckeyes winning 24 in a row. Anyway, here is the magazine cover:
That is, of course, Woody Hayes on the left and #10 Rex Kern in the center and bottom right. #35 Jim Otis is in the center also. Inside there is a salute to the great players of the past century of football (the first official American football game was in 1869) and there is a great write-up about the Buckeyes. We were unanimously considered No. 1 that year until the loss at Michigan:
Read the whole 1869-1969 football article from Sports Illustrated.
There is an interesting article (part of the centennial celebration of American football) that discusses the end of defense and the prevalence of a high-scoring pass-happy offensive strategy employed by most current (1969) college coaches. I found this funny because it is the same thing I hear today about how football is changing into a high-scoring, offense-centered sport that does not rely on strength and toughness like it used to. Apparently, fans and writers saw the same trend almost 50 years ago:
There is an analysis of each major conference, from back in the days when the Big Ten really was just 10 Midwestern teams: no Penn State, and no Nebraska, Maryland or Rutgers:
Read the conference write-ups here.
In 1969, former OSU coach Paul Brown was coaching the Cincinnati Bengals, and there is an article about him as well:
Read this whole article from Sports Illustrated.
All in all, this issue was very interesting to read and exemplifies what makes Ohio State football so great. I occasionally buy OSU memorabilia and this magazine is an invaluable addition to my modest collection. It is also great to see that in this digital age, Sports Illustrated has archived many of their articles online for fans to enjoy.
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