USC contest of 1990 still haunts Buckeyes

Former quarterback Greg Frey remembers that weather-shortened contest.

COLUMBUS (AP) — It’s been 18 years and Greg Frey still refuses to accept defeat.

“There were 21‚Ñ2 minutes left on the clock, and now we’ll never know,” the former Ohio State quarterback said.

When No. 1 Southern California play host to No. 5 Ohio State Saturday, it will be the first time the teams meet since their showdown in 1990, — a game people still talk about because of its bizarre circumstances and twist at the end.

No. 18 USC marched into Ohio Stadium to take on the 15th-ranked Buckeyes before a raucous crowd of 89,422 and a national television audience. The Buckeyes were 2-0, while coach Larry Smith, an Ohio native, and his Trojans were 2-1 after getting drilled 31-0 at Washington the week before.

The Trojans, though, dominated right from the start. Zuri Hector returned a blocked punt 8 yards for a touchdown and tailback Ricky Ervins went 15 yards for a TD — part of an eye-popping day featuring 199 yards on 28 carries with two TDs — for a 14-0 lead after a quarter.

USC stretched its lead to 28-10 midway through the third quarter on Scott Lockwood’s 66-yard run. At about the same time, a thunderstorm swept in and put on a horizon-to-horizon light show. Lightning and thunder rocked the old concrete stadium, and a squall brought a downpour.

The Buckeyes drove 50 yards through the thunderstorm for a touchdown on Raymont Harris’s 1-yard run and Frey’s two-point conversion pass to Jeff Graham. That left the Trojans on top 35-26 with 2:36 left.

“I’ve been involved with a lot of comebacks but that was awesome because of the conditions,” Frey said. “So we had some momentum. I had been down this road before. I’m thinking, ‘We’ve got a ton of time.’ ”

Except they didn’t.

Referee Ron Winter conferred for a second time with Smith and Ohio State coach John Cooper about suspending the game.

“I told him we were going to try an onside kick,” Cooper said in the humid postgame interview area. “I told him if USC gets it, it’s all over.”

And that’s precisely what happened. Tim Williams’ kick was smothered by USC reserve safety Bruce Luizzi. The officials grabbed the ball and left the field and the teams ran into the locker rooms to get out of the storm.

Outside the Trojans’ locker room, Smith shrugged his shoulders and with a sly smile and said he told Cooper: “Hey, I’m ahead. If you want to call it now, it’s fine with me.”

Making the situation even worse for distraught Ohio State fans, no sooner had the teams left the sodden field — and the wet, angry fans had filed out of the stadium — than the weather cleared.

The fallout was almost immediate. Ohio State’s fans were outraged Cooper elected to take the defeat instead of taking a chance on an improbable but not impossible rally. Cooper had never been popular since taking over after Earle Bruce was fired three years earlier. But now his critics were calling him a quitter, a tag he had difficulty avoiding.

The Buckeyes lost the next week to Illinois at home, then tied Indiana. They ended up 7-4-1, winding up in dismal fashion by losing to Michigan at home and then getting embarrassed by Air Force in the Liberty Bowl.

The years have not smoothed the rough edges off such a bitter defeat for Frey, now a successful businessman and high school assistant coach in Columbus.

Asked what he remembers most about that Saturday, he said sarcastically: “The end of it, obviously. Or the lack thereof.”