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.

Lew Byrer drops a Knute Rockne to Ohio State bombshell, Don Hawk shares insight on Pittsburgh's roster and Getchell inks another poster.

Whatever else the Pittsburgh Panthers lack when they come to Columbus for the go against the Buck football team in Ohio Stadium Saturday, they cannot be said to lack experience. Of the starting eleven, seven are men who picked up a plenty of experience last year.

Three of these men are in the backfield, Walt West is still handling the tiller of the Panthers from the quarterback spot and helping out the running attack with a rugged brand of blocking. "Wild Bill" Dutton has moved his triple-threat ability from the right half to the tailback position where he can be of more service, and Frank Saska, a battering ram fullback, is stillin harness.

Tony DiMattco is the fourth man in the starting backfield and his is a big order. He has tried to take up the slack left when Edgar "Special Delivery" Jones was graduated last spring. So far he hasn't been able to fill Jones' shoes as a climax, breakaway runner and that's what Pitt lacks for the first time in years.

Four Vets In Line

On the line, the four other tested veterans block the middle. George Allshouse is back in at center and is called by many experts "as good as the men that helped Jock Sutherland's teams to hang up national championships." Siding him at the guards are Vince Antonelli, rated as above the average of eastern guards, and Fran Mattiola, a rough-and-ready sophomore who has just joined the ranks of the Pitt varsity.

Tackles are about as rugged as they come. Jack Durishan is spotted on the left side of the line and could become great any weekend. Joe Salvucci comes up fro a long seasoning with the reserves ready to hold the fort, come what may. The ends are an unknown quantity with Mike Sotak from the reserve team and Sophomore Kyle rating the starting call.

Pittsburgh is going to field some tough customers, but some of them are going to be inexperienced. Probably not the best match-up against an Ohio State team coming off of a loss.

Dutton Workhorse

Dutton is the work-horse of the Pitt outfit as he does a good share of the passing, most of the punting and more than his part of the running. He weighs only about 180 pounds, but he is rawboned and tough---hits the line as hard as most men who are 15 pounds heavier. He is especially tough to stop through the tackles and is gone once he breaks into the clear.

Meanwhile, preparations for the Panthers went ahead at full speed in the Buckeye camp. A long practice session, first active work of the week, was devoted to setting a defense against Pitt plays as shown by the third-stringers and to a long workout on the offense.

Coach Paul Brown equipped his men with a couple of new plays designed for the special discomfort of Coach Charley Bower and his Pitt squad. The passing attack was given a thorough rehearsal and the practice ended with a concentrated workout on the running of the team and a session devoted to kicking.

I'm not sure Dutton is on the same level as Hirsch, but Ohio State's defense might be in for a physical day. Brown is cooking up some special plays to keep Bower off balance.

Several Still Ailing

Although no serious injuries except the one that will keep Bill Sedor out of uniform Saturday were evident, several of the players still were slowed down by the bumps and bruises received at Wisconsin. Tommy James favored his left leg while big Don McCafferty worked at left tackle throughout the day as Bill Willis took it easy on an injured ankle.

Don Steinberg filled at Sedor's left end position and will vie with Dante Lavelli and John White for the starting position this week. Lavelli was the first-string right end last fall but came up to the start of the season with a badly twisted knee and Steinberg took over. He held the position for two games but came out of the Indiana game with a shoulder separation which shelved him for the last several weeks. He is just now coming back into good physical condition and can play at either end.

Willis will be a big loss if he has to miss any playing time. 

Arrive Friday

The Pitt teams will arrive at 3:15 p.m. Friday and the freshmen will go directly to Ohio Stadium for the game with the Buck freshmen under Coach Ernie Godfrey. The varsity, expected to be in the pink of physical condition for the first time in weeks will go to the Deshler-Wallick Hotel, their headquarters while in town.

The officials for the game Saturday will be John Getchell, St. Thomas, referee; F.S. Bergin, Princeton, umpire; A.W. Palmer, Colby, field judge, and Ray Eichenlaub, Notre Dame, head linesman.

Not sure what the "pink of physical condition" is, but I think it's a good thing. Hawk has stepped up his sensitive information leaks. Not only does share where Pitt will stay, but he is also releasing the names of the refs.

Back in December, 1928, Ohio State's athletic party was en route to New Orleans for the annual intercollegiate football meeting.

Dr. John W. Wilce had resigned as Buckeye coach. The late Sam Willaman seemed to have the inside track as his probable successor. But there were rumors that the late Knute Rockne would leave Notre Dame and take the Buckeye job, and that he might sign at the New Orleans meeting.

In Cincinnati the Ohio State party picked up Dr. John Bain Sutherland, then coach at Pitt; Tommy Davies, former Pitt star; Fielding Yost, Michigan athletic director; Bullet Rogers, then West Virginia coach, and sundry others.

Ohio State was scheduled to play Pitt the next fall for the first time in football history. Pitt was then "Mighty Pitt," a tough gridiron mouthful for any opponent.

Red Trautmen, then assistant Ohio State athletic director, asked Tommy Davies:

"Tommy, is it true that those Panthers just chew the legs off opposing players?"

"I've never known one of them to really bite, " Tommy replied. "But they'll sure gum hell out of you."

The next fall Ohio visited Pitt, with Mr. Willaman as head coach, and took an 18-to-2 walloping. 

The following year it was 16 to 7, Ohio State, here. In 1932 the two teams played a scoreless tie in Pittsburgh. So the late Mr. Willaman had an even break with the mighty Pitt the three times he sent Buckeye teams against the Panthers.

But what a difference there was in those days. That was before they "de-empahsized" football at Pitt. And Ohio State teams didn't enter any of those games as favorites. Pitt wasn't considered an underdog against anyone.

Yes, you read that correctly. Knute Rockne was very interested in becoming Ohio State's head coach.

Razzle Dazzle Dimmed

A lot of Ohio State grid followers will never forget 1936. Francis Schmidt's razzle dazzle was dazzling most of the football world at the time.

A play on which the Bucks would toss that ball back and forth behind the line of scrimmage three or four times before they started to run with it.

The "Scarlet Scourge" they were calling the Buckeyes about that time. A lot of us thought we'd seen the dawn of a new ere in football. A team which didn't toss that ball around like a basketball just wasn't in it.

Dr. John Bain "Jock" Sutherlnad didn't agree. He figured, as does Ohio State's Paul Brown today, that timing, blocking, tackling, condition and precision are more important than elaborate deception or a confusing assortment of complicated plays.

So the Panthers, on Ohio Stadium field that afternoon, didn't throw one forward pass. They just banged away with straight football and tackled hard and surely on defense. The final was Pitt 6, Ohio State 0.

That was the last game in which an Ohio State team met a Sutherland coached Pitt team. Dr. Jock was even then running into his troubles at Pitt. Pitt was getting pure.

In 1940 Ohio State won from a de-emphasized Pitt team, 30-to-7, and last year Pitt nearly put over an upset before losing to the Bucks, 21-to-14. So Ohio State now holds an all-time edge over the Panthers three victories to two with one tie. But Pitt still holds a 32-to-49 edge over Ohio State in total points scored.

Coach Paul Brown sounded a note of inspiration last night as the Ohio State football team started preparations for the game with the Pitt Panthers in Ohio Stadium Saturday.

"Any team that can come back after a defeat such as we suffered last Saturday and which can win its games in November when the going gets tough, is a good one." Brown averred, "and that's just what we'll be trying to do."

Pitt was a win away from tying the series up. Today, Ohio State leads 19–5–1. Ever wonder if recruiting was different back in the day? Did they have bag men? Byrer sheds some light on how Pitt used to do it.

From Extreme to Extreme

When Pitt went "pure" athletically there was no halfway measure about it. The Panthers went from one extreme to the other.

The Panthers used to operate almost like a pro team. If there was a promising youngster anywhere within a 24-hour jump of the Pitt campus a corps of persuaders worked on him to persuade him to get his education (and play football) at Pitt.

Jobs were found for promising athletes---jobs which paid well and didn't take too much time away from athletic and scholastic pursuits. Ways were found for the boys to earn board, room, tuition and books. Scholarships and longtime loans were available. The football squad would start to work in mid-August in a training camp in the Pennsylvania mountains.

Then, about three years ago, Pitt cleaned house. Now a Pitt coach or assistant coach who'd try to persuade a high school star to enroll at Pitt would be risking his job. Pitt athletes are given no special consideration. Their grades have to be good. They can't cut classes. In short the Western Conference rules of athletic eligibility are rigidly enforced, although Pitt is not a member of the Conference.

I understand Pitt would like to enter the conference. It may be that, when war troubles are out of they way, the Panthers will be admitted. Pitt should make a good member. Good football draws well in Pittsburgh and Pitt home games would provide easy jumps for Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, Indiana and even Northwestern and Illinois.

That would have been interesting if Pitt had joined the Big Ten. Going forward, the Panthers make sense geographically for the conference.

Rounding Up Sport

Jarring Gene Fekete has been the iron man of the Buckeyes so far this season...The great sophomore fullback has averaged 50 minutes each in the six games played, has carried the ball 127 times for a net gain of 614 yards and an average of 4.83 per try and is high scorer with eight touchdowns and 13 extra points for a total of 61.

Les Horvath has carried the ball 60 times for 306 yards, an average of 5.1, and Paul Sarringhaus has totalled 411 yards in 71 tries for an average of 5.79 yards.

Only two of the 27 Buckeye touchdowns this fall have been scored by forward passes...End Bob Shaw was on the receiving end of both touchdown passes.

Saturday's 36 game of the Illinois Northwestern series at Evanston's Dyche Stadium will mark the 50th anniversary of the start of football rivalry between the two schools...In the 35 previous games Illinois has won 17 and Northwestern 15 and three games have ended in ties.

Today's Old Time Ad

Atlas Shirt Service promotes, "Immaculate Shirt Service for Business and Professional Men."