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.

In Today's paper:

• Don Hawk breaks down the stats and gives an update on Tommy James. 
• Lew Byrer looks into his crystal ball for The Game and the Big Ten.
• Tommy Devine covers the Big Ten Race.
• Focus on Ohio Stadium seating. 
• Another look at Paul Brown's system to keep Ohio high school kids in Ohio.
• The Game gets national attention.
• Kays is offering a fine phonoradio for you to listen to the sounds of The Game. 

When Coach Paul Brown's Buckeye football team takes the field against the Michigan Wolverines before 76,000 fans in Ohio Stadium Saturday afternoon, it will carry with it a considerable advantage insofar as statistics on Western Conference play are concerned.

The latest figures released for the Big Ten show, for instance, that Ohio State is the overwhelming leader in rushing in the conference. The Bucks have averaged 301 yards per game in their five contestes against conference opposition. Minnesota, the nearest competitor, has averaged 202 yards in its five games. Michigan is in fourth place with an average of 190 yards per game in three contests.

In passing, Ohio State is only fourth, but Michigan is still further back, in sixth place, in total average yards for Big Ten games the leader is Northwestern. Indiana is second, followed by Illinois, while Iowa is sandwiched between the Bucks and Michigan.

On defense against rushing, Ohio State is up in third place; Michigan is fifth.

Played More Games

...Leading men in the Buckeye success so far have been Gene Fekete and Paul Sarringhaus, who rate 1-2 in the conference scoring race with 49 and 42 points, respectively. The best Michigan can do is place Halfbacks Tommy Kuzma and Paul White in a tie with two others for fifth place with 18 points. Michigan has played only three games, Ohio State five.

In rushing averages, Gene Fekete is again tops. Sarringhaus in fourth place followed by Les Horvath in fifth, while Tommy James is in seventh. No Michigan man has averaged enough yards per game to crowd his way into the top 11 men of the Big Ten.

[...]

Despite the seeming advantage of the Bucks with regard to these statistics, Michigan will be the favorite to win when the opening whistle blows this Saturday. One reason is that the experts figure that the Wolverines have faced tougher opposition thus far in Big Ten play.

Coach Brown is determined that Michigan will have to bolster its defense to win. He has been giving his squad large does of offensive practice bringing the Buck attack to peak strength for this annual meeting with the traditional foe.

After a short look at the Michigan offense last night, the Bucks divided into teams and ran through the whole offense, both running and passing from end to end. Observers couldn't miss the precision shown in the fighting spirit that is being built up to come to its top peak for this shot at the conference championship.

Spending the past two nights under the electric lights appears to be helping the Buckeyes get ready for Saturday's game.

James In Uniform

Good news came to the squad yesterday when Tommy James donned his uniform and worked out for the first time since he suffered a shoulder separation in the Illinois game, but Coach Brown still said: "James won't play against Michigan."

James ran with the second team last night and alternated at the right and left halfback positions with George Slusser. "We're using him at both positions to try to find out where he fits in best," Brown said, "But I still think he won't be ready for service this week."

"Tommy can still run and carry the ball," Brown continued, "but he can't raise his arm above his head and so can't begin to pass. If we put him in the game, the Michigan team will draw its secondary in close and murder the boy. We can't use him that way."

Bill Durtschl, right halfback who has been on the bench with a twisted knee for several weeks, was back at his position with the third team last night pronounced "as fit as he'll be this year" by the Buck trainers. He will be able to take some of the load Saturday and his booming punts may very easily come in handy against the Wolverines.

The Bucks will have their usual short workout this afternoon before retiring to the Columbus Country Club to stay until game time tomorrow afternoon.

The Michigan team is due in town this afternoon. The Wolverines will stay at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel until game time tomorrow.

I'm sure Ohio State fans didn't use the knowledge of where Michigan was staying to try and disrupt their sleep.

Comes time for the weekly seance. Will Michigan defeat Ohio State? Your correspondent has heard that question at least 100 times this week. He doesn't know. Neither does anyone else.

If Paul Brown knew, he'd be sleeping better this week. If Fritz Crisler knew he'd be saved a few gray hairs.

Byrer uses four paragraphs to go into the comparative scores between the two schools, but that offers little. Let's bypass that and get straight to the point he's trying to make.

Ohio State is more handicapped by injuries than Michigan with James, Frye and Cleary all out of the halfback array.

But I still think Ohio State can win. It will be a real job and take an all-out effort.

I'll take Ohio State by one touchdown in a free-scoring game.

Other Conference Games

Minnesota plays at Wisconsin in the next game in order of importance in the conference. It's another toughie. I'll take Wisconsin by a touchdown.

Indiana plays Purdue in the annual Hoosier holocaust. It looks like a breeze for Indiana, but anything can happen and frequently does in an Indiana-Purdue game.

Northwestern plays Notre Dame. A Northwestern win would be an upset but the Wildcats almost upset Wisconsin last Saturday. Notre Dame by a couple of touchdowns.

Illinois plays Great Lakes and Great Lakes has been getting stronger each week. I'll pick the Sailors.

Iowa is idle, resting up for Michigan next week.

The United Press' Tommy Devine has a few words about the teams chasing down the 1942 Big Ten title

One of the tightest races in the 46-year history of the Big Ten reaches a climax tomorrow with the two games involving a quartet of title aspirants topping the mid-west football schedule.

The headline attractions send Michigan against Ohio State at Columbus before a sell-out crowd of 76,000 fans and Minnesota against Wisconsin at Madison in a contest that will lure a capacity throng of 45,000 spectators

Devine goes over the same games that Byrer covered above, so we will skip that.

...Not since 1931, when the Big Ten race ended in a three-way tie among Northwestern, Purdue and Michigan, has the conference championship fight been so close.

The complexities of the race are such that Ohio State, Michigan or Wisconsin can be the co-champions; or Iowa, idle tomorrow, Minnesota and Ohio State can end in a deadlock for the title.

The Simplest Way

Ohio State has the shortest and simplest course for a clear-cut title. The Bucks can take their second Big Ten title in four seasons by defeating Michigan. That would give the youthful Paul Brown's proteges a conference mark of five triumphs against a single defeat, a record no other contender could duplicate.

Ohio State, however, will enter the crucial encounter as the 10-to-7 underdog in the betting. Michigan has gained steady support since its smashing 32-to-20 victory over Notre Dame.

Ohio State and Michigan played to a 20-to-20 tie last season and there's every indication tomorrow's conflict will result in another high scoring battle. In winning seven games and losing one Ohio State has rolled up 275 points, while Michigan has scored 186 points in recording six victories as against two losses.

Michigan is accorded the edge on the strength of a glittering array of backs headed by Tommy Kuzma, Paul White and Bob Wiese.

If Michigan triumphs, the Big Ten race will remain unsettled until after the Wolverines' game with Iowa on Nov. 28.

 

Where is section 17C? That question from a couple of the more fortunate of Columbus football fans is typical of many received by The Citizen sport desk this week as some 76,000 tickets for Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan game reached their users.

Above is a chart of Ohio Stadium showing just where each section is located in each deck. Inset is of Ticket Director Henry D. Taylor who's job it is to make 75,900 of the 76,000 fans present happy about the fact their seats are not on the 50-yard line.

Buried on Page 3 was a piece by William Stringer the addresses Paul Brown's high school "farm system". Stringer also shares the players that got away before Brown was able to implement his recruiting strategy.

High School (left)

The out-of-state football scouts who spend their autumns in Ohio football stadia on a constant stalk of prospective college talent have had a tough time of it since the Brown "farm system" got under way.

Formerly, Ohio was their favorable stomping grounds, the best source of raw material on the high school circuit. And often enough, the scouts from Georgia, Michigan or Notre Dame could recruit a real gridiron diamond-in-the-rough form the Buckeye state's tough high school scholastic circuit.

But since Paul Brown of Massillon took over the reins in Columbus, the unofficial farm system which has routed the state's hot-shot schoolboy players Ohio State-ward has been functioning on all six.

He Has Co-Operation

To make sure that Brown makes good for their kind the state's high school coaches not only advise their best boys to go to Ohio State on graduation, but turn over their names---as well as those of top-flight scholastic players in neighboring states---to Brown.

The system was not in operation when an enterprising talent scout lured Frankie Sinkwich from Youngstown to Georgia and to All-American fame. A glance at any Sunday sports page will show that Sinkwich is not the only prize package that got away.

Let's take a look at some of the 1942 football headline names.

Chapplus Is One

There's Bob Chapplus, 19-year old sophomore halfback who somehow went from Toledo to Michigan. He's a flashy runner you'll hear more about and he is fourth among Michigan's great ground gainers.

Other Ohioans on the Michigan squad are William C. Keenan, sophomore halfback from Cleveland; Robert C. Kolcsar, senior guard from Cleveland; Philip E. Sharp, senior end from Lakewood; Benjamin A. Ungar, sophomore from Cincinnati, and Robert W. Vernier, sophomore quarterback from Toledo.

The East's leading scorer is an Ohioan---Jim Secrest of Galion, who rolled up a total of 133 points in the University of Rochester's eight-game season. Jim's older brother, Dick, is co-captain of the Rochester team.

Follow's Dad's Steps

Russell Gilman (Pete) Ashbaugh Jr. of Youngstown, whose father was  a member of Walter Camp's second All-American team at Brown in 1911, is going great guns at Notre Dame. His running mate on the Irish squad is Bob Dove, All-American end who also is from Youngstown.

Bob McBride of Logan and Marty Brutz of Niles also are members of the Notre Dame team.

Two At Colgate

Over in the East at Colgate there's a pair of Columbus boys who are going to town. Jack Clifford and Walter McQuade, graduates of Columbus' Aquinas High School, are mainstays of the Colgate club.

Some of the South's finest players are Ohioans. In addition to Sinkwich there's his running mate, Dick McPhee from Canfield who is helping Georgia's football fortunes this year. George Poschner also of Youngstown, is the target of many of Sinkwich's passes.

Capt. Jim Smith of Duke is from Hamilton and Capt. Al Hust of Tennessee is from Cleveland. Eddie Prokop, a sophomore from Cleveland is Georgia Tech's passing ace.

Ted Hasapes of Campbell is an end at Indiana and the Iowa Seahawks boast a bevy of Ohioans. Playing with the sailor team are Dick Fisher of Columbus, who was a star halfback at Ohio State; Guard Howard Fleming of West Jefferson who played at Muskingum College; Quarterback Fred Folino of Cleveland who played three years at Heidelberg; and Quarterback Wayne Gift of Medina who played three years at Purdue and two years in professional ball. Also a member of the Seahawks is Dick Schumaker of Columbs, a center.

The Game is getting national attention.

Conference games took the play away from intersectional clashes today with circuit titles and bowl bids on the line in the college football season's semifinal week of full play.

Every section of the nation came up with a strong program, headed by Ohio State-Michigan in the Midwest, UCLA-Washington on the coast, Georgia-Auburn in the South, Rice-TCU in the Southwest and the traditional Yale-Harvard tilt in the East.

Ohio State was a slight underdog against Michigan, although the Buckeyes can clinch Big Ten honors by winning. A crowd of 76,000 is expected at Columbus.

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