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 expected Ohio State starting lineup, divulges similarities between the Illini and Bucks, breaks down the Buckeyes' Big Ten title hopes. 
• Getchell provides another master piece.
• Byrer shares Columbus' giving spirit and how Central Ohio raised rallied behind a program for WWII... cigarettes for soldiers. He also explain why the Illinois game is being played in Cleveland and not Champaign. 

Buckeye gridders continued practice last night for their game with Illinois in Cleveland Saturday, polishing the passing attack and setting up a solid defense designed to stop the Illinois attack. They drilled in a high wind and a wet turf that made playing conditions nearly impossible.

"We're anticipating frequent use of the seven-man line Saturday," Coach Paul Brown told his team before the workout, "so we'll plan to take advantage of this type of defense by sharpening our passing offense."

It was the first active workout for the new right halfback, George Slusser, who was transferred from the opposite halfback position to provide some relief for Les Horvath. Slusser, one of Brown's former backfieldmen at Massillon, will be moving into a position that is familiar to him but which he has not played for some time.

Was Half at Massillon

Playing with Tommy James in the Massillon backfield, Slusser played the defensive halfback on those teams. He moved to the safety position at Ohio State but now he moves back to the halfback position on defense.

Hawk goes on to list the expected Ohio State starters for the Illinois game.

On the offense Slusser will be new to his position as a wingback. He is a good passer and a capable runner, but he lacks the intense speed that Horvath boasts. He is expected to fit in well at the position.

Willis to Start

There probably will be one change in the Buck lineup this week. Bill Willis has recovered fully form the ankle injury and will probably return to the left tackle position replacing last week's starter, Don McCafferty.

Don Steinberg will still be at the left end opposite Bob Shaw. Charlie Csuri, defensive rock, will be at the other tackle with Hal Dean and Lin Houston holding forth at the guards.

Bill Vickroy, senior center, will be back at his place backing the line on the defense. Fullback Gene Fekete will back the line and continue to pace the offense on land while Sarringhaus and Horvath will round out the starting contingent of ball carriers with Captain George Lynn in at quarterback to clear the way.

What to expect from Ray Eliot's Illinois team 

Play Similar Games

The Illinois and Ohio State teams will be playing similiar football this week. Both teams are under young coaches in their early years at college coaching. Coach Ray Eliot is in his first year as head coach of the Illini, and Brown, of course, is in his second year at the Buckeye tiller after coming directly from the high school ranks.

Both the Illinois and Buckeye teams use the single-wingback offensive formation extensively. Captain Jimmy Smith of the Illini is the leading plunger for the team and is as fast as most halfbacks when he is through the line. He is especially good at starting wide around the ends and then cutting back over the tackles for quick gains. The left halfback is the other main cog in the offense and lends deception and long-distance, sudden death potentialities to the offense with his passing talent.

Share Big 10 Lead

The Illinois team has a record of five wins against and only two defeats, and has annexed three wins and one loss in conference games, sharing the Big Ten lead with Ohio State and Iowa.

The biggest achievements of the season are the wins over Minnesota and Iowa while Michigan is the lone Big Ten team that has beaten the Illini.

This will be the last conference game for the Illini. A loss will virtually eliminate them from the championship consideration, and a win will put them in a good position to capture at least a share of the conference crown.

To say a lot is riding on this game is an understatement.

Crowd May Hit 70,000

Meanwhile, evidence continued to accumulate indicating that the crown at the game Saturday will surpass the Notre Dame-Navy throng of 65,000 and may well go over the 70,000 mark.

All of the 48,000 $2.50 tickets have been sold. Bernard Shullist, chairman of ticket sales, to announce that 15,000 of the $1.10 tickets are now on sale.

With all Cuyahoga County high school squads as guests of the two institutions and squads of big four college teams and their opponents invited to attend free, the crowd will be swelled by at least 1200. Besides, any high school students will be able to purchase tickets for 55 cents, up until Friday night. A special section will be reserved for men in uniform. They will be charged 55 cents.

High school kids getting in for 55 cents and football players attending for free. If the attendance doesn't hit 70,000 there is something wrong. Then again, I heard that Pittsburgh offered four free tickets for families to attend the game against North Carolina on Thursday. My view from the couch indicated that not many people took the Panthers up on their free offer.

Buckeye Cartoon by Citizen Staff Artist Al Getchell.

Fullbacks dominate the ground gaining leadership in the Big Ten, statistics disclosed today.

Gene Fekete, Ohio State sophomore, is the leader and two of the other places among the first five pace-setters are held by fullbacks, Pat Harder of Wisconsin and Chuck Uknes of Iowa.

Fekete has gained 440 yards in 84 ball carrying attempts. Harder is second with 245 yards in 61 attempts, Paul Sarringhaus of Ohio State third with 311 yards in 52 attempts, Elroy Hirsch of Wisconsin fourth with 205 yards in 46 tries and Uknes fifth with 262 yards in 48 attempts.

Fekete also leads in scoring with 42 points. Sarringhaus is second with 30 points, while six players are tied for third place with 18 points each.

Otto Graham of Northwestern is the passing leader with 43 completions in 83 attempts. Billy Hillenbrand of Indiana ranks second with 14 completions in 42 tosses and Tom Farmer of Iowa third with 11 completions in 31 attempts.

Lew Byrer shares the generosity of Ohio State fans and explains why the Illinois game is in being played in Cleveland 

Pictures and a story on Page 9 of the Citizen today tell graphically of the culmination of an effort which this department is mighty proud.

The 1,520,000 cigarets (sic) purchased with $3815.20, given by Central Ohio folks to buy cigarets for Ohio soldiers in the 37th Division, have arrived and been distributed. 

A letter from Major General Bob Beightler, commanding officer of the 37th, written on Oct. 8 accompanied the pictures.

The drive which produced cigarets started last June when Al Haft heard that the 37th had landed in Austalia. Al was misinformed but that's beside the point.

He called me up. "When I was in Australia," he said, "you couldn't get American cigarets most of the time. When you could get them they were from 40c to 50c a pack. Why don't you start a drive to send some cigarets to the boys. I'll start it off with $100."

I printed Al's offer. Others joined in. Some $360 was contributed at the Red Bird-Cardinal exhibition game at Red Bird stadium with Bird Prexy Al Binister leading that effort. Some $500 was obtained at two wrestling shows. Colonel Bob French (now in the service himself) and Budd Sweeney, of Radio Station WHKC joined in boosting the drive. So did Joe Hill, over Station WCOL.

Boxes and cans were placed in neighborhood spots. Restaurants and night clubs joined in. There was no personal solicitation. It was a whole-hearted contribution from a lot of folks.

The drive exited with a softball carnival at State Hospital Field with Perry Shoemaker's State Highway team playing Amrine's Angels from the London Pairon farm in the feature game and . and K. Shoe girls meeting Springfield's Fink and Heine team in the other game.

When it was all over Fund Treasurer Walter P. Reiter, vice president of the City National Bank, had 3815.20 which bought 1,520,000 smokes.

Today, we know the dangers of smoking. Back then, it wasn't just acceptable, but it was considered an acceptable gift to give to the soldiers trying to free Europe of Hitler's tyranny. 

Why in Cleveland?

Your correspondent has been asked a couple of dozen times in the past few days why this year's Ohio State-Illinois game is being played in Cleveland.

Some of the questioners have been a bit resentful about it.

"It would draw more here than up there," one said.

"Cleveland has major league baseball. Why give them one of our football games, too?" was the slant of another.

This observer would be equally indignant about it if the game were being transferred from Ohio Stadium to the Cleveland lake front layout. But it isn't. This year's game is Illinois---originally scheduled to be played at Illinois.

Illinois' home games haven't been drawing well of late. So when Cleveland alumni of both Illinois and Ohio State urged that the game be transferred from Champaign to Cleveland, Illinois authorities were willing and Ohio State authorities consented.

For years Cleveland alumni of Ohio State have been wanting one of Ohio State's big games transferred to Cleveland. As long as the games in question were scheduled for Columbus Ohio State's Athletic Director L. W. St. John and the Buckeye Athletic Board were adamant. But when Illinois was willing to give up a home game and play in Cleveland Saint and the board saw a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They're satisfying that Cleveland alumni demand and assuring a bigger take at the gate at the same time.

There weren't any old school ads on the front page of today's sports page.